A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) I. Introduction to the survey★

Boselli, A.; Fossati, M.; Ferrarese, L.; Boissier, S.; Consolandi, G.; Longobardi, A.; Amram, P.; Balogh, M.; Barmby, P.; Boquien, M.; Boulanger, F.; Braine, J.; Buat, V.; Burgarella, D.; Combes, F.; Contini, T.; Cortese, L.; Côté, P.; Côté, S.; Cuillandre, J.C.; Drissen, L.; Epinat, B.; Fumagalli, M.; Gallagher, S.; Gavazzi, G.; Gomez-Lopez, J.; Gwyn, S.; Harris, W.; Hensler, G.; Koribalski, B.; Marcelin, M.; McConnachie, A.; Miville-Deschenes, M.A.; Navarro, J.; Patton, D.; Peng, E.W.; Plana, H.; Prantzos, N.; Robert, C.; Roediger, J.; Roehlly, Y.; Russeil, D.; Salome, P.; Sanchez-Janssen, R.; Serra, P.; Spekkens, K.; Sun, M.; Taylor, J.; Tonnesen, S.; Vollmer, B.; Willis, J.; Wozniak, H.; Burdullis, T.; Devost, D.; Mahoney, B.; Manset, N.; Petric, A.; Prunet, S.; Withington, K.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201732407

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) I. Introduction to the survey★

Boselli, A.; Fossati, M.; Ferrarese, L.; Boissier, S.; Consolandi, G.; Longobardi, A.; Amram, P.; Balogh, M.; Barmby, P.; Boquien, M.; Boulanger, F.; Braine, J.; Buat, V.; Burgarella, D.; Combes, F.; Contini, T.; Cortese, L.; Côté, P.; Côté, S.; Cuillandre, J.C.; Drissen, L.; Epinat, B.; Fumagalli, M.; Gallagher, S.; Gavazzi, G.; Gomez-Lopez, J.; Gwyn, S.; Harris, W.; Hensler, G.; Koribalski, B.; Marcelin, M.; McConnachie, A.; Miville-Deschenes, M.A.; Navarro, J.; Patton, D.; Peng, E.W.; Plana, H.; Prantzos, N.; Robert, C.; Roediger, J.; Roehlly, Y.; Russeil, D.; Salome, P.; Sanchez-Janssen, R.; Serra, P.; Spekkens, K.; Sun, M.; Taylor, J.; Tonnesen, S.; Vollmer, B.; Willis, J.; Wozniak, H.; Burdullis, T.; Devost, D.; Mahoney, B.; Manset, N.; Petric, A.; Prunet, S.; Withington, K.

Authors

A. Boselli

M. Fossati

L. Ferrarese

S. Boissier

G. Consolandi

A. Longobardi

P. Amram

M. Balogh

P. Barmby

M. Boquien

F. Boulanger

J. Braine

V. Buat

D. Burgarella

F. Combes

T. Contini

L. Cortese

P. Côté

S. Côté

J.C. Cuillandre

L. Drissen

B. Epinat

Professor Michele Fumagalli michele.fumagalli@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

S. Gallagher

G. Gavazzi

J. Gomez-Lopez

S. Gwyn

W. Harris

G. Hensler

B. Koribalski

M. Marcelin

A. McConnachie

M.A. Miville-Deschenes

J. Navarro

D. Patton

E.W. Peng

H. Plana

N. Prantzos

C. Robert

J. Roediger

Y. Roehlly

D. Russeil

P. Salome

R. Sanchez-Janssen

P. Serra

K. Spekkens

M. Sun

J. Taylor

S. Tonnesen

B. Vollmer

J. Willis

H. Wozniak

T. Burdullis

D. Devost

B. Mahoney

N. Manset

A. Petric

S. Prunet

K. Withington

Abstract

The Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) is a blind narrow-band (NB) Hα+[NII] imaging survey carried out with MegaCam at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. The survey covers the whole Virgo cluster region from its core to one virial radius (104 deg2). The sensitivity of the survey is of f(Hα) ~ 4 × 10−17 erg s−1 cm−2 (5σ detection limit) for point sources and Σ(Hα) ~ 2 × 10−18 erg s−1 cm−2 arcsec−2 (1σ detection limit at 3 arcsec resolution) for extended sources, making VESTIGE the deepest and largest blind NB survey of a nearby cluster. This paper presents the survey in all its technical aspects, including the survey design, the observing strategy, the achieved sensitivity in both the NB Hα+[NII] and in the broad-band r filter used for the stellar continuum subtraction, the data reduction, calibration, and products, as well as its status after the first observing semester. We briefly describe the Hα properties of galaxies located in a 4 × 1 deg2 strip in the core of the cluster north of M87, where several extended tails of ionised gas are detected. This paper also lists the main scientific motivations for VESTIGE, which include the study of the effects of the environment on galaxy evolution, the fate of the stripped gas in cluster objects, the star formation process in nearby galaxies of different type and stellar mass, the determination of the Hα luminosity function and of the Hα scaling relations down to ~106 M⊙ stellar mass objects, and the reconstruction of the dynamical structure of the Virgo cluster. This unique set of data will also be used to study the HII luminosity function in hundreds of galaxies, the diffuse Hα+[NII] emission of the Milky Way at high Galactic latitude, and the properties of emission line galaxies at high redshift.

Citation

Boselli, A., Fossati, M., Ferrarese, L., Boissier, S., Consolandi, G., Longobardi, A., …Withington, K. (2018). A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) I. Introduction to the survey★. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 614, Article A56. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732407

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 7, 2018
Online Publication Date	Jun 15, 2018
Publication Date	Jun 15, 2018
Deposit Date	Jul 5, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Jul 5, 2018
Journal	Astronomy and astrophysics.
Print ISSN	0004-6361
Electronic ISSN	1432-0746
Publisher	EDP Sciences
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	614
Article Number	A56
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732407

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© ESO 2018 Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0;), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.