MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Observations Towards the Milky Way Bulge

Abstract

We present a MeerKAT survey of portions of the Milky Way bulge. The survey covers 172.8 square degrees in two contiguous mosaics above and below the Galactic Center as well as 32 single pointing fields at higher longitudes. The resolution of the images is $\sim$8\asec\ at a frequency of 1333 MHz with a typical Stokes I RMS of 20 $\mu$Jy Beam$^{-1}$. Most of the emission seen is from background extragalactic sources but many compact Galactic objects are identifiable by their polarization properties. Apparent polarized emission resulting from fine scale Faraday rotation in the ISM is widespread in this region of the Galaxy. The survey is used to search for background Giant Radio Galaxies, $>$700 kpc in size, identifying 17 such objects. Data products include FITS images of Stokes I, Q, U and V as well as a Faraday analysis and lists of compact total intensity and polarized sources.