THE VST ATLAS SURVEY

Links: CASU Technical info VST data processing ESO VST Naples VST KIDS ESO VISTA UK VISTA UKIDSS OmegaCam ATLAS Images g,r,i image of NGC289 g,r,i image of NGC7172 r,i,z image of NGC288 g,r,i image of NGC613 g,r,i image of IC5271 g,r,i image of NGC3115

Welcome to the VST ATLAS survey home page. June 2011 - First light on the VST August 2011 - the survey has started! 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). 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 table (28th October 2011) Survey progress maps: (these are constructed monthly from the information in the ESO database) 5th November 2011 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 6th December 2011 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 12th January 2012 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 6th February 2012 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 29th February 2012 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 2nd April 2012 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 1st May 2012 u-band map, g-band map, r-band map, i-band map, z-band map. 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 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 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)