New releases of images and catalogues in the optical and near-infrared bands resulting from the VISTA-VIKING and VST-KiDS surveys
The VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy Survey (VIKING) - one of the public surveys being conducted at ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) - is a wide area (final coverage: 1500 deg2), intermediate depth, near infrared imaging survey at high galatic latitudes, in five broadband filters Z, Y, J, H, Ks. Science goals include high-redshift quasars, extreme brown dwarfs, as well as multiwavelength coverage and identifications for a range of other imaging surveys, notably VST-KiDS and Herschel-ATLAS.
This second data release of VIKING data covers all of the highest quality data (images, weightmaps, single-band source lists) taken since the start of the survey in November 2009 up to September 2013. The current products are derived from an improved processing pipeline. This release contains 477 tiles and covers an area of 690 deg2. The associated multi-band catalogue includes a total of 46 million sources.
The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) - one of public surveys being conducted with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) - will image 1500 deg2 in four filters (u, g, r, i). It is designed to be a weak lensing shear tomography survey, but also to map the large-scale matter distribution in the universe and constrain the equation of state of Dark Energy. Secondary science cases include galaxy evolution to Milky Way structure and from the detection of white dwarfs to high-redshift quasars.
This second data release consists of coadded images, weight maps, masks and single-band source lists for 98 tiles that were completed between October 2012 and September 2013. The total combined area coverage of the KiDS releases is 148 deg2. In addition to the image products, the release contains the associated multi-band source catalogue of 17 million sources.
Because the areas covered by KiDS and VIKING releases does overlap, the ESO Science Archive Facility offers source photometry in nine bands, from the near-UV to the near-infrared, for 17 million sources. The new catalogue data are accessible from ESO’s catalogue facility query interface, and each one is accompanied by a comprehensive release description.