http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~jmerten/misc/bartelmann_weaklensing.pdf

Weak Gravitational Lensing

The Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) is designed to document the first third of galactic evolution, from z approx. 8 - 1.5. It will image > 250,000 distant galaxies using three separate cameras on the Hubble Space Tele8cope, from the mid-UV to near-IR, and will find and measure Type Ia supernovae beyond z > 1.5 to test their accuracy as standard candles for cosmology. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with extensive ancillary data. The use of five widely separated fields mitigates cosmic variance and yields statistically robust and complete samples of galaxies down to a stellar mass of 10(exp 9) solar mass to z approx. 2, reaching the knee of the UV luminosity function of galaxies to z approx. 8. The survey covers approximately 800 square arc minutes and is divided into two parts. The CANDELS/Deep survey (5(sigma) point-source limit H =27.7mag) covers approx. 125 square arcminutes within GOODS-N and GOODS-S. The CANDELS/Wide survey includes GOODS and three additional fields (EGS, COSMOS, and UDS) and covers the full area to a 50(sigma) point-source limit of H ? or approx. = 27.0 mag. Together with the Hubble Ultradeep Fields, the strategy creates a three-tiered "wedding cake" approach that has proven efficient for extragalactic surveys. Data from the survey are non-proprietary and are useful for a wide variety of science investigations. In this paper, we describe the basic motivations for the survey, the CANDELS team science goals and the resulting observational requirements, the field selection and geometry, and the observing design.

/pdf/candels-the-cosmic-assembly-near-infrared-deep-extragalactic-4x4epz7mkw.pdf

CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is designed to probe the correlated evolution of galaxies, star formation, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and dark matter (DM) with large-scale structure (LSS) over the redshift range z > 0.5-6. The survey includes multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopy from X-ray-to-radio wavelengths covering a 2 deg^2 area, including HST imaging. Given the very high sensitivity and resolution of these data sets, COSMOS also provides unprecedented samples of objects at high redshift with greatly reduced cosmic variance, compared to earlier surveys. Here we provide a brief overview of the survey strategy, the characteristics of the major COSMOS data sets, and a summary the science goals.

/pdf/the-cosmic-evolution-survey-cosmos-overview-4d5t9nbdl1.pdf

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS): Overview*

We present a two-dimensional (2D) fitting algorithm (GALFIT, ver. 3) with new capabilities to study the structural components of galaxies and other astronomical objects in digital images. Our technique improves on previous 2D fitting algorithms by allowing for irregular, curved, logarithmic and power-law spirals, ring, and truncated shapes in otherwise traditional parametric functions like the Sersic, Moffat, King, Ferrer, etc., profiles. One can mix and match these new shape features freely, with or without constraints, and apply them to an arbitrary number of model components of numerous profile types, so as to produce realistic-looking galaxy model images. Yet, despite the potential for extreme complexity, the meaning of the key parameters like the Sersic index, effective radius, or luminosity remains intuitive and essentially unchanged. The new features have an interesting potential for use to quantify the degree of asymmetry of galaxies, to quantify low surface brightness tidal features beneath and beyond luminous galaxies, to allow more realistic decompositions of galaxy subcomponents in the presence of strong rings and spiral arms, and to enable ways to gauge the uncertainties when decomposing galaxy subcomponents. We illustrate these new features by way of several case studies that display various levels of complexity.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-6256/139/6/2097/pdf

Detailed decomposition of galaxy images. ii. beyond axisymmetric models

This special issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters is dedicated to presenting initial results from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) that are primarily, but not exclusively, based on multiband imaging data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The survey covers roughly 320 arcmin2 in the ACS F435W, F606W, F814W, and F850LP bands, divided into two well-studied fields. Existing deep observations from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ground-based facilities are supplemented with new, deep imaging in the optical and near-infrared from the European Southern Observatory and from the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Deep observations with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility are scheduled. Reduced data from all facilities are being released worldwide within 3-6 months of acquisition. Together, this data set provides two deep reference fields for studies of distant normal and active galaxies, supernovae, and faint stars in our own Galaxy. This Letter serves to outline the survey strategy and describe the specific data that have been used in the accompanying letters, summarizing the reduction procedures and sensitivity limits.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/379232/pdf

The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey: Initial results from optical and near-infrared imaging

The Hubble Deep Field (HDF) is a Director’s Discretionary program on HST in Cycle 5 to image an undistinguished field at high Galactic latitude in four passbands as deeply as reasonably possible. These images provide the most detailed view to date of distant field galaxies and are likely to be important for a wide range of studies in galaxy evolution and cosmology. In order to optimize observing in the time available, a field in the northern continuous viewing zone was selected and images were taken for ten consecutive days, or approximately 150 orbits. Shorter 1-2 orbit images were obtained of the fields immediately adjacent to the primary HDF in order to facilitate spectroscopic follow-up by ground-based telescopes. The observations were made from 18 to 30 December 1995, and both raw and reduced data have been put in the public domain as a community service. We present a summary of the criteria for selecting the field, the rationale behind the filter selection and observing times in each band, and the strategies for planning the observations to maximize the exposure time while avoiding earth-scattered light. Data reduction procedures are outlined, and images of the combined frames in each band are presented. Objects detected in these images are listed in a catalog with their basic photometric parameters.

The Hubble Deep Field: Observations, data reduction, and galaxy photometry

This document describes the calstis software tools developed for the IRAF/STSDAS environment to calibrate STIS data. The calstis individual tools and their usage are briefly described, and general examples that explain their functionality are presented.

The Calstis IRAF Calibration Tools for STIS Data

We describe the STIS autonomous target acquisition capabilities. We also present the results of dedicated tests executed as part of Cycle 7 calibration, following post-launch improvements to the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) flight software. The residual pointing error from the acquisitions are < 0.5 CCD pixels, which is better than preflight estimates. Execution of peakups show clear improvement of target centering for slits of width 0.1 sec or smaller. These results may be used by Guest Observers in planning target acquisitions for their STIS programs.

/pdf/stis-target-acquisition-x4tc1ybchl.pdf

STIS target acquisition

We describe calstis0, the STIS calibration program which combines all the individual calstis modules. The functionality of calstis0 is available as a host-level application and as a task in STSDAS to allow users to re-calibrate STIS data outside the pipeline with different reference files.

Rocio Katsanis

Papers

The Hubble Deep Field: Observations, data reduction, and galaxy photometry

The Calstis IRAF Calibration Tools for STIS Data

STIS target acquisition

Calstis0: Pipeline Calibration of STIS Data-A Detailed View

Pipeline Calibration for STIS