The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Technical Summary
Abstract
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II (SDSS-II) has embarked on a multi-year project to identify and measure light curves for intermediate-redshift (0.05 < z < 0.35) Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using repeated five-band (ugriz) imaging over an area of 300 sq. deg. The survey region is a stripe 2.5° wide centered on the celestial equator in the Southern Galactic Cap that has been imaged numerous times in earlier years, enabling construction of a deep reference image for the discovery of new objects. Supernova imaging observations are being acquired between September 1 and November 30 of 2005-7. During the first two seasons, each region was imaged on average every five nights. Spectroscopic follow-up observations to determine supernova type and redshift are carried out on a large number of telescopes. In its first two three-month seasons, the survey has discovered and measured light curves for 327 spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia, 30 probable SNe Ia, 14 confirmed SNe Ib/c, 32 confirmed SNe II, plus a large number of photometrically identified SNe Ia, 94 of which have host-galaxy spectra taken so far. This paper provides an overview of the project and briefly describes the observations completed during the first two seasons of operation.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-6256/135/1/338
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0708.2749
- Bibcode:
- 2008AJ....135..338F
- Keywords:
-
- supernovae: general;
- surveys;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Submitted to The Astronomical Journal (24 pages, 10 figures)