THE VST ATLAS SURVEY

Links: ESO - Data Releases CASU Technical info VST data processing WFAU (ROE) OSA VST-ATLAS Chilean Data Hub ESO VST Naples VST KIDS ESO VISTA UK VISTA UKIDSS OmegaCam Survey Progress Click on image for full-sized version Tile finder Reports ESO OBs and CASU reductions and plots magnitude offsets with Gaia Search by RA and Dec ... ATLAS Images g,r,i image of NGC4039 g,r,i image of NGC289 g,r,i image of NGC7172 g,r,z image of Messier 30 g,r,i image of NGC613 g,r,i image of IC5271 g,r,i image of NGC3115 g,r,i image of NGC7268 g,r,i image of NGC1255 g,r,i image of NGC7755 g,r,i image of NGC945 g,r,i image of NGC7645 with supernova 2010kx g,r,i image of PGC67701 g,r,i image of NGC7154 g,r,i image of NGC4487 g,r,i image of NGC4942 g,r,i image of NGC7361

Welcome to the VST ATLAS survey home page. June 2011 - First light on the VST August 2011 - the survey has started *** November 2013 - DR1 data release *** *** November 2015 - DR2 data release *** *** March 2017 - DR3 data release *** *** May 2019 - DR4 data release *** Survey paper: Shanks, T., Metcalfe, N., Chehade, B., Findlay, J. R., Irwin, M. J., Gonzalez-Solares, E., Lewis, J. R., Yoldas, A. Kupcu, Mann, R. G., Read, M. A., Sutorius, E. T. W., and Voutsinas, S. 2015 MNRAS, 451, 4238. The VLT Survey Telescope ATLAS g,i,z image of NGC253 What is ATLAS? The initial aim of ATLAS is to survey 4500 deg2 of the Southern Sky at high galactic latitudes to comparable depths to the SDSS in the North. The VST ATLAS will be the first step towards a panoramic digital survey of the Southern Sky in the optical bands. The ATLAS will complement the proposed VISTA Hemisphere Survey in the South. A prime science driver is to determine the dark energy equation of state by detecting 'baryon wiggles' in the power-spectrum of ~450000 z~0.7 Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs), using either photo-z from VST ATLAS + VHS imaging or spectroscopic redshifts via the new AAOmega instrument. Other uses include the colour selection of QSO candidates out to z~7. Further potential dark energy probes exist including LRG z-space distortion, the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect and the dependence of QSO lensing on redshift. Finally, the VST ATLAS+AAOmega will feed VLT with rare galaxy and QSO targets for high resolution spectroscopy, constituting a new and uniquely powerful tool for survey cosmology. The survey started in August 2011. Processing is being done at the Cambridge Astronomy Survey Unit (CASU), whilst the data release is being prepared by the Wide Field Astronomy Unit (WFAU) at the ROE. DR2 is now available from the ESO archive. Atlas survey area RA range Dec range 21h30 -> 04h00 -40o -> -10o 10h00 -> 15h30 -20o -> -2o 10h00 -> 15h00 -29o -> -20o Exposure times (secs) u g r i z 60x2 50x2 45x2 45x2 45x2 Survey progress maps: (these are constructed monthly from the information in the ESO database) Numbers in brackets are completed tiles. There are a total of 4276 tiles to be observed in ugr and 5073 in iz. 4th January 2016: u-band (3519), g-band (3955), r-band (4038), i-band (4507), z-band (4609). 1st February 2016: u-band (3536), g-band (3972), r-band (4038), i-band (4552), z-band (4654). 1st March 2016: u-band (3585), g-band (3972), r-band (4038), i-band (4654), z-band (4688). 4th April 2016: u-band (3734), g-band (4072), r-band (4089), i-band (4722), z-band (4837). 3rd May 2016: u-band (3751), g-band (4072), r-band (4089), i-band (4841), z-band (4871). 1st June 2016: u-band (3768), g-band (4072), r-band (4089), i-band (4892), z-band (4922). 1st July 2016: u-band (3802), g-band (4072), r-band (4157), i-band (4892), z-band (4922). 1st August 2016: u-band (3851), g-band (4089), r-band (4208), i-band (4892), z-band (4922). 8th September 2016: u-band (4140), g-band (4208), r-band (4242), i-band (4907), z-band (4922). 3rd October 2016: u-band (4157), g-band (4208), r-band (4242),i-band (4907), z-band (4922). 10th November 2016: u-band (4157), g-band (4208), r-band (4242),i-band (4907), z-band(4922). 13th December 2016: u-band (4157), g-band (4208), r-band (4242),i-band (4907), z-band(4922). 4th January 2017: u-band (4157), g-band (4208), r-band (4242),i-band (4907), z-band(4922). 1st February 2017: u-band (4191), g-band (4225), r-band 4276, i-band (4920), z-band(4922). 1st March 2017: u-band (4191), g-band (4225), r-band 4276, i-band (4937), z-band(4922). 3rd April 2017: u-band 4276, g-band 4276, r-band 4276, i-band (5005), z-band(4971). 4th May 2017: u-band 4276, g-band 4276, r-band 4276, i-band (5056), z-band 5073. 1st June 2017: u-band 4276, g-band 4276, r-band 4276, i-band 5073, z-band 5073. Original Survey Completed (apart from some repeats of bad observations) 2018 - the ugr data is being extended to cover the area below -20 deg. in the northern cap which only had iz data in the original survey. New area is an extra 797 tiles. 26th October 2018: u-band (47), g-band (153), r-band (255). 8th January 2019: u-band (58), g-band (153), r-band (255). 4th February 2019: u-band (78), g-band (187), r-band (289). 12th March 2019: u-band (288), g-band (205), r-band (404). 3rd April 2019: u-band (383), g-band (305), r-band (544). 14th May 2019: u-band (517), g-band (437), r-band (663). 5th June 2019: u-band (547), g-band (612), r-band 797. 8th July 2019: u-band (587), g-band (663), r-band 797. 9th August 2019: u-band (627), g-band (663), r-band 797. 12th September 2019: u-band (627), g-band (663), r-band 797. 6th January 2020: u-band (627), g-band (663), r-band 797. 11th February 2020: u-band (737), g-band (714), r-band 797. 19th March 2020: u-band 797, g-band 797, r-band 797. Extension Completed (apart from some repeats of bad observations) You can also try the Chilean Data Hub for more maps Who is involved? PI: T. Shanks, University of Durham, UK Co Is: C.M. Baugh (Durham), S.L. Bridle (UCL), B.J. Boyle (ATNF), G. Busarello (OAC), M. Capaccioli (OAC), M.M. Colless (AAO), S.M. Croom (AAO), C. Davenhall (Edinburgh), M.J. Drinkwater (UQ), A.C. Edge (Durham), J.P. Emerson (QMUL), D. Evans (Cambridge), C.S. Frenk (Durham), E. Gonzalez-Solares (Cambridge) N. Hambly (Edinburgh), S. Hodgkin (Cambridge), M.J. Irwin (Cambridge) O. Lahav (UCL), J. Lewis (Cambridge) N. Loaring (MSSL), S.J. Maddox (Nottingham), B. Mann (Edinburgh) R.G. McMahon (Cambridge), N. Metcalfe (Durham), S.L. Morris (Durham), R.C. Nichol (Portsmouth), K. Noddle (Edinburgh), J.A. Peacock (Edinburgh), K. Pimbblet (UQ), M. Read (Edinburgh), I. Roseboom (UQ), N.J. Ross (LBNL), R. Savage (Sussex), U. Sawangwit (Durham), E. Sutorius (Edinburgh), W.J. Sutherland (QMUL), E. van Kampen (Innsbruck), S.J. Warren (IC), P. Williams (Edinburgh) Documentation VST ATLAS Proposal (pdf) 24/02/05 VST ATLAS ESO Large Programme Case for Support (pdf) 13/10/05 VST ATLAS ESO Large Programme Proposal Form (pdf) 13/10/05 VST ATLAS Survey Management Plan (pdf) 15/04/06 Revised VST ATLAS Survey Management Plan (pdf) 6/09/06 June 2011 VST ATLAS Survey Management Plan (pdf) 17/Jun/2011 P89 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 28/Oct/2011 VST presentation at KIDS kick-off meeting (ppt) 3/Nov/2011 2QDES Telecon presentation Wednesday 29/2/12 11pm UT(ppt) 29/Feb/2012 P90 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 14/May/2012 P91 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 31/Oct/2012 P92 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 30/Apr/2013 P93 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 8/Nov/2013 DR1 release description (pdf) 8/Nov/2013 Public Survey Panel Review: Status Report (pdf) 7/Apr/2014 P95 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 4/Nov/2014 P97 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 20/Oct/2015 P99 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 21/Oct/2016 P101 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 30/Oct/2017 P102 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 4/May/2018 P103 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 31/Oct/2018 P105 Public Survey Status Report (pdf) 1/Nov/2019 Related documents AAOmega LRG Z Survey AATAC Pilot proposal (gzipped postscript) 15/09/05 AAOmega LRG Z Survey AATAC Long Term proposal (gzipped postscript) 15/03/06 AAOmega LRG Z Survey Report on Pilot Run (pdf) 20/04/06   VST-ISW Chilean Survey (pdf) 31/03/06 VISTA Hemisphere Survey (pdf) 31/03/06 VISTA Hemisphere Survey management plan (web page) June 2007 VISTA Hemisphere Survey Project Management Wiki   Kick-off meeting, Durham Nov 23rd 2010 Instroduction & Overview - Tom Shanks (pdf) Science Archives at WFAU - Eckhard Sutorius (pdf) Quality control/User interface at WFAU - Eckhard Sutorius (pdf) Global Calibration - Steve Maddox (pdf) CASU processing for VST - Mike Irwin (pdf) Science kick-off meeting, Durham Dec 5th 2011 Final programme (pdf) VST ATLAS Data reduction at CASU - Mike Irwin (pdf) GalaxyFormation - Claudia Lagos-Urbina (pdf) Galaxy Groups and Clusters - Sean McGee (pdf) GAMA + Herschel ATLAS - Peder Norberg (pdf) VST ATLAS Archiving at WFAU - Bob Mann (pdf) VISTA Hemisphere Survey - Richard McMahon (pdf) ATLAS Galaxy Photo-z - Roberto Saglia (pdf) Simulations + 2dFGRS - Alex Merson (pdf) ATLAS Status - Tom Shanks (pdf) LRG Cosmology - Tom Shanks (pdf) High-z QSOs with VHS+ATLAS - Manda Banerji (pdf) VST Kilo Degree Survey (KIDS) - Jelte de Jong (pdf) ATLAS UVX QSO Surveys - Utane Sawangwit (pdf) Stellar Streams - Berenice Pila Diez (pdf) VST Calibration - Nigel Metcalfe (pdf) DEX meeting, Durham Jan 13th 2012 VST Atlas - Tom Shanks (pdf) ESO VST Data Products meeting, Mar 21st 2012 Atlas - Tom Shanks (ppt) VST Workshop, Durham, April 2014 Webpage with pdfs of talks ... Durham discussion meeting, June 12th 2017 Tom Shanks (pdf) Nigel Metcalfe (pdf) Nicholas Cross (pdf)