Distance determination for RAVE stars using stellar models

III. The nature of the RAVE survey and Milky Way chemistry

¹ Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK
² Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics A28, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
³ Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁴ University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Jadranska 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
⁵ Center of excellence SPACE-SI, Aškerčeva cesta 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
⁶ Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7550, 11 rue de l’université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
⁷ Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Cotter Rd., ACT, Canberra, Australia
⁸ Johns Hopkins University, Departement of Physics and Astronomy, 366 Bloomberg center, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
⁹ Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE, UK
¹⁰ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK
¹¹ Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstr. 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
¹² Kapteyn Astronomical Institut, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, 9747 AD, Groningen, The Netherlands
¹³ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 36012 Asiago (VI), Italy
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, PO Box 3055, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada
¹⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia
¹⁶ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT, UK
¹⁷ Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universita di Padova, Vicolo dellŠOsservatorio 2, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹⁸ Australian Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia

Received: 14 February 2011
Accepted: 24 June 2011

Abstract

We apply the method of Burnett & Binney (2010, MNRAS, 407, 339) for the determination of stellar distances and parameters to the internal catalogue of the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE; Steinmetz et al. 2006, AJ, 132, 1645). Subsamples of stars that either have Hipparcos parallaxes or belong to well-studied clusters inspire confidence in the formal errors. Distances to dwarfs cooler than  ~6000   K appear to be unbiased, but those to hotter dwarfs tend to be too small by  ~10% of the formal errors. Distances to giants tend to be too large by about the same amount. The median distance error in the whole sample of 216 000 stars is 28% and the error distribution is similar for both giants and dwarfs. Roughly half the stars in the RAVE survey are giants. The giant fraction is largest at low latitudes and in directions towards the Galactic Centre. Near the plane the metallicity distribution is remarkably narrow and centred on  [M/H] =  −0.04   dex; with increasing |z| it broadens out and its median moves to  [M/H] ≃  −0.5. Mean age as a function of distance from the Galactic centre and distance |z| from the Galactic plane shows the anticipated increase in mean age with |z|.