VizieR Online Data Catalog: MAGG I Near pristine gas cloud at z~3.5 (Lofthouse+, 2020)

Our survey is designed to investigate the connection between optically thick gas and galaxies at z~3-4. For this purpose, we selected a sample of quasars at z>~3.2 for which high-resolution (R>~30000) spectroscopy was available from the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES; Dekker et al. 2000SPIE.4008..534D) at VLT, the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE; Bernstein et al. 2003SPIE.4841.1694B) at Magellan, and the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES; Vogt et al. 1994SPIE.2198..362V) at Keck. This results in a sample of quasars with magnitudes m_r~<19mag. We further restrict our sample to quasars with data at moderate or high signal to noise (S/N>~20), and with at least one strong absorption line system (N_HI>~10¹⁷cm^-2) at redshift z>~3.05. Finally, we restrict the sample to quasars that are observable from Paranal with low airmass, typically at declination δ<+15deg.

Our final selection comprises 28 quasars. As part of the programme ID 197.A-0384, we have observed each quasar field with five observing blocks (OBs) of 1hr with MUSE between period 97 and period 103. After excluding overheads, this corresponds to a total on-source observing time of ~4hr per field.

(3 data files).