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Abstract In the third APOKASC catalog, we present data for the complete sample of 15,808 evolved stars with APOGEE spectroscopic parameters and Kepler asteroseismology. We used 10 independent asteroseismic analysis techniques and anchor our system on fundamental radii derived from GaiaLand spectroscopicT_eff. We provide evolutionary state, asteroseismic surface gravity, mass, radius, age, and the data used to derive them for 12,418 stars. This includes 10,036 exceptionally precise measurements, with median fractional uncertainties in ${\nu }_{\max }$, Δν, mass, radius, and age of 0.6%, 0.6%, 3.8%, 1.8%, and 11.1%, respectively. We provide more limited data for 1624 additional stars that either have lower-quality data or are outside of our primary calibration domain. Using lower red giant branch (RGB) stars, we find a median age for the chemical thick disk of 9.14 ± 0.05(ran) ± 0.9(sys) Gyr with an age dispersion of 1.1 Gyr, consistent with our error model. We calibrate our red clump (RC) mass loss to derive an age consistent with the lower RGB and provide asymptotic GB and RGB ages for luminous stars. We also find a sharp upper-age boundary in the chemical thin disk. We find that scaling relations are precise and accurate on the lower RGB and RC, but they become more model dependent for more luminous giants and break down at the tip of the RGB. We recommend the use of multiple methods, calibration to a fundamental scale, and the use of stellar models to interpret frequency spacings. 

ABSTRACT SN 1954J in NGC 2403 and SN 1961V in NGC 1058 were two luminous transients whose definitive classification as either non-terminal eruptions or supernovae remains elusive. A critical question is whether a surviving star can be significantly obscured by dust formed from material ejected during the transient. We use three lines of argument to show that the candidate surviving stars are not significantly optically extinct (τ ≲ 1) by dust formed in the transients. First, we use SED fits to new HST optical and near-IR photometry. Secondly, neither source is becoming brighter as required by absorption from an expanding shell of ejected material. Thirdly, the ejecta masses implied by the Hα luminosities are too low to produce significant dust absorption. The latter two arguments hold independent of the dust properties. The Hα fluxes should also be declining with time as t−3, and this seems not to be observed. As a result, it seems unlikely that recently formed dust can be responsible for the present faintness of the sources compared to their progenitors, although this can be verified with the James Webb Space Telescope. This leaves three possibilities: (1) the survivors were misidentified; (2) they are intrinsically less luminous; (3) SN 1954J and SN 1961V were true supernovae.