Abstract
The aim of this paper is to report on results of a going-on project to determine the space-density function and the luminosity function of RGB and AGB stars in the galactic plane toward the selected areas designated as McCuskey's Luminosity function Fields (LF). For this purpose I have carried out observations and used archival observations obtained by the QUEST I camera installed at the Stock Schmidt telescope of the Observatorio Nacional de Venezuela operated by CIDA. Here I present preliminary results for a few of these fields. This project builds on a series of investigations carried out in the 60s and 70s by McCuskey and collaborators, and the present author, starting in the 80s, at the Warner & Swasey Observatory of the Case Western Reserve University. Recently, Thé & Fluks, at the University of Amsterdam, carried a thorough study of red giant stars in the galactic plane towards 10 of the McCuskey's LF regions. The Case survey resulted in the very well known isodensity maps of stars in the spectral range B5-F0, for the MS stars, and F8-K3, for the giant stars, up to distances of 3-5 kpc, in the galactic plane. The Dutch survey produced isodensity maps for giant M stars in the spectral range M0-M10, up to distances of 5 kpc. I have proposed to use the capabilities of the QUEST I camera to carry out spectroscopic surveys in the red (R) and near infrared (I) in as many of the McCuskey's fields as possible, in both hemispheres, to produce isodensity maps of RGB and AGB stars, up to distances of 5-10 kpc; this survey will also allow to provide, in addition, precise positions, magnitudes, and spectral types for all the observed stars.
