THE COBE DIRBE POINT SOURCE CATALOG AND DIRBE LIGHT CURVES OF VARIABLE STARS

The COBE DIRBE Point Source Catalog is based on data from the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) instrument on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Satellite. This Catalog is an all-sky catalog containing infrared photometry in 10 bands from 1.25 microns to 240 microns for 11,788 of the brightest near and mid-infrared point sources in the sky. Since DIRBE had excellent temporal coverage (100 - 1900 independent measurements per object during the 10 month cryogenic mission), the Catalog also contains information about variability at each wavelength, including amplitudes of variation observed during the mission. Since the DIRBE spatial resolution is relatively poor (0.7 degrees), we have carefully investigated the question of confusion, and have flagged sources with infrared-bright companions within the DIRBE beam. In addition, we filtered the DIRBE light curves for data points affected by companions outside of the main DIRBE beam but within the `sky' portion of the scan. At high Galactic latitudes (|b| > 5 degrees), the Catalog contains essentially all of the unconfused sources with flux densities greater than 90, 60, 60, 50, 90, and 165 Jy at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5, 4.9, 12, and 25 microns, respectively, corresponding to magnitude limits of approximately 3.1, 2.6, 1.7, 1.3, -1.3, and -3.5. At longer wavelengths and in the Galactic Plane, the completeness is less certain because of the large DIRBE beam and possible contributions from extended emission. The Catalog also contains the names of the sources in other catalogs, their spectral types, variability types, and whether or not the sources are known OH/IR stars.

To search the DIRBE Point Source Catalog on-line using Vizier, click here. In Vizier, select `COBE' from the `Mission' column and `Find Catalogues.' Then select `DIRBE Photometry and Variability' and 'Query selected Tables'. The 2MASS/IRAS/MSX photometry, the companion information, and the DIRBE Catalog associations are also available.

The DIRBE Catalog Explanatory Supplement has been published as:

  • The COBE DIRBE Point Source Catalog
    B. J. Smith, S. D. Price, and R. I. Baker (2004), Ap J. S., 154, 673.

    • The explanatory paper is available as a single large postscript file here.

    Here are the data files:

    ReadMe file for Table 1

    Table 1: The Catalog itself

    ReadMe file for Table 4

    Table 4: 2MASS/IRAS/MSX Photometry for DIRBE Catalog Sources

    ReadMe file for Table 5

    Table 5: Companion Information

    ReadMe file for Table 8

    Table 8: Association Information

    Additional publications which investigate the DIRBE infrared light curves of stars include:

  • 3.6 Years of DIRBE Near-Infrared Stellar Light Curves
    S. D. Price, B. J. Smith, T. A. Kuchar, D. R. Mizuno, and K. E. Kraemer (2010), ApJS, 190, 203
  • Warm Era COBE DIRBE Infrared Light Curves of Dusty Evolved Stars
    B. J. Smith and S. D. Price (2009), Proceedings of the `Biggest, Baddest, Coolest Stars' Conference, ASP Conference Series, 412, 247
  • Phase Lags in the Optical-Infrared Light Curves of AGB Stars
    B. J. Smith, S. D. Price, and A. J. Moffett (2006), A. J., 131, 612.
  • Infrared Colors and Variability of Evolved Stars from COBE DIRBE Data
    B. J. Smith (2003), A. J., 126, 935.
  • Infrared Light Curves of Mira Variable Stars from COBE DIRBE Data
    B. J. Smith, D. Leisawitz, M. W. Castelaz, and D. Luttermoser (2002), A. J., 123, 948.

    • To return to Beverly Smith's web page, click here.

    Last updated: 10/6/10