TY - JOUR
T1 - The stellar content of the Hamburg/ESO survey III. Field horizontal-branch stars in the Galaxy
AU - Christlieb, N.
AU - Beers, T. C.
AU - Thom, C.
AU - Wilhelm, R.
AU - Rossi, S.
AU - Flynn, C.
AU - Wisotzki, L.
AU - Reimers, D.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - We present a sample of 8321 candidate Field Horizontal-Branch (FHB) stars selected by automatic spectral classification in the digital data base of the Hamburg/ESO objective-prism survey. The stars are distributed over 8225 square degrees of the southern sky, at |b| ≳ 30 deg. The average distance of the sample, assuming that they are all FHB stars, is 9.8 kpc, and distances of up to ∼30kpc are reached. Moderate-resolution spectroscopic follow-up observations and UBV photometry of 125 test sample stars demonstrate that the contamination of the full candidate sample with main-sequence A-type stars is <16%, while it would be up to 50% in a flux-limited sample at high galactic latitudes. Hence more than ∼6800 of our FHB candidates are expected to be genuine FHB stars. The candidates are being used as distance probes for high-velocity clouds and for studies of the structure and kinematics of the Galactic halo.
AB - We present a sample of 8321 candidate Field Horizontal-Branch (FHB) stars selected by automatic spectral classification in the digital data base of the Hamburg/ESO objective-prism survey. The stars are distributed over 8225 square degrees of the southern sky, at |b| ≳ 30 deg. The average distance of the sample, assuming that they are all FHB stars, is 9.8 kpc, and distances of up to ∼30kpc are reached. Moderate-resolution spectroscopic follow-up observations and UBV photometry of 125 test sample stars demonstrate that the contamination of the full candidate sample with main-sequence A-type stars is <16%, while it would be up to 50% in a flux-limited sample at high galactic latitudes. Hence more than ∼6800 of our FHB candidates are expected to be genuine FHB stars. The candidates are being used as distance probes for high-velocity clouds and for studies of the structure and kinematics of the Galactic halo.
KW - Galaxy: halo
KW - Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics
KW - Methods: statistical
KW - Stars: horizontal-branch
KW - Surveys
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U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361:20041830
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361:20041830
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:13844299265
SN - 0004-6361
VL - 431
SP - 143
EP - 148
JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics
IS - 1
ER -