Program: GS-2006B-Q-34

We have embarked on a search for extremely red objects using the UKIDSS Early Release Data(EDR) for a pilot study. This study over an area of 27 square degrees has uncovered (after careful data screening) four extremely red stellar objects with J-K>2.5 and K<17.0. Without near IR spectroscopy we can only speculate about the nature of these objects. It is plausible that these stellar objects are obscured AGN, N-type Carbon stars or a new class of object. If they are like most known Carbon stars, they are high-luminosity giants(M_K=-7) with distance moduli up to 24 and may lie at galactocentric distances greater than 500kpc. Thus they could represent the tip of the AGB branch in hitherto unknown dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way or new members of the local group. We propose to extend this survey to the 150deg^2 region of sky covered by UKIDSS Data Release 1(DR1) at -1<dec<1, 22<RA<04. In this proposal we request Gemini time with GNIRS in 'mediocre observing conditions' to obtain the essential near IR spectroscopy required to determine the nature of these objects.