Gould Belt Survey

The Gould Belt Survey is an astronomical research project led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, with the participation of several other institutions.^[1][2]

The astronomers use observations and data captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope and other telescopes to create a complete picture of the star forming regions within an approximately 1600 light-year radius centered on the Solar System. These regions are partly or completely clouded by interstellar dust and therefore cannot be observed by telescopes using visible light, like the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Gould Belt survey team uses a variety of telescopes and observatories to study multiple aspects of star formation. The Spitzer Space Telescope provides imagery and observations made in the infrared spectrum, while for example the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope provides images from the submillimeter wavelength region of the spectrum.

The Herschel Space Observatory telescope provided observation data between the far infrared and the sub-millimeter wavelengths, effectively covering wavelengths between the observational capabilities of the Spitzer and the Maxwell telescopes.