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VISION - Vienna survey in Orion I. VISTA Orion A Survey
- Source :
- NASA Astrophysics Data System
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- arXiv, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Orion A hosts the nearest massive star factory, thus offering a unique opportunity to resolve the processes connected with the formation of both low- and high-mass stars. Here we present the most detailed and sensitive near-infrared (NIR) observations of the entire molecular cloud to date. With the unique combination of high image quality, survey coverage, and sensitivity, our NIR survey of Orion A aims at establishing a solid empirical foundation for further studies of this important cloud. In this first paper we present the observations, data reduction, and source catalog generation. To demonstrate the data quality, we present a first application of our catalog to estimate the number of stars currently forming inside Orion A and to verify the existence of a more evolved young foreground population. We used the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) to survey the entire Orion A molecular cloud in the NIR $J, H$, and $K_S$ bands, covering a total of $\sim$18.3 deg$^2$. We implemented all data reduction recipes independently of the ESO pipeline. Estimates of the young populations toward Orion A are derived via the $K_S$-band luminosity function. Our catalog (799995 sources) increases the source counts compared to the Two Micron All Sky Survey by about an order of magnitude. The 90% completeness limits are 20.4, 19.9, and 19.0 mag in $J, H$, and $K_S$, respectively. The reduced images have 20% better resolution on average compared to pipeline products. We find between 2300 and 3000 embedded objects in Orion A and confirm that there is an extended foreground population above the Galactic field, in agreement with previous work. The Orion A VISTA catalog represents the most detailed NIR view of the nearest massive star-forming region and provides a fundamental basis for future studies of star formation processes toward Orion.<br />Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, high-quality version available at http://homepage.univie.ac.at/stefan.meingast/vision.pdf
- Subjects :
- media_common.quotation_subject
Population
FOS: Physical sciences
Astrophysics
01 natural sciences
Observatory
pre-main sequence [Stars]
0103 physical sciences
image processing [Techniques]
QB Astronomy
Source counts
data analysis [Methods]
education
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
formation [Stars]
QC
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
QB
Luminosity function (astronomy)
media_common
Physics
education.field_of_study
010308 nuclear & particles physics
Star formation
Molecular cloud
DAS
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Stars
QC Physics
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science
Sky
Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- NASA Astrophysics Data System
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f81b2778f58a5b1a60bdcf87d11b783e
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1601.01687