Vela-Carina Archive: Infrared Point Sources from the Spitzer Space Telescope

The Vela-Carina Archive contains infrared point source data covering 86 square degrees of the Galactic plane. It was created by the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) as part of a large area mapping project. The data is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Identify and catalog stellar objects based on infrared point source detections.
• Analyze photometric properties of sources using multi-band infrared magnitude data.
• Compare source populations between the Archive and its more stringent Catalog subset.
• Study Galactic structure in the longitude range 255° to 295° using wide-area mapping data.

Strengths

• Covers a significant 86 square degree area of the Galactic plane.
• Photometric uncertainty is typically less than 0.3 magnitudes.
• Sources have a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 5 in at least one infrared band.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) as part of project PID=40791.

Time Range

Observations likely from the Spitzer mission era (2003-2020), but specific dates are not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 18:08:35.858841; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Covers Galactic longitudes 255° < l < 295°, targeting the Carina and Vela regions of the Milky Way.