Surveys

The University of Hertfordshire is a leader in survey astronomy at radio, submillimetre, near-infrared and optical wavelengths.

Among the major surveys of the past, present and future, there are primary ones in which we have significant involvement:

  • VMC (ESO public survey of the Magellanic Clouds, PI Cioni)
  • IPHAS (Hα survey of the Northern Galactic Plane, PI Drew)
  • VPHAS+ survey (ESO public survey of the Southern Galactic plane, PI Drew)
  • VVV and VVVX survey (ESO public time domain surveys of the southern Milky Way: co-PI
    Lucas)
  • UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey (PI Lucas)
  • H-ATLAS and HERMES wide/deep extragalactic surveys with Herschel
  • MSSS (LOFAR shallow all-sky survey)
  • Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)
  • LOFAR Surveys KSP (LOFAR deep/wide surveys)
  • e-MERLIN Jets Legacy project (co-PI Hardcastle)
  • WEAVE-LOFAR (team lead Smith)
  • SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy survey (S2CLS)
  • SCUBA-2 Large eXtragalactic Survey (S2LXS, co-PI Geach)
  • mJy Imaging VLBA Exploration (mJIVE-20) survey
  • HST Wide Field Camera 3 Early-Release Science programme
  • Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS)
  • Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey with ASKAP
  • MeerGAL survey of the Galactic plane with MeerKAT (co-PI Thompson)
  • MIGHTEE extragalactic survey with MeerKAT
  • VIDEO VISTA survey

The science focus of the surveys we lead range from searches for exo-planets through comprehensive surveys of the Milky Way, out to an in-depth study of the Magellanic Clouds and beyond to high-redshift extragalactic work.

Illustration of the public surveys being conducted with VISTA and VST in Chile. CAR staff have lead roles in three of these surveys (VMC, VPHAS+ and VVV - see below), and have significant involvement in VIDEO, VIKING and VHS. Also shown in the northern hemisphere are UKIDSS/GPS and IPHAS, which we lead. Right - the VISTA telescope at Paranal in Chile.