Milky Way Project First Data Release IR Bubble Catalog

This table contains a new catalog of 5106 infrared bubbles created through visual classification via the online citizen science website 'The Milky Way Project' (MWP). Bubbles in the new catalog have been independently measured by at least five individuals, producing consensus parameters for their positions, radii, thicknesses, eccentricities and position angles. Citizen scientists - volunteers recruited online and taking part in this research - have independently rediscovered the locations of at least 86% of three widely used catalogs of bubbles and H II regions while finding an order of magnitude more objects. 29% of the bubbles in the Milky Way Project catalog lie on the rim of a larger bubble, or have smaller bubbles located within them, opening up the possibility of better statistical studies of triggered star formation. This online resource of the <a href="http://www.milkywayproject.org/">Milky Way Project</a> provides a crowd-sourced map of bubbles and arcs in the Milky Way, and will enable better statistical analysis of Galactic star formation sites. This table is the first data release of the MWP IR Bubble Catalog: the authors anticipate a future release of a second, refined catalog incorporating better data-reduction techniques. This table was created by the HEASARC in March 2013 based on the <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/MNRAS/424/2442">CDS Catalog J/MNRAS/424/2442</a> files mwplarge.dat and mwpsmall.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Tess Jaffe
Last Updated July 2, 2025, 20:04 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 12:57 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 7aed76d6-b994-4843-8bfa-189407d9c73a
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/mwp1bubble
modified 2025-07-02T19:32:10Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash cebc701b61653e2f27665ad1055d025f45adcc25c803a97c7985e1b620154fab
source_schema_version 1.1
theme {Astrophysics}