5 Contents of the catalogue

The present version of the DENIS point source catalogue of the Magellanic Clouds contains sources detected in at least two wave bands within the area $4^{\rm h} 08^{\rm m} 00^{\rm s}<\alpha< 6^{\rm h} 46^{\rm m} 40^{\rm s}$, $-61\hbox{$^\circ$ }>\delta>-77\hbox{$^\circ$ }$ for the LMC and $0^{\rm h} 05^{\rm m} 20^{\rm s}<\alpha<2^{\rm h} 00^{\rm m} 00^{\rm s}$, $-68\hbox{$^\circ$ }>\delta>-78\hbox{$^\circ$ }$for the SMC of which the source density is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. The fraction of non-real objects is negligible as most glitches are present only in one wave band.

Figures 6 and 7 show the density maps of all detected sources towards the LMC and the SMC, respectively. The strips not yet included are explicitely indicated in the upper horizontal axis. Figure 6 contains about $1\,300\,000$ sources and Fig. 7 contains about $300\,000$. Table 6 reports the approximate number of sources detected in three or two wave bands.

The two parts of the catalogue are ordered by increasing RA. Two tables define the meaning of the columns in each part: a table that contains the detected sources (Table 7) and a table that describes the quality of the detections on a strip by strip basis (Table 8).

5.1 Nomenclature

5.1.1 Data table (Table 7)

The star name is composed by the acronym DCMC (DENIS Catalogue towards the Magellanic Clouds) and by the coordinates of the source at the epoch 2000 (Cols. 1 and 2) following the IAU convention (Dubois et al. [1994]). For example, a star with $(\alpha,\delta)=(1^{\rm h}25^{\rm m}20.15^{\rm s},-73\hbox{$^\circ$ }30\hbox{$^\prime$ }15.67\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$ })$ would have the designation DCMC J 012520.15-733015.6; right ascension is truncated at the second decimal and the declination at the first. Columns 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 give the right ascension (h, m, s) and the declination ( $\hbox{$^\circ$ }$, $\hbox{$^\prime$ }$, $\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$ }$) at the epoch J2000. Column 9 gives the positional error, i.e. the statistical error calculated during the data processing. Columns 10 and 11 give the pixel coordinates in the corresponding image (Col. 12) of the corresponding strip (Col. 13), in the I band, where the source is detected. The same quantities are given in Cols. 18, 19, 20 and 21 for the J band and in Cols. 26, 27, 28 and 29 for the $K_{\rm s}$ band. Columns 14, 22 and 30 give the source magnitudes and Cols. 15, 23 and 31 give the associated statistical errors in the I, J and $K_{\rm s}$ bands, respectively. Columns 16, 24 and 32 give the extraction flag (Table 2) in the three wave bands. Columns 17, 25 and 33 give the image flag (Table 1) in the three wave bands. Columns 34 and 35 give the B and R magnitudes from the cross-identification with the USNO-A2.0 catalogue.

5.1.2 Strip quality table (Table 8)

Column 1 gives the strip number. Column 2 gives the date of observation of the given strip. Columns 3 and 4 give the nightly zero-point and its standard deviation for the I band. The same quantities are given in Cols. 5 and 6 for the J band and in Cols. 7 and 8 for the $K_{\rm s}$ band. Column 9 notes information peculiar to the strip in question, for example the photometric shift (Sect. 3.2.3).

5.1.3 Access

The DENIS Point Source Catalogue towards the Magellanic Clouds, data (Table 7) and quality (Table 8) tables, are electronically available from CDS via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/denis.html.