The 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF12): Observational Overview
A paper on "The 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF12): Observational Overview" by A. Koekemoer et al. has been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplement. A preprint is available at http://www.arxiv.org/abs/1212.1448
The 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF12): Observational Overview
Authors:
Anton M. Koekemoer, Richard S Ellis, Ross J. McLure, James S. Dunlop, Brant E Robertson, Yoshiaki Ono, Matthew A. Schenker, Masami Ouchi, Rebecca A. A. Bowler, Alexander B. Rogers,Emma Curtis-Lake, Evan Schneider, Stephane Charlot, Daniel P. Stark, Steven R. Furlanetto, Michele Cirasuolo, V. Wild, T. Targett
Abstract:
We present the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign (UDF12), a large 128-orbit Cycle 19 HST program aimed at extending previous WFC3/IR observations of the UDF by quadrupling the exposure time in the F105W filter, imaging in an additional F140W filter, and extending the F160W exposure time by 50%. The principal scientific goal of this project is to determine whether galaxies reionized the universe; our observations are designed to provide a robust determination of the star formation density at z ~ 8, improve measurements of the ultraviolet continuum slope at z ~7 − 8, facilitate the construction of new samples of z ~9 − 10 candidates, and enable the detection of sources up to z ~12. For this project we committed to combining these and other WFC3/IR imaging observations of the UDF area into a single homogeneous dataset, to provide the deepest near-infrared observations of the sky currently achievable. In this paper we present the observational overview of the project, motivated by its scientific goals, and describe the procedures used in reducing the data as well as the final products that are produced. We have used the most up up-to-date methods for calibrating and combining the images, in particular paying attention to correcting several instrumental effects. We release the full combined mosaics, comprising a single, unified set of mosaics of the UDF, providing the deepest near-infrared blank-field view of the universe obtained to date, reaching magnitudes as deep as AB~30 in the near-infrared, and yielding a legacy dataset on this field of lasting scientific value to the community.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2012 program is a collaboration between the California Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona, the University of Edinburgh, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Tokyo, and the Institut Astrophysique de Paris. Support for this Program was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research In Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555.
