II. User's Guide to the 2MASS All-Sky Data Release
3. Extended Source Catalog (XSC)
d. General Properties
i. Extended Source Spatial Coverage
The spatial coverage of extended sources is limited by the presence of
foreground
stars. Bright stars block out large halo and long diffraction spike areas
(see below). The coverage area is computed for each Atlas Image
for each band. The typical high |glat| coverage (during the absence of very
bright stars) is >98%, thus representing very good spatial coverage overall.
An example of the coverage for a 2MASS scan is given below.
Data
The XSC spatial coverage maps are available for download
here:
Extended Source Spatial Coverage Maps.
All-Sky Coverage Map Previews
The following images show the XSC coverage for 59731 2MASS 6° scans.
Each pixel represents the coverage in a single Atlas Image, i.e.,
8.5´×17´.
Figure 1 shows the all-sky Aitoff
projection of the XSC coverage in equatorial coordinates.
The color stretch is such that white
corresponds to the best coverage (100%) and black to no coverage at all
(0%); refer to the color "wedge."
The top panel shows the J-band coverage, and the bottom panel shows the
Ks-band coverage (and equatorial coordinate grid).
Figures 2-5 show J-band coverage only, in right ascension sections.
Figure 2 shows the tangent projection
of 0h to 6h.
Figure 3 shows the Tangent Projection
of 6hr to 12hr.
Figure 4 shows the Tangent Projection of
12hr to 18hr.
Figure 5 shows the Tangent Projection of 18hr to 24hr.
Finally,
Figure 6 shows the all-sky Aitoff
projection of the XSC in galactic coordinates.
The top panel shows 0° < glon < 180°,
the bottom panel shows 180° < glon < 360°.
Example of Spatial Coverage for a 2MASS Scan
Table 1 lists the spatial coverage for the
southern hemisphere
2MASS scan ("044") observed 2000 April 22. The coordinates refer to the
center of the Atlas Image, size 512´´ × 1024´´.
The mean coverage per Atlas Image is specified
by "fj" (J-band coverage), "fH" (H-band), and "fK" (Ks-band), normalized to
unity.
Example of the Coverage Toward Scorpious (Antares)
Figure 7 shows the J-band coverage toward
Scorpius and Antares,
where Antares is circled in green. The projection and coordinates are
galactic.
The coverage toward the 2MASS Atlas Image
which includes the supergiant Antares is 9.7%, 13.3%, and 25.2% for J, H and
Ks,
respectively (i.e., nearly all of the Atlas Image is masked from the extended
source pipeline; see example of masking below).
 |
| Figure 7 |
Example of Bright Star Masking
A few examples of GALWORKS "coverage" maps, i.e.,
masked regions, are shown in Figures 8-15 below.
Masked areas are due to bright stars,
their artifacts, bad pixels and low coverage areas
(usually edges). The masks (right panel images) are coded
as:
0 == nominal
1 == bright star halo/strip
2 == bright star artifacts (persistence, glints & spikes)
3 == bad pixels
9 == edge or low coverage areas.
(Note: the small masked "circles" are due to persistence
ghosts and glints, as given by the MAPCOR purge flags.)
 |
 |
| Figure 8 | Figure 9 |
 |
 |
| Figure 10 | Figure 11 |
 |
 |
| Figure 12 | Figure 13 |
 |
 |
| Figure 14 | Figure 15 |
PIXPHOT & GALWORKS Coverage
Figure 16 shows an example of a full GALWORKS coverage cube.
The top three panels
show the GALWORKS masking for J, H and Ks, respectively, of
the Abell 3558 field (J-band Atlas Image), shown in
Figure 17. The bottom three panels show the corresponding
PIXPHOT coverage for J, H and Ks, respectively. The darkest
greyscales
correspond to a maximum coverage of 7. The typical coverage is 6.
The lighter greyscales correspond to 5 and less coverages.
 |
| Figure 16 |
 |
| Figure 17 |
[Last Updated: 2003 Feb 25; by T. Jarrett]
Return to Section II.3.
