2006/10/10 by Timothy C. Beers, Tiago Almeida, Tiago Hendrigo de Almeida +4 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Blue straggler #Galaxy #Halo #Horizontal branch #Metallicity #Milky Way #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Proper motion #Star cluster #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/509921
Accepted for publication in the ApJS. Submission is 27 pages, including 3 figures and 5 tables. Note that the full catalog listing (Tables 3 and 4) will appear in the ApJS in electronic form only. These are also available by request from the first author
arxiv created 2006/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2007/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present coordinates and available photometric information (either from previous or recent broadband UBV observations, and near-infrared photometry from the 2MASS Point Source Catalog) for 12,056 stars (11,516 of which are unique) identified in the HK Survey of Beers and colleagues as candidate field horizontal-branch or A-type stars. These stars, in the apparent magnitude range 10 ≤ B ≤ 16.0, were selected using an objective-prism/interference-filter survey technique. The availability of 2MASS information permits assembly of a cleaned version of this catalog, comprising likely blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars or blue stragglers in the color interval [-0.2 ≤ ( B - V ) 0 ≤ +0.2], which are of particular interest for investigation of the structure, kinematics, and dynamics of the thick disk and inner halo of the Milky Way, the total mass and mass profile of the Galaxy, and as potential foreground/background objects in efforts to bracket distances to high-velocity clouds of H I. A comparison of the stars classified as high-likelihood BHB candidates with previous classifications based on UBV photometry and medium-resolution spectroscopy indicates that this class contains 78% correct identifications.