A CATALOG OF EXTENDED GREEN OBJECTS IN THE GLIMPSE SURVEY: A NEW SAMPLE OF MASSIVE YOUNG STELLAR OBJECT OUTFLOW CANDIDATES

Using images from the Spitzer Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE), we have identified more than 300 extended 4.5 mu m sources (Extended Green Objects (EGOs), for the common coding of the [4.5] band as green in three-color composite InfraRed Array Camera images). We present a catalog of these EGOs, including integrated flux density measurements at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0, and 24 mu m from GLIMPSE and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic Plane Survey. The average angular separation between a source in our sample and the nearest IRAS point source is greater than 1'. The majority of EGOs are associated with infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), and where high-resolution 6.7 GHz CH3OH maser surveys overlap the GLIMPSE coverage, EGOs and 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers are strongly correlated. Extended 4.5 mu m emission is thought to trace shocked molecular gas in protostellar outflows; the association of EGOs with IRDCs and 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers suggests that the extended 4.5 mu m emission may pinpoint outflows specifically from massive protostars. The mid-IR colors of EGOs lie in regions of color-color space occupied by young protostars still embedded in infalling envelopes.