Asteroidscomets

COSMOS: Hubble Space Telescope Observations

September 2007 • 2007ApJS..172...38S

Authors • Scoville, N. • Abraham, R. G. • Aussel, H. • Barnes, J. E. • Benson, A. • Blain, A. W. • Calzetti, D. • Comastri, A. • Capak, P. • Carilli, C. • Carlstrom, J. E. • Carollo, C. M. • Colbert, J. • Daddi, E. • Ellis, R. S. • Elvis, M. • Ewald, S. P. • Fall, M. • Franceschini, A. • Giavalisco, M. • Green, W. • Griffiths, R. E. • Guzzo, L. • Hasinger, G. • Impey, C. • Kneib, J. -P. • Koda, J. • Koekemoer, A. • Lefevre, O. • Lilly, S. • Liu, C. T. • McCracken, H. J. • Massey, R. • Mellier, Y. • Miyazaki, S. • Mobasher, B. • Mould, J. • Norman, C. • Refregier, A. • Renzini, A. • Rhodes, J. • Rich, M. • Sanders, D. B. • Schiminovich, D. • Schinnerer, E. • Scodeggio, M. • Sheth, K. • Shopbell, P. L. • Taniguchi, Y. • Tyson, N. D. • Urry, C. M. • Van Waerbeke, L. • Vettolani, P. • White, S. D. M. • Yan, L.

Abstract • The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) was initiated with an extensive allocation (590 orbits in Cycles 12-13) using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for high-resolution imaging. Here we review the characteristics of the HST imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and parallel observations with NICMOS and WFPC2. A square field (1.8 deg2) has been imaged with single-orbit ACS I-band F814W exposures with 50% completeness for sources 0.5" in diameter at IAB=26.0 mag. The ACS is a key part of the COSMOS survey, providing very high sensitivity and high-resolution (0.09" FWHM and 0.05" pixels) imaging and detecting a million objects. These images yield resolved morphologies for several hundred thousand galaxies. The small HST PSF also provides greatly enhanced sensitivity for weak-lensing investigations of the dark matter distribution.

Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

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IPAC Authors
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James Colbert

Associate Scientist