SDSS-IV MaStar: a Large, Comprehensive, and High Quality Empirical Stellar Library (1708.04688v1)

Abstract: We introduce the ongoing MaStar project, which is going to construct a large, well-calibrated, high quality empirical stellar library with more than 8000 stars covering the wavelength range from 3622 to 10,354A at a resolution of R~2000, and with better than 3% relative flux calibration. The spectra are taken using hexagonal fiber bundles feeding the BOSS spectrographs on the 2.5m Sloan Foundation Telescope, by piggybacking on the SDSS-IV/APOGEE-2 observations. Compared to previous efforts of empirical libraries, the MaStar Library will have a more comprehensive stellar parameter coverage, especially in cool dwarfs, low metallicity stars, and stars with different [alpha/Fe]. This is achieved by a target selection method based on large spectroscopic catalogs from APOGEE, LAMOST, and SEGUE, combined with photometric selection. This empirical library will provide a new basis for calibrating theoretical spectral libraries and for stellar population synthesis. In addition, with identical spectral coverage and resolution to the ongoing integral field spectroscopy survey of nearby galaxies --- SDSS-IV/MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO). This library is ideal for spectral modeling and stellar population analysis of MaNGA data.