HECATE

HECATE

The Heraklion Extragalactic CATaloguE

Image of the interacting galaxy M51 obtained with Skinakas Observatory (link https://skinakas.physics.uoc.gr/en/)

What is HECATE

The Heraklion Extragalactic CATaloguE (HECATE) is a value-added catalogue of nearby galaxies within a radius of ~200 Mpc. It is based on the HyperLEDA catalogue and it is supplemented with additional information from other extragalactic and photometric catalogues. Its main features are:
  • (a) calculation of robust distances based on the combination of available redshift-independent indicators and redshifts, along with homogenized size information,
  • (b) computation and homogenization of star-formation rates based on infrared indicators.


    • The HECATE provides positions, morphological information, distances, star-formation rates, stellar masses, gas-phase metallicities, nuclear classifications etc. The wealth of this information can be particularly useful for a wide-range of studies such as:
  • (i) exploring nearby galaxies and their properties, or selecting galaxy samples for upcoming surveys,
  • (ii) identifying the host galaxies of multi-wavelength source populations and characterizing their connection with their host’s parameters,
  • (iii) application of astrophysical priors in the search for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational-wave sources.


    • The release paper can be found here.

    Catalog

    Catalog description


    The Heraklion Extragalactic Catalogue (HECATE) is a value-add catalogue of 204,733 galaxies in the local Universe (D < 200 Mpc).

    It contains 204,733 individual galaxies selected from the HyperLEDA astronomical database. The main selection criterion is that the radial velocity (in HyperLEDA or in NED) is less than 14,000. Members of interacting systems are considered as independent systems, while special care is taken to exclude segments of large galaxies.

    The initial purpose of the HECATE was to aid multi-wavelength studies focusing on stellar populations, such as X-ray binaries. For this reason the methodology adopted for constructing the catalogue are specifically tailored to increase the quality of the data for nearby galaxies, and facilitate cross-matching procedures.

    Using the HECATE for cross-correlation with other catalogues

    Galaxy size information is essential for identifying the host galaxies of point sources from multi-wavelength surveys (e.g, Kovlakas et al. 2020). The HECATE includes the parameters of D25 isophotal ellipses from the HyperLEDA, for ~77.5% of the sample. For 20% of the sample galaxy size information is obtained from additional sources (e.g. SDSS, 2MASS), leaving only a small fraction without sizes (2.4%). When information for only one dimension of the isophotal ellipses was available we considered them as circular apertures to allow for easy integration in cross-matching software.

    Distances

    Special attention in the construction of HECATE was paid in the derivation of robust distances for the entire sample using redshift-independent indicators combined with redshifts when the former are not available. This makes HECATE the ideal parent catalog when designing new surveys, particularly in combination with the available, homogenized stellar population parameters for the entire sample.

    To increase the quality of the distances for nearby galaxies, redshift-independent distances are preferred. In the case of multiple measurements, statistical estimates are derived accounting for uncertainties and “oldness”. In total, 43,511 individual measurements are used to estimate the distance of 21,174 galaxies (~10%).

    For the galaxies without redshift-independent distance measurements (90% of the sample), a Kernel Regression technique was adopted in order to (a) provide redshift-dependent distances that are consistent with the redshift-independent ones, (b) offer uncertainties that naturally account for the peculiar velocities of the galaxies. Special treatment for the Virgo Cluster has been adopted, since the radial velocities of its members present significantly larger dispersion.

    Multi-wavelength data and derived quantities

    The main goal of the HECATE project is to provide robust estimates and wide-coverage for stellar population parameters.
    We calculate star-formation rates based on five different scaling relations based on infrared luminosities, which minimize the need for extinction corrections. We use data from the IRAS and WISE all-sky surveys. Since the catalog aims at robust estimates for nearby galaxies, special care was taken to ensure that the multi-wavelength photometry used refers to the integrated emission of the galaxies:
  • Data from the IRAS Bright Galaxy Sample is preferred for extended and bright galaxies. For the rest, we use the updated Revised IRAS-FSC Redshift catalog.
  • Due to the lack of a WISE extended source catalog, we use the WISE Forced Photometry catalog (Lang et al. 2016) for galaxies in the SDSS footprint.
    • For consistency, we provide homogenized star-formation rates for the entire sample by accounting for systematic differences between the monochromatic and broad-band indicators we consider.

    We also provide stellar masses based on the K-band luminosity from the 2MASS. Three catalogs are used in the following priority: Large Galaxy Atlas (Jarret et al. 2003), Extended Source Catalog (Skrutskie et al. 2006), Point Source Catalog (Curti et al. 2012). The mass-to-light ratio is based on optical colors when high-quality SDSS photometry is available. For galaxies outside the SDSS footprint we adopt a statistical mean.

    Additionally the HECATE provides nuclear activity classifications and gas-phase metallicity estimates calculated using stellar-subtracted SDSS spectra from MPA-JHU DR8 catalogue (e.g., Kauffmann et al. 2003), and the multidimensional diagnostics of Stampoulis et al. (2019).

    Additional information

    Aside from the distances, SFRs, stellar masses, metallicities, and nuclear activity classifications, the HECATE provides associations to other catalogs, morphological classifications, inclinations, Galactic and intrinsic B-band absorption, and multi-wavelength photometry.
    During the construction of the catalog and in preparation for the next versions of the HECATE, additional data may have been associated with the HECATE galaxies without being included in the official releases. Do not hesitate to contact us for extra data columns, or help with strategies to obtain them.

    Columns

    You can see the catalog in the table below or
    COLUMN DESCRIPTION

    pgc

    Principal Catalogue of Galaxies number.

    objname

    Object name in the HyperLEDA.

    id_ned

    Name in NED.

    id_nedd

    Name in NED-Distance Catalogue.

    id_iras

    Name in IRAS-RBGS, or in RIFSCz if in the form Fxxxxx+xxxx.

    id_2mass

    ID in 2MASS-LGA, 2MASS-XSC, or 2MASS-PSC (see `flag_2mass`).

    sdss_photid

    SDSS photometric ID (consistent with DR8 releases and later).

    sdss_specid

    SDSS spectroscopic ID (consistent with DR8 releases and later).

    ra

    Decimal right ascension J2000.0 (degrees).

    dec

    Decimal declination J2000.0 (degrees).

    f_astrom

    Astrometric precision flag:
    -1 for ~0.1 arcsec, 0 for 1 arcsec, 1 for 10 arcsec, etc.

    r1

    D25 semi-major axis (arcmin).

    r2

    D25 semi-minor axis (arcmin).

    pa

    D25 positional angle, North-to-Northeast (degrees). 

    rsource

    Source of the galaxy-size information:
    H=HyperLEDA, S=SDSS, 2=2MASS, 6=2dFGS, W=WINGS, Y=SkyMapper, A=Amiga-CIG, K=UNGC, V=VIII/77, 1=KKH2001, 7=KKH2007, N=NED.

    rflag

    Galaxy-size information flag:
    0=missing, 1=all axes and positional angle defined, 2=r2 and/or pa were missing and they were set equal to r1 and 0 (circular isophote).

    t

    Numerical Hubble-type following the de Vaucouleurs et al. 1976 system.

    e_t

    Uncertainty on the numerical Hubble-type.

    incl

    Inclination (degrees).

    v

    Heliocentric radial velocity (km/s).

    e_v

    Uncertainty on the heliocentric radial velocity (km/s).

    v_vir

    Virgo-infall corrected radial velocity (km/s).

    e_v_vir

    Uncertainty on the Virgo-infall corrected radial velocity (km/s).

    ndist

    Number of redshift-independent measurements in NED-D used for the computation of the distance.

    edist

    If True, the NED-D distance measurements had uncertainties.

    d

    Distance (Mpc).

    e_d

    Uncertainty on the distance (Mpc).

    d_lo68

    Lower bound of the 68% confidence interval of the distance (Mpc).

    d_hi68

    Upper bound of the 68% confidence interval of the distance (Mpc).

    d_lo95

    Lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of the distance (Mpc).

    d_hi95

    Upper bound of the 95% confidence interval of the distance (Mpc).

    dmethod

    Method for the estimation of the distance:

    N=using NED-D distance measurements, 

    Z=regression, 

    Zv=regression for Virgo Cluster members, 

    C=distance from NED-D measurements but uncertainty from regression, Cv=distance from NED-D measurements but uncertainty from Virgo Cluster regressor.

    ut

    Total U-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    bt

    Total B-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    vt

    Total V-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    it

    Total I-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_ut

    Uncertainty on the total U-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_bt

    Uncertainty on the total B-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_vt

    Uncertainty on the total V-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_it

    Uncertainty on the total I-band apparent magnitude (mag).

    ag

    Galactic absorption in B-band (mag).

    ai

    Intrinsic absorption in B-band (mag).

    s12

    12μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy)

    s25

    25μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy)

    s60

    60μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy)

    s100

    100μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy)

    q12

    Quality flag for the 12μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy):

    0=not in IRAS, 1=upper limit, 2=moderate, 3=high, 4=flux from IRAS-RBGS.

    q25

    Quality flag for the 25μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy):

    0=not in IRAS, 1=upper limit, 2=moderate, 3=high, 4=flux from IRAS-RBGS.

    q60

    0=not in IRAS, Quality flag for the 60μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy):

    0=not in IRAS, 1=upper limit, 2=moderate, 3=high, 4=flux from IRAS-RBGS.

    q100

    Quality flag for the 100μm-band flux from IRAS (Jy):

    0=not in IRAS, 1=upper limit, 2=moderate, 3=high, 4=flux from IRAS-RBGS.

    wf1

    3.3μm-band (W1) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    wf2

    4.6μm-band (W2) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    wf3

    12μm-band (W3) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    wf4

    22μm-band (W4) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    e_wf1

    Uncertainty on the 3.3μm-band (W1) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    e_wf2

    Uncertainty on the 4.6μm-band (W2) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    e_wf3

    Uncertainty on the 12μm-band (W3) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    e_wf4

    Uncertainty on the 22μm-band (W4) apparent magnitude in the WISE forced photometry catalog (mag).

    wfpoint

    True if point source in the WISE forced photometry catalog.

    wftreat

    True if treated as point source in the WISE forced photometry catalog.

    j

    J-band apparent magnitude in 2MASS (mag).

    h

    H-band apparent magnitude in 2MASS (mag).

    k

    J-band apparent magnitude in 2MASS (mag).

    e_j

    Uncertainty on the J-band apparent magnitude in 2MASS (mag).

    e_h

    Uncertainty on the H-band apparent magnitude in 2MASS (mag).

    e_k

    Uncertainty on the K-band apparent magnitude in 2MASS (mag).

    flag_2mass

    Source of the 2MASS ID and magnitudes:

    0=none, 1=LGA, 2=XSC, 3=PSC.

    u

    u-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    g

    g-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    r

    r-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    i

    i-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    z

    z-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_u

    Uncertainty on the u-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_g

    Uncertainty on the g-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_r

    Uncertainty on the r-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_i

    Uncertainty on the i-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    e_z

    Uncertainty on the z-band SDSS apparent magnitude (mag).

    logL_TIR

    Decimal logarithm of the total-infrared (TIR) luminosity in solar luminosities (3.83x1033 erg/s)

    logL_FIR

    Decimal logarithm of the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity in solar luminosities.

    logL_60μ

    Decimal logarithm of the 60um-band luminosity in solar luminosities.

    logL_12μ

    Decimal logarithm of the 12um-band luminosity in solar luminosities.

    logL_22μ

    Decimal logarithm of the 22um-band luminosity in solar luminosities.

    logL_K

    Decimal logarithm of the K-band luminosity in solar luminosities.

    ML_ratio

    Mass-to-light ratio for the 2MASS K-band using SDSS g-r colour (Bell et al. 2003).

    logSFR_TIR

    Decimal logarithm of the TIR-based star-formation rate in solar masses per year.

    logSFR_FIR

    Decimal logarithm of the FIR-based star-formation rate in solar masses per year.

    logSFR_60u

    Decimal logarithm of the 60um-based star-formation rate in solar masses per year.

    logSFR_12u

    Decimal logarithm of the 12um-based star-formation rate in solar masses per year.

    logSFR_22u

    Decimal logarithm of the 22um-based star-formation rate in solar masses per year.

    logSFR_HEC

    Decimal logarithm of the homogenised star-formation rate in solar masses per year.

    SFR_HEC_flag

    Flag indicating the source of the photometry and the SFR indicator used in the homogenised SFR:

    RT=IRAS-RBGS photometry and TIR indicator.

    FT=RIFSCz photometry and TIR indicator.

    FF=RIFSCz photometry and FIR indicator.

    W3=WISE W3-band forced photometry and indicator.

    W4=WISE W4-band forced photometry and indicator.

    logM_HEC

    Decimal logarithm of the total stellar mass in solar masses.

    logSFR_GSW

    Decimal logarithm of the SED-based star-formation rate from the GSWLC-2 in solar masses per year.

    logM_GSW

    Decimal logarithm of the SED-based stellar mass from the GSWLC-2 in solar masses.

    min_snr

    Minimum signal-to-noise ratio of the emission lines used for the activity classification (class_sp).

    metal

    12+log(O/H) gas-phase metallicity.

    flag_metal

    Metallicity flag:

    -1=missing

    0=reliable

    1=O3N2 ratio >2 (outside the PP04 range)

    2=low signal-to-noise ratio (<3 for the weakest line).

    class_sp

    Nuclear activity classification using the method in Stampoulis et al. 2019:
    0=star-forming, 1=Seyfert, 2=LINER, 3=composite, -1=unknown.

    agn_s17

    AGN classification in She et al. 2017:
    Y=AGN, N=non-AGN, ?=unknown

    agn_hec

    Adopted activity classification based on the combination of class_sp and agn_s17: Y=AGN, N=non-AGN, ?=unknown

    Core Team

    Konstantinos Kovlakas

    University of Geneva, Switzerland

    Andreas Zezas

    University of Crete, Greece

    Elias Kyritsis

    University of Crete, Greece

    Jeff J. Andrews

    Northwestern University, USA

    Antara Basu-Zych

    University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA

    Konstantinos Kouroumpatzakis

    University of Crete, Greece

    Collaborators

    Tassos Fragos

    University of Geneva, Switzerland

    Ann Hornschemeier

    The John Hopkins University, USA

    Bret Lehmer

    University of Arkansas, USA

    Andrew Ptak

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA

    Acknowledgements

    The research leading to the HECATE has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 617001, and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie RISE action, Grant Agreement n.~691164 (ASTROSTAT).
    The site makes use of the cross-matching utilities provided by the STILTS library.

    Useful links

    Astronomical databases
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    Affiliated organizations

    Department
    of
    Physics / UoC

    Institute of Astrophysics / FORTH