WMAPPTSRC - WMAP 5-Year Point Source Catalog

Overview

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is designed to produce all-sky maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. The WMAP 5-Year Point Source Catalog contained herein has information on points sources in five frequency bands from 23 to 94 GHz, based on data from the first 5 years of the WMAP sky survey. The technique used in the first-year and three-year analyses now finds 390 point sources, and the five-year source catalog is complete for regions of the sky away from the Galactic plane to a 2 Jy limit, with SNR > 4.7 in all bands in the least covered parts of the sky. The noise at high frequencies is still mainly radiometer noise, but at low frequencies the CMB anisotropy is the largest uncertainty. A separate search of CMB-free V-W maps finds 99 sources (not included in this HEASARC table, notice), of which all but one can be identified with known radio sources. The sources seen by WMAP are not strongly polarized. Many of the WMAP sources show significant variability from year to year, with more than a 2:1 range between the minimum and maximum fluxes.

Catalog Bibcode

2009ApJS..180..283W

References

Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Observations: Source Catalog

   Wright, E.L., Chen, X., Odegard, N., Bennett, C.L., Hill, R.S., Hinshaw, G.,
   Jarosik, N., Komatsu, E., Nolta, M.R., Page, L., Spergel, D.N.,
   Weiland, J.L., Wollack, E., Dunkley, J., Gold, B., Halpern, M.,
   Kogut, A., Larson, D., Limon, M., Meyer, S.S., Tucker, G.S.
  <Astrophys. J. Suppl., 180, 283-295 (2009)>
  =2009ApJS..180..283W

Provenance

This table was created by the HEASARC in April 2009 based on an electronic version of Table 1 obtained from the authors. There are some differences in parameter values compared to the version published on the ApJ web site, primarily involving the level of precision of some of the parameters.

HEASARC Implementation

The HEASARC has converted all flux densities from the Jy units given in the original table into the mJy units which it uses in its tables for radio- and mm-band flux densities. The HEASARC also changed source_flags values of 'V' to 'y' to avoid confusion with source_flags values of 'v'.

Parameters

Name
The name of the point source using the IAU-style position-based source designation, e.g., 'WMAP JHHMM+DDMM'.

RA
The Right Ascension of the WMAP source in the selected equinox. The RA was given in J2000.0 coordinates to a precision of 0.1 seconds of time in the original table. The WMAP source position uncertainty is 4 arcminutes.

Dec
The Declination of the WMAP source in the selected equinox. The Dec was given in J2000.0 coordinates to a precision of 1 arcsecond in the original table. The WMAP source position uncertainty is 4 arcminutes.

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the WMAP source.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the WMAP source.

Flux_23_GHz
The K-band (22.5 GHz) flux density of the WMAP source, in mJy. The flux densities were specified to a precision of 0.1 Jy (100 mJy) in the original table.

Flux_23_GHz_Error
The uncertainty in the K-band (22.5 GHz) flux density, in mJy.

Flux_33_GHz
The Ka-band (32.8 GHz) flux density of the WMAP source, in mJy. The flux densities were specified to a precision of 0.1 Jy (100 mJy) in the original table.

Flux_33_GHz_Error
The uncertainty in the Ka-band (32.8 GHz) flux density, in mJy.

Flux_41_GHz
The Q-band (40.4 GHz) flux density of the WMAP source, in mJy. The flux densities were specified to a precision of 0.1 Jy (100 mJy) in the original table.

Flux_41_GHz_Error
The uncertainty in the Q-band (40.4 GHz) flux density, in mJy.

Flux_61_GHz
The V-band (60.2 GHz) flux density of the WMAP source, in mJy. The flux densities were specified to a precision of 0.1 Jy (100 mJy) in the original table.

Flux_61_GHz_Error
The uncertainty in the V-band (60.2 GHz) flux density, in mJy.

Flux_94_GHz
The W-band (93.0 GHz) flux density of the WMAP source, in mJy. The flux densities were specified to a precision of 0.1 Jy (100 mJy) in the original table.

Flux_94_GHz_Error
The uncertainty in the W-band (93.0 GHz) flux density, in mJy.

Alt_Name_5_GHz
The 5-GHz counterpart source identification. The authors have cross-correlated detected sources with the GB6, PMN, and Kuehr et al. (1981, A&AS, 45, 367) catalogs to identify 5-GHz counterparts. If a 5-GHz source was within 11 arcminutes of the WMAP source position (the WMAP source position uncertainty is 4 arcminutes), the authors tagged the WMAP source. When more than one source lies within the cutoff radius, the brightest one was assumed to be the WMAP counterpart.

YR1_Source_Number
The First Year Catalog source identification number. In the first-year catalog, source ID numbers were assigned on the basis of position (sorted by galactic longitude). Now, rather than assigning new numbers to the newly detected sources, wthe authors recommend that WMAP sources be referred to by their position-based names (see above), but, for reference, the first-year source ID is given in this parameter.

Spectral_Index
The spectral index of the source in the WMAP bands.

Spectral_Index_Error
The uncertainty in the spectral index of the source in the WMAP bands.

Source_Flags
This parameter contains flags [abcdefvy] indicating various notes concerning specified sources, as follows:

      a     Indicates the source has multiple possible identifications.
      b     Source WMAP J0322-3711 (Fornax A) is extended, and the fluxes listed
            were obtained by aperture photometry.
      c     Source WMAP J0519-0539 is a blend of the Lynds Bright Nebulae LBN
            207.65-23.11 and LBN 207.29-22.66.
      d     Source WMAP J1356+7647 is outside of the declination range of the GB6
            and PMN catalogs. Identified as QSO NVSS J135755+764320 by S. A.
            Trushkin (2006, private communication).
      e     Source WMAP J1633+8226 is outside of the declination range of the GB6
            and PMN catalogs. It was identified as NGC 6251 by Trushkin (2003,
            BSAO N. Caucasus, 55, 90).
      f     Source WMAP J1657+4754 is identified as QSO GB6 J1658+4737 by S. A.
            Trushkin (2006, private communication). Offset from the WMAP position
            is 18.1 arcminutes.
      v     Probable variable: chi-squared > 37.6
      y     Variable: chi-squared > 100 (indicated by 'V' in the ApJS table)

Contact Person

Questions regarding the WMAPPTSRC database table can be addressed to the HEASARC User Hotline.

Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Thursday, 09-Apr-2009 15:33:43 EDT

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