This project takes advantage of the Widefield Arecibo Virgo Environment Survey (WAVES), one of the last major HI projects undertaken at Arecibo prior to its collapse. HI, neutral atomic hydrogen, provides important information both on how gas undergoes star formation and how the environment influences galaxy evolution, with signatures of gravitational interactions being more easily detectable using the HI as it is less tightly bound to the galaxy than the stellar disc. Using two adjacent survey fields totalling 20 square degrees, a catalogue of the HI detections will be provided. Advanced visualisation tools will be used to search for extended, asymmetrical HI features that are characteristic of galaxy interactions, and by correlating the HI with the optical data, a search will be performed for objects without optical counterparts. Eight such features were already detected in the earlier AGES (Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey) examination of Virgo, and by doubling the survey size in this region, we may double the sample size of the number of optically dark clouds. The improved statistics will allow us to compare them with various models that have been proposed to explain these unusual objects, as well as examining how the gas content of galaxies compares with theoretical models of gas removal known to be occurring in the cluster.

Location: ASU Praha-Spořilov