Year: 2003
Type: article
Abstract: We present a method for the photometric selection of metal-poor halo giants from the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). These stars are offset from the stellar locus in the g-r versus u-g color-color diagram. Based on a sample of 29 candidates for which spectra were taken, we derive a selection efficiency of the order of 50% for stars brighter than r ~ 17 mag. The candidates selected in 400 deg 2 of sky from the SDSS Early Data Release trace the known halo structures (tidal streams from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy), indicating that such a color-selected sample can be used to study the halo structure even without spectroscopic information. This method, and supplemental techniques for selecting halo stars, such as RR Lyrae stars and other blue horizontal-branch stars, can produce an unprecedented three-dimensional map of the Galactic halo based on the SDSS imaging survey.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/367536
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Princeton University, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, New Mexico State University, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, U.S. Naval Observatory, Fermilab, Los Alamos National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W2098596302