Abstract
AbstractThe Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) is, until the regular operation of Herschel satellite, the most powerful submillimeter mapping telescope in the world. By operating above most of the atmosphere, BLAST provides a sensitivity (and therefore mapping speed) approximately an order–of–magnitude faster than any other existing submillimeter facilities in terms of detecting compact cores and even a greater improvement in terms of measuring diffuse structures in the interstellar medium (ISM). Using its three-band photometry at 250, 350, and 500 μm, BLAST samples the peak of the spectral energy distribution of the coldest starless cores, providing the critical coverage needed to constrain masses, luminosities, and temperatures. In this contribution we present a general description of the telescope and summarize the observations performed during the 2005 and 2006 Long Duration Balloon flights. In addition, we describe the Vela Molecular Ridge, a region extensively observed by BLAST, and discuss some of our preliminary results.
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