THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY (NGVS). I. INTRODUCTION TO
THE SURVEY*
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ABSTRACTThe Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is a program that uses the
1 deg2 MegaCam instrument on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope
to carry out a comprehensive optical imaging survey of the Virgo cluster, from
its core to its virial radius—covering a total area of 104 deg2—in
the u*griz bandpasses. Thanks to a dedicated
data acquisition strategy and processing pipeline, the NGVS reaches a
point-source depth of g ≈ 25.9 mag (10σ) and a surface
brightness limit of μg ∼ 29 mag arcsec−2
(2σ above the mean sky level), thus superseding all previous optical studies of
this benchmark galaxy cluster. In this paper, we give an overview of the
technical aspects of the survey, such as areal coverage, field placement, choice
of filters, limiting magnitudes, observing strategies, data processing and
calibration pipelines, survey timeline, and data products. We also describe the
primary scientific topics of the NGVS, which include: the galaxy luminosity and
mass functions; the color–magnitude relation; galaxy scaling relations; compact
stellar systems; galactic nuclei; the extragalactic distance scale; the
large-scale environment of the cluster and its relationship to the Local
Supercluster; diffuse light and the intracluster medium; galaxy interactions and
evolutionary processes; and extragalactic star clusters. In addition, we
describe a number of ancillary programs dealing with “foreground” and
“background” science topics, including the study of high-inclination
trans-Neptunian objects; the structure of the Galactic halo in the direction of
the Virgo Overdensity and Sagittarius Stream; the measurement of cosmic shear,
galaxy–galaxy, and cluster lensing; and the identification of distant galaxy
clusters, and strong-lensing events.
