Data Release: VANDELS ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey

Published: 01 Oct 2018
VANDELS pointings in the Chandra Deep Field South field

VANDELS  is a deep Public Spectroscopic Survey of high-redshift galaxies with the VIMOS spectrograph. It is designed to exploit the multi-wavelength imaging and near-infrared grism spectroscopy available in the CANDELS UDS and CDFS fields. The goal is to obtain spectra with sufficient signal-to-noise to derive metallicities and velocity offsets for absorption and emission lines independently, allowing a detailed investigation of the physics of galaxies in the early Universe. Within an area of 0.2 square degrees, the survey aims at delivering more than 2500 high signal-to-noise (~15-20) spectra of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 2.5 < z < 5.5 and passive galaxies in the redshift range  1.5 < z < 2.5. This second data release (DR2) is based on observations carried out between August 2015 and August 2017 under the ESO Run IDs 194.A-2003(E-Q).

DR2 contains a total of 1362 1D spectra provided together with their associated 2D spectra, of which 1095 are complete in terms of exposure times. With respect to the first release, DR2 provides spectra of 483 additional targets and 478 spectra with increased exposure times. Moreover the release contains an updated catalogue of derived spectroscopic redshifts among other useful source parameters. More information about the release content can be found in the accompanying documentation.

The products are available via the Science Portal or the Phase 3 query form for spectra. Moreover the catalogue can be browsed via the dedicated Catalogue Interface.