The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 M Dwarf Spectroscopic Catalog

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive spectroscopic catalog of over 70,000 M dwarfs from SDSS DR7, including spectral, metallicity, and kinematic data, enabling detailed studies of stellar activity and Galactic structure.

Contribution

The paper provides the first large, visually inspected spectroscopic catalog of M dwarfs with detailed spectral, metallicity, and kinematic measurements from SDSS DR7.

Findings

Catalog contains 70,841 M dwarfs with spectral classifications.

Includes measurements of molecular bandheads and emission lines.

Provides metallicity and 3D space motions for most stars.

Abstract

We present a spectroscopic catalog of 70,841 visually inspected M dwarfs from the seventh data release (DR7) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). For each spectrum, we provide measurements of the spectral type, a number of molecular bandheads, and the H-alpha, H-beta, H-gamma, H-delta and Ca II K emission lines. In addition, we calculate the metallicity-sensitive parameter zeta and 3D space motions for most of the stars in the sample. Our catalog is cross-matched to Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) infrared data, and contains photometric distances for each star. Future studies will use these data to thoroughly examine magnetic activity and kinematics in late-type M dwarfs and examine the chemical and dynamical history of the local Milky Way.