The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS): Science Highlights and Final Data Release

The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) released its final set of nearly 90 000 galaxy redshifts in November 2016, together with a series of science papers that range from the detailed evolution of galaxies over the past 8 Gyr to the growth rate and the power spectrum of cosmological structures measured at about half the Hubble time. These are the results of a map of the distribution of galaxies and their properties which is unprecedented in its combination of large volume and detailed sampling at 0.5 < z < 1.2. In this article, the survey design and data properties are briefly summarised and an overview of the key scientific results published so far is provided. The VIPERS data, obtained within the framework of an ESO Large Programme over the equivalent of just under 55 nights at the Very Large Telescope, will remain the largest legacy of the VIMOS spectrograph and its still unsurpassed ability to reach target densities close to 10000 spectra per square degree.