Photometry of M giant candidates in the Milky Way

The 2400deg^2^ available in the UKIDSS Large Area Survey Data Release 8 resolve M giants through a volume four times larger than that of the entire Two Micron All Sky Survey. Combining near-infrared photometry with optical photometry and proper motions from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey yields an M giant candidate catalog with less M dwarf and quasar contamination than previous searches for similarly distant M giants.

Extensive follow-up spectroscopy of this sample will yield the first map of our Galaxy's outermost reaches over a large area of sky. Our initial spectroscopic follow-up of ~30 bright candidates yielded the positive identification of five M giants at distances ~20-90kpc. Each of these confirmed M giants have positions and velocities consistent with the Sagittarius stream.