Foreground Data Images

Data from WHAM, VTSS and SHASSA have been combined by D. Finkbeiner (2003) to form an all-sky composite H-alpha map. The H-alpha intensity is provided in units of Rayleighs; no correction has been made for extinction effects.

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The Haslam 408 MHz map is derived from 4 separate surveys. Scan striping and contributions from strong point sources have been mitigated (compared to the original map) through the use of filtering in the Fourier domain.

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Composite neutral hydrogen column density, consisting of the 21 cm survey of Hartmann et al. (1997) supplemented with the lower resolution southern sky map constructed by Dickey & Lockman (1990).

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HEALPIX resampling of Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) Survey of Galactic HI (from Kalberla et al., 2005).

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Using a combination of COBE and IRAS data, Finkbeiner, Davis & Schlegel (1999) derived models for thermal dust emission at microwave and submillimeter frequencies. This map is based on their best-fit two-component Model#8.

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Map of Galactic reddening, E(B-V), in magnitudes, as derived from IRAS and COBE/DIRBE data by Schlegel, Finkbeiner and Davis (1998).

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The Dame et al. (2001) composite map of interstellar molecular clouds, as traced by the 115 GHz line of Carbon Monoxide (CO). The CO line intensity has been integrated over all observed velocities.

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This figure, from Bennett et al. 2003 , shows the rms anisotropy as a function of frequency from the CMB (red line) and three known sources of foreground emission: synchrotron, free-free, and thermal dust emission. The composite galactic emission for two sky cuts, retaining 77% and 85% of the sky respectively, are shown as dashed lines. The five WMAP radiometer bands are indicated in the background.

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This figure, from Bennett et al. 2003 , compares the CMB anisotropy to the foreground anisotropy in frequency space and harmonic space. The WMAP frequency bands were chosen to be near the minimum of the galactic emission. (a) Spectra of the CMB anisotropy and the galactic emission as a function of frequency. (b) Foreground angular power spectra for each WMAP band using the Kp2 sky mask. The spectrum at each frequency is derived as a cross-power spectrum between radiometers minus the WMAP-derived CMB model. In K- and Ka-band, where cross-power spectra are not available, the noise bias has been estimated and subtracted. Point source fits for each band are shown in the dashed lines on the right. The spectra are expected to asymptotically join these lines. Note that the diffuse foreground spectra (excluding point sources) go as C_l ~ l^(-2). (c) The contour plot shows the ratio of the CMB anisotropy to the foreground anisotropy (for the Kp2 mask) as a function of frequency and multipole moment. The ratios are expressed in power units.

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The 25,60 and 100 um IRAS/ISSA plates were used to produce this 3-color composite image of the infrared sky. Unobserved portions of the sky are white. Residuals from removal of the zodiacal light show as stripes parallel to the ecliptic.

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