The DECam local volume exploration survey: Overview and first data release

DELVE Collaboration, Astro Data Lab

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE) is a 126-night survey program on the 4 m Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. DELVE seeks to understand the characteristics of faint satellite galaxies and other resolved stellar substructures over a range of environments in the Local Volume. DELVE will combine new DECam observations with archival DECam data to cover ∼15,000 deg2 of high Galactic latitude (|b| > 10°) southern sky to a 5σ depth of g, r, i, z ∼ 23.5 mag. In addition, DELVE will cover a region of ∼2200 deg2 around the Magellanic Clouds to a depth of g, r, i ∼ 24.5 mag and an area of ∼135 deg2 around four Magellanic analogs to a depth of g, i ∼ 25.5 mag. Here, we present an overview of the DELVE program and progress to date. We also summarize the first DELVE public data release (DELVE DR1), which provides point-source and automatic aperture photometry for ∼520 million astronomical sources covering ∼5000 deg2 of the southern sky to a 5σ point-source depth of g = 24.3 mag, r = 23.9 mag, i = 23.3 mag, and z = 22.8 mag. DELVE DR1 is publicly available via the NOIRLab Astro Data Lab science platform.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2
JournalAstrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Volume256
Issue number1
Early online dateAug 16 2021
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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