USNO-B1.0 (Cat. I/284) and 2MASS (Cat. II/246) are the most widely used full-sky surveys. However, 2MASS has no proper motions at all, and USNO-B1.0 published only relative, not absolute (i.e. on ICRS) proper motions. We performed a new determination of mean positions and proper motions on the ICRS system by combining USNO-B1.0 and 2MASS astrometry. This catalog is called PPMXL, and it aims to be complete from the brightest stars down to about V=20 full-sky. PPMXL contains about 900 million objects, some 410 million with 2MASS photometry, and is the largest collection of ICRS proper motions at present. As representative for the ICRS we chose PPMX. The recently released UCAC3 (Cat. I/315) could not be used because we found plate-dependent distortions in its proper motion system north of -20{deg} declination. UCAC3 served as an intermediate system for {demta}<-20{deg}. The resulting typical individual mean errors of the proper motions range from 4mas/yr to more than 10mas/yr depending on observational history. The mean errors of positions at epoch 2000.0 are 80 to 120 mas, if 2MASS astrometry could be used, 150 to 300 mas else. We also give correction tables to convert USNO-B1.0 observations of e.g. minor planets to the ICRS system.
The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), a five-year spectroscopic survey of 10000deg^2^, achieved first light in late 2009. One of the key goals of BOSS is to measure the signature of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the distribution of Ly{alpha} absorption from the spectra of a sample of ~150000 z>2.2 quasars. Along with measuring the angular diameter distance at z~2.5, BOSS will provide the first direct measurement of the expansion rate of the universe at z>2. One of the biggest challenges in achieving this goal is an efficient target selection algorithm for quasars in the redshift range 2.2<z<3.5, where their colors tend to overlap those of the far more numerous stars. During the first year of the BOSS survey, quasar target selection (QTS) methods were developed and tested to meet the requirement of delivering at least 15 quasars/deg^2^ in this redshift range, with a goal of 20 out of 40 targets/deg^2^ allocated to the quasar survey. To achieve these surface densities, the magnitude limit of the quasar targets was set at g<=22.0 or r<=21.85. We have defined a uniformly selected subsample of 20 targets/deg^2^, for which the selection efficiency is just over 50% (~10 z>2.20 quasars/deg^2^). This "CORE" subsample will be fixed for Years Two through Five of the survey. In this paper, we describe the evolution and implementation of the BOSS QTS algorithms during the first two years of BOSS operations (through 2011 July), in support of the science investigations based on these data, and we analyze the spectra obtained during the first year. During this year, 11263 new z>2.20 quasars were spectroscopically confirmed by BOSS, roughly double the number of previously known quasars with z>2.20. Our current algorithms select an average of 15 z>2.20 quasars/deg^2^ from 40 targets/deg^2^ using single-epoch SDSS imaging.
In the search for life in the cosmos, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission has already monitored about 74% of the sky for transiting extrasolar planets, including potentially habitable worlds. However, TESS only observed a fraction of the stars long enough to be able to find planets like Earth. We use the primary mission data-the first two years of observations-and identify 4239 stars within 210pc that TESS observed long enough to see three transits of an exoplanet that receives similar irradiation to Earth: 738 of these stars are located within 30pc. We provide reliable stellar parameters from the TESS Input Catalog that incorporates Gaia DR2 and also calculate the transit depth and radial velocity semiamplitude for an Earth-analog planet. Of the 4239 stars in the Revised TESS HZ Catalog, 9 are known exoplanet hosts-GJ1061, GJ1132, GJ3512, GJ685, Kepler-42, LHS1815, L98-59, RRCae, and TOI700-around which TESS could identify additional Earth-like planetary companions. Thirty-seven additional stars host yet unconfirmed TESS Objects of Interest: three of these orbit in the habitable-zone TOI203, TOI715, and TOI2298. For a subset of 614 of the 4239 stars, TESS has observed the star long enough to be able to observe planets throughout the full temperate, habitable zone out to the equivalent of Mars orbit. Thus, the Revised TESS Habitable Zone Catalog provides a tool for observers to prioritize stars for follow-up observation to discover life in the cosmos. These stars are the best path toward the discovery of habitable planets using the TESS mission data.
We use V-band time-series data to analyze the RR Lyrae (RRL) population of the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6101. Using template fitting, we have discovered seven new RRL stars and confirmed 10 candidates. We find unusually long mean periods for the RRL of <P_ab_>=0.803 days and <P_c_>=0.393 days, and an atypically high ratio of n(c)/n(ab+c)=0.82. Based on our derived mean properties of the RRL, NGC 6101 is Oosterhoff type II, consistent with the cluster metallicity but intriguing with respect to its kinematics.
The Sco OB2 association is the nearest OB association, extending over approximately 2000 square degrees on the sky. Only its brightest and most massive members are already known (from HIPPARCOS) across its entire size, while studies of its lower mass population refer only to small portions of its extent. In this work we exploit the capabilities of Gaia DR2 measurements to search for Sco OB2 members across its entire size and down to the lowest stellar masses. We used both Gaia astrometric (proper motions and parallaxes) and photometric measurements (integrated photometry and colors) to select association members, using minimal assumptions derived mostly from the HIPPARCOS studies. Gaia resolves small details in both the kinematics of individual Sco OB2 subgroups and their distribution with distance from the Sun. We developed methods to explore the 3D kinematics of a stellar population covering large sky areas. We find nearly 11000 pre-main-sequence (PMS) members of Sco OB2 (with less than 3% field-star contamination), plus ~3600 main-sequence (MS) candidate members with a larger (10-30%) field-star contamination. A higher confidence subsample of ~9200 PMS (and ~1340 MS) members is also selected (<1% contamination for the PMS), however this group is affected by larger (~15%) incompleteness. We separately classify stars in compact and diffuse populations. Most members belong to one of several kinematically distinct diffuse populations, whose ensemble clearly outlines the shape of the entire association. Upper Sco is the densest region of Sco OB2. It is characterized by a complex spatial and kinematical structure and has no global pattern of motion. Other dense subclusters are found in Lower Centaurus-Crux and in Upper Centaurus-Lupus; the richest example of the latter, which has been recently identified, is coincident with the group near V1062 Sco. Most of the clustered stars appear to be younger than the diffuse PMS population, suggesting star formation in small groups that rapidly disperse and are diluted, reaching space densities lower than field stars while keeping memory of their original kinematics. We also find that the open cluster IC 2602 has a similar dynamics to Sco OB2, and its PMS members are currently evaporating and forming a diffuse (size~10{deg}) halo around its double-peaked core.
We present the fifth edition of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Catalog, which is based upon the SDSS Seventh Data Release. The catalog, which contains 105783 spectroscopically confirmed quasars, represents the conclusion of the SDSS-I and SDSS-II quasar survey. The catalog consists of the SDSS objects that have luminosities larger than M_i_=-22.0 (in a cosmology with H_0_=70km/s/Mpc, {Omega}_M_=0.3, and {Omega}_{Lambda}=0.7), have at least one emission line with FWHM larger than 1000km/s or have interesting/complex absorption features, are fainter than i~15.0, and have highly reliable redshifts. The catalog covers an area of ~9380deg^2^. The quasar redshifts range from 0.065 to 5.46, with a median value of 1.49; the catalog includes 1248 quasars at redshifts greater than 4, of which 56 are at redshifts greater than 5. The catalog contains 9210 quasars with i<18; slightly over half of the entries have i<19. For each object the catalog presents positions accurate to better than 0.1"rms per coordinate, five-band (ugriz) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03mag, and information on the morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains radio, near-infrared, and X-ray emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra cover the wavelength region 3800-9200{AA} at a spectral resolution of ~2000; the spectra can be retrieved from the SDSS public database using the information provided in the catalog. Over 96% of the objects in the catalog were discovered by the SDSS. We also include a supplemental list of an additional 207 quasars with SDSS spectra whose archive photometric information is incomplete.
A robust and extended characterization of the Point Spread Function (PSF) is crucial to extract the photometric information produced by deep imaging surveys. Here we present the extended PSFs of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), one of the most productive astronomical surveys of all time. By stacking ~1000 images of individual stars with different brightness, we obtain the bidimensional SDSS PSFs extending over 8 arcmin in radius for all the SDSS filters (u, g, r, i, z). This new characterization of the SDSS PSFs is near a factor of 10 larger in extension than previous PSFs characterizations of the same survey. We found asymmetries in the shape of the PSFs caused by the drift scanning observing mode. The flux of the PSFs is larger along the drift scanning direction. Following a reproducible science philosophy, we make all the PSF models and the used tools publicly available. Finally, we illustrate with an example how the PSF models can be used to remove the scattered light field produced by the brightest stars in the Coma Cluster central region. This particular example shows the huge importance of PSFs in the study of the low surface brightness Universe, especially with the upcoming of ultra-deep surveys such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z ~ 0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z ~ 2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff_<5000K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SEGUE-2. The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the APOGEE along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in 2014 December.
The present catalog is a subset of the data release 6 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), restricted to primary and secondary photo objects (i.e. objects from PhotoPrimary of PhotoSecondary tables) and restricted to the columns described in the "Byte-by-Byte" description below. The complete SDSS data release 6 catalog is available from http://www.sdss.org/dr6/. Compared to data release 5 (Cat. II/276), this subset includes in addition the redshift and its error (for the 880680 sources observed spectroscopically), and the proper motions. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will map in detail one-quarter of the entire sky, determining the positions and absolute brightnesses of more than 100 million celestial objects. It will also measure the distances to more than a million galaxies and quasars. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC). Funding for the SDSS has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Korean Scientist Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. All details about SDSS at http://www.sdss.org/dr6/
