Sky Surveys
O2.1 Photometric and Astrometric Calibration of the Southern H-alpha Sky Survey Atlas (SHASSA) (Invited)
- Peter McCullough (STScI) John Gaustad (Swarthmore) Wayne Rosing (Google)
The Southern H-Alpha Sky Survey Atlas (SHASSA) is the primary data product of a robotic wide-angle imaging survey of the southern sky (
= +15º to -90º) at 656.3 nm wavelength, the H
emission line of hydrogen.
This presentation will focus on the photometric and astrometric calibration of the images in the Atlas.
O2.2 The XMM-Newton Serendipitous Sky Survey (Invited)
- M. G. Watson (University of Leicester) on behalf of the XMM-Newton SSC
XMM-Newton provides a powerful facility for X-ray surveys by virtue of its high sensitivity and large field of view, coupled with excellent hard X-ray response. Over the course of each year's observations around 100 sq.deg. of the sky is covered by XMM-Newton observations, yielding a serendipitous catalogue of ~50,000 X-ray sources extending to faint X-ray fluxes.
This paper will describe two projects being undertaken by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC) which are designed to maximize the value of the XMM-Newton serendipitous sky survey:
(i) a programme of identification and follow-up of significant samples of sources serendipitously discovered in XMM-Newton observations. This project, underway since mid-2000, involves a substantial programme of spectroscopic identifications, coupled with extensive deep optical/infrared imaging of XMM-Newton fields.
(ii) the compilation of a comprehensive serendipitous source catalogue from all XMM-Newton observations, emphasizing sensitivity but with particular attention paid to uniformity and quality control. Specialized data processing for this catalogue started in April 2002 with the first installment will be publicly released in late 2002. The main properties of the catalogue will be presented.
O2.3 The ISOCAM Parallel Mode Survey
- S. Ott, R. Siebenmorgen, N. Schartel (ANU)
During most of ESA's ISO mission, the mid-infrared camera ISOCAM continued to observe the sky mainly around 6.7µm with a pixel field of view of 6" in its so-called "parallel mode" while another instrument was prime.
This permitted an unbiased survey of limited areas of the infrared sky, albeit with varying depth and wavelength per field due to the different instrumental configurations used and the highly variable time spent per pointed observation.
Dedicated calibration, data reduction and source extraction methods were developed to analyse these serendipitously recorded data: 37000 individual pointings, taken during 6700 hours of observation. Using sophisticated cleaning and merging algorithms, over 42 square degrees of the sky --- roughly one per mille of the celestial sphere --- could be processed and catalogued.
We will give an overview of the data processing and results of this recently finished project, and outline the scientific potential of the generated data-set.
For the final point source catalogue, around 30000 sources are expected. Their mid-infrared flux goes down to 0.5 mJy, with a median of 2.7 mJy for sources outside the galactic plane, and 6.3 mJy for sources inside the galactic plane.
We will announce the release date of the ISOCAM Parallel Point Source Catalogue and of all calibrated ISOCAM parallel images to the general community at this conference, and hope this will become an attractive and valuable resource for all mid-infrared research activities and a major legacy from the ISO mission.
