Large Interstellar Polarisation Survey. LIPS I: FORS2 spectropolarimetry in the Southern Hemisphere

Understand

Polarimetric studies of light transmitted through interstellar clouds may give constraints on the properties of the interstellar dust grains.

• Traditionally, broadband linear polarisation (BBLP) measurements have been considered an important diagnostic tool for the study of the interstellar dust, while comparatively less attention has been paid to spectropolarimetric measurements.
• However, spectropolarimetry may offer stronger constraints than BBLP, for example by revealing narrowband features, and by allowing us to distinguish the contribution of dust from the contribution of interstellar gas.
• Therefore, we have decided to carry out a Large Interstellar Polarisation Survey (LIPS) using spectropolarimetric facilities in both hemispheres.