Point Sources from a Spitzer/IRAC Survey of the Galactic Center

Published by NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Metadata Last Checked: October 30, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-09-10

Spitzer/IRAC observations of the central 2.0 deg by 1.4 deg (~ 280 pc by 200 pc) of the Galaxy were obtained at 3.6-8.0 microns in Cycle 1 (GO 3677, PI: Stolovy). These data represent the highest spatial resolution (~2 arcsec) and sensitivity uniform large-scale map made to date of the Galactic Center at mid-infrared wavelengths.A point source catalog of 1,065,565 objects was obtained. The catalog includes magnitudes for the point sources at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 microns, as well as JHK photometry from 2MASS. The point source catalog is confusion limited with average limits of 12.4, 12.1, 11.7, and 11.2 magnitudes for [3.6], [4.5], [5.8], and [8.0], respectively. The confusion limits are spatially variable because of stellar surface density, background surface brightness level, and extinction variations across the survey region. More details about the point source catalog can be found at Ramirez et al. 2008.

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Complete Metadata

bureauCode	[ "026:00" ]
identifier	ivo://irsa.ipac/spitzer/catalog/galcenpsc
landingPage	https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008ApJS..175..147R/abstract
programCode	[ "026:000" ]
theme	[ "Astrophysics" ]