Candels: The cosmic assembly near-infrared deep extragalactic legacy survey - The hubble space telescope observations, imaging data products, and mosaics

Anton M. Koekemoer, S. M. Faber, Henry C. Ferguson, Norman A. Grogin, Dale D. Kocevski, David C. Koo, Kamson Lai, Jennifer M. Lotz, Ray A. Lucas, Elizabeth J. McGrath, Sara Ogaz, Abhijith Rajan, Adam G. Riess, Steve A. Rodney, Louis Strolger, Stefano Casertano, Marco Castellano, Tomas Dahlen, Mark Dickinson, Timothy DolchAdriano Fontana, Mauro Giavalisco, Andrea Grazian, Yicheng Guo, Nimish P. Hathi, Kuang Han Huang, Arjen Van Der Wel, Hao Jing Yan, Viviana Acquaviva, David M. Alexander, Omar Almaini, Matthew L.N. Ashby, Marco Barden, Eric F. Bell, Frédéric Bournaud, Thomas M. Brown, Karina I. Caputi, Paolo Cassata, Peter J. Challis, Ranga Ram Chary, Edmond Cheung, Michele Cirasuolo, Christopher J. Conselice, Asantha Roshan Cooray, Darren J. Croton, Emanuele Daddi, Romeel Davé, Duilia F. De Mello, Loic De Ravel, Avishai Dekel, Jennifer L. Donley, James S. Dunlop, Aaron A. Dutton, David Elbaz, Giovanni G. Fazio, Alexei V. Filippenko, Steven L. Finkelstein, Chris Frazer, Jonathan P. Gardner, Peter M. Garnavich, Eric Gawiser, Ruth Gruetzbauch, Will G. Hartley, Boris Häussler, Jessica Herrington, Philip F. Hopkins, Jia Sheng Huang, Saurabh W. Jha, Andrew Johnson, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Ali A. Khostovan, Robert P. Kirshner, Caterina Lani, Kyoung Soo Lee, Weidong Li, Piero Madau, Patrick J. McCarthy, Daniel H. McIntosh, Ross J. McLure, Conor McPartland, Bahram Mobasher, Heidi Moreira, Alice Mortlock, Leonidas A. Moustakas, Mark Mozena, Kirpal Nandra, Jeffrey A. Newman, Jennifer L. Nielsen, Sami Niemi, Kai G. Noeske, Casey J. Papovich, Laura Pentericci, Alexandra Pope, Joel R. Primack, Swara Ravindranath, Naveen A. Reddy, Alvio Renzini, Hans Walter Rix, Aday R. Robaina, David J. Rosario, Piero Rosati, Sara Salimbeni, Claudia Scarlata, Brian Siana, Luc Simard, Joseph Smidt, Diana Snyder, Rachel S. Somerville, Hyron Spinrad, Amber N. Straughn, Olivia Telford, Harry I. Teplitz, Jonathan R. Trump, Carlos Vargas, Carolin Villforth, Cory R. Wagner, Pat Wandro, Risa H. Wechsler, Benjamin J. Weiner, Tommy Wiklind, Vivienne Wild, Grant Wilson, Stijn Wuyts, Min S. Yun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1680 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes the Hubble Space Telescope imaging data products and data reduction procedures for the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). This survey is designed to document the evolution of galaxies and black holes at z ≈ 1.5-8, and to study Type Ia supernovae at z > 1.5. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with extensive multi-wavelength observations. The primary CANDELS data consist of imaging obtained in the Wide Field Camera 3 infrared channel (WFC3/IR) and the WFC3 ultraviolet/optical channel, along with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The CANDELS/Deep survey covers ∼ 125 arcmin 2 within GOODS-N and GOODS-S, while the remainder consists of the CANDELS/Wide survey, achieving a total of ∼ 800 arcmin2 across GOODS and three additional fields (Extended Groth Strip, COSMOS, and Ultra-Deep Survey). We summarize the observational aspects of the survey as motivated by the scientific goals and present a detailed description of the data reduction procedures and products from the survey. Our data reduction methods utilize the most up-to-date calibration files and image combination procedures. We have paid special attention to correcting a range of instrumental effects, including charge transfer efficiency degradation for ACS, removal of electronic bias-striping present in ACS data after Servicing Mission 4, and persistence effects and other artifacts in WFC3/IR. For each field, we release mosaics for individual epochs and eventual mosaics containing data from all epochs combined, to facilitate photometric variability studies and the deepest possible photometry. A more detailed overview of the science goals and observational design of the survey are presented in a companion paper.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number36
JournalAstrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Volume197
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2011

Keywords

  • cosmology: observations
  • galaxies: high-redshift

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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