APOGEE: Probing the Evolution of the Milky Way

The APO Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) is using high-resolution, high signal-to-noise infrared spectroscopy to penetrate the dust that obscures significant fractions of the disk and bulge of our Galaxy. APOGEE will survey over 100,000 red giant stars across the full range of the Galactic bulge, bar, disk, and halo. Precise radial velocities and detailed chemical abundance "fingerprinting" will provide unprecedented insights into the dynamical structure and chemical history of the Galaxy. APOGEE will also contribute to unraveling problems in fundamental astrophysics, and complement other major surveys such as Kepler and CoRoT.

The SEGUE-2 and APOGEE datasets will play a central role in near-field cosmology tests of galaxy formation and the small-scale distribution of dark matter.

IR map of the whole Galaxy showing the plane and bulge of the Galaxy full of stars and dust. APOGEE uses new IR instrumentation to study stars within the disk and is less affected by the extinction from interstellar dust.

APOGEE at a glance
Bright time observations
Spring 2011 - Spring 2014
100,000 giant stars to magnitude H=12.2
Resolution R~22,500, typical S/N > 100
Wavelengths 1.51-1.70 μm
Stellar parameters including log(g), T_eff, [Fe/H], [α/Fe]
Abundance of 15 chemical species to 0.1 dex precision
Velocity error < 100 m/s

For a detailed description of APOGEE, see section 5 of the Project Description, available as a PDF document.

Working with APOGEE data

Data Release 10 represents the first public release of APOGEE spectra.

There are some basic tutorials for accessing and viewing SDSS data.
There are descriptions of the target selection for APOGEE stars.

APOGEE papers

APOGEE has submitted and/or published several papers which are listed on the APOGEE Publications page.