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Published April 1, 2009 | Published
Journal Article Open

GALEX–SDSS catalogs for statistical studies

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's (GALEX) photometric catalogs with special focus on the statistical properties of the All-sky and Medium Imaging Surveys. We introduce the concept of primaries to resolve the issue of multiple detections and follow a geometric approach to define clean catalogs with well understood selection functions. We cross-identify the GALEX sources (GR2+3) with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; DR6) observations, which indirectly provides an invaluable insight into the astrometric model of the UV sources and allows us to revise the band merging strategy. We derive the formal description of the GALEX footprints as well as their intersections with the SDSS coverage along with analytic calculations of their areal coverage. The crossmatch catalogs are made available for the public. We conclude by illustrating the implementation of typical selection criteria in SQL for catalog subsets geared toward statistical analyses, e.g., correlation and luminosity function studies.

Additional Information

© 2009. The American Astronomical Society. Received 2008 August 14; accepted 2009 January 5; published 2009 March 24. GALEX is a NASA Small Explorer. We acknowledge NASA's support for construction, operation, and science analysis for the GALEX mission, developed in cooperation with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales of France and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. This research has made use of data obtained from and software provided by the US National Virtual Observatory, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. T.B. gratefully acknowledges support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation via GBMF 554.

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August 21, 2023
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