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Title:
Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample
Authors:
Strauss, Michael A.; Weinberg, David H.; Lupton, Robert H.; Narayanan, Vijay K.; Annis, James; Bernardi, Mariangela; Blanton, Michael; Burles, Scott; Connolly, A. J.; Dalcanton, Julianne; Doi, Mamoru; Eisenstein, Daniel; Frieman, Joshua A.; Fukugita, Masataka; Gunn, James E.; Ivezić, Željko; Kent, Stephen; Kim, Rita S. J.; Knapp, G. R.; Kron, Richard G.; Munn, Jeffrey A.; Newberg, Heidi Jo; Nichol, R. C.; Okamura, Sadanori; Quinn, Thomas R.; Richmond, Michael W.; Schlegel, David J.; Shimasaku, Kazuhiro; SubbaRao, Mark; Szalay, Alexander S.; Vanden Berk, Dan; Vogeley, Michael S.; Yanny, Brian; Yasuda, Naoki; York, Donald G.; Zehavi, Idit
Affiliation:
AA(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), AB(Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210.; Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.), AC(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), AD(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), AE(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.), AF(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.), AG(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.), AH(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.), AI(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.), AJ(Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195.), AK(Institute of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015, Japan.; Research Center for the Early Universe, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 181-0033, Japan.), AL(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.; Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721.; Hubble Fellow.), AM(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.), AN(Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.; Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwa, Kashiwa City, Chiba 277-8582, Japan.), AO(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), AP(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), AQ(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.), AR(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21218.), AS(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), AT(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.), AU(US Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station, P.O. Box 1149, Flagstaff, AZ 86002-1149.), AV(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.; Department of Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SC1C25, Troy, NY 12180.), AW(Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232.), AX(Research Center for the Early Universe, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 181-0033, Japan.; Department of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 181-0033, Japan.), AY(Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195.), AZ(Department of Physics, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603.), BA(Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544.), BB(Research Center for the Early Universe, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 181-0033, Japan.; Department of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 181-0033, Japan.), BC(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.), BD(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21218.), BE(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.), BF(Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.), BG(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.), BH(National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.), BI(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.), BJ(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510.; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.)
Publication:
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 124, Issue 3, pp. 1810-1824. (AJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
09/2002
Origin:
UCP
AJ Keywords:
Galaxies: Distances and Redshifts, Galaxies: Photometry, Surveys
DOI:
10.1086/342343
Bibliographic Code:
2002AJ....124.1810S

Abstract

We describe the algorithm that selects the main sample of galaxies for spectroscopy in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) from the photometric data obtained by the imaging survey. Galaxy photometric properties are measured using the Petrosian magnitude system, which measures flux in apertures determined by the shape of the surface brightness profile. The metric aperture used is essentially independent of cosmological surface brightness dimming, foreground extinction, sky brightness, and the galaxy central surface brightness. The main galaxy sample consists of galaxies with r-band Petrosian magnitudes r<=17.77 and r-band Petrosian half-light surface brightnesses μ50<=24.5 mag arcsec-2. These cuts select about 90 galaxy targets per square degree, with a median redshift of 0.104. We carry out a number of tests to show that (1) our star-galaxy separation criterion is effective at eliminating nearly all stellar contamination while removing almost no genuine galaxies, (2) the fraction of galaxies eliminated by our surface brightness cut is very small (~0.1%), (3) the completeness of the sample is high, exceeding 99%, and (4) the reproducibility of target selection based on repeated imaging scans is consistent with the expected random photometric errors. The main cause of incompleteness is blending with saturated stars, which becomes more significant for brighter, larger galaxies. The SDSS spectra are of high enough signal-to-noise ratio (S/N>4 per pixel) that essentially all targeted galaxies (99.9%) yield a reliable redshift (i.e., with statistical error less than 30 km s-1). About 6% of galaxies that satisfy the selection criteria are not observed because they have a companion closer than the 55" minimum separation of spectroscopic fibers, but these galaxies can be accounted for in statistical analyses of clustering or galaxy properties. The uniformity and completeness of the galaxy sample make it ideal for studies of large-scale structure and the characteristics of the galaxy population in the local universe.
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