VISTA Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Spring Semester // Giant Telescope Sciences April 12 th. Youkyung Ko

Contents 1.Overview of the VISTA 2.VISTA camera 3.VISTA surveys & sciences 4.Data access

Where is the VISTA? Photo: G. Hüdepohl, ESO Cerro Paranal in Chile 1. Overview of the VISTA VISTA 2,518m VLT 2,635m

Historical view of the VISTA Initiated in 1999 by the VISTA Consortium of 18 universities in the UK Obtained funding from a joint infrastructure fund of the UK government and further funding from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council: 46M Euro (~ 70 billion won) Designed and constructed by the UK Astronomy Technology Centre In 2002 – the UK joined ESO! → VISTA became an in-kind component of the joining fee. Handed over to ESO by the Science and Technology Facilities Council for the benefit of astronomers in all its member countries 1. Overview of the VISTA

What is the VISTA? The newest telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile The world’s largest survey telescope (4.1m) Camera: Near-infrared wavelength (0.85~2.5μm) Where is “visible” camera? Wide field of view (1.65° diameter) High quantum efficiency Six survey programs - UltraVISTA, VIKING, VMC, VVV, VHS, VIDEO 75% of the VISTA time available to ESO - Large scale public surveys (~236 nights) The remaining 25% - Smaller proprietary surveys (~78 nights) There is no open time for any proposal! 1. Overview of the VISTA

Pictures from VISTA homepage ( Primary Mirror(with cover) being lifted into the enclosure through the observing door on 30 March Primary Mirror(with cover) being lowered into the mirror support cell on 30 March 2008.

1. Overview of the VISTA Pictures from VISTA homepage ( Primary Mirror after being washed and prior to placement into the coating plant to receive a protected silver coating on 03 April Primary Mirror in the Mirror cell after being coated in 3-layer protected silver (NiCr- Ag-Nicr) on 04 April 2008

2. VISTA camera Camera (cold) ready for insertion into Telescope using the handling tool (blue).(Mirrors not fitted) July 2007 VISTA Camera (VIRCAM) The world’s largest near-infrared camera under development at the UK’s CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Pictures from VISTA homepage (

Basic information of VIRCAM A 3-ton camera containing 16 special detectors sensitive to infrared light, with a combined total of 67 million pixels Cooled to -200 degrees Celsius Sealed with the largest infrared-transparent window ever made Pixel size: arcsec/pixel Wide field of view: 1.65° diameter 2. VISTA camera * Comparison of FOV with other detectors - On the ground, ISAAC and HAWK-I on the VLT, WFCAM on UKIRT - In the space, NICMOS on Hubble

The sixteen 2048x2048 pixel IR detectors in the VISTA camera are quite widely spaced. (Powprint) → “Fill-in” the gap!! 2. VISTA camera Wavefront Sensor Science Detector

The sixteen 2048x2048 pixel IR detectors in the VISTA camera are quite widely spaced. (Powprint) → “Fill-in” the gap!! After 3x2=6 steps… Tile size all covered twice : deg 2 2. VISTA camera dark green = 1, light green = 2, magenta = 3, red = 4, yellow = 6, in units of the single- pawprint exposure time

Filters - The only moving part in the camera - One set of 16 filters - Z, Y, J, H, K s broad-band filters , 0.99, 1.18μm narrow-band filter 2. VISTA camera Filterλ [μm]FHWM [μm] Z Y J H Ks NB NB NB

VISTA surveys 3. VISTA Surveys & Sciences

VISTA surveys 3. VISTA Surveys & Sciences

VISTA surveys UltraVISTA - The deepest and narrowest VISTA survey (expected z~8.8) - Y, J, H, and K s wavebands and one narrow-band - Studying the first galaxies and dust-obscured star formation - Understanding the stellar mass build-up during the peak epoch of star formation activity VIKING VISTA Kilo-Degree INfrared Galaxy Survey - Covering 1500 square degrees - Z, Y, J, H, and K s wavebands (limiting magnitude 1.4 mag deeper than the UKIDSS Large Area Survey) - Determining very accurate distance estimates for remote galaxies - Hunting for high-redshift quasars and galaxy clusters - Studying galaxy stellar masses 3. VISTA Surveys & Sciences

VISTA surveys VMC VISTA Magellanic Survey - Covering 184 square degrees: Magellanic Clouds - Y, J, and K s wavebands (limiting mag. Y=21.9, J=21.4 and K s =20.3 with S/N=10) - Studying variable stars and resolved stellar populations - Recovering the star formation history of the system - Tracing its three-dimensional structure VVV VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea - Covering 520 square degrees: the central parts of our galaxy containing 355 open and 33 globular clusters - Z, Y, J, H, and K s wavebands - Presenting the catalogue of a billion point sources including about a million variable objects - Creating a 3-dimensional map of the bulge of our Milky Way galaxy 3. VISTA Surveys & Sciences

VISTA surveys VHS VISTA Hemisphere Survey - Covering the entire southern hemisphere of the sky - J and K s wavebands (limiting mag. 4 magnitudes deeper than the 2MASS and DENIS surveys) - Examining low mass and nearby stars - Studying the merger history of our Milky Way - Measuring the properties of dark energy - Searching for high-redshift quasars VIDEO VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations Survey - Covering 15 square degrees - Z, Y, J, H, K s wavebands - Studying galaxy evolution using active galactic nuclei, galaxy cluster evolution, and very massive galaxies 3. VISTA Surveys & Sciences

VVV First results Saito et al VISTA Surveys & Sciences Comparison between VVV and 2MASS images - Globular cluster Palomar 6, Planetary Nebula NGC6629

VVV First results Saito et al VISTA Surveys & Sciences J-K s KsKs ● VVV data ● 2MASS data Left CMD - One of the most crowded regions of our Galaxy in the Bulge - Dominant red giant branch along with the main-sequence track of the foreground Disc Right CMD - Galactic Plane field - Large and inhomogeneous extinction - Ks<10: Saturation (+2MASS data)

VVV First results Saito et al VISTA Surveys & Sciences First VVV RR Lyrae light curve - Obtaining “template” to classify variable stars automatically - The VVV survey is the first of its type to be carried out in the NIR. First moving objects - Main belt asteroid 199 Byblis - Detecting Solar System objects down to Ks~18

VVV First results Saito et al VISTA Surveys & Sciences Searching for new clusters and streams - Tracing the early stages of star cluster formation - Nearby massive star formation regions: ~25 small star cluster candidates by visual inspection

VMC First results Cioni et al VISTA Surveys & Sciences Difference between non-stacked and stacked CMD (Shallow/Deep)

VMC First results Cioni et al Near-IR light curves of RR Lyrae and Cepheid variables Planetary Nebula detected by the deep Ks band images (Similar to VVC survey results) KMHK 1157: Study of resolved stellar population 3. VISTA Surveys & Sciences Z=0.003 Age=0.63Gyrs Ks band image

Data access Not available during proprietary periods October ~ ? Check of current status: 4. Data access

VISTA’s First Light. December 11, The Flame Nebula(NGC2024)

What is the field of the UltraVISTA survey? - That field is the COSMOS field. ( COSMOS is an HST Treasury Project to survey a 2 square degree equatorial field with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is the largest survey that HST has ever done, utilizing 10% (640 orbits) of its observing time over the course of two years. The primary goal of COSMOS is to study the relationship between large scale structure (LSS) in the universe and the formation of galaxies, dark matter, and nuclear activity in galaxies. This includes a careful analysis of the dependence of galaxy evolution on environment.) Why does the VMC survey choose the Y band instead of H band? - The relation between J-H and J-Ks is quite linear, so observations in the H band provide very little information. Rather, it is useful to use a bluer band like Y band. How does the VIKING survey determine the accurate distance estimates of galaxies? - It’s right that the distance estimates mean the photometric redshifts using their color. The near-infrared data will be used in the determination of very accurate photometric redshifts, especially at z > Q & A