Bibcode
DOI
Beers, Timothy C.; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Wilhelm, Ronald; Yanny, Brian; Newberg, Heidi
Referencia bibliográfica
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, Volume 21, Issue 2, pp. 207-211.
Fecha de publicación:
0
2004
Número de citas
17
Número de citas referidas
13
Descripción
Although the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) was primarily envisioned as
a tool for understanding the nature of the `high redshift' universe,
significant discoveries have already been made at lower redshift, z~0,
through studies of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. We have begun to
explore the nature of the Milky Way by detailed investigation of the
publicly accessible SDSS archive, using spectroscopically targeted stars
of special interest (e.g. field horizontal-branch stars, carbon-enhanced
stars, and F- and G-type turnoff stars), as well as the stars originally
selected as photometric and reddening standards. The first step is to
use the SDSS data (which includes independently calibrated five-band
photometry and spectrophotometry of individual stars) to derive reliable
estimates of the stellar physical parameters, such as T eff,
logg, and [Fe/H], for stars that have been observed to date. Of
particular interest, at present, are the stars that are apparently
associated with the Monoceros Stream (also known as the SDSS `Ring
around the Galaxy'), for which we report derived metallicities. The
techniques we have developed for derivation of the physical parameters
for these stars are presently being applied to other stars in the SDSS
database, including the Early Data Release (EDR), as well as the first
official public database, DR-1. Here we report on the progress made to
date, and comment on what might be explored in the near future from a
dedicated extension of the SDSS survey (SEGUE) that specifically targets
stars in the Milky Way.