The First Public Release of South Pole Telescope Data: Maps of a 95-square-degree Field from 2008 Observations

TL;DR

This paper announces the first public release of high-resolution maps from the South Pole Telescope's 2008 observations, covering a 95-square-degree field with detailed data processing and noise characterization.

Contribution

It provides the initial publicly available maps and data products from the SPT's 2008 survey, including methods tailored for galaxy cluster and source catalogs.

Findings

Maps at 150 GHz and 220 GHz with specified noise levels.

Data processing pipeline and instrument response functions described.

Maps and data are publicly accessible online.

Abstract

The South Pole Telescope (SPT) has nearly completed a 2500-square-degree survey of the southern sky in three frequency bands. Here we present the first public release of SPT maps and associated data products. We present arcminute-resolution maps at 150 GHz and 220 GHz of an approximately 95-square-degree field centered at R.A. 82.7 degrees, decl. -55 degrees. The field was observed to a depth of approximately 17 micro-K arcmin at 150 GHz and 41 micro-K arcmin at 220 GHz during the 2008 austral winter season. Two variations on map filtering and map projection are presented, one tailored for producing catalogs of galaxy clusters detected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect signature and one tailored for producing catalogs of emissive sources. We describe the data processing pipeline, and we present instrument response functions, filter transfer functions, and map noise properties. All data products described in this paper are available for download at http://pole.uchicago.edu/public/data/maps/ra5h30dec-55 and from the NASA Legacy Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis server. This is the first step in the eventual release of data from the full 2500-square-degree SPT survey.