Deep Optical Photometry of Six Fields in the Andromeda Galaxy

TL;DR

This study provides deep optical imaging of six fields in the Andromeda Galaxy using Hubble, enabling detailed analysis of its stellar populations and star formation history.

Contribution

First deep optical photometry reaching below the oldest main sequence turnoff in multiple Andromeda fields, with data and catalogs made publicly available.

Findings

High-quality images and catalogs of six Andromeda fields

Artificial star tests for completeness and photometric accuracy

Data supporting star formation history analysis

Abstract

Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope, we have obtained deep optical images reaching well below the oldest main sequence turnoff in six fields of the Andromeda Galaxy. The fields fall at four positions on the southeast minor axis, one position in the giant stellar stream, and one position on the northeast major axis. These data were obtained as part of three large observing programs designed to probe the star formation history of the stellar population in various structures of the galaxy. In this paper, we present the images, catalogs, and artificial star tests for these observing programs as a supplement to the analyses published previously. These high-level science products are also archived at the Multimission Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute.