GALFACTS: The G-ALFA Continuum Transit Survey

Abstract: The GALFACTS project is using the L-band seven feed array receiver system on the Arecibo telescope to carry out an imaging spectro-polarimetric survey of the 30% of the sky visible from Arecibo. GALFACTS observations will create full-Stokes image cubes at an angular resolution of 3.5', with several thousand spectral channels covering 1225 - 1525 MHz, and band-averaged sensitivity of 90 uJy, allowing sensitive imaging of polarized radiation and Faraday Rotation Measure from both diffuse emission and against a high density grid of extragalactic sources. GALFACTS will be a major observational advance in imaging of the polarized radiation from the Milky Way and will provide a rich new database for exploration of the magnetic field of the Galaxy and the properties of the magneto-ionic medium.