Planck early results. VII. The Early Release Compact Source Catalogue^⋆

¹ Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Metsähovintie 114, 02540 Kylmälä, Finland
² Agenzia Spaziale Italiana Science Data Center, c/o ESRIN, via Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy
³ Astroparticule et Cosmologie, CNRS (UMR7164), Université Denis Diderot Paris 7, Bâtiment Condorcet, 10 rue A. Domon et Léonie Duquet, Paris, France
⁴ Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
⁵ Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, ALMA Santiago Central Offices, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 763 0355, Santiago, Chile
⁶ Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia
⁷ CITA, University of Toronto, 60 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada
⁸ CNRS, IRAP, 9 Av. colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
⁹ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
¹⁰ Centre of Mathematics for Applications, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
¹¹ DAMTP, University of Cambridge, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK
¹² DSM/Irfu/SPP, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
¹³ DTU Space, National Space Institute, Juliane Mariesvej 30, Copenhagen, Denmark
¹⁴ Departamento de Física, Universidad de Oviedo, Avda. Calvo Sotelo s/n, Oviedo, Spain
¹⁵ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
¹⁶ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
¹⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
¹⁸ Department of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
¹⁹ Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
²⁰ Department of Physics, Purdue University, 525 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
²¹ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
²² Department of Physics, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California, USA
²³ Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
²⁴ Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois, USA
²⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica G. Galilei, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
²⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università La Sapienza, P. le A. Moro 2, Roma, Italy
²⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria, 16, Milano, Italy
²⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Trieste, via A. Valerio 2, Trieste, Italy
²⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Ferrara, via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
³⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica, 1, Roma, Italy
³¹ Discovery Center, Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
³² Dpto. Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
³³ European Southern Observatory, ESO Vitacura, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago, Chile
³⁴ European Space Agency, ESAC, Planck Science Office, Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
³⁵ European Space Agency, ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
³⁶ Haverford College Astronomy Department, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
³⁷ Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
³⁸ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, Catania, Italy
³⁹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, Padova, Italy
⁴⁰ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
⁴¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, Trieste, Italy
⁴² INAF/IASF Bologna via Gobetti 101, Bologna, Italy
⁴³ INAF/IASF Milano, via E. Bassini 15, Milano, Italy
⁴⁴ INRIA, Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris-Sud 11, Bâtiment 490, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
⁴⁵ IPAG: Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble 1/CNRS-INSU, UMR 5274, 38041 Grenoble, France
⁴⁶ ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, University of Geneva, Ch. d’Écogia 16, Versoix, Switzerland
⁴⁷ Imperial College London, Astrophysics group, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
⁴⁸ Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
e-mail: rchary@caltech.edu
⁴⁹ Institut Néel, CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble I, 25 rue des Martyrs, Grenoble, France
⁵⁰ Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS (UMR8617) Université Paris-Sud 11, Bâtiment 121, Orsay, France
⁵¹ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS UMR7095, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, 98bis boulevard Arago, Paris, France
⁵² Institut de Ciències de l’Espai, CSIC/IEEC, Facultat de Ciències, Campus UAB, Torre C5 par-2, Bellaterra 08193, Spain
⁵³ Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
⁵⁴ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
⁵⁵ Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
⁵⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/Vía Láctea s/n, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁵⁷ Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-Universidad de Cantabria), Avda. de los Castros s/n, Santander, Spain
⁵⁸ Istituto di Fisica del Plasma, CNR-ENEA-EURATOM Association, via R. Cozzi 53, Milano, Italy
⁵⁹ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California, USA
⁶⁰ Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
⁶¹ Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK
⁶² LERMA, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire, Paris, France
⁶³ Laboratoire AIM, IRFU/Service d’Astrophysique – CEA/DSM – CNRS – Université Paris Diderot, Bât. 709, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
⁶⁴ Laboratoire Traitement et Communication de l’Information, CNRS (UMR 5141) and Télécom ParisTech, 46 rue Barrault, 75634 Paris Cedex 13, France
⁶⁵ Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Joseph Fourier GrenobleI, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, 53 rue des Martyrs, 38026 Grenoble Cedex, France
⁶⁶ Laboratoire de l’Accélérateur Linéaire, Université Paris-Sud 11, CNRS/IN2P3, Orsay, France
⁶⁷ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
⁶⁸ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
⁶⁹ MilliLab, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Tietotie 3, Espoo, Finland
⁷⁰ National University of Ireland, Department of Experimental Physics, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
⁷¹ Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
⁷² Observational Cosmology, Mail Stop 367-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
⁷³ Optical Science Laboratory, University College London, Gower Street, London, UK
⁷⁴ SISSA, Astrophysics Sector, via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy
⁷⁵ SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁷⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK
⁷⁷ Space Research Institute (IKI), Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya Str, 84/32, 117997 Moscow, Russia
⁷⁸ Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
⁷⁹ Spitzer Science Center, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, California, USA
⁸⁰ Stanford University, Dept of Physics, Varian Physics Bldg, 382 via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, California, USA
⁸¹ Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Überle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁸² Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
⁸³ Universities Space Research Association, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, MS 211-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
⁸⁴ University of Granada, Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos, Facultad de Ciencias, Granada, Spain
⁸⁵ University of Miami, Knight Physics Building, 1320 Campo Sano Dr., Coral Gables, Florida, USA
⁸⁶ Warsaw University Observatory, Aleje Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland

Received: 8 January 2011
Accepted: 30 May 2011

Abstract

A brief description of the methodology of construction, contents and usage of the Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue (ERCSC), including the Early Cold Cores (ECC) and the Early Sunyaev-Zeldovich (ESZ) cluster catalogue is provided. The catalogue is based on data that consist of mapping the entire sky once and 60% of the sky a second time by Planck, thereby comprising the first high sensitivity radio/submillimetre observations of the entire sky. Four source detection algorithms were run as part of the ERCSC pipeline. A Monte-Carlo algorithm based on the injection and extraction of artificial sources into the Planck maps was implemented to select reliable sources among all extracted candidates such that the cumulative reliability of the catalogue is ≥90%. There is no requirement on completeness for the ERCSC. As a result of the Monte-Carlo assessment of reliability of sources from the different techniques, an implementation of the PowellSnakes source extraction technique was used at the five frequencies between 30 and 143GHz while the SExtractor technique was used between 217 and 857GHz. The 10σ photometric flux density limit of the catalogue at |b| > 30° is 0.49, 1.0, 0.67, 0.5, 0.33, 0.28, 0.25, 0.47 and 0.82 Jy at each of the nine frequencies between 30 and 857GHz. Sources which are up to a factor of ~2 fainter than this limit, and which are present in “clean” regions of the Galaxy where the sky background due to emission from the interstellar medium is low, are included in the ERCSC if they meet the high reliability criterion. The Planck ERCSC sources have known associations to stars with dust shells, stellar cores, radio galaxies, blazars, infrared luminous galaxies and Galactic interstellar medium features. A significant fraction of unclassified sources are also present in the catalogs. In addition, two early release catalogs that contain 915 cold molecular cloud core candidates and 189 SZ cluster candidates that have been generated using multifrequency algorithms are presented. The entire source list, with more than 15000 unique sources, is ripe for follow-up characterisation with Herschel, ATCA, VLA, SOFIA, ALMA and other ground-based observing facilities.