C2D High Reliability CORES Catalog: Spitzer Telescope Observations of Star-Forming Cores

The C2D Spitzer Legacy Program used all three Spitzer instruments to observe sources spanning the evolutionary sequence from molecular cores to protoplanetary disks. This High Reliability CORES Catalog provides the most reliable list of sources from 82 small cloud cores, derived from a larger catalog with a requirement for good signal-to-noise detection. The dataset was published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Identify candidate protostars and substellar objects based on infrared observations from the Spitzer telescope.
• Study the evolution of circumstellar dust, the raw material for planetary cores, in systems up to about 10 million years old.
• Analyze the correlation between cloud masses, stellar masses, and star-forming environments across different molecular clouds.
• Validate source detection algorithms by comparing the high-reliability catalog against the full detection catalog.

Strengths

• Observations were made using all three Spitzer Space Telescope instruments (IRAC, MIPS, and IRS), providing multi-wavelength data.
• Targets about 150 known compact cores and surveyed five of the nearest large molecular clouds for new candidates.
• Catalog focuses on high reliability, requiring good signal-to-noise detection in some bands for inclusion.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect observational bias inherent to the specific Spitzer Legacy Program fields and sensitivity limits.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Observational data from the Spitzer Space Telescope's C2D Legacy Program, processed into a catalog.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:17:13.886411; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Observations of five of the nearest large molecular clouds and 82 small cloud cores.