IAU Working Group Densification of Optical Reference Frames
last update: 2009 May 08, Norbert Zacharias
2. Ground-based current and near future CCD surveys
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All these surveys use electronic detectors at the telescope, either in
scanning or stare mode. Surveys covering large sky areas and dedicated
astrometric calibration projects are listed.
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survey operation sky bandpass apert. R mag scale field
name year area m range "/px sq.deg
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completed or current surveys
ACR 1994-1998 equator r 0.2 9-17 0.70 scan
Mosaic 2000... (all) optical 4.0 14-24 0.27 0.38
DAS 2005... 4 areas V,R 4.0 14-25 0.27 0.38
PM2000 ...2000... dec=11..18 r 0.2 9-17 0.70 scan
SDSS 2005... 1/4 u,g,r,i,z 2.5 15-22 0.40 scan
CMC,CTA ...2000... north r 0.2 9-17 0.70 scan
CMASF 1999... south r 0.2 9-17 0.70 scan
UCAC 1998...2004 all 579-643 nm 0.2 8-16 0.90 1.00
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future optical surveys
SkyMapper 2008... south u,v,g,r,i,z 1.3 15-23 0.50 5.7
PanSTARRS 2008 ... 70% optical 1.8 15-24 0.30 7.00
URAT 2009 ... all 670-750 nm 0.2 7-18 0.90 28.00
VST 2009 ... south 330-1000nm 2.6 15-24 0.21 0.91
LSST 2014 ... south 320-1080nm 6.7 16-25 0.20 9.60
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near IR surveys
2MASS 1997...2001 all J,H,Ks 1.3 0-19 2.00 scan
VISTA 2009... south X,Z,J,H,Ks 4.1 14-20 0.34 0.59
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ACR are the astrometric calibration regions, 16 areas 7.6 by 3.2 deg along
the celestial equator with over 1.2 million stars total. The pioneering
8-inch scanning transit circle at NOFS was used to give positions
accurate to 26 mas and proper motions to 6 mas/yr (average) [01].
Mosaic cameras (8k by 8k pixels with 8 CCD chips) have been the
workhorse for many visiting astronomers at the KPNO and CTIO 4m telescopes.
An astrometric evaluation is presented in [02].
DAS is the deep astrometric survey, using the 4-meter CTIO and KPNO
telescopes with the Mosaic camera for dedicated observations of
4 fields in sky [03].
PM2000 is the Bordeaux catalog of the declination zone +11 to +18 deg,
which is based on both, recent CCD scanning observations and early epoch
plates from the Astrographic Catalogue. All data has been globally
reduced to arrive at very accurate positions and proper motions [04].
SDSS is the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for photometric and spectroscopic
surveys of large areas in the sky, also providing 35..100 mas astrometric
results [05]. Operating from Apache Point NM, the imaging camera actively
scans a stripe of sky in time delayed integration (TDI) mode. The SDSS
data release 6 (2007) covers 9583 square degree, with more to come.
CMC is the Carlsberg Meridian Circle Catalog series, it completed the
-15 to +50 deg declination range in drift scanning mode [06,07].
The catalog CMC14 is also available from CDS (I/304, 2006).
San Fernando, ROA continues to use the Carlsberg scanning transit circle
telescope, operating it in the south from San Juan, Argentina in a
project to cover the declination range 0 to -60 deg [08].
UCAC is the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog, covering all sky to about
R=16 magnitude [09]. With 20 to 70 mas positional errors it contains
the most accurate astrometric data (including proper motions) for
stars fainter than about R=10 magnitude (unless it is a Hipparcos star).
The final release, UCAC3 is expected in 2009.
SkyMapper will perform the Southern Sky Survey from Siding
Springs, Australia. The 5 year, 6-color photometric survey with
6 epochs will reach approx. magnitude 23 (combined exposures).
Astrometric results better than 50 mas are expected using a
16k x 16k mosaic CCD camera [10].
PanSTARRS is the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, it
began its first phase (PS1) on Haleakala, Hawaii, with a 1.4 Giga-pixel
camera [11].
URAT the first phase of the USNO Robotic Astrometric Telescope uses the
existing red-lens astrograph (see UCAC) and a 440 million pixel camera
to obtain highly accurate positions (10..30 mas) and unbiased parallax
and proper motion data in an all sky project (2 locations) [12].
VST is the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Survey Telescope, an
ESO project in collaboration with the Italian National Institute for
Astrophysics (INAF) at Napels [13]. This is an adaptive optics system.
The VST focal plane features the OmegaCAM with a mosaic of 32 CCDs
of 2k by 4k pixels each. This is the successor of the Wide Field
Imager (WFI) mounted at the 2.2m MPG/ESO Telescope on La Silla.
Operations are expected to begin in 2009 from Cerro Paranal, Chile.
LSST is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope which is very ambitious,
combining wide-field and large-aperture. The instrument will be
located at Cerro Parchon, Chile and the data rate far exceeds all
previous projects in sky mapping with 2 images of its 3.2 Giga-pixel
camera taken every about 40 seconds [14].
2MASS is the Two Micron All Sky Survey provides all sky images at
near IR wavelengths, a point source catalog of over 400 million sources,
and a catalog of extended sources. There are no proper motions but the
positional accuracy at epoch of observation is good (about 80 mas) with
very small systematic errors [15].
VISTA is the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy of the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) [16]. It is located at Paranal
Observatory, Chile and features 16 IR detectors (2k by 2k).
The Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit developed the processing software
for VISTA. Surveys of different sky coverage and depth are planned,
beginning in 2009. The astrometric performance is expected to be similar
to the ESO 2.2m WFCAM.
[01] Stone, R.C., Pier, J.R., Monet, D.G. (1999),
Improved Astrometric Calibration Regions along the
celestial equator, AJ 118, 2488
[02] Platais, I. et al. (2002),
The Geometry and Stability of the NOAO CCD Mosaic Imager,
AJ 124, 601
[03] Platais, I., Wyse, R.F.G., Zacharias, N. (2006),
Deep Astrometric Standards and Galactic Structure,
PASP 118, 107, also available as astro-ph 0509606
[04] Ducourant, C., Le Campion, J. F., Rapaport, M. et al. (2006),
The PM2000 Bordeaux proper motion catalogue,
A&A 448, 1235
[05] Pier, J.R., Munn, J.A., Hindsley, R.B. et al. (2003),
Astrometric Calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey,
AJ 125, 1559
[06] Evans, D.W. (2001),
The Carlsberg Meridian Telescope: an astrometric robotic telescope,
AN 322, 347
[07] Evans, D.W., Irwin, M.J., Helmer, L. (2002),
The Carlsberg Meridian Telescope CCD drift scan survey,
A&A 395, 347
[08] Muinos, J.L., Caparros, R., Cayetano, J.M., GUTIERREZ F. (1992)
Optical positions of radio stars observed with the meridian
circle of the ROA San Fernando, A&A Supl 95, 269
[09] Zacharias, N. et al. (2004),
The Second US Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog,
AJ 127, 3043
[10] Keller, S.C., Schmidt, B.P. et al. (2007),
The SkyMapper telescope and the southern sky survey,
PASA 24, 1
[11] Magnier, E.A., Liu, M., Monet, D.G., Chambers, K.C. (2008),
The extended solar neighborhood: precision astrometry from
the Pan-STARRS 1 3pi survey,
in proceed. IAU Symp.248, p.553, Cambridge Univ.Press
Eds. W.Jin, I.Platais, M.A.C.Perryman
[12] Zacharias, N. (2008)
Dense optical reference frames: UCAC and URAT,
in proceed. IAU Symp. 248, p.310, Cambridge Univ.Press,
Eds. W.Jin, I.Platais, M.A.C.Perryman
[13] VST
[14] Ivezic, Z., Tyson, J.A. et al. (2008),
LSST: from science drivers to reference design and anticipated
data products, astro-ph 0805.2366v1
[15] Zacharias, N., McCallon, H.L., Koan, E., Cutri, R.M. (2006),
Extending the ICRF into the infrared: 2MASS-UCAC astrometry,
in proceed. JD 16, IAU GA Sydney (2003), p.52,
Eds. R.Gaume, D.McCarthy, J.Souchay, US Naval Observ. publication
[16] Emerson, J., McPherson, A., Sutherland, W. (2006),
Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy:
progress report, in ESO Messenger 125, 41 (VISTA)