Serendipitous 2MASS Discoveries Near the Galactic Plane: A Spiral Galaxy and Two Globular Clusters Robert L. Hurt, Tom H. Jarrett, J. Davy Kirkpatrick, Roc M. Cutri Infrared Processing & Analysis Center, MS 100-22, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91125 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Stephen E. Schneider, Mike Skrutskie Astronomy Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 [email protected], [email protected] Willem van Driel United Scientifique Nançay, Obs. de Paris–Meudon, Meudon Cedex, CA 92195, France [email protected] Abstract We present the basic properties of three objects near the Galactic Plane—a large galaxy and two candidate globular clusters—discovered in the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) dataset. All were noted during spot-checks of the data during 2MASS quality assurance reviews. The galaxy is a late-type spiral galaxy (Sc–Sd), ~11 Mpc distant, at l = 236.82°, b = -1.86°. From its observed angular extent of 6.3' in the near infrared, we estimate an extinction-corrected optical diameter of ~9.5', making it larger than most Messier galaxies. The candidate globular clusters are ~2–3’ in extent and are hidden optically behind foreground extinctions of Av ~18–21 mag at l ~ 10°, b ~ 0°. These chance discoveries were not the result of any kind of systematic search but they do hint at the wealth of obscured sources of all kinds, many previously unknown, that are in the 2MASS dataset. Key words: galaxies: photometry—galaxies: spiral—(Galaxy:) globular clusters: general—surveys—infrared radiation 1. Introduction The Milky Way Galaxy is both a source for and an obstacle to astronomical study. The dust found in the plane of the Milky Way forms a veil that obscures our view of more distant sources at visible wavelengths. In extragalactic astronomy the region near the Galactic Plane suffering from this obscuration has been dubbed the Zone of Avoidance (ZoA) due to the systematic incompleteness of galaxy catalogs here. The high extinctions in the ZoA also affect Galactic astronomy as well, since the most distant objects within the Milky Way are as severely extincted as extragalactic sources. The Galactic dust clouds are less of an obstacle at longer wavelengths, becoming increasingly transparent in the infrared and radio. Extensive surveys in the mid-infrared through radio regimes have uncovered a wealth of sources hidden to optical astronomy within the Milky Way and beyond. For example, dust-rich galaxies brighter than 1–2 Jy at 60 µm are evident in the IRAS Fig. 1.—Near Infrared Color Composite of a galaxy and two dataset at virtually all Galactic latitudes while globulars. The 2MASS galaxy 2MASXI J0730080-220105 hydrogen-rich galaxies within the ZoA have been is shown in panel (a) while 2MASS-GC01 and 2MASS- identified by 21-cm surveys (e.g. the Dwingeloo GC02 are in panels (b) and (c). The J, H, & Ks bands have Obscured Galaxies Survey and the Parkes been mapped onto blue, red, and green channels, multibeam survey; Henning et al. 1998; Henning et respectively. Image resolutions are 1"/pixel and all three images are at the same size scale. A scale reference bar, 3' in al. 2000). Such surveys trace a variety of emission length, appears in panel (a). processes including warm dust, atomic/molecular gas content, and thermal/nonthermal electron al. 2000) that produces astrometrically and radiation, but are not specifically sensitive to photometrically calibrated Atlas Images (512x1024 emissions of stellar photospheres. In extragalactic pixels at 1"/pixel) in the three survey passbands. It astronomy these limitations select against inactive also extracts catalogs of point and extended sources and gas-poor galaxies (including ellipticals), while including positions and fluxes. The 10:1 signal-to- in Galactic work, multitudes of stars and clusters are noise limits for the point and extended source hidden behind the dust. catalogs are J ≤ 15.8, H ≤ 15.1, and K ≤ 14.3 mag ≤ ≤ ≤s An effective way to penetrate the ZoA to detect and J 15.0, H 14.2, and Ks 13.5 mag, obscured galaxies, star clusters, and other sources respectively. The final catalog is anticipated to dominated by stellar photospheric emission is to include ~300 million stars and ~2 million galaxies, a utilize surveys in the near infrared. Extinctions at K significant fraction of which will represent band are about 1/10th those in the optical so it is previously unseen and unknown sources. To date possible to probe much deeper into the ZoA by several hundred ZoA galaxies have been identified using infrared wavelengths. The advent of large in a systematic search of the region covered by the infrared arrays and increased data processing first incremental release of 2MASS data (Jarrett et capabilities have made possible sensitive near al, 2000a), and another large spiral galaxy has been infrared surveys that have high angular resolution found during data processing (Howard, 2000). By and can cover large areas, as with the Deep Near- the end of the survey, many thousands of new ZoA Infrared Southern Sky Survey (DENIS; Epchtein galaxies, as well as multitudes of obscured sources 1998), or the entire sky, as with the Two Micron All within our own Galaxy, should appear in the final Sky Survey (2MASS; Skrutskie et al. 1997). catalog. 2MASS is a ground-based all-sky survey that is We present in this paper three intriguing objects imaging the entire sky in three near infrared bands at discovered in the 2MASS dataset: a large spiral galaxy and two candidate globular clusters (see Fig. J (1.25 µm), H (1.65 µm), and Ks (2.17 µm). Survey data are reduced in an automated pipeline (Cutri et 1). The new galaxy lies in a region with Galactic V- band extinctions of AV ~ 4 mag (see Table 1) and 2 Table 1 Galactic Extinction Estimates Extinctions Source V J H KS 2MASXI J0730080-220105 IRAS/COBEa 4.9 1.3 0.81 0.49 HIb 4.1 1.1 0.67 0.41 GC01 IRAS/COBEa 71.6 19.6 11.7 7.2 2MASS 20±2 5.0±0.5 3.0±0.3 1.8±0.2 GC02 IRAS/COBEa 37.6 10.3 6.2 3.8 2MASS 18±2 4.5±0.5 2.7±0.3 1.7±0.2 aValues derived from extinction maps from combined IRAS and DIRBE datasets (Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis 1998). Extinctions are for entire line-of-sight through the Galactic Plane and are thus upper limits to the foreground extinctions for GC01 & GC02. bValues derived from HI column densities and HI/dust ratios (Hartmann & Burton 1997; Bohlin, Savage, & Drake 1978). HI estimates are unreliable for GC01/GC02 region due to optical depth saturation through dense columns close to the Galactic Center (derived Av’s are only 6–8 mag). was independently discovered in the HI Parkes both the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database Shallow Survey of the Southern Zone of Avoidance (NED)1 and SIMBAD2 at the time of discovery (Henning, et al. 2000). The globulars are in regions turned up no published references to this source. of much higher extinction (Av ~ 20 mag) and have Prior optical discovery was unlikely since Digitized not appeared in previously-published catalogs. Each Sky Survey plate for this region shows only a very object of interest was noted by eye during visual faint nebulosity that would be easily overlooked in spot-checks of a small subset of Atlas Images (Cutri any but the most extreme image stretches. This et al. 2000) chosen from each night's production run. galaxy has been independently identified and Such quality checks of 2MASS production results published as part of the HI Parkes Shallow Survey are used to help identify possible problems in the as HIZSS 012 (Henning et al. 2000). The only other data reliability (clouds, electronic glitches, airplane extragalactic sources found in NED within 1° of trails, etc.), but occasionally uncover objects of 2MX 0730-2201 are CGMW 2-0931 (12.4' away) scientific interest as well. and ZOAG G237.32-01.28 (45.3' away), both of which are near small (diameter < 30"), extended 2. The New Galaxy 2MASS detections. No other potential companion The new galaxy presented here is noteworthy due extragalactic sources of significant size within a 1° both to its proximity and large angular size. It was radius are noted in the 2MASS Extended Source first identified in 2MASS data in the fall of 1998 Catalog. during pipeline processing (Cutri et al. 2000) of Northern Hemisphere observations from the night of 2.1. 2MASS Photometric Properties 3 May, 1998. The source was automatically Near infrared properties for this newly discovered extracted by the extended source subsystem (Jarrett galaxy are derived from analysis of the Atlas Images et al. 2000b) but was recognized as particularly in this highly crowded field (see Fig. 1a). 2MASS significant during a quality spot-check of because of pipeline processing produces mutually registered J, its obvious extent of several arcminutes and H, Ks Atlas Images, about 8.5' wide, interpolated morphology consistent with a late-type spiral onto a 1"/pixel grid. The galaxy nucleus is about 1.4' galaxy. It appears in the extended source catalog for the Second Incremental Data Release as source 1 The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is operated 2MASXI J0730080-220105, following established by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of 2MASS naming convention. For convenience in this Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and paper we will employ a shortened version of the Space Administration. official designation: 2MX 0730-2201.