The PHANGS-H α survey
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We present PHANGS-H α , a narrowband imaging survey that maps H α emission over a sample of 65 nearby massive star-forming galaxies. The data were obtained using the MPG-ESO 2.2-meter telescope at La Silla and the du Pont 2.5-meter telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, within the framework of the multi-wavelength cloud-scale (50–100 pc) resolution mapping of molecular gas and star formation conducted by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) collaboration. PHANGS-H α complements the published PHANGS-ALMA, PHANGS-MUSE, PHANGS-HST, and PHANGS-JWST surveys, providing an anchor point for the photometric and astrometric calibration of these datasets, as well as samples of H II regions and star formation rate maps for the bulk of the PHANGS sample. We describe the observations, data processing, and calibration of the PHANGS-H α dataset, as well as the procedures used to derive emission-line fluxes from narrowband imaging. A subset of galaxies with available spectroscopic Ha mapping from the PHANGS-MUSE survey serves as the basis of a detailed comparison with the narrowband photometry presented here. This comparison informs a set of best practices for the processing of narrowband H α imaging, which we subsequently apply to the full dataset.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: Alessandro Razza, Guillermo A. Blanc, Brent Groves, Enrico Congiu, Justus Neumann, Hsi-An Pan, I-Ting Ho, Ashley T. Barnes, Francesco Belfiore, Médéric Boquien, Charlie Burton, Mélanie Chevance, Oleg V. Egorov, Eric Emsellem, Christopher M. Faesi, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, Adam K. Leroy, Rebecca McElroy, Ismael Pessa, Eva Schinnerer, Neven Tomičić, Amirnezam Amiri, Gagandeep S. Anand, Yixian Cao, Daniel A. Dale, Simthembile Dlamini, Jing Li, J. Eduardo Méndez-Delgado, Eric J. Murphy, Debosmita Pathak, Miguel Querejeta, Lise Ramambason, Erik Rosolowsky, Fabian Scheuermann, Leonardo Úbeda, Thomas G. Williams
Institutions: University of Chile, Carnegie Institution for Science, The University of Western Australia, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, European Southern Observatory, European Southern Observatory, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Tamkang University, Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, National Institute for Astrophysics, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Côte d'Azur, Lagrange Laboratory, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, University of Alberta, Heidelberg University, Lyon 1 Université, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, University of Connecticut, Australian National University, Harvard University, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, The Ohio State University, University of Southern Queensland, Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, University of Zagreb, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Space Telescope Science Institute, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, University of Wyoming, University of Cape Town, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, University of Manchester
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,865
Awards: G2956490128, G4072214037
OpenAlex ID: W7162418496