V/98 MSX Infrared Astrometric Catalog (Egan+ 1996)
The MSX Infrared Astrometric Catalog
Egan M.P., Price S.D.
<Astron. J 112, 2862 (1996)>
=1996AJ....112.2862E 1996AJ....112.2862E
ADC_Keywords: Infrared sources ; Proper motions ; Spectroscopy ;
Cross identifications
Mission_Name: MSX
Abstract:
The MSX Infrared Astrometric Catalog has been contructed as a tool for
improving the pointing accuracy of infrared observations. The catalog
contains 177,860 astrometric stars, 61,242 which have been identified
with their infrared counterparts from IRAS catalogs and the Catalog of
Infrared Observations through position and color matching. Infrared
flux densities are predicted for 6 wavelength bands between 4 and
22um. The catalog identifications are complete to within the spatial
coverage of current surveys for those astrometric stars brightest in
the infrared. By predicting fluxes of astrometric stars without IR
identifications we are able to extend the catalog to areas of the sky
which were incomplete in the IRAS catalogs. Furthermore, by retaining
stars below the brightness limit of current surveys we are able to
provide better spatial coverage to help point or position the next
generation of infrared telescopes.
Description:
This version of the MSX IR Astrometric Catalog is a truncated version
of the documentation which exists for the convenience of the user and
is primarily intended to allow quick access to the file formats and
other information needed to access the information. The AJ paper
contains the definitive information about the catalog itself.
The MSX IR Astrometric Catalog, Version 4.2.1 was constructed from a
number of visible astrometric catalogs, and contains position
information accurate to the sub-arcsecond level. The FK5 (1988 Fricke
Schwan & Lederle, Cat. I/149), FK5 Extension (1991 Fricke, Schwan
& Corbin, Cat. I/175), Astrographic Catalog of Reference Stars (1991
Corbin & Urban, Cat. I/171), Position and Proper Motion Catalog
(1988 Roeser & Bastian, Cat. I/146) and PPM South (1991 Bastian et
al., Cat. I/193) were the sources of position and magnitude
information. The PPM and FK5 catalogs contain 1-D spectral type
information, and this was supplemented where possible with 2-D MK
spectral types. The ACRS and PPM quote photographic magnitudes. These
were transformed to V magnitude using the spectral type and expected
B-V color.
Spatial coincidence and color-matching criteria (based on V-[12] color
and spectral type) were used to identify IR counterparts of the
astrometric stars. The IRAS Point Source (Cat. II/125), Faint Source
(Cat. II/156), Faint Source Reject file, and Serendipitous Survey
(Cat. II/126) catalogs were used to supply IR observations, as was
the Catalog of Infrared Observations (1993 Gezari et al., Cat
II/209).
The infrared telescope (SPIRIT III) aboard the Ballistic Missile
Defense Organization (BMDO) Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) (Mill et
al., 1994, J. of Spacecraft & Rockets 31, 900) has detectors which
allow spatial resolution 30 times better than that achieved by IRAS
The IR flux in each SPIRIT III band was estimated using the V
magnitude, spectral type, and IR flux (if available) to determine a
blackbody spectrum for the star, which was then convolved with the
system spectral response of each SPIRIT III radiometer band. Stars
which were brighter than 8th magnitude in band A were retained in the
final MSX IR astrometric catalog. In MSXv4.2.1, there are 177860
stars, 61242 of which had IR counterparts.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
msx.dat 221 177860 MSX Infrared Astrometric Catalog
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See also:
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/ipac/msx/msx.html : MSX page
http://www.sdl.usu.edu/programs/spirit3/spirit3.html : SPIRIT III page
http://gibbs1.plh.af.mil/Results/AAS191/Price/price.html : SPIRIT III results
V/107 : MSX5C Infrared Point Source Catalog (Egan+ 1999)
II/125 : IRAS catalogue of Point Sources, Version 2.0 (IPAC 1986)
II/126 : IRAS Serendipitous Survey Catalog (Kleinmann+ 1986)
II/156 : IRAS Faint Source Catalog, |b| > 10, Version 2.0 (Moshir+ 1989)
II/209 : Catalog of Infrared observations, Edition 3.5 (Gezari+ 1996)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: msx.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1 A1 --- AsID *[FfANS] Original astrometric catalog ID
2- 7 I6 --- AsName Astrometric catalog number
8 A1 --- IrID *[PFSBZC] IR catalog ID
9- 21 A13 --- IrName Name of star in IR catalog
22- 23 I2 h RAh Right ascension, J2000
24- 25 I2 min RAm Right ascension, J2000
26- 31 F6.3 s RAs Right ascension, J2000
32 A1 --- DE- Sign of declination
33- 34 I2 deg DEd Declination, J2000
35- 36 I2 arcmin DEm Declination, J2000
37- 41 F5.2 arcsec DEs Declination, J2000
42- 47 F6.1 ms e_RAs Mean R.A. error*cos(dec)
48- 52 F5.1 0.01arcsec e_DEs Mean declination error
53- 61 F9.3 10-2s/yr pmRA Proper motion in right ascension (J2000)
62- 70 F9.2 10-2arcsec/yr pmDE Proper motion in declination (J2000)
71- 76 F6.1 0.1mas/yr e_pmRA Mean error of R.A. PM*cos(dec)
77- 82 F6.1 0.1mas/yr e_pmDE Mean error of Dec. PM
83- 85 A3 --- Sp *Spectral type
86- 87 A2 --- LRS IRAS LRS designation
88- 92 F5.2 mag Vmag V visual magnitude
93-101 E9.3 Jy F12um ?=0.000E+00 IRAS 12mu flux
102-110 E9.3 Jy F25um ?=0.000E+00 IRAS 25mu flux
111-119 E9.3 Jy F60um ?=0.000E+00 IRAS 60mu flux
120-128 E9.3 Jy F100um ?=0.000E+00 IRAS 100mu flux
129 I1 --- q_F12um IRAS 12um flux quality flag
130 I1 --- q_F25um IRAS 25um flux quality flag
131 I1 --- q_F60um IRAS 60um flux quality flag
132 I1 --- q_F100um IRAS 100um flux quality flag
133-141 E9.3 Jy FSIIIA *SPIRIT III Band A flux density estimate
142-150 E9.3 Jy FSIIIB1 *SPIRIT III Band B1 flux density estimate
151-159 E9.3 Jy FSIIIB2 *SPIRIT III Band B2 flux density estimate
160-168 E9.3 Jy FSIIIC *SPIRIT III Band C flux density estimate
169-177 E9.3 Jy FSIIID *SPIRIT III Band D flux density estimate
178-186 E9.3 Jy FSIIIE *SPIRIT III Band E flux density estimate
187-195 E9.3 Jy F12umEst Estimated IRAS 12 micron flux
196-199 F4.1 um Lam1 *? Wavelength of CIO observation
200-208 E9.3 Jy Flux1 *? Corresponding Flux of CIO observation
209-212 F4.1 um Lam2 *? Wavelength of CIO observation
213-221 E9.3 Jy Flux2 *? Corresponding Flux of CIO observation
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Note on AsID:
F FK5, Cat. I/149
f FK5 Extension, Cat. I/175
A ACRS, Cat. I/171
N PPM, Cat. I/146
S PPM South, Cat. I/193
Note on IrID:
P IRAS Point Source Catalog, Cat. II/125
F IRAS Faint Source Catalog, Cat. II/156
B Combined PSC/FSC data, Cat. II/125 and Cat. II/156
Z IRAS Faint Source Reject
S IRAS Serendiptious Survey, Cat. II/126
C Catalog of IR Observations, Cat. II/209
Note on Sp:
Coded spectral type, e.g. G83 = G8 III; G80 = G8
Note on Lam1, Lam2, Flux1, Flux2:
These values were originally embedded in the IRAS Fxxum columns.
Note on FSIIIA, FSIIIB1, FSIIIB2, FSIIIC, FSIIID, FSIIIE:
the wavelength domains are specified by the central wavelength
(isophotal wavelength) and the FWHM wavelength range (in µm):
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Band Center FWHM Points
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A 8.28 6.8 - 10.8
B1 4.29 4.22 - 4.36
B2 4.25 4.24 - 4.45
C 12.13 11.1 - 13.2
D 14.65 13.5 - 15.9
E 21.34 18.2 - 25.1
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History:
* 06-Nov-1996: AAS CD-ROM series, Volume 7, 1996, Lee Brotzman [ADS]
* 04-Dec-1997: Wavelength + fluxes from CIO disentangled from IRAS fluxes
(End) Francois Ochsenbein [CDS] 04-Dec-1997