SHARCII
captured Luminous Infrared Galaxies 
Approximately 50 luminous
infrared galaxies (LIRGs) and ultraluminous
infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) have been imaged with the SHARC II camera at
350 micron, as of August 2005. The images below shows an example
of luminous infrared galaxy, Antennae, one of the objects studied with
the SHARCII camera. This is the closest example of a major merger
between two gas-rich spiral galaxies at a distance of 19 Mpc.
Thus, this system provides us with a unique opportunity to study the
internal structure of a merger in progress. Dark regions in the
optical HST color image (Whitmore et al 1999), shown left, are the
locations where active
star formation is taking place. The white contour overlaid on
the HST image shows the distribution of CO molecular gas (Wilson et al.
2000). If we look at this object with
submillimeter, these dark regions becomes bright, as shown in the
middle diagram, the image taken with the 350 micron SHARCII
camera. Right picture shows an overlay, SHARCII image (contour)
on the HST image (color).
