Exploiting VISTA: the Public Surveys
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Astronomy Unit
Abstract
We are planning to use the new VISTA wide-field survey telescope in the Atacama desert of Chile, to make several near-infrared sky maps and associated catalogues of objects found. VISTA with its 4-metre mirror and 67-megapixel 3-tonne infrared camera will be the world's most powerful survey telescope when operational in 2008. We will contribute to the work of each of the teams working to deliver the products from five of ESO's VISTA Public Surveys (VHS - a hemispheric survey of 20,00 sqare degrees, VVV - a variability survey of the bulge and plane of our galaxy, VMC - a survey of the nearest galaxies the Magellanic Clouds, VIDEO - deep extragalactic observations and UltraVISTA - an ulradeep survey of a small area). This work will be coordinated with the respective team leaders, and involve strong interaction with the VISTA Data Flow System pipeline and archive products and staff. To check the quality of the science products we will be doing science with them and iterating with the processing teams, thereby improving the quality of the product and getting new science insights. We will contribute to survey generation, quality control of intermediate and final products. The fundamental data products for public release are images and catalogues generated from them including: - Image data stored as full 1.5 square degree fille 'tiles', separately for each passband, astrometrically calibrated with systematic errors below 0.1 arcsec rms, on a standard zeropoint scale, in the VISTA natural instrumental system. together with confidence maps used and generated during the production of the above images, including automated and/or manual masking of defective sub-regions. - Single-band catalogues separately for each passband, including discrete and continuous star galaxy classification parameters, aperture magnitudes in log-spaced apertures , etc. - Merged multi-band catalogues created from the full set of single-band catalogues in each tile. - Catalogues containing list-driven photometry in matched apertures in all bands for all objects selected The primary focus of this work will be to produce high quality products for public release to the international astronomical community. In doing this we will be exploring the science results that arise and exploiting them as appropriate (e.g. follow up spectra of exciting objects found etc). This work also builds a sound base to eventually exploit the full data products which will be available after the surveys complete (data taking takes 5 years), and we expect to seek further support after the three years covered by this application.
Publications
{Saito}, R.~K. And {Minniti}, D. And {D{\'e}k{\'a}ny}, I. And {Hempel}, M. And {Alonso-Garc{\'{\i}}a}, J. And {Toledo}, I. And {Beamin}, J.~C. And {Angeloni}, R. And {Lucas}, P.~W. And {Emerson}, J.~P.
(2011)
VISTA Variables in the V{\'{\i}}a L{\'a}ctea (VVV): first results and perspectives
{McPherson}, A.~M. And {Born}, A. And {Sutherland}, W. And {Emerson}, J. And {Little}, B. And {Jeffers}, P. And {Stewart}, M. And {Murray}, J. And {Ward}, K.
(2006)
VISTA: project status
{Emerson}, J.~P. And {Sutherland}, W.~J.
(2010)
VISTA: status and performance
{Emerson}, J. And {Sutherland}, W.
(2010)
The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA): Looking Back at Commissioning
in The Messenger
{Emerson}, J. And {McPherson}, A. And {Sutherland}, W.
(2006)
Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy: Progress Report
in The Messenger
{Emerson}, J.
(2012)
Vista: An Overview
{Dalton}, G.~B. And {Caldwell}, M. And {Ward}, A.~K. And {Whalley}, M.~S. And {Woodhouse}, G. And {Edeson}, R.~L. And {Clark}, P. And {Beard}, S.~M. And {Gallie}, A.~M. And {Todd}, S.~P. And {Strachan}, J.~M.~D. And {Bezawada}, N.~N. And {Sutherland}, W.~J. And {Emerson}, J.~P.
(2006)
The VISTA infrared camera
{Arnaboldi}, M. And {Dietrich}, J. And {Hatziminaoglou}, E. And {Hummel}, W. And {Hussain}, G. And {Neeser}, M. And {Rejkuba}, M. And {Bierwirth}, T. And {Comeron}, F. And {Dorigo}, D. And {Emerson}, J. And {Nunes}, P. And {Primas}, F.
(2008)
Preparing for the ESO Public Surveys with VISTA and VST: New Tools for Phase 2 and a Workshop with the Survey PIs
in The Messenger
Zhang C
(2015)
THE VMC SURVEY. XVIII. RADIAL DEPENDENCE OF THE LOW-MASS, 0.55-0.82 M ? STELLAR MASS FUNCTION IN THE GALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTER 47 TUCANAE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tatton B
(2013)
The VMC survey VII. Reddening map of the 30 Doradus field and the structure of the cold interstellar medium
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Description | EVALSO |
Organisation | University of Trieste |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Science case for installation of fibre to connect ESO Paranal to Antofagasta and then Santiago to enable fast(er) data transfer to Europe. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partner from organisations involved including Italian & Chilean equivalents of Janet (GARR & REUNA) |
Impact | The publications are listed elsewhere. The fast access enabled all ESO telescopes to send their data to Europe in almost real time, rather than on disks by courier. It also improved academic network along Chile's backbone, and enable REUNA to improve connectivity yo Lima in Peru. |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | ESO VISTA press releases |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Poster Presentation |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | See the press releases at http://www.eso.org/public/about-eso/search.html?q=VISTA&searchthis=Go%21 and the many pictures of VISTA itself at http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/surveytelescopes/ Some of my images have been in ESOS's top 10 and top 100 (one was top image for many months) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
Description | Talks to Astronomical Societies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Typically 20-30 amateur astronomers attended various talks given at various (~10) astronomical Societies around the country. Audience seemed interested and impressed at UK building VISTA |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012 |
Description | Talks to RAS and Universities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
Results and Impact | Raised awareness of VISTA and its capabilities. Some became involve din using VISTA |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 |