Studying Starlight from Distant Galaxies with SIRTF

Abstract

Starlight from distant galaxies ($z > 3$) is redshifted into the near infrared band with observed wavelengths from 2-8 $\mu$m. Most of the light is emitted by stars that have a peak emission at the 1.6 $\mu$m wavelength of the minimum of the H$^-$ opacity. We present simulated images of galaxy and star fields at 3, 4.7 and 8 $\mu$m, using the expected performance of the infrared camera on the Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF). Standard astronomical image processing tools are used to locate sources, distinguish stars from galaxies, and create color-magnitude and color-color diagrams for the galaxies.