A CATALOG OF EXTENDED GREEN OBJECTS IN THE GLIMPSE SURVEY: A NEW SAMPLE OF MASSIVE YOUNG STELLAR OBJECT OUTFLOW CANDIDATES

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Abstract
Using images from the Spitzer Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE), we have identified more than 300 extended 4.5 μm sources (Extended Green Objects (EGOs), for the common coding of the [4.5] band as green in three-color composite InfraRed Array Camera images). We present a catalog of these EGOs, including integrated flux density measurements at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0, and 24 μm from GLIMPSE and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic Plane Survey. The average angular separation between a source in our sample and the nearest IRAS point source is greater than 1′. The majority of EGOs are associated with infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), and where high-resolution 6.7 GHz CH3OH maser surveys overlap the GLIMPSE coverage, EGOs and 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers are strongly correlated. Extended 4.5 μm emission is thought to trace shocked molecular gas in protostellar outflows; the association of EGOs with IRDCs and 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers suggests that the extended 4.5 μm emission may pinpoint outflows specifically from massive protostars. The mid-IR colors of EGOs lie in regions of color–color space occupied by young protostars still embedded in infalling envelopes.
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