The All-Sky Catalog of Isolated Galaxies selected from 2MASS

Abstract

We undertook searches for isolated galaxies based on automatic selection of infrared sources from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) followed by a visual inspection of their surrounding. Using a modified criterion by Karachentseva (1973), we compiled a catalog of 3227 isolated galaxies (2MIG) containing 6% of 2MASS Extended Sources (2MASX) brighter than $K_s=12^m$ with angular diameters $a_K \geq 30\arcsec$. The most isolated 2493 galaxies among them enter in the 2MASS Very Isolated Galaxy Catalog, 2MVIG. Being situated in the regions of extremely low mass density, the 2MVIG galaxies can serve as a reference sample for investigation the influence of environment on structure and evolution of galaxies.

arXiv comment4 pages, 4 figures, Galaxies in Isolation Conference