TY - JOUR
T1 - The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). I. Introduction to the survey
AU - Ferrarese, Laura
AU - Côté, Patrick
AU - Cuillandre, Jean Charles
AU - Gwyn, S. D.J.
AU - Peng, Eric W.
AU - MacArthur, Lauren A.
AU - Duc, Pierre Alain
AU - Boselli, A.
AU - Mei, Simona
AU - Erben, Thomas
AU - McConnachie, Alan W.
AU - Durrell, Patrick R.
AU - Christopher Mihos, J.
AU - Jordán, Andrés
AU - Lançon, Ariane
AU - Puzia, Thomas H.
AU - Emsellem, Eric
AU - Balogh, Michael L.
AU - Blakeslee, John P.
AU - Van Waerbeke, Ludovic
AU - Gavazzi, Raphaël
AU - Vollmer, Bernd
AU - Kavelaars, J. J.
AU - Woods, David
AU - Ball, Nicholas M.
AU - Boissier, S.
AU - Courteau, Stéphane
AU - Ferriere, E.
AU - Gavazzi, G.
AU - Hildebrandt, Hendrik
AU - Hudelot, P.
AU - Huertas-Company, M.
AU - Liu, Chengze
AU - McLaughlin, Dean
AU - Mellier, Y.
AU - Milkeraitis, Martha
AU - Schade, David
AU - Balkowski, Chantal
AU - Bournaud, Frédéric
AU - Carlberg, R. G.
AU - Chapman, S. C.
AU - Hoekstra, Henk
AU - Peng, Chien
AU - Sawicki, Marcin
AU - Simard, Luc
AU - Taylor, James E.
AU - Brent Tully, R.
AU - Van Driel, Wim
AU - Wilson, Christine D.
AU - Burdullis, Todd
AU - Mahoney, Billy
AU - Manset, Nadine
PY - 2012/5
Y1 - 2012/5
N2 - The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is a program that uses the 1 deg 2 MegaCam instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to carry out a comprehensive optical imaging survey of the Virgo cluster, from its core to its virial radius - covering a total area of 104 deg 2 - in the u*griz bandpasses. Thanks to a dedicated data acquisition strategy and processing pipeline, the NGVS reaches a point-source depth of g 25.9 mag (10σ) and a surface brightness limit of μ g 29 mag arcsec -2 (2σ above the mean sky level), thus superseding all previous optical studies of this benchmark galaxy cluster. In this paper, we give an overview of the technical aspects of the survey, such as areal coverage, field placement, choice of filters, limiting magnitudes, observing strategies, data processing and calibration pipelines, survey timeline, and data products. We also describe the primary scientific topics of the NGVS, which include: the galaxy luminosity and mass functions; the color-magnitude relation; galaxy scaling relations; compact stellar systems; galactic nuclei; the extragalactic distance scale; the large-scale environment of the cluster and its relationship to the Local Supercluster; diffuse light and the intracluster medium; galaxy interactions and evolutionary processes; and extragalactic star clusters. In addition, we describe a number of ancillary programs dealing with "foreground" and "background" science topics, including the study of high-inclination trans-Neptunian objects; the structure of the Galactic halo in the direction of the Virgo Overdensity and Sagittarius Stream; the measurement of cosmic shear, galaxy-galaxy, and cluster lensing; and the identification of distant galaxy clusters, and strong-lensing events.
AB - The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is a program that uses the 1 deg 2 MegaCam instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to carry out a comprehensive optical imaging survey of the Virgo cluster, from its core to its virial radius - covering a total area of 104 deg 2 - in the u*griz bandpasses. Thanks to a dedicated data acquisition strategy and processing pipeline, the NGVS reaches a point-source depth of g 25.9 mag (10σ) and a surface brightness limit of μ g 29 mag arcsec -2 (2σ above the mean sky level), thus superseding all previous optical studies of this benchmark galaxy cluster. In this paper, we give an overview of the technical aspects of the survey, such as areal coverage, field placement, choice of filters, limiting magnitudes, observing strategies, data processing and calibration pipelines, survey timeline, and data products. We also describe the primary scientific topics of the NGVS, which include: the galaxy luminosity and mass functions; the color-magnitude relation; galaxy scaling relations; compact stellar systems; galactic nuclei; the extragalactic distance scale; the large-scale environment of the cluster and its relationship to the Local Supercluster; diffuse light and the intracluster medium; galaxy interactions and evolutionary processes; and extragalactic star clusters. In addition, we describe a number of ancillary programs dealing with "foreground" and "background" science topics, including the study of high-inclination trans-Neptunian objects; the structure of the Galactic halo in the direction of the Virgo Overdensity and Sagittarius Stream; the measurement of cosmic shear, galaxy-galaxy, and cluster lensing; and the identification of distant galaxy clusters, and strong-lensing events.
KW - galaxies: clusters: individual (Virgo)
KW - galaxies: distances and redshifts
KW - galaxies: general
KW - galaxies: luminosity function, mass function
KW - galaxies: photometry
KW - galaxies: star clusters: general
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84860772318
U2 - 10.1088/0067-0049/200/1/4
DO - 10.1088/0067-0049/200/1/4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84860772318
SN - 0067-0049
VL - 200
JO - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
JF - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
IS - 1
M1 - 4
ER -