Lynds Target Selection

I haven't done this legwork yet because I thought you might want to be involved - finding a good target for observation is a substantial part of doing science! :)

Ideally, we'd pick a target for our observation using a combination of

• searching ADS for existing literature .... we want something that doesn't have a LOT of other references, but some references are fine - if someone else has already assembled data on an object, we might be able to use those data and/or results - we just don't want something that has already been "done to death." (page from the wiki on literature searching)
• checking POSS and other existing multi-wavelength data to see what the object looks like in those bands .... does it look thick and dark in the optical? bright in the infrared? Both of those things suggest that it will be interesting with Spitzer. Something that looks diaphanous in the optical will likely turn out to be completely transparent with Spitzer. (page from the wiki on introduction to data at other wavelengths; you can also do this with Leopard -- see next item.)
• and, checking to see if it is or is not in the Spitzer archive .... you need to use Leopard to do this. (page from the wiki on searching the archive using Leopard-- NB: "searching the archive to see what is there" is the same thing as "downloading data" except that when you search to see what is there, you don't actually download the data, you just see that there is something there.) Also, note that just because there is data already in the Archive on a given cloud doesn't mean it's a BAD thing, just that it's not a good thing for a new proposal. You should make a note of the "nice" ones you find, because you can go grab the data as soon as the data are public.