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A Model of the 8–25 μm Point Source Infrared Sky

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2017

Richard J. Wainscoat
Affiliation:
1NASA Ames Research Center Mail Stop 245–6 Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA 2SETI Institute 2035 Landings Drive Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
Martin Cohen
Affiliation:
3Jamieson Science and Engineering Inc. 5321 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite 204 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 USA 4Radio Astronomy Laboratory University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
Kevin Volk
Affiliation:
1NASA Ames Research Center Mail Stop 245–6 Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA 2SETI Institute 2035 Landings Drive Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
Helen J. Walker
Affiliation:
1NASA Ames Research Center Mail Stop 245–6 Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA 2SETI Institute 2035 Landings Drive Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
Deborah E. Schwartz
Affiliation:
1NASA Ames Research Center Mail Stop 245–6 Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA 2SETI Institute 2035 Landings Drive Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

Abstract

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We have constructed a detailed model for the infrared (IR) point source sky that comprises geometrically and physically realistic representations of the galactic disk, bulge, stellar halo, spiral arms (including the “local arm”), molecular ring, and the extragalactic sky. We represent each of the distinct galactic components by up to 87 types of galactic source, each fully characterized by scale heights, space densities, and absolute magnitudes at BVJHK, 12, and 25 μm, and a spectrum from the IRAS Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS). Our model has been guided by a parallel Monte Carlo simulation of the Galaxy at 12 μm. The content of our galactic source table constitutes an excellent match to the 12 μm luminosity function in the simulation, as well as to the luminosity functions at V and K. We are able to predict differential and cumulative IR source counts for any bandpass lying fully within the IRAS LRS range (7.7–22.7 μm) as well as for the IRAS 12 and 25 μm bands. These source counts match the IRAS observations extremely well. The model can be used to predict the character of the point source sky expected for observations from future IR space experiments (e.g., ISO, SIRTF, LDR).

Type
II. Galactic Background Starlight from UV to IR: Observations and Models
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1990 

References

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