Galaxy surveys is a powerful way of exploring the large scale structure of the universe, as well as a way of testing the theory of gravity.

CfA Redshift Survey

CfA Redshift Survey, the Center for Astrophysics Redshift Survey, is the first redshift survey.

  • Objectives:

Measure radial velocities for all galaxies brighter than 14.5 and high galactic latitude in the merged catalogs of Zwicky and Nilson (UGC). {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: Galaxies {about 18,000 measured}
    • Distance: Within redshift 15,000 km/s
    • Area: Northern sky
    • Resolution:

  • Results

Distribution of the galaxies in the northern celestial hemisphere with an apparent blue magnitude of 15.5 inside redshift 15,000 km/s,

CfA Map

CfA Map

In this map, Red V < 3000 km/s; Blue 3000 < V < 6000 km/s; Magenta 6000 < V < 9000 km/s; Cyan 9000 < V < 12000 km/s; Green 12000 < V km/s.

2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey

2dFGRS, 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, is a major spectroscopic survey (integrated with the 2dF QSO survey).

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: 2dF facility built by the Anglo-Australian Observatory.
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: 245591, mainly galaxies, brighter than a nominal extinction-corrected magnitude limit of $b_J = 19.45$. Reliable (quality>=3) redshifts were obtained for 221414 galaxies.
    • Distance:
    • Area, 1500 square degrees. A figure from official site is shown below.
    2dFGRS Survey Map

    2dFGRS Survey Map

    • Resolution:

Results

Galaxy distribution results from completed survey:

2dF

2dF

A rendered result of 2dF Galaxy Survey data

2dF

2dF

Links:

  1. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2dF_Galaxy_Redshift_Survey
  2. Official site: http://magnum.anu.edu.au/~TDFgg

2dF QSO Redshift Survey, 2QZ, is already integrated into 2dFGRS.

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: Magnitude limits are $18.25<b_J<20.85$. Color selection is $u-b_J$ vs. $b_J-r$ plane.
    2QZ

    2QZ

    • Distance:
    • Area:
    2QZ

    2QZ

    • Resolution:

6dF Galaxy Survey

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: UK Schmidt telescope using the Six-degree Field(6dF) multi-object fibre spectrograph
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: limits $16.0<b_J<18.25$ {136,304 spectra}.
    • Distance:
    • Area: Nearly the entire southern sky
    6dF

    6dF

    • Resolution:
    • Examinations: Spectra and (in peculiar velocity survey) galaxy mass and bulk motions

  • Links:

  1. 6dFGS: http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/6df
  2. 6dFGS: http://www-wfau.roe.ac.uk/6dFGS

2 MASS Redshift Survey

2MASS, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, “is designed to close the gap between our current technical capability and our knowledge of the near-infrared sky. In addition to providing a context for the interpretation of results obtained at infrared and other wavelengths.” It shows the large-scale structure of the Milky Way and the Local universe.

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: Two 1.3-m telescopes at Mt. Hopkins, AZ and CTIO, Chile.
    • Frequency/Channel: 3 near-infrared bands
    • Objects: Limited to local universe
    • Area: All sky scanning
    • Distance: Limited to local universe
    • Area: All sky scanning
    • Resolution: pixel size 2.0".RNR>10.

Results

Links:

  1. Two Micron All Sky Survey

2MRS, the 2MASS Redshift Survey, aims to map the distribution of galaxies and dark matter in the local universe, based on galaxy selection of 2MASS.

  • Objectives: 45000 galaxies up to K=11.75mag {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel: near infra-red J,H and K-band
    • Objects: Limited to local universe
    • Area: All sky scanning
    • Distance: Redshift out to $z=0.03$ (mean value), or equivalently to 115Mpc/370 million light-years
    • Area: All sky scanning
    • Resolution: pixel size 2.0".RNR>10.

Results

All sky map of local universe in infrared

2MRS Local Universe Infared

2MRS Local Universe Infared

Links:

  1. 2MASS Redshift Survey @ CfA: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dfabricant/huchra/2mass

VLA FIRST Survey

VLA FIRST Survey: Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm using NRAO Vary Large Array.

  • Objectives: “to produce the radio equivalent of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey over 10,000 square degrees of the North and South Galactic Caps” {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facility: VLA in B-configuration
    • Frequency/Channel: Two channels centered at 1365 MHz and 1435 MHz. In Spring 2011, changed due to EVLA updates
    • Objects:
    • Distance:
    • Area: Over 10,000 square degrees of the North and South Galactic Caps.
    • Resolution: Final atlas of maps have a resolution of 5''

Results

Links:

  1. Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters: http://sundog.stsci.edu

EDisCS

EDisCS: ESO Distant Clusters Survey

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: galaxies in rich clusters.
    • Distance: z~0.5 and z>0.8
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Links:

  1. EDisCS: http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/ediscs

LCRS

LCRS, the Las Campanas Redshift Survey

  • Objectives: “provide a large galaxy sample which permits detailed and accurate analyses of the properties of galaxies in the local universe” {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: Galaxies selected from a CCD-based catalog measured in a Kron-Cousins R-band
    • Distance: Typical redshift is 30000 km/s
    • Area: 700 square degrees in 6 strips, each 1.5 degrees * 80 degrees, three each in the North and South galactic caps.
    • Resolution:
    • Examinations: Clustering, luminosity, and spectral properties

Results

Two dimensional representations of the redshift distribution

LCRS

LCRS

We can see voids and walls.

Links:

  1. LCRS: http://qold.astro.utoronto.ca/~lin/lcrs.html

ESP

ESP: the ESO Slice Project

  • Objectives: {Completed}

    • Determination of the galaxy luminosity function in a volume with dimensions large enough to average over the large scale inhomogeneities.
    • Study of the statistic of emission line galaxies in a large, unbiased sample of galaxies.
    • Measure of the size distribution of inhomogeneities in the galaxy distribution over a large volume.

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: ESO 3.6m telescope
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: Limiting magnitude bJ=19.4 {about 4000 objects measured, 3342 galaxy redshifts}
    • Distance: Selection function peak at z=0.1
    • Area: Over about 23 square degrees near the South Galactic Pole
    • Resolution:

Results

Cone diagram

ESP

ESP

Links:

  1. ESP: http://www.bo.astro.it/~cappi/esokp.html

CNOC

CNOC: the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology

The CNOC1 Cluster Survey

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: CFHT Multi-Object-Spectrograph(MOS)
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: 16 rich X-ray selected galaxy clusters {about 1200 cluster redshifts and 1000 field redshifts identified}
    • Distance: 0.17<z<0.55
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Determine Omega

CNOC1

CNOC1

Links:

  1. CNOC1: http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~cnoc/

CNOC2 Field Galaxy Survey

  • Objectives: {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: CFHT MOS
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: 4 widely separated patches away from very bright stars and known rich low-z galaxy clusters {about 6200 field galaxy redshifts measured}
    • Distance: To z=0.7
    • Area: 1.5 square degrees
    • Resolution:

Results

Links:

  1. CNOC1: http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~cnoc/

Sloan Digital Sky Survey

SDSS: Sloan Digital Sky Survey

There are 3 programs until now. SDSS is too famous and too complicated to list here. Use the links to read it on SDSS website.

SDSS1

SDSS2

SDSS3

Links:

  1. SDSS: http://www.sdss.org

GAMA

GAMA: Galaxy And Mass Assembly Survey

  • Objectives: “study cosmology and galaxy formation and evolution”

    1. To test modified theories of gravity by measuring the growth rate of structure; the CDM model by measuring the halo mass function; and galaxy formation models by measuring the star formation efficiency in groups.
    2. To measure the connection between star formation fuelling, stellar mass build-up and feedback processes.
    3. To uncover the detailed mechanisms that govern the build-up of the stellar content of galaxies.
    4. To directly measure the recent galaxy merger rate as a function of mass, mass ratio, local environment and galaxy type.

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: AAOmega MOS on Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT)
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: 340,000 galaxies down to r<19.8 mag {about how many XXXX measured}
    • Distance: 0.015<z<0.04 for each GAMA fields (G09, G12, G15)
    • Area: About 310 deg^2
    • Resolution:

Results

Three animations to illustrate some of the results, (blue for 10^8 to 10^9 solar masses; green for 10^9 to 10^10 solar masses; orange for 10^10 to 10^11 solar masses; red for more than 10^11 solar masses)

GAMA 3D Universe G09

GAMA 3D Universe G09

GAMA 3D Universe G12

GAMA 3D Universe G12

GAMA 3D Universe G15

GAMA 3D Universe G15

Links:

  1. GAMA: http://www.gama-survey.org

DEEP2 Redshift Survey, high redshift

VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey, high redshift

UKIDSS

UKIDSS: UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, is a successor to 2MASS and made up of five surveys and includes two deep extra-Galactic elements, one covering 35 square degrees to K=21 and the other reaching K=23 over 0.77 square degrees.

  • Objectives:

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities: WFCAM on UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii.

    • Frequency/Channel:

    • Objects: JHK to K=18.3, principal quarry: coolest and nearest brown dwarfs, high-redshift dusty starburst galaxies, elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters at redshifts 1<z<2, and the highest-redshift quasars at z=7

    • Distance: Check objects

    • Area: 7500 square degrees of Northern sky, extending over both high and low Galactic latitudes. Planned coverage is

      1. Orange: Large Area Survey (LAS) 4000 sq. degs K=18.4 extraGalactic
      2. Purple: Galactic Plane Survey (GPS) 1800 sq. degs K=19.0 Galactic
      3. Green: Galactic Clusters Survey (GCS) 1400 sq. degs K=18.7 Galactic
      4. Blue: Deep Extragalactic Survey (DXS) 35 sq. degs K=21.0 extraGalactic
      5. Red: Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) 0.77 sq. degs K=23.0 extraGalactic
      GAMA

      GAMA

    • Resolution:

Results

Links:

  1. UKIDSS: http://www.ukidss.org

Pan-STARRS

Pan-STARRS: the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System

  • Objectives: (Originally) detect potentially hazardous objects in the solar system, and other solar system astronomy and cosmology.

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects:
    • Distance:
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Links:

  1. Pan-STARRS: http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public

PRIMUS

PRIMUS: PRIsm MUlti-object Survey, is the largest faint galaxy spectroscopic redshift survey to date.

  • Objectives:

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: 120,000 galaxy redshifts
    • Distance: To z=1
    • Area: 9 sq. deg. focusing on regions with deep Spitzer, optical, GALEX and X-ray data
    • Resolution:

Results

Links:

  1. PRIMUS: http://cass.ucsd.edu/~acoil/primus/Home.html

Spitzer

BOSS

BOSS: Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. FUTURE SURVEY

  • Objectives:

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects:
    • Distance:
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Links

  1. BOSS: http://cosmology.lbl.gov/BOSS

DES

DES: the Dark Energy Survey

  • Objectives: “designed to probe the origin of the accelerating universe and help uncover the nature of dark energy by measuring the 14-billion-year history of cosmic expansion with high precision”

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects:
    • Distance:
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Links

  1. DES: http://www.darkenergysurvey.org

LSST

LSST: the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

  • Objectives:

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects:
    • Distance:
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Links

  1. LSST: http://www.lsst.org

References:

  1. Probes of Large Scale Structure: http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mwhite/probes-lss.html

Template for surveys:

  • Objectives: XXXXXX {Completed}

  • Parameters:

    • Facilities:
    • Frequency/Channel:
    • Objects: XXXX {about how many XXXX measured}
    • Distance:
    • Area:
    • Resolution:

Results

Links: