The DIVING3D survey - Deep Integral Field Spectrograph View of Nuclei of Galaxies - I. Definition and sample presentation

We present the Deep Integral Field Spectrograph View of Nuclei of Galaxies (DIVING^3D) survey, a seeing-limited optical 3D spectroscopy study of the central regions of all 170 galaxies in the Southern hemisphere with B < 12.0 and |b| > 15^○. Most of the observations were taken with the Integral Field Unit of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, at the Gemini South telescope, but some are also being taken with the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) Integral Field Spectrograph. The DIVING^3D survey was designed for the study of nuclear emission-line properties, circumnuclear (within scales of hundreds of pc) emission-line properties, stellar and gas kinematics, and stellar archaeology. The data have a combination of high spatial and spectral resolution not matched by previous surveys and will result in significant contributions for studies related to, for example, the statistics of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, the ionization mechanisms in low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions, and the nature of transition objects, among other topics.