Milky Way Project First Data Release IR Bubble Catalog

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="zooniverse.org/projects/povich/milky-way-project">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.