SEGUE-2: Old Milky Way Stars Near and Far

  • Constance M. Rockosi
  • , Young Sun Lee
  • , Heather L. Morrison
  • , Brian Yanny
  • , Jennifer A. Johnson
  • , Sara Lucatello
  • , Jennifer Sobeck
  • , Timothy C. Beers
  • , Carlos Allende Prieto
  • , Deokkeun An
  • , Dmitry Bizyaev
  • , Michael R. Blanton
  • , Luca Casagrande
  • , Daniel J. Eisenstein
  • , Andrew Gould
  • , James E. Gunn
  • , Paul Harding
  • , Inese I. Ivans
  • , H. R. Jacobson
  • , William Janesh
  • Gillian R. Knapp, Juna A. Kollmeier, Sébastien Lépine, Martín López-Corredoira, Zhibo Ma, Heidi J. Newberg, Kaike Pan, Jakub Prchlik, Conor Sayers, Katharine J. Schlesinger, Jennifer Simmerer, David H. Weinberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration 2 (SEGUE-2) obtained 128,288 low-resolution spectra (R ∼1800) of 118,958 unique stars in the first year of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (2008-2009). SEGUE-2 targeted prioritized distant halo tracers (blue horizontal-branch stars, K giants, and M giants) and metal-poor or kinematically hot populations. The main goal of SEGUE-2 was to target stars in the distant halo and measure their kinematics and chemical abundances to learn about the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. We present the SEGUE-2 field placement and target selection strategies. We discuss the success rate of the targeting based on the SEGUE-2 spectra and other spectroscopic and astrometric surveys. We describe the final SEGUE-2/SDSS-III improvements to the stellar parameter determinations based on the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. We report a (g - i) color-effective temperature relation calibrated to the IRFM. We evaluate the accuracy and uncertainties associated with these stellar parameters by comparing with fundamental parameters, a sample of high-resolution spectra of SEGUE stars analyzed homogeneously, stars in well-studied clusters, and stars observed in common by the APOGEE survey. The final SEGUE spectra, calibration data, and derived parameters described here were released in SDSS-III Data Release 9 and continue to be included in all subsequent SDSS Data Releases. Because of its faint limiting magnitude and emphasis on the distant halo, the public SEGUE-2 data remain an important resource for the spectroscopy of stars in the Milky Way.

Original languageEnglish
Article number60
JournalAstrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Volume259
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2022

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