The RMS Survey: Mid-Infrared Observations of Candidate Massive YSOs in the Southern Hemisphere

TL;DR

This paper presents high-resolution mid-infrared imaging of 346 candidate massive young stellar objects from the RMS survey in the Southern Hemisphere, aiding in their identification and characterization.

Contribution

The study provides detailed 10.4 micron imaging data for a large sample of MYSO candidates, improving positional accuracy and helping distinguish true YSOs from contaminants.

Findings

Resolved contaminant objects like UCHII regions and PNe.

Identified YSOs near UCHII regions and multiple sources.

Enhanced astrometric accuracy over previous surveys.

Abstract

Abridged abstract: The Red MSX Source (RMS) survey is an ongoing effort to return a large, well-selected sample of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) within our Galaxy. A series of ground-based follow-up observations are being undertaken in order to remove contaminant objects from our list of 2000 candidates, and to begin characterising these MYSOs. As a part of these follow-up observations, high resolution (~1") mid-IR imaging aids the identification of contaminant objects which are resolved (UCHII regions, PN) as opposed to those which are unresolved (YSOs, evolved stars) as well as identifying YSOs near UCHII regions and other multiple sources. We present 10.4 micron imaging observations for 346 candidate MYSOs in the RMS survey in the Southern Hemisphere, primarily outside the region covered by the GLIMPSE Spitzer Legacy Survey. These were obtained using TIMMI2 on the ESO 3.6m telescope in La Silla, Chile. Our photometric accuracy is of order 0.05Jy, and our astrometric accuracy is 0.8", which is an improvement over the nominal 2" accuracy of the MSX PSC.