Astrophysics (Index)About

astronomical survey

(survey, observing program)
(project collecting astronomical data)

An astronomical survey is a project to gather astronomical data over some portion of the sky, in some cases, all. It may constitute a single image or set of images. The term observing program means roughly the same thing. Currently, some are carried out automatically. The targets may be based upon appearance (e.g., portion of the spectrum at which the object is evident), based upon object type (e.g., galaxies), or may be some aspect of cosmic background radiation (CBR). It can result in an associated astronomical catalog and survey-based designator.

Surveys are naturally magnitude-limited, and it is now common to preselect the magnitude limit and adhere to it as much as possible, to allow for accommodating the Malmquist bias and similar issues, so the resulting catalog can serve as a reasonable sample set by some useful criteria. Magnitudes for specific bands are often collected, cited as the band's designating letter, e.g., citing k = 19.0 to indicate an apparent magnitude of +19 as seen through in the K band.

By this definition, thousands of surveys have been carried out, but naturally a few of them have been the most extensive. Some major surveys are the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) in the 1950s and more recently, the Two Micron All-sky Survey (2MASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Some space-observatories have been designed to carry out surveys, to cover electromagnetic radiation not viewable from the ground, and/or for other advantages such as sidestepping seeing issues (e.g., Gaia). See list of surveys and list of survey/catalog indicators.


The term astronomical survey is also sometimes used for efforts gathering ("surveying") existing observational data and constructing a catalog regarding some particular topic. The term observing program used for some surveys effectively excludes this meaning.


(surveys)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_survey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Astronomical_surveys
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013pss2.book..223D/abstract
https://www.sc.eso.org/~epompei/surveys.html
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007ASPC..371..121L/abstract

Referenced by pages:
1 Jansky Empty Field Survey (1 Jy)
1.3-mm observation
21-cm experiment
2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS)
2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO survey (2SLAQ)
3D-HST
6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS)
87GB Catalog of Radio Sources (87GB)
Abell Catalog
ACIS
AEGIS
AFGL Four Color Infrared Sky Survey (AFGL)
AIM-CO
AKARI
ALFALFA
All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS)
All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN)
All-Sky Compiled Catalogue (ASCC)
ALMA-PILS Survey
ALMACAL
AMUSE²
anisotropy
APASS
APM Galaxy Survey (APMUKS)
APOGEE
Arecibo Occultation Survey (AO)
ARIEL
Ariel 5
ASCA
ASPECS
Astrolux
astrometry
astronomical catalog
Atacama B-Mode Search (ABS)
Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)
Atlas 3D
ATLAS survey
AtLAST
Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS)
Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)
Automated Planet Finder (APF)
AXIS
Badgerys Creek Interferometer 101-MHz Survey (Mills)
baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO)
Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)
BASS
BATC
BEAST
Becker, White, and Edwards Catalog (BWE)
BICEP2
BigBOSS
BlackGEM
blind survey
Boötes Field
Bologna Survey of Radio Sources
Breakthrough Listen (BL)
brightest cluster galaxy (BCG)
Bruce Proper Motion Survey (BPM)
C-BASS
cadence
Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey
CALIFA
California-Kepler Survey (CKS)
Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources (C)
Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey (CINEOS)
Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS)
Canada-France Redshift Survey (CFRS)
Canadian Cluster Comparison Project (CCCP)
CAPMAP
CARMA EDGE
Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP)
Case-Hamburg Survey (LS)
Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)
CCAT
CCD
CEERS
Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS)
CfA Redshift Survey
CFBDS
CFHTLS
Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS)
CMB Stage-4 (CMB-S4)
CMB surveys
COCONUTS
COLD GASS
COMAP
commensal mode
COMPLETE Survey
completeness
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO)
conditional stellar mass function (CSMF)
COPSS
Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS)
Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)
cosmic dust
Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS)
Cosmic Lens All-sky Survey (CLASS)
cosmic variance
cosmological simulation
COSMOSOMAS
COUP
CRATES
CTIO Upper-Scorpius OB Association Survey (UScoCTIO)
D56
Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)
Dark Energy Survey (DES)
dark matter detector
data release (DR)
DECaLS
deep field (DF)
Deep Lens Survey (DLS)
Deep Multicolor Survey (DMS)
deep survey
DEEP2
DeGaS-MC
dendrogram
DENIS
DEVILS
diffuse emission
Digitized Sky Survey (DSS)
Dominion Observatory 10.03 MHz Source Catalog (DB)
Dominion Observatory 1420 MHz Source Catalog (DA)
DSA-2000
DSHARP
Dunlop Double Star Catalogue (DUN)
Dwingeloo Obscured Galaxy Survey (DOGS)
Dynamical Analysis of Nearby Clusters (DANCe)
EBEX
Eddington bias
EDGES
ELM Survey
emission-line object
emission-line star
EMPIRE Survey
epoch of galaxy formation
EROS
eROSITA
ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey (ENACS)
ESO Schmidt Telescope
ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO (B) Atlas
ESSENCE
etendue (AΩ)
Euclid
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
EXOSAT
Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Survey (ECDFS)
Extended Groth Strip (EGS)
extra-solar planet
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE)
faint blue galaxy (FBG)
Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS)
Fermi (FGST)
FGK star
field
field curvature
field of view (FOV)
FINESSE
FIRST
first galaxies
focal length
foreground subtraction
forward model
FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE)
Fourth Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources (4C)
Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST)
Freeman's law
Fsky (fsky)
Gaia
Galactic All-sky Survey (GASS)
Galactic Emission Mapping (GEM)
Galactic O Star Catalog (GOSC)
galactic worm (GW)
GALAH
galaxy bias
galaxy cluster (CL)
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
galaxy power spectrum
galaxy SED
Galaxy Zoo
GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS)
GAMA
gas fraction estimation
Gattini-IR
Giant Gemini GMOS survey (GGG survey)
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)
Giant Stellar Stream (GSS)
Gini/M20
GLARE
GLEAM
globular cluster (GC)
GOALS
GOODS
GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS)
GOODS-North
GOODS-South
Gould's Belt Distances Survey (GOBELINS)
GPX
gravitational microlensing
Great Attractor
Great Wall
Green Bank 300ft Telescope (GB300)
Green Bank 6-cm Radio Source Catalog (GB6)
Green Bank Telescope (GBT)
Groth Strip
Hα survey
H3 Survey (H3)
halo abundance matching (HAM)
Hamburg Schmidt Survey (HS)
Hamburg/ESO Survey (HE)
Hawaii K-band Galaxy Survey
HBK
HEAO-1
HERMES
Herschel Orion Protostar Survey (HOPS)
Herschel Stripe 82 Survey (HerS)
HI 4-Pi Survey (HI4PI)
HI Jodrell All-Sky Survey (HIJASS)
High Time Resolution Universe Survey (HTRU)
HIPASS
Hipparcos
HIRAX
Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF)
Hydrogen Accretion in Local Galaxies Survey (HALOGAS)
Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)
Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF)
intensity mapping (IM)
International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)
IPAC
IPHAS
IRAC Shallow Survey (ISS)
IRAS
J designator
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
JINGLE
K2
Kepler-Swift Active Galaxies and Stars Survey (KSwAGS)
Kiso Survey of Ultraviolet Excess Galaxies (KUG)
KMOS3D
Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet)
Lépine Shara Proper Motion catalog (LSPM)
LABOCA Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Submillimetre Survey (LESS)
LAMOST
Large Bright QSO Survey (LBQS)
Las Campanas Redshift Survey (LCRS)
LasDamas
LaSilla-QUEST Variability Survey (LSQ)
legacy survey
Lick Observatory Calcium Line Survey (LkCl)
limiting magnitude
LINEAR
Local Group Galaxy Survey (LGGS)
Local Volume (LV)
LONEOS
Low-frequency Array (LOFAR)
Lowell Proper Motion Survey (G)
LSPE-STRIP
LSPE-SWIPE
Lupus Transit Survey
Luyten Palomar Survey (LP)
Lyman break (LB)
Lyman-alpha emitter (LAE)
MACHO
MACHO Project
Magellan Telescopes
Magellanic Clouds Photometric Survey (MCPS)
Malmquist bias
MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar)
MAPS
MASH Catalog of Planetary Nebulae
mass fraction
Massive Cluster Survey (MACS)
MAST
Mayall 4m Telescope
MEarth Project (MEarth)
Medium Deep Survey (MDS)
MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array (MPTA)
MeerKLASS
MicroFUN (μFUN)
Microlensing Planet Search (MPS)
MIGHTEE
Milky Way chemical evolution
Milky Way Mapper (MWM)
Millennium Galaxy Catalogue (MGC)
Mimir
MISAO project
MOA
MOJAVE
MORA
MOST­
Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey (MENeaCS)
multi-messenger astronomy (MMA)
multi-object spectrograph
Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS)
MUSCLES
N 103B
near-Earth object (NEO)
Nearby Supernova Factory (NSNF)
NEAT
NGTS
NOAO Deep Wide-field Survey (NDWFS)
NOMAD
NRAO Catalog (NRAO)
NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS)
NuSTAR
OB star
OGLE
Ohio Radio Survey (OSS)
Origins Space Telescope (OST)
Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS)
OVRO-LWA
PALFA
PALMS
Palomar 48 Inch Telescope (P48)
Palomar high-redshift quasar surveys
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS)
Palomar Transient Factory (PTF)
Palomar-Green Survey (PG)
Palomar-Haro-Luyten Catalog (PHL)
Palomar-Leiden Survey (PLS)
Pan-STARRS
PanCET
panchromatic
PAndAS
Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and Sculptor (PISCeS)
Pantheon
Parkes Catalog (PKS)
Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey (HIZOA)
Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey (PMPS)
Parkes-MIT-NRAO Surveys (PMN)
PAWS
PEP
PESSTO
PHANGS
PHAT
PHIBSS
photometric system
photometry
Pi of the Sky
Pico dos Dias Survey (PDS)
PICO experiment (PICO)
pipeline
PIXIE
Planet Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS)
planet formation
Planet Nine
plate
plate measuring machine (APM)
POINT-AGAPE
Pre-OmegaTranS (POTS)
PRIMA
primordial gravitational waves
PRIMUS
principal investigator (PI)
Probing Lensing Anomalies Network (PLANET)
pulsar timing array (PTA)
Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES)
QMAP
QUaD
QUBIC
QUEST
QUIET
QUIJOTE
Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds Catalogue (RMC)
random forest
rare designator prefixes
RASS/Green Bank Catalog (RGB)
REBELS
redshift survey
REFINE
RESOLVE­
Roma-BZCAT
Roman Space Telescope (RST)
ROSAT
Rosat Bright Survey (RBS)
Rosat Hard Survey (RHS)
ROTSE
Rubin Observatory (VRO)
SAGE
Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS)
SARAS
Saskatoon
scan speed
Schmidt camera
Scott effect
SCUBA
search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)
Second Byurakan Survey (SBS)
selection bias
SHARDS
SIMBAD
SIMP
SIMSTACK
SINS
SKHB
SkyMapper Southern Survey (SMSS)
slew survey
Sloan 2.5m Telescope
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
solar system object (SSO)
solid angle (Ω)
source
Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (S5)
SPACEWATCH
spectral feature
spectroscopic parallax
Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS)
SPHEREx
spiral galaxy
SPIRITS
SPIRou
Spitzer Extended Deep Survey (SEDS)
Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS)
Spitzer HETDEX Exploratory Large Area Survey (SHELA)
Spitzer Space Telescope (SST)
SPLASH
star count
STAR-X
STARE
STARSMOG
stellar cluster (SC)
stellar demographics
stellar designation
stellar stream
stray light
StrayCats
Strong Source Surveys
structure formation
Subaru Deep Field (SDF)
Subaru PFS
Subaru Telescope
Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS)
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA)
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZ effect)
SuperBIT
SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey (SSS)
supernova designator
Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS)
supernova survey
survey depth
survey field
survey-based designator
Swope Supernova Survey (SSS)
Sys-Rem
TAIPAN
Taurus­
Taurus-Auriga Complex (Tau-Aur Complex)
TD-1A
Teegarden's Star
templates
Tenerife Experiment
Terra Hunting Experiment (THE)
TESS-Keck Survey (TKS)
Texas Survey of Radio Sources at 365 MHz (TXS)
The H2O Southern Galactic Plane Survey (HOPS)
The Survey for Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SINGG)
Tianlai Project
TolTEC
Tonantzintla Surveys (Ton)
TopHat
Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES)
transient (AT)
transient astronomy
transit method
transit telescope
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Two Micron All-sky Survey (2MASS)
Two Micron Sky Survey (IRC)
Type Ia supernova
ugriz photometric system
UK Schmidt Survey
UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST)
UKIDSS
Ultimate Spitzer Phase Curve Survey (USPCS)
ultra-faint dwarf galaxy (UFD)
Ultraviolet Hubble Ultra-deep Field (UVUDF)
UltraVISTA
Uppsala-ESO Survey of Asteroids and Comets (UESAC)
USNO
USNO Twin Astrograph
USS Sources
UVCANDELS
Víctor M. Blanco Telescope
very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI)
VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS)
VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey (VVDS)
visible light
VISTA
VLASS
VLT Survey Telescope (VST)
VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS)
volume weighting
weak lensing (WL)
WEAVE
Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT)
Westerhout Radio Survey (W)
WFCAM Transit Survey (WTS)
WHISP
Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE)
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WiggleZ
William Herschel Telescope (WHT)
WINGS
X-ray
X-ray luminous galaxy cluster
X-SHOOTER Lyman α survey at z = 2 (XLS-z2)
XMM Cluster Survey (XCS)
XMM-Newton
XO Project
XQR-30
zone of avoidance (ZOA)
Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF)

Index