The infrared massive stellar content of M 83^{⋆,⋆⋆,⋆⋆⋆,⋆⋆⋆⋆}

¹ IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Penteli, Greece
e-mail: williams@noa.gr
² Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
³ Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército 441, Santiago, Chile
⁴ Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Santiago, Chile
⁵ The Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

Received: 20 January 2015
Accepted: 12 March 2015

Abstract

Aims. We present an analysis of archival Spitzer images and new ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) near-infrared (IR) and optical images of the field of M 83 with the goal of identifying rare, dusty, evolved massive stars.

Methods. We present point source catalogs consisting of 3778 objects from Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Band 1 (3.6 μm) and Band 2 (4.5 μm), and 975 objects identified in Magellan 6.5 m FourStar near-IR J and K_s images. A combined catalog of coordinate matched near- and mid-IR point sources yields 221 objects in the field of M 83.

Results. We find 49 strong candidates for massive stars which are very promising objects for spectroscopic follow-up. Based on their location in a B − V versus V − I diagram, we expect at least 24, or roughly 50%, to be confirmed as red supergiants.