Systematic identification of IRAS point sources

Abstract

A large scale program was initiated to identify IRAS point sources. At ROE the ideal facilities are at hand to undertake such a large program, viz. the rapid scanning capabilities of the COSMOS measuring machine to exploit the depth and resolution of the U.K. Schmidt Telescope J survey plates. Sources in 44 Schmidt plate areas were identified including 1300 sources and covering 1100 square degrees. The identification comprise 700 galaxy identifications and 600 stellar identifications. There are also about 40 sources with no obvious identification but which can be most easily explained by cirrus, confusion between two sources or sources just outside the 2 sigma error box. A major aim with the galaxy identification is to provide a data base from which sound statistical analyses can be made. Accurate blue magnitudes and morphological classifications for each identification were produced.