J/ApJ/839/88ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/839/88doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.18390088CDSKasliwal M.M.Bally J.Masci F.Cody A.M.Bond H.E.Jencson J.E.,Tinyanont S.Cao YiContreras C.Dykhoff D.A.Amodeo S.Armus L.,Boyer M.Cantiello M.Carlon R.L.Cass A.C.Cook D.Corgan D.T.,Faella J.Fox O.D.Green W.Gehrz R.D.Helou G.Hsiao E.,Johansson J.Khan R.M.Lau R.M.Langer N.Levesque E.Milne P.,Mohamed S.Morrell N.Monson A.Moore A.Ofek E.O.O' Sullivan D.,Parthasarathy M.Perez A.Perley D.A.Phillips M.Prince T.A.,Shenoy D.Smith N.Surace J.Van Dyk S.D.Whitelock P.A.Williams R.2018-02-27T09:39:00Z2018-01-11T10:38:00ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frinfrared-photometrygalaxiessurveysvisible-astronomyphotometryWe present an ongoing, five-year systematic search for extragalactic infrared transients, dubbed SPIRITS-SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey. In the first year, using Spitzer/IRAC, we searched 190 nearby galaxies with cadence baselines of one month and six months. We discovered over 1958 variables and 43 transients. Here, we describe the survey design and highlight 14 unusual infrared transients with no optical counterparts to deep limits, which we refer to as SPRITEs (eSPecially Red Intermediate-luminosity Transient Events). SPRITEs are in the infrared luminosity gap between novae and supernovae, with [4.5] absolute magnitudes between -11 and -14 (Vega-mag) and [3.6]-[4.5] colors between 0.3mag and 1.6mag. The photometric evolution of SPRITEs is diverse, ranging from <0.1mag/yr to >7mag/yr. SPRITEs occur in star-forming galaxies. We present an in-depth study of one of them, SPIRITS 14ajc in Messier 83, which shows shock-excited molecular hydrogen emission. This shock may have been triggered by the dynamic decay of a non-hierarchical system of massive stars that led to either the formation of a binary or a protostellar merger.2017ApJ...839...88Khttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/839/88CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toVII/233 : The 2MASS Extended sources (IPAC/UMass, 2003-2006)J/AJ/138/332 : LEDA CMD/tip of the red giant branch (Jacobs+, 2009)J/ApJ/705/1364 : MIR catalog of point sources in M33 (Thompson+, 2009)J/PASP/122/1397 : Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Gal. (Sheth+, 2010)J/ApJ/778/L19 : SN 2011dh (type IIb) 3.6 and 4.5um LCs (Helou+, 2013)J/AJ/146/86 : Cosmicflows-2 catalog (Tully+, 2013)J/AJ/147/82 : Monitoring of disk-bearing stars in NGC 2264 (Cody+, 2014)J/A+A/579/A130 : Near-IR BN/KL outflow images (Bally+, 2015)J/ApJS/216/10 : DUSTiNGS. I. The Good Source Catalog (Boyer+, 2015)J/ApJ/834/107 : Follow-up photometry of M101 OT2015-1 (Blagorodnova+, 2017)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/839/88https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/839/88http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/839/88https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/839/88https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/839/88http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/839/88GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/ApJ/839/88/table1 (SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS) galaxies)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/839/88/table1?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/839/88/table1?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/839/88/table1?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true0.49379167-15.461388890.005555555555555556Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/839/88/sprites (eSPecially Red Intermediate-luminosity Transient Events (SPRITEs) light curve properties (tables 2 and 3))https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/839/88/sprites?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/839/88/sprites?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/839/88/sprites?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true148.869666769.66627780.0055555555555555565/6941 6/2121 2155 2320 2374 2409 2622 2709 2774 2777 3304 3506 3507 4511 5067 5142 5202 5469 5504 5545 5581 5599 5715 5751 5966 5975 5995 6604 7424 7602 7604 7606 7624 7743 7799 7878 8085 8256 10755 10761 10841 10856 10905 10924 10927 10977 10986 10991 11000 11027 11227 11434 11460 11961 13401 13522 13672 13907 15592 16441 16655 16701 17165 17780 18041 18387 18398 20270 20526 20739 20875 23113 24912 25083 25344 25439 25762 25779 26125 26234 26265 26271 26303 26313 26336 26338 26351 26362 26858 27030 27064 27351 27512 27514 27515 27580 27604 27714 27718 27719 27728 27738 27741 27743 27773 27857 27860 27861 27862 27901 27907 27913 27914 27918 27936 27937 27938 27942 27945 27947 28015 28035 28039 28045 28046 28123 28167 28173 28184 28496 28529 28535 28631 28653 29718 33077 33094 33176 33193 33228 33935 33958 33962 34272 34273 34343 34361 34471 34531 35243 35536 35924 35969 36134 36773 38390 38655 38846 38946 39201 40458 41949 43231 43233 43262 43325 43809 43874 43881 44000 44718 45746 45748 45914 46491 46492 46597 46660https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/ApJ/839/88?format=asciiInfraredOpticaldefaultJ/ApJ/839/88/table1SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS) galaxiesSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintHostName of the target galaxymeta.id;meta.maincharPGCPGC Number (Paturel+, 1989, VII/119; superseded by VII/237)meta.idcharRAJ2000Hour of Right Ascension (J2000)pos.eq.ra;meta.mainDEJ2000Degree of Declination (J2000)pos.eq.dec;meta.mainNEDNED column added by the CDSmeta.ref.urlcharLEDAmeta.ref.urlcharJ/ApJ/839/88/spriteseSPecially Red Intermediate-luminosity Transient Events (SPRITEs) light curve properties (tables 2 and 3)SpeedSpeed: Slow or Fastmeta.notecharrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSPIRITSSPRITEs Name (YYaaa)meta.id;meta.maincharprimaryRAJ2000Hour of Right Ascension (J2000)pos.eq.ra;meta.mainDEJ2000Degree of Declination (J2000)pos.eq.dec;meta.mainHostHost Galaxymeta.id.parentcharDM[27.5/29.4] Distance Modulusmagphot.mag.distModfloatr_DMBibcode of the reference for DMmeta.ref;pos.framecharPkT3.63.6um Peak Time, MJDdtime.epochfloatPkMag3.6[-12.5/-10.8] 3.6um Peak absolute magnitudemagphys.magAbs;em.IR.3-4umfloatPkT4.54.5um Peak Time, MJDdtime.epochfloatPkMag4.5[-13.7/-11.2] 4.5um Peak absolute magnitudemagphys.magAbs;em.IR.4-8umfloatPkTColColor (3.6um-4.5um) Peak Time, MJDdtime.epochfloatPkMagCol[0.3/1.6] Color (3.6um-4.5um) Peak magnitudemagphot.color;em.IR;em.IRfloatPrMag3.6[-11.4/-7.9]? Progenitor limit, 3.6um, absolute magmagphys.magAbsfloatnullablePrMag4.5[-11.7/-9.3]? Progenitor limit, 4.5um, absolute magmagphys.magAbsfloatnullableLS3.6[0.1/5.6]? Lifespan, 3.6umyrtime.intervalfloatnullablel_Evo3.6Limit flag on LS-3.6meta.code.errorcharEvo3.6[-32.2/2.4]? Evolution, 3.6ummag/yrtime.agefloatnullableLS4.5[0.1/7.1]? Lifespan, 4.5umyrtime.intervalfloatnullablel_Evo4.5Limit flag on LS-4.5meta.code.errorcharEvo4.5[-6.2/7.3]? Evolution, 4.5ummag/yrtime.agefloatnullableLCSpitzer LC plotmeta.ref.urlcharSimbadSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.ref.urlcharJ/ApJ/839/88/table4Follow-up photometryrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSPIRITSSPRITEs Name (YYaaa)meta.id;meta.maincharprimaryObsObservation year (1)stime.epochNstack[10/157]? Number of stacked images (1)meta.numberintnullableTelTelescope (2)meta.id;instr.telcharInstrInstrument (3)meta.id;instrcharFiltFilter (R, I, g, r, i, J, H or Ks)meta.id;instr.filtercharl_magLimit flag on magmeta.code.errorcharmag[12.8/26.5] Observation magnitude in Filtmagphot.magfloatJ/ApJ/839/88/table5Spitzer photometry of all SPRITEsrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSPIRITSSPRITEs Name (YYaaa)meta.id;meta.maincharprimaryMJDObservation date, JD-2400000.5dtime.epochdoubleFiltSpitzer Filter ("[3.6]" or "[4.5]")meta.notecharl_magLimit flag on magmeta.code.errorcharmag[14.2/29.6] Observation magnitude in Filtmagphot.magfloate_mag[0/0.06]? Uncertainty in magmagstat.error;phot.magfloatnullable