Browsing by Author "Covey, Kevin R."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    A Young, Low-density Stellar Stream in the Milky Way Disk: Theia 456
    (2022) Andrews, Jeff J.; Curtis, Jason L.; Chaname, Julio; Agueros, Marcel A.; Schuler, Simon C.; Kounkel, Marina; Covey, Kevin R.
    Our view of the variety of stellar structures pervading the local Milky Way has been transformed by the application of clustering algorithms to the Gaia catalog. In particular, several stellar streams have been recently discovered that are comprised of hundreds to thousands of stars and span several hundred parsecs. We analyze one such structure, Theia 456, a low-density stellar stream extending nearly 200 pc and 20 degrees across the sky. By supplementing Gaia astrometric data with spectroscopic metallicities from Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope and photometric rotation periods from the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, we establish Theia 456's radial velocity coherence, and we find strong evidence that members of Theia 456 have a common age (similar or equal to 175 Myr), common dynamical origin, and formed from chemically homogeneous prestellar material ([Fe/H] = -0.07 dex). Unlike well-known stellar streams in the Milky Way, which are in its halo, Theia 456 is firmly part of the thin disk. If our conclusions about Theia 456 can be applied to even a small fraction of the remaining similar or equal to 8300 independent structures in the Theia catalog, such low-density stellar streams may be ubiquitous. We comment on the implications this has for the nature of star formation throughout the Galaxy.
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    Final Targeting Strategy for the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2S Survey
    (2021) Santana, Felipe A.; Beaton, Rachael L.; Covey, Kevin R.; O'Connell, Julia E.; Longa-Pena, Penelope; Cohen, Roger; Fernandez-Trincado, Jose G.; Hayes, Christian R.; Zasowski, Gail; Sobeck, Jennifer S.; Majewski, Steven R.; Chojnowski, S. D.; De Lee, Nathan; Oelkers, Ryan J.; Stringfellow, Guy S.; Almeida, Andres; Anguiano, Borja; Donor, John; Frinchaboy, Peter M.; Hasselquist, Sten; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Kollmeier, Juna A.; Nidever, David L.; Price-Whelan, Adrian M.; Rojas-Arriagada, Alvaro; Schultheis, Mathias; Shetrone, Matthew; Simon, Joshua D.; Aerts, Conny; Borissova, Jura; Drout, Maria R.; Geisler, Doug; Law, C. Y.; Medina, Nicolas; Minniti, Dante; Monachesi, Antonela; Munoz, Ricardo R.; Poleski, Radoslaw; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre; Schlaufman, Kevin C.; Stutz, Amelia M.; Teske, Johanna; Tkachenko, Andrew; Van Saders, Jennifer L.; Weinberger, Alycia J.; Zoccali, Manuela
    APOGEE is a high-resolution (R similar to 22,000), near-infrared, multi-epoch, spectroscopic survey of the Milky Way. The second generation of the APOGEE project, APOGEE-2, includes an expansion of the survey to the Southern Hemisphere called APOGEE-2S. This expansion enabled APOGEE to perform a fully panoramic mapping of all of the main regions of the Milky Way; in particular, by operating in the H band, APOGEE is uniquely able to probe the dust-hidden inner regions of the Milky Way that are best accessed from the Southern Hemisphere. In this paper we present the targeting strategy of APOGEE-2S, with special attention to documenting modifications to the original, previously published plan. The motivation for these changes is explained as well as an assessment of their effectiveness in achieving their intended scientific objective. In anticipation of this being the last paper detailing APOGEE targeting, we present an accounting of all such information complete through the end of the APOGEE-2S project; this includes several main survey programs dedicated to exploration of major stellar populations and regions of the Milky Way, as well as a full list of programs contributing to the APOGEE database through allocations of observing time by the Chilean National Time Allocation Committee and the Carnegie Institution for Science. This work was presented along with a companion article, Beaton et al. (2021), presenting the final target selection strategy adopted for APOGEE-2 in the Northern Hemisphere.
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    Final Targeting Strategy for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 North Survey
    (2021) Beaton, Rachael L.; Oelkers, Ryan J.; Hayes, Christian R.; Covey, Kevin R.; Chojnowski, S. D.; De Lee, Nathan; Sobeck, Jennifer S.; Majewski, Steven R.; Cohen, Roger E.; Fernandez-Trincado, Jose; Longa-Pena, Penelope; O'Connell, Julia E.; Santana, Felipe A.; Stringfellow, Guy S.; Zasowski, Gail; Aerts, Conny; Anguiano, Borja; Bender, Chad; Canas, Caleb I.; Cunha, Katia; Donor, John; Fleming, Scott W.; Frinchaboy, Peter M.; Feuillet, Diane; Harding, Paul; Hasselquist, Sten; Holtzman, Jon A.; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Kollmeier, Juna A.; Kounkel, Marina; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Price-Whelan, Adrian. M.; Rojas-Arriagada, Alvaro; Roman-Zuniga, Carlos; Schlafly, Edward F.; Schultheis, Mathias; Shetrone, Matthew; Simon, Joshua D.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Stutz, Amelia M.; Tayar, Jamie; Teske, Johanna; Tkachenko, Andrew; Troup, Nicholas; Albareti, Franco D.; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Bovy, Jo; Burgasser, Adam J.; Comparat, Johan; Downes, Juan Jose; Geisler, Doug; Inno, Laura; Manchado, Arturo; Ness, Melissa K.; Pinsonneault, Marc H.; Prada, Francisco; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre; Simonian, Gregory V. A.; Smith, Verne V.; Yan, Renbin; Zamora, Olga
    The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is a dual-hemisphere, near-infrared (NIR), spectroscopic survey with the goal of producing a chemodynamical mapping of the Milky Way. The targeting for APOGEE-2 is complex and has evolved with time. In this paper, we present the updates and additions to the initial targeting strategy for APOGEE-2N presented in Zasowski et al. (2017). These modifications come in two implementation modes: (i) "Ancillary Science Programs" competitively awarded to Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV PIs through proposal calls in 2015 and 2017 for the pursuit of new scientific avenues outside the main survey, and (ii) an effective 1.5 yr expansion of the survey, known as the Bright Time Extension (BTX), made possible through accrued efficiency gains over the first years of the APOGEE-2N project. For the 23 distinct ancillary programs, we provide descriptions of the scientific aims, target selection, and how to identify these targets within the APOGEE-2 sample. The BTX permitted changes to the main survey strategy, the inclusion of new programs in response to scientific discoveries or to exploit major new data sets not available at the outset of the survey design, and expansions of existing programs to enhance their scientific success and reach. After describing the motivations, implementation, and assessment of these programs, we also leave a summary of lessons learned from nearly a decade of APOGEE-1 and APOGEE-2 survey operations. A companion paper, F. Santana et al. (submitted; AAS29036), provides a complementary presentation of targeting modifications relevant to APOGEE-2 operations in the Southern Hemisphere.
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    Forty-four new and known M-dwarf multiples in the SDSS-III/APOGEE M-dwarf ancillary science sample
    (2018) Skinner, Jacob; Covey, Kevin R.; Bender, Chad F.; Rivera, Noah; De Lee, Nathan; Souto, Diogo; Chojnowski, Drew; Troup, Nicholas; Badenes, Carles; Minniti, D.; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Blake, Cullen H.
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    RR Lyrae Stars Belonging to the Candidate Globular Cluster Patchick 99
    (2024) Butler, Evan; Kunder, Andrea; Prudil, Zdenek; Covey, Kevin R.; Ball, Macy; Campos, Carlos; Gollnick, Kaylen; Carvajal, Julio Olivares; Hughes, Joanne; Devine, Kathryn; Johnson, Christian I.; Vivas, A. Katherina; Rich, R. Michael; Joyce, Meridith; Simion, Iulia T.; Marchetti, Tommaso; Koch-Hansen, Andreas J.; Clarkson, William I.; Kuss, Rebekah
    Patchick 99 is a candidate globular cluster located in the direction of the Galactic bulge, with a proper motion almost identical to the field and extreme field star contamination. A recent analysis suggests it is a low-luminosity globular cluster with a population of RR Lyrae stars. We present new spectra of stars in and around Patchick 99, targeting specifically the three RR Lyrae stars associated with the cluster as well as the other RR Lyrae stars in the field. A sample of 53 giant stars selected from proper motions and a position on the color-magnitude diagram are also observed. The three RR Lyrae stars associated with the cluster have similar radial velocities and distances, and two of the targeted giants also have radial velocities in this velocity regime and [Fe/H] metallicities that are slightly more metal-poor than the field. Therefore, if Patchick 99 is a bona fide globular cluster, it would have a radial velocity of -92 +/- 10 km s-1, a distance of 6.7 +/- 0.4 kpc (as determined from the RR Lyrae stars), and an orbit that confines it to the inner bulge.