2MASS ( eng. Two Micron All-Sky Survey ) - an overview of the entire sky at a wavelength of two microns . An infrared survey of the sky, carried out in 1997 - 2001 using two telescopes in the northern hemisphere ( Whipple Observatory , Arizona ) and southern ( Chile ).
Prior to the 2MASS survey, a similar study was conducted in 1969 ( Two Micron Sky Survey ), with the survey investigated 70% of the sky and identified about 5,700 sources of infrared radiation. Since then, the manufacturing technology of infrared sensors has been significantly improved, as a result of which it has become possible to register radiation sources 100 million times weaker.
The main objectives of this review were to:
- Search for galaxies in the sky hidden by our galaxy from observation in the range of visible light .
- Search for brown dwarfs .
- A systematic search for small mass stars , the most typical representatives of the galaxy population, but due to the low luminosity inaccessible to observation in the visible light range.
- Cataloging all found objects.
As a result of the review, more than 300 million objects were cataloged. In 2003, it was reported [1] about the discovery, as a result of analysis of the obtained data, of a dwarf galaxy in the constellation Canis Major , one of the closest satellite moons of the Milky Way .
Survey data is freely available.
See also
- Sloan Digital Sky View
Notes
- β Astronomers find nearest galaxy to the Milky Way (inaccessible link) . Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg (November 4, 2003). Date of treatment September 24, 2009. Archived November 6, 2003.