Bibcode
Beers, Timothy C.; Lee, Y. S.; Peruta, C.; Sivarani, T.; Allende Prieto, C.; Aoki, W.; Carollo, D.; SDSS
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #416.12; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.228
Advertised on:
1
2009
Citations
2
Refereed citations
2
Description
The first extension of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II), which
included the program SEGUE: Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding
and Exploration, ended in July, 2008. This effort has already produced
the largest sample of medium-resolution stellar spectra yet obtained.
These data are revolutionizing our understanding of the nature of the
stellar populations of the Milky Way, in particular that of the halo
populations.
The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP) has obtained estimates of
the atmospheric parameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) for more
than half of the spectra to date, totaling in excess of 200,000 stars
(not all stars observed in SDSS/SEGUE have colors that are amenable to
definitive determination of their atmospheric parameters). Here we
report on the distribution of stellar metallicity, [Fe/H], for stars in
the SDSS/SEGUE database with [Fe/H] < -2. This sample now exceeds
15,000 stars, more than triple the number of such stars discovered by
all previous surveys combined. We also comment on the prospects for
further increases in this sample in the near future, from the next
extension of SDSS (SDSS-III), now underway, which includes a full year
of SEGUE operation from July 2008 to July 2009, and additional "piggy
back” observations of stars taken during subsequent years.
This work was supported in part by grants PHY 02-16783 and PHY 08-22648:
Physics Frontiers Center / Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics
(JINA), awarded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.