Stellar evolution in the outer Galaxy

Ryszard Szczerba, Natasza Siódmiak, Aleksandra Leśniewska, Agata Karska, Marta Sewiło

Published 2016-03-03Version 1

We investigate the distribution of different classes of spectroscopically identified sources and theoretical models in the color-color diagrams (CCDs) combining the near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) data to develop a method to classify Outer Galaxy sources detected with the Spitzer Space Telescope (hereafter Spitzer) SMOG survey in the IRAC 3.6 and 8.0 micrometer and MIPS 24 micrometer bands. We supplement the Spitzer data with the NIR data from the 2MASS and UKIDSS (JHKs) surveys, as well as with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) at 12 and 22 micrometers and AKARI (9 and 18 micrometers) MIR surveys. The main goal of our study is to discover and characterise the population of intermediate- and low-mass young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Outer Galaxy and use it to study star formation in a significantly different environment than the Galaxy inside the solar circle. Since the YSOs can be confused with evolved stars in the MIR, these classes of objects need to be carefully separated. Here we present the initial results of our analysis using the Ks-[8.0] vs. Ks-[24] CCD as an example. The evolved stars separated from YSOs in the YSO selection process will be investigated in detail in the follow-up study.