SDSS DR10 White Dwarf Catalog: 9,088 New Spectroscopically Confirmed Stars

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10 provides this catalog of 9,088 new spectroscopically confirmed white dwarfs and subdwarfs. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's HEASARC created the table in October 2017 based on research published in the reference paper. It includes derived parameters like temperature, surface gravity, and mass for different atmospheric types.

Use Cases

• Classifying white dwarf spectral types (DA, DB, DZ, DQ) based on the reported atmospheric compositions.
• Analyzing the mass and temperature distribution of hydrogen and helium atmosphere white dwarfs.
• Studying rare stellar objects like magnetic white dwarfs, planetary nebula central stars, and white dwarf binaries.
• Investigating the properties of metal-polluted white dwarfs to understand planetary system accretion.

Strengths

• Contains 9,088 new spectroscopically confirmed white dwarfs and subdwarfs.
• Reports specific counts for rare classes: 1 central star of a planetary nebula, 2 new oxygen spectra, 71 DQs, 42 hot DO/PG1159s, 171 binaries, 206 magnetic DAHs, 327 DCs, 397 metal-polluted, 450 helium-dominated, 647 subdwarfs, and 6,887 hydrogen-dominated white dwarfs.
• Derives physical parameters (Teff, log g, mass) for DA and DB white dwarfs and estimates abundances for DZ and DQ types.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The catalog is restricted to the SDSS DR7 imaging footprint and specific color and photometry criteria, which may introduce selection bias.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) HEASARC, based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 10.

Collection Method

Spectroscopic observation and analysis of point sources meeting specific photometric and proper motion criteria within the SDSS DR7 footprint.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:37:10.979075; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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