1998ApJ...509..309C -
Astrophys. J., 509, 309-323 (1998/December-2)
A search for peculiar objects with the NASA orbital debris observatory 3 meter liquid mirror telescope.
CABANAC R.A., BORRA E.F. and BEAUCHEMIN M.
Abstract (from CDS):
The NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (NODO) astronomical survey uses a transit 3 m liquid mirror telescope to observe a strip of sky in 20 narrowband filters. In this article, we analyze a subset of data from the 1996 observing season. The catalog consists of 18,000 objects with 10 < V < 19 observed in 10 narrowband filters ranging from 500 to 950 nm. We first demonstrate the reliability of the data by fitting the Bahcall-Soneira model of the Galaxy to the NODO magnitude counts and color counts at various Galactic latitudes. We then perform a hierarchical clustering analysis on the sample to extract 206 objects, out of a total of 18,000, showing peculiar spectral energy distributions. It is a measure of the reliability of the instrument that we extract so few peculiar objects. Although the data and results, per se, may not seem otherwise particularly remarkable, this work constitutes a milestone in optical astronomy, since this is the first article that demonstrates astronomical research with a radically new type of mirror.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
Stars: Statistics - Surveys - telescope
VizieR on-line data:
<Available at CDS (J/ApJ/509/309): table3.dat>
Nomenclature:
Table 3: [CBB98] NNN (Nos 1-206).
Simbad objects:
206
View the references in ADS