Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 146, 31-39

The ATESP radio survey

I. Survey description, observations and data reduction

I. Prandoni ^1,2 - L. Gregorini ^3,2 - P. Parma ² - H.R. de Ruiter ^4,2 - G. Vettolani ² - M.H. Wieringa ⁵ - R.D. Ekers ⁵

Send offprint request: I. Prandoni

Correspondence to: e-mail: prandoni@ira.bo.cnr.it

1 - Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40126 Bologna, Italy
2 - Istituto di Radioastronomia, CNR, ViaGobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
3 - Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, I-40126 Bologna, Italy
4 - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Via Ranzani 1, I-40126 Bologna, Italy
5 - Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW2121, Australia

Received March 7; accepted June 23, 2000

Abstract:

This paper is the first of a series reporting the results of the Australia Telescope ESO Slice Project (ATESP) radio survey obtained at 1400 MHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) close to the South Galactic Pole (SGP) over the region covered by the ESO Slice Project (ESP) galaxy redshift survey ( $\delta \sim -40\hbox{$^\circ$ }$). The survey consists of 16 radio mosaics with $\sim 8\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$ }\times 14\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$ }$resolution and uniform sensitivity ($1 \sigma$ noise level $\sim$79 $\mu$Jy) over an area of $\sim 26$ sq. degrees. Here we present the design of the survey, we describe the mosaic observing technique which was used to obtain an optimal combination of uniform and high sensitivity over the whole area, and the data reduction: the problems encountered and the solutions adopted.

Key words: surveys -- radio continuum: general -- methods: data analysis