1959Apj. . .130 . . 178W an INFRARED SURVEY of a REGION
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178W . AN INFRARED SURVEY OF A REGION IN AQUILA .130 . B. Westerlund* Warner and Swasey Observatory, Case Institute of Technology Received December 4, 1958; revised February 4, 1959 1959ApJ. ABSTRACT Spectral classes on the Case infrared system, infrared magnitudes, and red minus infrared colors for 478 red stars are presented. The limiting infrared magnitude of the survey is about 13.0. The data are believed to be complete to 12.25 for the early M stars and 12.75 for the late M stars. The search for M stars was carried out in three areas at galactic longitude 12° and latitudes —8°, — 6?5, and —5°, covering 2 square degrees each. The whole field covered by the plates, of about 20 square degrees, was searched for carbon stars. Only one was found. The surface distribution of the stars shows a latitude effect for the early and intermediate M stars which is hardly apparent for the late M stars. The red minus infrared colors show a marked reddening at 2.5 kpc from the sun but no additional reddening at larger distances. The present analysis deals with stars beyond this distance. A tentative density analysis has been made for the M2-M4 stars. I. INTRODUCTION The present investigation deals with a study of the relatively cool stars in a region in Aquila. The methods are identical with those used in the analysis of a region in Cygnus (Westerlund 1958; hereafter referred to as “Paper I”), with the exception that red minus infrared colors have been measured for this investigation. The fields primarily searched for red stars are three rectangles of 2 square degrees each within the region LF1 discussed for the determination of the luminosity function by McCuskey and Seyfert (1947) and McCuskey (1956). The observational data for the blue classification were given by McCuskey (1949). LF1 is centered at R.A. = 19h27m; Dec. = +6?9; / = 12°; £ = — 7Q (Lund pole). The three rectangles have their bases paral- lel to the galactic equator and the heights equal to Io. They are centered at ¿ = 12° and ¿> = —8° (region A), —6?5 (region B), and —5° (region C), respectively. In the whole area only one carbon star has been identified with certainty. The three rectangles contain a few stars suspected of S-type characteristics and several red variables. II. OBSERVATIONAL MATERIAL The study was carried out on red-sensitive 103a-E and infrared-sensitive I-N Kodak Spectroscopic plates. For spectral classification most of the I-N plates were hypersensi- tized as described in Paper I. Table 1 gives the data of the plates. In the last column “88A,” ‘W/’ and “89B” refer to Wratten filters and “RGl” to the Schott filter. All the plates were taken with the Schmidt telescope of the Warner and Swasey Observatory except U 70, which was taken with the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Mount Stromlo Observatory. The dispersion in the Uppsala Schmidt spectra is about 2200 A/mm at the A band, which makes it possible to follow the classification system of the 4° prism Case plates. III. APPARENT AND ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES: SPECTRAL CLASSIFICATION The red and infrared magnitude sequences were primarily based on 30 stars of spectral types B and A for which photographic (wPg) and red (wv) magnitudes had been deter- mined by McCuskey (1949). The method of Paper I was used to derive the infrared magnitudes (wir) and to correct for the differences between filters 88A and 89. * Now at Uppsala Southern Station, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, Australia. 178 © American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System 178W . INFRARED SURVEY 179 .130 . The red magnitude scale was extended to wpr =15 mag. by aid of one plate exposed with a neutral half-filter. It has been shown (Westerlund 1956) that filter constants may vary from one plate to the other and from one half of the plate to the other (Nassau 1959ApJ. and Burger 1946). Therefore, the extension was carried out for each half of the plate 1 by aid of the relation derived for that half for stars brighter than mpr = 13. The magnitudes of most of the stars are mean values from measurements on three plates. For most of the variables details are given in Table 6. The probable error of a single magnitude determination was found to be ±0.07 mag. in the infrared. The error in color for the catalogue stars is ± 0*07 mag. for stars brighter than miV = 12.0 mag. and ±0.10 mag. for the fainter ones. As the infrared TABLE 1 Data of the Plates Plate No. Exposure and Prism (minutes) Filter Spectral Plates 914-4.. 1947, June 18 2708-2, 1951, Aug. 10 3457-2, 1953, July 24 4268-4 1956, June 12 4273-4. 1956, July 29 4301-4. 1956, Sept. 2 7 U 70... 1957, July 18 Direct Plates 2996. 1952, May 29 89 3706. 1956, June 9 88A 3709. 1956, June 10 RG1 3710. 1956, June 10 RGl±neutral 3712. 1956, July 17 RG1 3715. 1956, July 17 88A absolute magnitudes of the early M stars, —3.0 mag. has been adopted and, for the late M stars, —4.0 mag., in agreement with Paper I. The spectral classification follows the Case system, referred to in Paper I. IV. THE INTRINSIC COLORS According to Kron and Smith (1951), the zero point of the Case red system (rar) does not deviate appreciably from their photoelectric system, R. The methods used for the determination of the zero points and the scales of the infrared magnitudes, Wir and /, respectively, are such as to make a fairly close agreement between the color indices wr — Wir and R — I likely. It therefore seems worthwhile to try to obtain the intrinsic colors (wr — Wir)o from the more accurate photoelectric measurements. For this the 1 Experience shows that the characteristic curves of the plates will be straight lines over a considerable magnitude interval when measured in a suitably set Haffner-type iris-diaphragm photometer. For the present red plates, straight lines could be expected to wpr = 16 mag. The extended magnitude scale gives a characteristic curve completely coinciding with the extrapolated line. This may be taken as a proof of the accuracy of the extension. © American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System 178W . 180 B. WESTERLUND .130 . value oí R — / is needed for unreddened bright stars. However, in the existing catalogues on the R, I system no measurements for M giants are available (Kron and Smith 1951; Kxon 1953; Kron and Gascoigne 1953; Kron, White, and Gascoigne 1953; Kron, Gas- 1959ApJ. coigne, and White 1957). In the six-color photometry (Stebbins and Whitford 1945; Stebbins and Kron 1956) red and infrared measures, R§ and /e, are available for a number of M giants. The colors {R — /)e can be reduced to — / by aid of the ÑPS stars in common to the two systems. The following relation has been used: R — I = 0.69 {R — I) 6+0.24 . The Mount Wilson spectral types used in the six-color photometry have been reduced to the Case system by aid of the relation given by Nassau and van Albada (1949). The mean colors for ordinary giant stars of classes M2, M3, M4, and M5 thus derived, (R — /)o, are given in Table 9, line 4. No consideration of eventual variations of the color within the range of the luminosity of the giant class has been taken, the only luminosity classification possible in the Case system being the separation of supergiants. An independent determination of the intrinsic colors (tnx — Wir)o of the M2-M5 stars is discussed in Section VII. V. THE CATALOGUE Tables 2, 3, and 4 give the data for all red stars identified in regions A, B, and C. The first column gives the number of the star for its identification on the charts (Figs, la, 1£, 1c) ; the second, the spectral type with the letter M omitted; the third, the infrared magnitude; the fourth, the red minus infrared color index. The stars are listed in order of galactic longitude. For the orientation of the charts a number of bright BD stars have been identified and marked (Table 5). Also, some stars common to both McCuskey’s catalogue (1949) and the present one are noted in the “Remarks” to the catalogue. The asterisks indicate new or earlier known variables (relisted in Table 6) ; the symbol f suspected variables of type M6.5 and earlier. VI. THE VARIABLES The whole field seems rich in variables and worth observing for spectral variations as well as magnitude and color variations over a longer period. At present the discussion is limited to the presentation of the available data for the stars known to be variables or suspected of variability according to the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (8 stars) and for 28 other stars showing pronounced variation in spectral type or magnitude (Table 6). Most stars of types M7 and later are certainly variables (cf. Paper I). VII. THE INTERSTELLAR ABSORPTION The total photographic absorption (APg) in LF1 amounts to 2.8 mag. at a distance from the sun of 2.5 kpc (McCuskey and Seyfert 1947; McCuskey 1956). With a ratio of total infrared absorption (Air) to the photographic of 3:8 we find Air = 1.05 mag. at that distance. Table 7 gives the observed distribution of the M2-M4, M5-M6.5, and M7-M10 stars for the three regions; N(m) = number of stars per square degree brighter than the magnitude miT. Figure 2 shows the corresponding cumulative Wolf diagrams for the M2-M4 stars.