UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)The UKIDSS EDR was released today, Friday 10 February. UKIDSS is a set of 5 large near-infrared surveys that began in May 2005, and will take 7 years to complete. The EDR is a small fraction (about 1%) of the whole programme, but in scope it is as large as 2MASS (as gauged by the number of photons collected).
Access to the EDR is through the WFCAM Science Archive. You need an account to access the data. If you are not yet registered for access, read the text on the UKIDSS Archive page and follow the instructions.
There are two papers that accompany the release, in advanced draft form. The first of these (Lawrence et al.) describes the goals and design of the UKIDSS programme, and the second (Dye et al.) is a detailed description of the contents of the EDR. We expect both to be submitted shortly, and will update the versions at this link, as the papers near completion. Please also note carefully the release notes on the WSA pages.
In broad outline, the contents of the EDR are as follows, labeled by survey:
| Survey | Area sq. degs | Filters | K-band depth 5sigma Vega |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large Area Survey | 27 | YJHK | 18.1 |
| Galactic Clusters Survey | 15 | ZYJHK | 18.1 |
| Galactic Plane Survey | 7 | JHK | 18.1 |
| Deep ExtraGalactic Survey | 2.4 | JK | 20.6 |
| Ultra Deep Survey | 0.8 | JK | 21.1 |