The VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) Survey

PI: Dr Matt Jarvis (University of Oxford)

The VIDEO survey

The VIDEO survey is a 12 sq. degree, Z,Y,J,H,Ks survey specifically designed to enable galaxy and cluster/structure evolution to be traced as a function of both epoch and environment from the present day out to z=4, and AGN and the most massive galaxies up to and into the epoch of re-ionization.

With its depth and area, VIDEO fully probes the epoch of activity in the Universe, where AGN and starburst activity were at their peak and the first galaxy clusters were beginning to virialise. VIDEO therefore offers a unique data set with which to investigate the interplay between AGN, starbursts and environment, and the role of feedback at a time when it is most crucial.

The multi-band nature of the survey ensures many key science drivers can be tackled using the survey alone, without recourse to data from other wavebands. However, the survey fields have been carefully selected to ensure a good RA spread and mix of fields with existing multi-band data thereby enhancing the usefulness of the survey to the whole of the astronomical community, and with an eye to future use of other ESO facilities such as APEX and ALMA. The area and depth means that VIDEO fits naturally between the VIKING and Ultra-VISTA surveys, and has been allocated >200 nights over the next five years.

PI: Matt Jarvis (Oxford)

Survey Scientist, deep stacks, catalogues, photometric redshifts Boris Häußler (ESO/Chile) (with help from others)

The VIDEO fields

The three areas of sky over which the VIDEO survey has covered. From left to right; Elais-S1 (~3 square degrees), XMM-LSS (~4.5 square degrees) and the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (4.5 square degrees)

The forcast VIDEO Survey Depths

For more information, see the VIDEO survey paper.