Science with Astronomical Near-Infrared Sky Surveys : Proceedings of the Les Houches School, Centre De Physique Des Houches, Les Houches, France, 20–24 September, 1993

Outstanding progress in near-infrared detection technology and in real-time image processing has led astronomers to start undertaking all-sky surveys in the 1--2 mum range (project DENIS in Europe and 2MASS in the U.S.A.), surveys which will have a considerable impact in various areas of astronomy. This book gathers the contributions of more than 80 specialists involved in fields of interest as different as low mass stars, late stages of stellar evolution, star formation, stellar populations of the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, the local structure of the Universe, and observational cosmology. It describes the impact on these fields of the exhaustive data bases and catalogs of stars and galaxies that these surveys will provide. The considerable interest of these documents for the future of infrared space and ground-based projects and the complementarity with other currently ongoing or planned surveys in other spectral ranges are emphasized. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 DENIS: A Deep Near-Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky....Pages 3-9 The Two Micron All Sky Survey....Pages 11-17 The Influence of Crowding on Denis Point Source Detection Rates....Pages 19-22 Strategy of Denis Observations....Pages 23-24 First Results Obtained with Denis....Pages 25-26 Sloan Digital Sky Survey....Pages 27-30 The Guide Star Catalog and Related Sky Surveys....Pages 31-34 Infrared Space Borne Experiments To Study Galactic Structure....Pages 35-40 The Project “spice”....Pages 41-44 Edison — The International Infrared Space Observatory....Pages 45-48 Classification of Astronomical Images with a Neural Network....Pages 49-51 The Project of High Spatial Resolution Near Infrared Imaging System at Beijing Observatory....Pages 53-54 Front Matter....Pages 55-55 DENIS, 2MASS and VLM Stars....Pages 57-62 Low Mass Stars....Pages 63-68 The Search for Brown Dwarfs with Infrared Surveys....Pages 69-76 Hipparcos and Red Dwarf Populations....Pages 77-82 Sternberg WBVR Photometric Survey of Bright Stars....Pages 83-85 Spectrophotometric Catalog of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute in the Ultraviolet, Visual and Near Infrared....Pages 87-89 Search for New Nearby Stars with DENIS ....Pages 91-93 Artificial IJK Two-Colour Diagrams for Field Stars....Pages 95-96 Front Matter....Pages 55-55 Asteroid Detection with DENIS....Pages 97-98 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 Short Period Miras and Galactic Structure....Pages 101-104 Infrared Photometry of AGB Stars....Pages 105-116 Infrared Surveys and Variables in the AGB....Pages 117-120 AGB Stars in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 121-130 AGB Stars and Red Supergiants in the LMC as Seen with DENIS....Pages 131-135 O-Rich SR and Mira Variables in DENIS....Pages 137-138 Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques to Classify IRAS LRS Spectra of Evolved Stars....Pages 139-140 Carbon Stars in Infrared Surveys....Pages 141-142 The Evolution from Visible to Infrared Variable AGB Stars....Pages 143-144 Infrared Colours of Selected Long Period Variables....Pages 145-147 The Frequency of Circumstellar Envelopes Among TMSS Stars....Pages 149-150 Infrared Velocities of Carbon Stars....Pages 151-152 A Near-Infrared Survey of IRAS Sources in the South Galactic Cap....Pages 153-154 Mira Light Curves and Mass Loss....Pages 155-157 Strategy of Infrared Surveys for Studying Galactic Evolved Stars and Their Subclasses....Pages 159-159 Front Matter....Pages 161-161 Synthesis of Galactic Stellar Populations and Expected Constraints from Infrared Surveys....Pages 163-168 Infrared Surveys:Some Prospects for Galactic Structure Studies Using Cepheids and Other Young Objects....Pages 169-175 Galactic Structure from the Two Micron Galactic Survey....Pages 177-180 A Powerful New Model for the Point Source Sky....Pages 181-187 Front Matter....Pages 161-161 The Leiden/Dwingeloo Survey of Emission from Galactic HI....Pages 189-193 Are Molecular Clouds Formed by Impact of High-Velocity Clouds?....Pages 195-197 Front Matter....Pages 199-199 Current Problems in Star Formation and Infrared Surveys....Pages 201-206 Star Formation in Taurus....Pages 207-216 Search for Young Stars with IR Surveys: Regions of Massive Star Formation....Pages 217-222 The Stellar Populations within the ρ Oph Cloud Cores....Pages 223-224 Investigation of the Be Star Phenomenon Using the DENIS Data....Pages 225-226 Discussion Session on Star Formation, Molecular Clouds and the Interstellar Medium....Pages 227-230 Front Matter....Pages 231-231 Near-Infrared Observations of AGN....Pages 233-236 Groups and Clusters in the Near-Infrared....Pages 237-242 Comparison of Large-Scale Structures and Velocities in The Local Universe....Pages 243-260 Red Post-Starburst Galaxies....Pages 261-263 DENIS For The Extragalactic Distance Scale....Pages 265-266 LEDA....Pages 267-269 Star Formation in Starburst Galaxies From Near-IR Spectroscopy and Evolutionary Population Synthesis....Pages 271-272 Modelling Evolution of Stellar Emission of Galaxies for the NIR Surveys....Pages 273-278 The Nature of the Blue Distant Galaxies....Pages 279-281 Proceedings of the Les Houches School, September 20--24, 1993, Centre de Physique des Houches, France