The MDW H{\alpha} Sky Survey: Data Release 0

TL;DR

The MDW Hα Sky Survey is an amateur-led, all-sky imaging project focusing on narrowband Hα observations, and this paper presents its first data release covering 3100 square degrees in Orion with calibrated images and catalogs.

Contribution

This work introduces the first data release of the MDW Hα Sky Survey, providing calibrated images and catalogs for scientific research, marking a significant step in amateur-professional astronomical collaboration.

Findings

First data release covering 3100 deg² in Orion

Includes calibrated and star-removed mean fields

Provides catalogs matched with Pan-STARRS1 and IGAPS

Abstract

The Mittelman-di Cicco-Walker (MDW) H$\alpha$ Sky Survey is an autonomously-operated and ongoing all-sky imaging survey in the narrowband H$\alpha$ wavelength. The survey was founded by amateur astronomers, and is presented here in its first stage of refinement for rigorous scientific use. Each field is exposed through an H$\alpha$ filter with a 3nm bandwidth for a total of four hours, with a pixel scale of 3.2 arcsec. Here, we introduce the first Data Release of the MDW H$\alpha$ Survey (Data Release 0, or DR0), spanning 238 fields in the region of Orion (~3100 deg$^2$). DR0 includes: calibrated mean fields, star-removed mean fields, a point source catalog matched to Data Release 1 of the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS1) and the INT Galactic Plane Survey (IGAPS), and mosaics.