2006/03/16 by Catherine Buchanan, Catherine L. Buchanan, Buchanan, Catherine L. +18
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0603443
4 pages, 4 figures, uses ASP style file. To appear in the proceedings of "The Spitzer Science Center 2005 Conference: Infrared Diagnostics of Galaxy Evolution", held in Pasadena, November 2005
arxiv created 2006/03/16 · openalex publication_date 2006/03/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have produced an atlas of Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) spectra of\nmass-losing, evolved stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. These stars were\nselected to have high mass-loss rates and so contribute significantly to the\nreturn of processed materials to the ISM. Our high-quality spectra enable the\ndetermination of the chemistry of the circumstellar envelope from the mid-IR\nspectral features and continuum. We have classified the spectral types of the\nstars and show that the spectral types separate clearly in infrared color-color\ndiagrams constructed from 2MASS data and synthetic IRAC/MIPS fluxes derived\nfrom our IRS spectra. We present diagnostics to identify and classify evolved\nstars in nearby galaxies with high confidence levels using Spitzer and 2MASS\nphotometry. Comparison of the spectral classes determined using IRS data with\nthe IR types assigned based on NIR colors also revealed a significant number of\nmisclassifications and enabled us to refine the NIR color criteria resulting in\nmore accurate NIR color classifications of dust-enshrouded objects.\n