Goals: the Great Observatories All-sky Lirg Survey

The Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) combines data from NASA’s Spitzer, Chandra, Hubble and GALEX observatories, together with ground-based data into a comprehensive imaging and spectroscopic survey of over 200 low redshift (z < 0.088), Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs). The LIRGs are a complete subset of the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample (RBGS), which comprises 629 extragalactic objects with 60μm flux densities above 5.24 Jy, and Galactic latitudes above five degrees. The LIRGs targeted in GOALS span the full range of nuclear spectral types defined via traditional optical line-ratio diagrams (type-1 and type-2 AGN, LINERs, and starbursts) as well as interaction stages (major mergers, minor mergers, and isolated galaxies). They provide an unbiased picture of the processes responsible for enhanced infrared emission in galaxies in the local Universe. As an example of the analytic power of the multi-wavelength GOALS dataset, we present Spitzer, Chandra, Hubble and GALEX images and spectra for the interacting system VV 340 (IRAS F14547+2449). The Spitzer MIPS imaging data indicates that between 80− 95% of the total far-infrared emission (or about 5 × 10L⊙) originates in VV 340 North. While the Spitzer IRAC colors of VV 340 North and South are consistent with star-forming galaxies, both the Spitzer IRS and Chandra ACIS data indicate the presence of an AGN in VV 340 North. The observed line fluxes, without correction for extinction, imply the AGN accounts for less than 10 − 20% of the observed infrared emission. The X-ray data are consistent with a heavily absorbed (NH ≥ 10 cm) AGN. The GALEX far and near-UV fluxes imply a extremely large infrared “excess” (IRX) for the system (FIR/Ffuv ∼ 81) which is well above the correlation seen in starburst galaxies. Most of this excess is driven by VV 340 N, which has an IR excess of nearly 400. The VV 340 system seems to be comprised of two very different galaxies – an infrared luminous edge-on galaxy (VV 340 North) that dominates the long-wavelength emission from the system and which hosts a buried AGN, and a face-on starburst (VV 340 South) that dominates the short-wavelength emission. Subject headings: Galaxies 1 Spitzer Science Center, Calfornia Institute of Technology, MS 220-6, Pasadena, CA 91125 2 Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Calfornia Institute of Technology, MS 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125 3 National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903 4 Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400325, Charlottesville, VA 22904 5 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 6 INAF-Observatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Via Ranzani 1, Bologna, Italy 7 NASA Herschel Science Center, California Institute of Technology, MS 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125 8 Department of Physics and Astronomy, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 11794 9 Department of Space and Astronautical Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan 10 Physics Department, University of Oregon, Eugene OR, 97402 11 Department of Physics, University of Crete, P.O. Box 2208, GR-71003, Heraklion, Greece 12 Gemini Observatory, 940 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85719 13 The Observatories, Carnegie Institute of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 14 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 15 California Institute of Technology, MS 320-47, Pasadena, CA 91125 16 Department of Physics & Astronomy, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030 17 Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14953