 | |
| Alternative names | Two Micron All-Sky Survey |
|---|---|
| Website | www |
 Related media on Commons | |
TheTwo Micron All-Sky Survey, or2MASS, was anastronomical survey of the whole sky ininfrared light.[1] It took place between 1997 and 2001, in two different locations: at the U.S.Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, and at theCerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, each using a 1.3-meter telescope for theNorthern and Southern Hemisphere, respectively.[2] It was conducted in theshort-wavelength infrared at three distinctfrequency bands (J,H, andK) near 2micrometres, from which thephotometric survey with itsHgCdTe detectors derives its name.[1]
2MASS produced anastronomical catalog with over 300 million observedobjects, includingminor planets of the Solar System,brown dwarfs,low-mass stars,nebulae,star clusters andgalaxies. In addition, 1 million objects were cataloged in the2MASS Extended Source Catalog (2MASX). The cataloged objects are designated with a "2MASS" and "2MASX"-prefix respectively.
The final data release for 2MASS occurred in 2003,[3] and is served by theInfrared Science Archive. The goals of this survey included:
Numerical descriptions of point sources (stars,planets,asteroids) and extended sources (galaxies, nebulae) were cataloged by automated computer programs to an average limitingmagnitude of about 14. More than 300 millionpoint sources and 1 million extended sources were cataloged. In November 2003, a team of scientists announced the discovery of theCanis Major Dwarf Galaxy, at that time the closest known satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, based on analysis of 2MASS stellar data.
The resulting data and images from the survey are currently in thepublic domain, and may be accessed online for free by anyone.[7] There is also a list of 2MASS science publications with links to free pre-publication copies of the papers.[8]
2MASS is sponsored by theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, theInfrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC, run byJet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) andCaltech),NASA, and theNational Science Foundation (NSF).
| Photographic | |
|---|---|
| Infra-red | |
| Radio | |
| Spectroscopic |
|
