The Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90 GHz Survey
The Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90 GHz (MALT90) Survey is a large international project to make molecular line maps of over 2,000 dense cores in the galactic plane.
The MALT90 survey will exploit the fast-mapping capability of the ATNF Mopra 22-m telescope, combined with the new broadband MOPS correlators which allow the simultaneous imaging of 16 molecular lines near 90 GHz. These molecular lines will probe the physical conditions, chemical state, and evolutionary state of over 2,000 dense molecular cores. The target cores are selected to host the early stages of high-mass star formation and to span the complete range of their evolutionary states (from pre-stellar cores, to proto-stellar cores, and on to H II regions). Each core will be mapped simultaneously in 16 molecular lines at excellent angular (40 arcsec) and spectral (0.1 km/s) resolution.
The creation of the Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team (MALT) was an initiative of the Australian and International astronomy community to coordinate efforts to design and carry out surveys with maximum efficiency and scientific return, and to keep Australia's millimetre astronomy facilities competitive when ALMA becomes operational. A key project identified by this initiative was a 90 GHz molecular line Mopra survey of high mass star-forming cores: MALT90. The MALT90 survey is unique and will best use Mopra's current capabilities for world-class science whilst also providing key targets for ALMA. To increase the scientific legacy value of this survey, the team waives all propriety periods and releases the data products to the astronomy community as soon as quality checks have been performed.
This website provides information about the survey and its current status. It will also serve as one method of accessing the survey data. The team-member-only MALT90 wiki is used for planning and tracking observations. See the list of participants to contact the appropriate person about different aspects of the survey.
Year 3 data is now available. Data for 770 more sources are now available. See the data page for more details.