Thirteen public survey projects are carried out at La Silla Paranal Observatory at different telescopes employing different instruments. In general, there are:

VST Imaging Public Surveys (3 surveys)

VISTA Imaging Public Surveys (6 surveys)

Public Spectroscopic Surveys (4 surveys)

Here is the presentation of the VISTA and VST ESO public surveys in the ESO messenger by the ESO Survey Team (Messenger 127, 28).

Please consult the Public Survey Protected Targets

VST Surveys

KIDS The Kilo-Degree Survey
PI Konrad Kuijken ( Leiden)

This survey aims to image 1500 square degrees in 4 bands (to be complemented in the near-infrared with data from the VIKING survey). The survey aims to cover this large area to a depth 2.5 magnitudes deeper than the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), with considerably better image quality. The primary science driver for the design of this project has been weak gravitational lensing. The science goals of the KIDS project are numerous, including: studying dark matter halos and dark energy with weak lensing, investigating galaxy evolution, searching for galaxy clusters, and looking for high redshift quasars. The KIDS project fills an important niche in lensing surveys between smaller, slightly deeper surveys, such as the CFHT Legacy Survey, and larger, shallower surveys like the SDSS.

ESO programme ID: 177.A-3016, 177.A-3017, 177.A-3018
KIDS Survey homepage: http://kids.strw.leidenuniv.nl/

The VST ATLAS
PI Tom Shanks ( Durham)

This survey is targeting 4500 square degrees of the Southern Sky in 5 filters to depths comparable to the SDSS. This survey will also be complemented with near-infrared data from the VHS VISTA survey. The primary science driver is to determine the dark energy equation of state by examining the 'baryon wiggles' in the matter power spectrum, via surveys of luminous red galaxies using both photometric and spectroscopic redshifts. But this survey will also provide the imaging base for many other future spectroscopic surveys, both at the VLT and also via wide-field fibre spectrographs such as the new AAOmega instrument at the Anglo-Australian Observatory. For example, the VST ATLAS will be valuable in the hunt for high redshift galaxies and quasars.

ESO programme ID: 177.A-3011
VST ALTLAS Survey homepage:http://astro.dur.ac.uk/Cosmology/vstatlas/

VPHAS+ - The VST Photometric H-О+ Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane
PI Janet Drew (Imperial)

This survey will combine H-О+ and broadband u'g'r'i' imaging over an area of 1800 square degrees capturing the whole of the Southern Galactic Plane within the latitude range |b| < 5 degrees. VPHAS+ will facilitate detailed extinction mapping of the Galactic Plane, and can be used to map the structure of the Galactic disk and its star formation history. The survey will yield a catalogue of around 500 million objects, which will include greatly enhanced samples of rare evolved massive stars, Be stars, Herbig and T Tau stars, post-AGB stars, compact nebulae, white dwarfs and interacting binaries. This survey is complementary to IPHAS, a survey of the Northern Galactic Plane nearing completion, but VPHAS+ will include more filters and will achieve better image quality.

ESO programme ID: 177.D-3023
VPHAS+ Survey homepage: http://www.vphas.eu