An Initial Search for Low Mass Stars with the 2MASS Prototype Camera

Details An Initial Search for Low Mass Stars with the 2MASS Prototype Camera An Initial Search for Low Mass Stars with the 2MASS Prototype Camera

Dec 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...181.6809c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #68.09; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1229

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) is a ground-based, all-sky survey at 1.2, 1.6 and 2.2 microns (J, H and K(') ) to a uniform limiting K(') magnitude of 14 (10 sigma ) for point sources. A prototype camera has been built to test many aspects of the survey. The camera was used to obtain multiple (10) scans of a selected 1 square degree region at intermediate galactic latitude, to investigate the completeness, reliability, and positional accuracy that could be achieved in the survey. Results from the processing of these data, presented here, demonstrate that we currently exceed all the goals in these areas. To understand the classes of sources that were detected, we have compared all detected sources with m_{K('}) < 14 to optical sources extracted from digitized POSS I plates. The infrared sources are highly reliable, having been confirmed on 10 separate repeated scans. The distribution of R - K(') colors is consistent with those expected from normal stellar populations, except for one source with m_{K('}) = 13.1 which has no counterpart on the POSS I. Follow-up observations show that the source is actually double with a separation of about 0.5", with both components having roughly equal magnitudes at I, J, H, K(') , and L(') . Each of the components have the color of M6--7 stars, with a total R magnitude of 18.9, consistent with the combined spectrum. The lack of a detection on the POSS I plates is probably due to the extreme red color of this object, but a high proper motion cannot yet be ruled out. These stars are at an inferred distance of about 30--70 pc. If they represent a binary system, the stars are separated by only 15--35 AU. Since this object was found from a survey of only one square degree, and fewer than 100 stars are known with spectral types later than M5, it is clear that 2MASS will be valuable in deriving a complete census of nearby low-mass stars that is not biased by proper motion selection effects.

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