Baade's Window

Coordinates: 18h 03m 32.14s, −30° 02′ 06.96″

Baade's Window is an area of the sky with relatively low amounts

of interstellar dust along the line of sight from Earth. This area is
considered an observational "window" as the normally obscured
Galactic Center of the Milky Way is visible in this direction. This
makes the apparent Large Sagittarius Star Cloud visible.

It is named for astronomer Walter Baade, who first recognized its

significance. This area corresponds to one of the brightest visible
patches of the Milky Way. It is centered at a galactic longitude (l) of
1.02° and a galactic latitude (b ) of -3.92°,[1] which corresponds to
a right ascension of 18h 03m 32.14s and a declination of -30d 02m
06.96s, in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.[2][3]
Baade's Window on the Milky Way
History
Walter Baade observed the stars in this area in the mid-1940s using the 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope
at Mount Wilson Observatory in California while searching for the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Up
until this time the structure and location of the galactic center was not known with certainty.[4]

In 2006, the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS) conducted an astronomical
survey to monitor 180,000 stars for seven days to detect extrasolar planets via the transit method.[5]

Significance
Baade's Window is frequently used to study distant central bulge
stars in visible and near-visible wavelengths of light. Important
information on the internal geometry of the Milky Way is still being
refined by measurements made through this "window". The
window is now known to be slightly "south" of the main central
galaxy bulge. The window is irregular in outline and subtends
about 1 degree of the sky. It is centered on the globular cluster
NGC 6522.[6]

Baade's Window is the largest of the six areas through which

central bulge stars are visible.[7]
NGC 6522 (upper right) and NGC
OGLE and other observation programs have successfully detected
6528 (lower left) are visible within
extrasolar planets orbiting around central bulge stars in this area by Baade's Window.
the gravitational microlensing method.
Stars observed in Baade's Window can be called BW stars, similarly giant stars can be called BW giants.

See also
Physics portal

Astronomy portal

Zone of Avoidance
Large Sagittarius Star Cloud

References
1. Church, Ross P.; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Feltzing, Sofia (May 2011). "Coordinates and 2MASS
and OGLE identifications for all stars in Arp's 1965 finding chart for Baade's Window" (http
s://doi.org/10.1051%2F0004-6361%2F201116829). Astronomy & Astrophysics. 529: A104.
arXiv:1103.5462 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1103.5462). Bibcode:2011A&A...529A.104C (https://u
i.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011A&A...529A.104C). doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201116829 (http
s://doi.org/10.1051%2F0004-6361%2F201116829). ISSN 0004-6361 (https://www.worldcat.
org/issn/0004-6361).
2. "NAME Baade Window" (http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=NAME+Baade+
Window). SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved
2011-03-13.
3. "Your NED Search Results-Input: Galactic/Output: Equatorial J2000.0" (https://ned.ipac.calte
ch.edu/cgi-bin/calc?in_csys=Galactic&in_equinox=J2000.0&obs_epoch=1950.0&lon=1.02&
lat=-3.92&pa=0.0&out_csys=Equatorial&out_equinox=J2000.0). ned.ipac.caltech.edu.
Retrieved 2020-06-02.
4. Baade, W. (August 1946). "A Search For the Nucleus of Our Galaxy". Publications of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 58 (343): 249–252. Bibcode:1946PASP...58..249B (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1946PASP...58..249B). doi:10.1086/125835 (https://doi.org/10.
1086%2F125835).
5. "SIMBAD Details on Acronym: SWEEPS" (http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic-Simbad?S
WEEPS). SIMBAD. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved
2009-05-21.
6. Stanek, K.Z. (1996). "Extinction Map of Baade's Window". Astrophysical Journal Letters. 381
(1): 219–226. arXiv:astro-ph/9512137 (https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9512137).
Bibcode:1996ApJ...460L..37S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996ApJ...460L..37S).
doi:10.1086/309976 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F309976). S2CID 11590782 (https://api.sem
anticscholar.org/CorpusID:11590782).
7. Dutra C.M.; Santiago B.X.; Bica E. (2002). "Low-extinction windows in the inner Galactic
Bulge". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 460 (1): L37. arXiv:astro-ph/0110658 (https://arxiv.org/ab
s/astro-ph/0110658). Bibcode:2002A&A...381..219D (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002
A&A...381..219D). doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20011541 (https://doi.org/10.1051%2F0004-636
1%3A20011541). S2CID 15619180 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15619180).

External links
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Stars and Dust Through Baade's Window (19
December 2007) (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071219.html)
 NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Stars and Dust Through Baade's Window (23
December 2002) (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap021223.html)
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Lensing Through Baade's Window (1 February 1996)
(https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960201.html)

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