2MASS has uniformly scanned the entire sky in three near-infrared bands to detect and characterize point sources brighter than about 1 mJy in each band, with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) greater than 1.

Photometric calibration for 2MASS was performed using observations of calibration fields made at regular intervals during each night of survey operations. Measurements of standard stars in the fields were used to derive the photometric zero point offsets as a function of time during each night. Atmospheric extinction coefficients were derived from 2MASS observations made over long periods.2MASS calibration fields, or tiles, are 1° long in declination and approximately 8.5' wide in right ascension. There are 35 regular survey calibration fields distributed at approximately two hour intervals in right ascension near declinations of approximately -30°, 0° and +30°. An additional five calibration fields were defined in and around the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds to support the deep observation (6x) campaign towards the end of survey operations.Over the course of the survey, the regular calibration fields were scanned between 562 and 3692 times in nominally photometric conditions. Equatorial fields were observed from both observatories, so were observed more frequently than those near ±30° which were observed with only one telescope. The special Magellanic Cloud calibration fields were observed 108 to 468 times between November 2000 and February 2001.Calibration scan Atlas Images, and Point and Extended Source Working Databases (Cal-PSWDB and Cal-XSWDB), analogous to those from the main survey, were produced from the calibration scan pipeline data reduction. The calibration Image Atlas and WDBs are the fundamental processing archives of the data from 73,230 calibration scans taken in photometric conditions during 2MASS survey operations. The Cal-WDBs contain positions, magnitudes and characteristics of 191,464,020 and 403,811 point and extended "source" extractions, respectively. The calibration Image Atlas contains 878,769 FITS images in the three survey bandpasses redundantly covering ~5 deg2 of sky. Unlike the main survey and 6x observations, "Catalogs" have not been derived from the Calibration WDBs.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al. 2010) mapped the sky at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm (W1, W2, W3, W4) in 2010 with an angular resolution of 6.1", 6.4", 6.5", & 12.0" in the four bands. WISE achieved 5σ point source sensitivities better than 0.08, 0.11, 1 and 6 mJy in unconfused regions on the ecliptic in the four bands. Sensitivity improves toward the ecliptic poles due to denser coverage and lower zodiacal background.The All-Sky Release includes all data taken during the WISE full cryogenic mission phase, 7 January 2010 to 6 August 2010, that were processed with improved calibrations and reduction algorithms. Release data products include an Atlas of 18,240 match-filtered, calibrated and coadded image sets, a Source Catalog containing positional and photometric information for over 563 million objects detected on the WISE images, and an Explanatory Supplement that is a guide to the format, content, characteristics and cautionary notes for the WISE All-Sky Release products.

Photometric calibration for 2MASS was performed using observations of calibration fields made at regular intervals during each night of survey operations. Measurements of standard stars in the fields were used to derive the photometric zero point offsets as a function of time during each night. Atmospheric extinction coefficients were derived from 2MASS observations made over long periods.2MASS calibration fields, or tiles, are 1° long in declination and approximately 8.5' wide in right ascension. There are 35 regular survey calibration fields distributed at approximately two hour intervals in right ascension near declinations of approximately -30°, 0° and +30°. An additional five calibration fields were defined in and around the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds to support the deep observation (6x) campaign towards the end of survey operations.Over the course of the survey, the regular calibration fields were scanned between 562 and 3692 times in nominally photometric conditions. Equatorial fields were observed from both observatories, so were observed more frequently than those near ±30° which were observed with only one telescope. The special Magellanic Cloud calibration fields were observed 108 to 468 times between November 2000 and February 2001.Calibration scan Atlas Images, and Point and Extended Source Working Databases (Cal-PSWDB and Cal-XSWDB), analogous to those from the main survey, were produced from the calibration scan pipeline data reduction. The calibration Image Atlas and WDBs are the fundamental processing archives of the data from 73,230 calibration scans taken in photometric conditions during 2MASS survey operations. The Cal-WDBs contain positions, magnitudes and characteristics of 191,464,020 and 403,811 point and extended "source" extractions, respectively. The calibration Image Atlas contains 878,769 FITS images in the three survey bandpasses redundantly covering ~5 deg2 of sky. Unlike the main survey and 6x observations, "Catalogs" have not been derived from the Calibration WDBs.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al. 2010) mapped the sky at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm (W1, W2, W3, W4) in 2010 with an angular resolution of 6.1", 6.4", 6.5", & 12.0" in the four bands. WISE achieved 5σ point source sensitivities better than 0.08, 0.11, 1 and 6 mJy in unconfused regions on the ecliptic in the four bands. Sensitivity improves toward the ecliptic poles due to denser coverage and lower zodiacal background.The All-Sky Release includes all data taken during the WISE full cryogenic mission phase, 7 January 2010 to 6 August 2010, that were processed with improved calibrations and reduction algorithms. Release data products include an Atlas of 18,240 match-filtered, calibrated and coadded image sets, a Source Catalog containing positional and photometric information for over 563 million objects detected on the WISE images, and an Explanatory Supplement that is a guide to the format, content, characteristics and cautionary notes for the WISE All-Sky Release products.The WISE All-Sky Data Release Single-exposure Source Working Database contains positions and brightness information, uncertainties, time of observation and assorted quality flags for 9,479,433,101 "sources" detected on the individual WISE 7.7s (W1 and W2) and 8.8s (W3 and W4) Single-exposure images. Because WISE scanned every point on the sky multiple times, the Single-exposure Database contains multiple, independent measurements of objects on the sky.Entries in the Single-exposure Source Table include detections of real astrophysical objects, as well as spurious detections of low SNR noise excursions, transient events such as hot pixels, charged particle strikes and satellite streaks, and image artifacts light from bright sources including the moon. Many of the unreliable detections are flagged in the Single-exposure Table, but they have not been filtered out as they were for the Source Catalog. Therefore, the Table must be used with caution. Users are strongly encouraged to read the Cautionary Notes before using the Table.

This table is based on the results of the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS), a ten-year project to map the full three-dimensional distribution of galaxies in the nearby universe. The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) was completed in 2003 and its final data products, including an extended source catalog (XSC), are available online. The 2MASS XSC contains nearly a million galaxies with K_s <= 13.5 mag and is essentially complete and mostly unaffected by interstellar extinction and stellar confusion down to a galactic latitude of |b| = 5 degrees for bright galaxies. Near-infrared wavelengths are sensitive to the old stellar populations that dominate galaxy masses, making 2MASS an excellent starting point to study the distribution of matter in the nearby universe. The authors selected a sample of 44,599 2MASS galaxies with K_s <= 11.75 mag and |b| >= 5 degrees (>= 8 degrees toward the Galactic bulge) as the input catalog for their survey. They obtained spectroscopic observations for 11,000 galaxies and used previously obtained velocities for the remainder of the sample to generate a redshift catalog that is 97.6% complete to well-defined limits and covers 91% of the sky. This provides an unprecedented census of galaxy (baryonic mass) concentrations within 300 Mpc. Earlier versions of their survey have been used in a number of publications that have studied the bulk motion of the Local Group, mapped the density and peculiar velocity fields out to 50 h^-1 Mpc, detected galaxy groups, and estimated the values of several cosmological parameters. Additionally, the authors present morphological types for a nearly complete sub-sample of 20,860 galaxies with K_s <= 11.25 mag and |b| >= 10 degrees. The authors initially selected 45,086 sources which met the following criteria:

 Ks <= 11.75 mag and detected at H, E(B - V) <= 1 mag, |b| >= 5 degrees for 30 degrees < l < 330 degrees, |b| >= 8 degrees otherwise. 

They rejected 324 sources of galactic origin (multiple stars, planetary nebulae, and H II regions) or pieces of galaxies detected as separate sources by the 2MASS pipeline. Additionally, they flagged 314 bona fide galaxies with compromised photometry for reprocessing at a future date. Some of these galaxies have bright stars very close to their nuclei which were not detected by the pipeline. Others are in regions of high stellar density and their center positions and/or isophotal radii have been incorrectly measured by the pipeline. Lastly, some are close pairs or multiples but the pipeline only identified a single object. A detailed explanation of the steps taken to reject and reprocess the flagged galaxies is given in the Appendix of the reference paper. In summary, the final input catalog contained here has 44,599 entries (plotted using black symbols in Figure 1 of the reference paper). In this table, redshifts for 43,533 of the selected galaxies, or 97.6% of the sample, are presented. This table was created by the HEASARC in April 2012 based on an electronic version of Table 3 of the reference paper which was obtained from the ApJS website. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Photometric calibration for 2MASS was performed using observations of calibration fields made at regular intervals during each night of survey operations. Measurements of standard stars in the fields were used to derive the photometric zero point offsets as a function of time during each night. Atmospheric extinction coefficients were derived from 2MASS observations made over long periods.2MASS calibration fields, or tiles, are 1° long in declination and approximately 8.5' wide in right ascension. There are 35 regular survey calibration fields distributed at approximately two hour intervals in right ascension near declinations of approximately -30°, 0° and +30°. An additional five calibration fields were defined in and around the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds to support the deep observation (6x) campaign towards the end of survey operations.Over the course of the survey, the regular calibration fields were scanned between 562 and 3692 times in nominally photometric conditions. Equatorial fields were observed from both observatories, so were observed more frequently than those near ±30° which were observed with only one telescope. The special Magellanic Cloud calibration fields were observed 108 to 468 times between November 2000 and February 2001.Calibration scan Atlas Images, and Point and Extended Source Working Databases (Cal-PSWDB and Cal-XSWDB), analogous to those from the main survey, were produced from the calibration scan pipeline data reduction. The calibration Image Atlas and WDBs are the fundamental processing archives of the data from 73,230 calibration scans taken in photometric conditions during 2MASS survey operations. The Cal-WDBs contain positions, magnitudes and characteristics of 191,464,020 and 403,811 point and extended "source" extractions, respectively. The calibration Image Atlas contains 878,769 FITS images in the three survey bandpasses redundantly covering ~5 deg2 of sky. Unlike the main survey and 6x observations, "Catalogs" have not been derived from the Calibration WDBs.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al. 2010) mapped the sky at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm (W1, W2, W3, W4) in 2010 with an angular resolution of 6.1", 6.4", 6.5", & 12.0" in the four bands. WISE achieved 5σ point source sensitivities better than 0.08, 0.11, 1 and 6 mJy in unconfused regions on the ecliptic in the four bands. Sensitivity improves toward the ecliptic poles due to denser coverage and lower zodiacal background.The All-Sky Release includes all data taken during the WISE full cryogenic mission phase, 7 January 2010 to 6 August 2010, that were processed with improved calibrations and reduction algorithms. Release data products include an Atlas of 18,240 match-filtered, calibrated and coadded image sets, a Source Catalog containing positional and photometric information for over 563 million objects detected on the WISE images, and an Explanatory Supplement that is a guide to the format, content, characteristics and cautionary notes for the WISE All-Sky Release products.The WISE All-Sky Data Release Single-exposure Source Working Database contains positions and brightness information, uncertainties, time of observation and assorted quality flags for 9,479,433,101 "sources" detected on the individual WISE 7.7s (W1 and W2) and 8.8s (W3 and W4) Single-exposure images. Because WISE scanned every point on the sky multiple times, the Single-exposure Database contains multiple, independent measurements of objects on the sky.Entries in the Single-exposure Source Table include detections of real astrophysical objects, as well as spurious detections of low SNR noise excursions, transient events such as hot pixels, charged particle strikes and satellite streaks, and image artifacts light from bright sources including the moon. Many of the unreliable detections are flagged in the Single-exposure Table, but they have not been filtered out as they were for the Source Catalog. Therefore, the Table must be used with caution. Users are strongly encouraged to read the Cautionary Notes before using the Table.