Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2014

Keywords

Surveys, Stars: fundamental parameters, Stars: general, Dust, Extinction

Abstract

We present the fiducial main-sequence stellar locus traced by 10 photometric colours observed by Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer(WISE). Median colours are determined using 1052 793 stars with r-band extinction less than 0.125. We use this locus to measure the dust extinction curve relative to the r band, which is consistent with previous measurements in the SDSS and 2MASS bands. The WISE band extinction coefficients are larger than predicted by standard extinction models. Using 13 lines of sight, we find variations in the extinction curve in H, Ks, and WISE bandpasses. Relative extinction decreases towards Galactic anticentre, in agreement with prior studies. Relative extinction increases with Galactic latitude, in contrast to previous observations. This indicates a universal mid-IR extinction law does not exist due to variations in dust grain size and chemistry with Galactocentric position. A preliminary search for outliers due to warm circumstellar dust is also presented, using stars with high signal-to-noise ratio in the W3 band. We find 199 such outliers, identified by excess emission in Ks − W3. Inspection of SDSS images for these outliers reveals a large number of contaminants due to nearby galaxies. Six sources appear to be genuine dust candidates, yielding a fraction of systems with infrared excess of 0.12 ± 0.05 per cent.

Publication Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

440

Issue

4

First Page

3430

Last Page

3438

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stu466

Required Publisher's Statement

© 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu466

Link to article journal: http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/440/4/3430.abstract?sid=c8f37759-0b7c-4eda-b978-9fd06238eee1

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Milky Way; Stars--Populations; Stars--Spectra; Stars--Evolution

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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