Related papers: Very Large Spectroscopic Surveys with the VLT
Cosmic surveys provide crucial information about high energy physics including strong evidence for dark energy, dark matter, and inflation. Ongoing and upcoming surveys will start to identify the underlying physics of these new phenomena,…
We describe an extensive FUSE survey of highly ionized oxygen in the vicinity of the Milky Way that serves as an example of the type of study that would be desirable for other galactic systems. Understanding the origin of hot gas in the…
While the exceptional sensitivity of Chandra and XMM-Newton has resulted in revolutionary studies of the Galactic neighborhood in the soft (<10 keV) X-ray band, there are many open questions. We discuss these issues and how they would be…
Galaxy redshift surveys are one of the pillars of the current standard cosmological model and remain a key tool in the experimental effort to understand the origin of cosmic acceleration. To this end, the next generation of surveys aim at…
Recent IR surveys of the Galactic plane have revealed a large number of candidate Luminous Blue Variables. In order to verify these classifications we have been undertaking a long term spectroscopic and photometric monitoring campaign…
The next decade of survey astronomy has the potential to transform our knowledge of variable stars. Stellar variability underpins our knowledge of the cosmological distance ladder, and provides direct tests of stellar formation and…
The Magellanic System represents one of the best places to study the formation and evolution of galaxies. Photometric surveys of various depths, areas and wavelengths have had a significant impact on our understanding of the system;…
This article looks at the combined constraints from a photometric and spectroscopic survey. These surveys will measure cosmology using weak lensing (WL), galaxy clustering, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and redshift space distortions…
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys have initially been optimized to omit the inner part of the Milky Way disk/bar from deep and cadence observations. However it is now clear that the LSST will be powerful for Galactic…
The Galactic centre and its surrounding space are important in studying galaxy-scale evolution, and stellar populations therein are expected to have imprints of the long-term evolution. Interstellar extinction, however, severely limits…
Sensitive, wide-area X-ray surveys which would be possible with the WFXT will detect huge samples of virialized objects spanning the mass range from sub-groups to the most massive clusters, and extending in redshift to beyond z=2. These…
I review the statistical techniques needed to extract information about physical parameters of galaxies from their observed spectra. This is important given the sheer size of the next generation of large galaxy redshift surveys. Going to…
The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey observed the Galactic plane and the outer Galactic bulge in the near-infrared to mitigate the effects of extinction that severely limit optical observations of these…
Here we review some of the main issues related to multi-wavelength source identification and characterization, with particular emphasis on the field of X-ray surveys carried out over the last years. This complex and time-consuming process…
The last two decades have seen remarkable progress in our long-standing goal of determining the abundance and diversity of worlds in the Galaxy. Understanding of this subject involves tracing the path of interstellar material from dense…
We introduce a new survey of massive stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds using the Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Here we present observations of 269 Galactic…
zCOSMOS is a large redshift survey that is being undertaken in the COSMOS field using 600 hours of observation with the VIMOS spectrograph on the 8-m VLT. The survey is designed to characterise the environments of COSMOS galaxies from the…
Multiple tracers of the cosmic density field, with different bias, number and luminosity evolution, can be used to measure the large-scale properties of the Universe. We show how an optimal combination of tracers can be used to detect…
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, consisting of 5020 robotic fiber positioners and associated systems on the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona, is carrying out a survey to measure the spectra of 40 million galaxies and quasars…
Within the next five years, a number of direct-imaging planet search instruments, like the VLT SPHERE instrument, will be coming online. To successfully carry out their programs, these instruments will rely heavily on a-priori information…