Collaborative Research: The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2

This project is a collaborative project between the University of Florida and the University of Missouri Kansas City to search for galaxy clusters and protoclusters in the distant Universe, back to the time when the first clusters were forming. The survey data will allow for detailed studies of the most massive galaxies in the universe at the time when they were rapidly growing.

The program is based upon catalogs created by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), a space-based observatory that performed an all-sky survey in the infrared. Combining the WISE data with catalogs from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco telescope in Chile will allow the team to determine where the first clusters are forming in a 3D volume of the universe.

The technique has already been tested and has correctly identified known clusters from the IRAC Distant Cluster Survey. The project also includes a joint virtual public viewing night program at both institutions using remote observing from the Rosemary Hill Observatory. This plan enables public engagement during the pandemic and will expand the reach of public observing programs in both states post-covid.

This project will result in a program to detect and characterize the massive galaxy cluster population at 0.5