UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for Fe+
Abstract
The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Widefield Infrared Survey for Fe+ (UWIFE) is a 180 deg2 imaging survey of the first Galactic quadrant (7 < l < 62; |b| < 1.5) using a narrow-band filter centered on the [Fe II] 1.644 μm emission line. The [Fe II] 1.644 μm emission is a good tracer of dense, shock-excited gas, and the survey will probe violent environments around stars: star-forming regions, evolved stars, and supernova remnants, among others. The UWIFE survey is designed to complement the existing UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for H2 (UWISH2; Froebrich et al. 2011). The survey will also complement existing broad-band surveys. The observed images have a nominal 5σ detection limit of 18.7 mag for point sources, with the median seeing of 0.83". For extended sources, we estimate surface brightness limit of 8.1 x 10-20 W m-2 arcsec-2 . In this paper, we present the overview and preliminary results of this survey.