MSX versus IRAS Two-Color Diagrams and the CSE-Sequence of Oxygen-Rich Late-Type Stars

Abstract

We present MSX two-color diagrams that can be used to characterize circumstellar environments of sources with good quality MSX colors in terms of IRAS color regions for oxygen-rich stars. With these diagrams we aim to provide a new tool that can be used to study circumstellar environments and to improve detection rates for targeted surveys for circumstellar maser emission similar to the IRAS two-color diagram. This new tool is especially useful for regions in the sky where IRAS was confused, in particular in the Galactic plane and bulge region. Unfortunately, using MSX colors alone does not allow to distinguish between carbon-rich and oxygen-rich objects. An application of this tool on 86 GHz SiO masers shows that for this type of masers an instantaneous detection rate of 60% to 80% can be achieved if target sources are selected according to MSX color (region). Our investigations may have revealed an error in the MSX point source catalog version 2.3. That is, the photometry of the 21.3 $\mu$m (MSX E filter) band for most weak 8.28 $\mu$m (or MSX A filter) band sources seems off by about a factor two (0.5--1 magnitude too bright).

accepted to Astrophysical Journal, 11 pages, 11 figs of which 1 in color

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• Kinematics of Red Variables in the Solar Neighborhood I. Basic Data Obtained by an SiO Maser Survey
• Carbon- and Oxygen-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars in the Bulge Asymmetries and Dynamical Evolution (BAaDE) survey
• Quasi-simultaneous 43 and 86 GHz SiO Maser Observations and Potential Bias in the BAaDE Survey Are Resolved
• Probing the 9.7μm Interstellar Silicate Extinction Profile through the Spitzer/IRS Spectroscopy of OB Stars
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• Ground Vibrational State SiO Emission in the VLA BAaDE Survey
• Infrared color separation between thin-shelled oxygen-rich and carbon-rich AGB stars
• Sustaining Star Formation in the Galactic Star Cluster M 36?
• Characterizing the Evolved Stellar Population in the Galactic Foreground I: Bolometric Magnitudes, Spatial Distribution and P-L Relations
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• 86 GHz SiO masers in Galactic Centre OH/IR stars
• Finding evolved stars in the inner Galactic disk with Gaia
• Maser, infrared and optical emission for late-type stars in the Galactic plane