STAGES: the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey
Gray, Meghan E.; Wolf, Christian; Barden, Marco;Peng, Chien Y.; Häußler, Boris; Bell, Eric F.;McIntosh, Daniel H.; Guo, Yicheng;Caldwell, John A. R.; Bacon, David; Balogh, Michael;Barazza, Fabio D.; Böhm, Asmus; Heymans, Catherine;Jahnke, Knud; Jogee, Shardha; van Kampen, Eelco;Lane, Kyle; Meisenheimer, Klaus;Sánchez, Sebastian F.; Taylor, Andy; Wisotzki, Lutz;Zheng, Xianzhong; Green, David A.; Beswick, R. J.;Saikia, D. J.; Gilmour, Rachel; Johnson, Benjamin D.;Papovich, Casey. STAGES: the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2009, Vol. Volume 393, Issue 4, pp. 1275-1301., p. -2009.
We present an overview of the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution
Survey (STAGES). STAGES is a multiwavelength project designed to probe
physical drivers of galaxy evolution across a wide range of environments
and luminosity. A complex multicluster system at z ~ 0.165 has been the
subject of an 80-orbit F606W Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced
Camera for Surveys (ACS) mosaic covering the full span of the
supercluster. Extensive multiwavelength observations with XMM-Newton,
GALEX, Spitzer, 2dF, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the 17-band
COMBO-17 photometric redshift survey complement the HST imaging. Our
survey goals include simultaneously linking galaxy morphology with other
observables such as age, star formation rate, nuclear activity and
stellar mass. In addition, with the multiwavelength data set and new
high-resolution mass maps from gravitational lensing, we are able to
disentangle the large-scale structure of the system. By examining all
aspects of an environment we will be able to evaluate the relative
importance of the dark matter haloes, the local galaxy density and the
hot X-ray gas in driving galaxy transformation. This paper describes the
HST imaging, data reduction and creation of a master catalogue. We
perform the Sérsic fitting on the HST images and conduct
associated simulations to quantify completeness. In addition, we present
the COMBO-17 photometric redshift catalogue and estimates of stellar
masses and star formation rates for this field. We define galaxy and
cluster sample selection criteria, which will be the basis for
forthcoming science analyses, and present a compilation of notable
objects in the field. Finally, we describe the further multiwavelength
observations and announce public access to the data and catalogues.
We present an overview of the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution
Survey (STAGES). STAGES is a multiwavelength project designed to probe
physical drivers of galaxy evolution across a wide range of environments
and luminosity. A complex multicluster system at z ~ 0.165 has been the
subject of an 80-orbit F606W Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced
Camera for Surveys (ACS) mosaic covering the full span of the
supercluster. Extensive multiwavelength observations with XMM-Newton,
GALEX, Spitzer, 2dF, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the 17-band
COMBO-17 photometric redshift survey complement the HST imaging. Our
survey goals include simultaneously linking galaxy morphology with other
observables such as age, star formation rate, nuclear activity and
stellar mass. In addition, with the multiwavelength data set and new
high-resolution mass maps from gravitational lensing, we are able to
disentangle the large-scale structure of the system. By examining all
aspects of an environment we will be able to evaluate the relative
importance of the dark matter haloes, the local galaxy density and the
hot X-ray gas in driving galaxy transformation. This paper describes the
HST imaging, data reduction and creation of a master catalogue. We
perform the Sérsic fitting on the HST images and conduct
associated simulations to quantify completeness. In addition, we present
the COMBO-17 photometric redshift catalogue and estimates of stellar
masses and star formation rates for this field. We define galaxy and
cluster sample selection criteria, which will be the basis for
forthcoming science analyses, and present a compilation of notable
objects in the field. Finally, we describe the further multiwavelength
observations and announce public access to the data and catalogues.