IRAS Point Source Catalog

This is a catalog of 245,889 well-confirmed point sources, i.e., sources with angular extents less than approximately 0.5', 0.5', 1.0', and 2.0' in the in-scan direction at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns, respectively. Positions, flux densities, uncertainties, associations with known astronomical objects and various cautionary flags are given for each object. While two other complementary data sets - the Working Survey Database and the Point Source Reject Catalog - give information about point-like sources, the information available in the Point Source Catalog should satisfy almost all users. Away from confused regions of the sky, the survey is complete to about 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 1.0 Jy at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns (cf. Faint Source Catalog). Typical position uncertainties are about 2" to 6" in-scan and about 8" to 16" cross-scan. The processing steps applied to detect and confirm point sources, and the positional and photometric error analyses are described in the Explanatory Supplement. The sources appear in order of increasing (1950.0) right ascension.

Note: This catalog is also available on the NSSDC Selected Astronomical Catalogs, Volume 1 CD-ROM.

Reference:
Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) Catalogs and Atlases, vol. 1, Explanatory Supplement, 1988, ed. C. Beichman, et al., NASA RP-1190 (Washington, DC: GPO)

Version and release date: 2.1, 1989 July 25

IRAS Point Source Catalog Format

Explanation of Color Correction