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Paper: Statistical Properties of Galactic Carbon Stars Based on 2MASS
Volume: 378, Why Galaxies Care About AGB Stars: Their Importance as Actors and Probes
Page: 293
Authors: Eglitis, I.; Dzervitis, U.
Abstract: In the 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources, 6620 carbon stars have been identified. The distribution of their color indices has been investigated and compared with M–type stars. It is concluded that for (J −K)o < 1.7 mag, the color indices of carbon stars overlap with G–, K–, and M–type stars, but that stars with (J − K)o > 2.2 mag are practically all carbon stars. Taking a fixed luminosity MK = −8.1 mag for N–type stars and MK = −2 mag for warm carbon stars, interstellar reddening and distances have been determined. The distribution of carbon stars in the Galactic plane shows some resemblance to a spiral pattern corresponding to the one drawn for young stars and Galactic clusters, but on a global scale it is highly asymmetric due to the influence of local dust clouds on the limits of the various surveys. The vertical scale height zo was found for N–type stars and for warm carbon stars to be 0.39 and 1.2 kpc, respectively.
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