The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)

Michael F. Skrutskie(University of Massachusetts Amherst), R. M. Cutri(California Institute of Technology), R. Stiening(University of Massachusetts Amherst), Martin D. Weinberg(University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Schneider(University of Massachusetts Amherst), John M. Carpenter(California Institute of Technology), Charles Beichman(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), R. W. Capps(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), T. J. Chester(California Institute of Technology), J. H. Elias(Kitt Peak National Observatory), J. P. Huchra(Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian), James Liebert(University of Arizona), C. J. Lonsdale(California Institute of Technology), D. G. Monet(United States Naval Observatory), S. Price(Hanscom Air Force Base), Patrick Seitzer(University of Michigan), T. H. Jarrett(California Institute of Technology), J. Davy Kirkpatrick(California Institute of Technology), John E. Gizis(University of Massachusetts Amherst), Eric Howard(University of Massachusetts Amherst), T. Evans(California Institute of Technology), J. W. Fowler(California Institute of Technology), L. Fullmer(California Institute of Technology), Robert L. Hurt(California Institute of Technology), R. M. Light(California Institute of Technology), E. L. Kopan(California Institute of Technology), K. A. Marsh(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), H. McCallon(California Institute of Technology), Raymond Tam(California Institute of Technology), Schuyler D. Van Dyk(California Institute of Technology), S. Wheelock(California Institute of Technology)
The Astronomical Journal
January 24, 2006
10.1086/498708
Cited by 12,123Open Access
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Abstract

Between 1997 June and 2001 February the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) collected 25.4 Tbytes of raw imaging data covering 99.998% of the celestial sphere in the near-infrared J (1.25 μm), H (1.65 μm), and Ks (2.16 μm) bandpasses. Observations were conducted from two dedicated 1.3 m diameter telescopes located at Mount Hopkins, Arizona, and Cerro Tololo, Chile. The 7.8 s of integration time accumulated for each point on the sky and strict quality control yielded a 10 σ point-source detection level of better than 15.8, 15.1, and 14.3 mag at the J, H, and Ks bands, respectively, for virtually the entire sky. Bright source extractions have 1 σ photometric uncertainty of <0.03 mag and astrometric accuracy of order 100 mas. Calibration offsets between any two points in the sky are <0.02 mag. The 2MASS All-Sky Data Release includes 4.1 million compressed FITS images covering the entire sky, 471 million source extractions in a Point Source Catalog, and 1.6 million objects identified as extended in an Extended Source Catalog.

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