An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

An astronomical → survey conducted from 1997 to 2001 of the entire sky in near-infrared J, H, and K bands (wavelengths 1.25, 1.65, and 2.17 microns respectively).
The aim was to detect and characterize point sources brighter than about 1 → mJy in each band, with → signal-to-noise ratio
greater than 10, using a pixel size of 2".0. Two automated 1.3-m telescopes were used, one at Mt. Hopkins, AZ, and one at CTIO, Chile. 2MASS is currently producing the following data products:

1. A digital atlas of the sky comprising approximately 4 million 8’ × 16’ images, having about 4" spatial resolution in each of the wavelength bands.

2. A point source catalog containing accurate positions and fluxes for 300 million stars and other unresolved objects.

3. An extended source catalog containing positions and total magnitudes for more than 1,000,000 galaxies and nebulae.

See also: → two; → micron; → all-sky survey.