NED Abstract 
Copyright by American Astronomical Society.
Reproduced by permission

2008AJ....136.2563W

THINGS: The H I Nearby Galaxy Survey

Fabian Walter, Elias Brinks, W. J. G. de Blok, Frank Bigiel, Robert C.
Kennicutt, Michele D. Thornley, and Adam Leroy

ABSTRACT We present "The H I Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS)," a high
spectral (<=5.2 km s^-1^) and spatial (~6") resolution survey of H I
emission in 34 nearby galaxies obtained using the NRAO Very Large Array
(VLA). The overarching scientific goal of THINGS is to investigate
fundamental characteristics of the interstellar medium (ISM) related to
galaxy morphology, star formation, and mass distribution across the
Hubble sequence. Unique characteristics of the THINGS database are the
homogeneous sensitivity as well as spatial and velocity resolution of
the H I data, which is at the limit of what can be achieved with the VLA
for a significant number of galaxies. A sample of 34 objects at
distances 2 <~ D <~ 15 Mpc (resulting in linear resolutions of ~100 to
500 pc) are targeted in THINGS, covering a wide range of star formation
rates (~10^-3^ to 6 M_sun_ yr^-1^), total H I masses MHI (0.01 to 14 x
10^9^ M_sun_), absolute luminosities MB (-11.5 to -21.7 mag), and
metallicities (7.5 to 9.2 in units of 12+log[O/H]). We describe the
setup of the VLA observations, the data reduction procedures, and the
creation of the final THINGS data products. We present an atlas of the
integrated H I maps, the velocity fields, the second moment (velocity
dispersion) maps and individual channel maps of each THINGS galaxy. The
THINGS data products are made publicly available through a dedicated
webpage. Accompanying THINGS papers (in this issue of the Astronomical
Journal) address issues such as the small-scale structure of the ISM,
the (dark) matter distribution in THINGS galaxies, and the processes
leading to star formation.

Key words: galaxies: ISM, galaxies: structure, ISM: atoms, ISM: general,
radio lines: galaxies, surveys