2009/05/29 by M. L. N. Ashby, D. Stern, M. Brodwin +32 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Cosmic variance #Field (mathematics) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Position (finance) #Proper motion #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Sky #Spitzer Space Telescope #Vega #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/701/1/428
published as Astrophys.J.701:428-453,2009 · 71 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2009/05/29 · openalex publication_date 2009/07/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey (SDWFS) is a four-epoch infrared survey of 10 deg 2 in the Boötes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey using the IRAC instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope . SDWFS, a Spitzer Cycle 4 Legacy project, occupies a unique position in the area-depth survey space defined by other Spitzer surveys. The four epochs that make up SDWFS permit—for the first time—the selection of infrared-variable and high proper motion objects over a wide field on timescales of years. Because of its large survey volume, SDWFS is sensitive to galaxies out to z ∼ 3 with relatively little impact from cosmic variance for all but the richest systems. The SDWFS data sets will thus be especially useful for characterizing galaxy evolution beyond z ∼ 1.5. This paper explains the SDWFS observing strategy and data processing, presents the SDWFS mosaics and source catalogs, and discusses some early scientific findings. The publicly released, full-depth catalogs contain 6.78, 5.23, 1.20, and 0.96 × 10 5 distinct sources detected to the average 5σ, 4''-diameter, aperture-corrected limits of 19.77, 18.83, 16.50, and 15.82 Vega mag at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm, respectively. The SDWFS number counts and color–color distribution are consistent with other, earlier Spitzer surveys. At the 6 minute integration time of the SDWFS IRAC imaging, >50% of isolated Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm radio sources and >80% of on-axis XBoötes sources are detected out to 8.0 μm. Finally, we present the four highest proper motion IRAC-selected sources identified from the multi-epoch imaging, two of which are likely field brown dwarfs of mid-T spectral class.