The 2MASS Second Incremental Data Release covers ~47% of the
sky. The Extended Source Catalog (XSC) contains
585,056 sources which are resolved with respect to the
observed 2MASS point spread function. The Catalog sources were
selected to have the following properties:
Users are recommended to review the
Cautionary Notes for the XSC in Section
I.6.c for known features of and problems
in the Catalog.
Approximately 90% of XSC sources are galaxies (particularly as measured with
the G_score). Approximately ~2-5% of the catalog are non-galaxies in
low confusion areas, consisting of either double stars or artifacts
(e.g., pieces of bright stars). The following plots illustrate
some of the basic properties of the XSC. An image gallery is given at
the end of this page. More information on the algorithms, derived
parameters, and the catalog/database, can be found in Section
IV.5.
Figure 1 shows the sky distribution of
sources in the Second Incremental Release XSC. The map shows the
density of XSC sources averaged in 30' bins in a galactic aitoff projection,
with an equatorial coordinate grid overlaid.
Figure 2 shows the fractional distribution of
2MASS XSC sources with galactic latitude. Note that the source counts are
not normalized by the areal coverage.
Figure 3 shows representative
differential extended source counts from low stellar confusion fields,
<1000 stars
deg-2 brighter than mag=14 at Ks. The error bars
represent sqrt(N) uncertainty measures. The sources comprise a total areal
coverage of ~2350 square degrees. Most of the area is free of known nearby
clusters (redshift z < 0.1), but a small percentage does include the
Abell 262 cluster in Perseus and the outer fringes of the Virgo cluster. For
comparison, deep but narrow-field counts from
Glazebrook et al.
(1994, MNRAS, 266, 65), denoted with a dotted line, and
Gardner et al. (1997, ApJ, 480, L99), denoted with "+" symbols, are shown.
b. XSC Catalog Selection Criteria:
c. General Properties
Figure 1 | Figure 2 | Figure 3 |
Figure 4 is the color-color distribution for extended sources located within low stellar confusion fields, <1000 stars deg-2 brighter than mag=14 at Ks. Galaxies are indicated by symbols coded according to the J-Ks SNR. The magenta solid line denote the main sequence locus (giants diverge as the magenta dashed line at larger J-H). The cyan dashed line and triangle points denote the K-correction curve for a spiral galaxy (no evolution), where each triangle represents 0.1 in redshift (z).
Figure 5 is the color-color distribution for extended sources located within moderate stellar confusion fields, 1200 - 4000 stars deg-2 brighter than mag=14 at Ks.
Figure 6 is the color-color distribution for extended sources located within moderate stellar confusion fields, >4000 stars deg-2 brighter than mag=14 at Ks. Extinction from obscuring dust in the Milky Way is a significant reddening component. Approximately half of the sources are double or triple star clusterings.
Figure 4 | Figure 5 | Figure 6 |
Figure 7 shows the angular size of extended sources as
a function of Ks. The top panel shows the size distribution
(in arcsec) of the semi-major axis radius corresponding to the best fit
ellipse of the 20 mag arcsec-2 Ks-band isophote. The
minimum radius corresponds to 7´´ (horizontal dashed line). The
middle panel shows the size distribution of the semi-major axis radius
corresponding to the best fit ellipse of the 21 mag arcsec-2 J-band
isophote. The bottom panel shows the semi-major axis radius corresponding to
the 3 Ks-band isophote,
corresponding to roughly 18.8 mag arcsec-2 surface brightness.
The minimum 3 radius is ~5´´.
Note: for the 3 distribution, only about
half of the sources are plotted.
e. Size Distribution
Figure 7 |
Figure 8: Examples of large 2MASS Virgo galaxies as seen in composite JHKs.
Each image is 101´´ in angular size, the maximum size for 2MASS
extended source "postage-stamp" images. Reading left to right: (top panel)
Messier 100, Messier 98, NGC 4340, NGC 4189; (bottom panel) NGC 4305,
NGC 4344, IC 769, NGC 4165.
Figure 13: Galactic extended sources. JHKs three-color images of
H II regions (upper panel), clusters and nebulosity (middle panel; far right
image corresponds to a piece of the Crab Nebula), reflection nebulae and young
stellar objects (bottom panel).
f. Relevant Images
Figure 9: Bright 2MASS galaxies as seen in the Ks-band.
The sequence is arranged in order of integrated Ks-band flux,
reading left to right. 1st panel: Ks mags range from 9 to 10.5; 2nd panel: 10.5 to 11.0; 3rd panel: 11.0 to 11.6; 4th panel: 11.6 to 12.1;
5th panel: 12.1 to 12.3; 6th panel: 12.3 to 12.6; last panel: 12.6 to 12.9.
Each image is 60´´ in angular width.
Figure 10: 2MASS galaxies at the Ks-band sensitivity requirement limit,
Ks~13.5 mag. The sequence is arranged in order of integrated
Ks-band flux, reading left to right. 1st panel: Ks mags
range from 13 to 13.1; 2nd panel: 13.1 to 13.3; 3rd panel: 13.3 to 13.4;
last panel:13.4 to 13.5. Each image is 30´´ in angular width.
Figure 11:
Galaxies found in the Galactic Plane (approx coords: 240°,
+4.5°), corresponding to a density of 4500 stars deg-2
brighter than Ks mag=14. The sequence is arranged in order of
integrated Ks-band flux, ranging from 11.8 to 13.8 mag (reading left
to right). The upper row corresponds to the J-band postage stamp image; middle
row, the H-band; and, bottom row, the Ks-band images. Each image is
50´´ in angular width.
Figure 12:
Galaxies found near the Galactic Center bulge (approx coords: 12°,
+5.0°), corresponding to a density of 30,000 stars deg-2
brighter than Ks mag=14. The sequence is arranged in order of
integrated Ks-band flux, ranging from 11.0 to 12.7 mag (reading left
to right). The upper row corresponds to the J-band postage stamp image; the
middle row, the H-band; and, the bottom row, the Ks-band images.
Each image is 50´´ in angular width.
[Last Updated: 2000 March 6; by T. Jarrett and R. Cutri]
Previous page. Next page.
Return to Explanatory Supplement TOC Page.