Arp@VST: Legacy Survey of the Arp Peculiar Galaxies with the VST

TL;DR

Arp@VST is a public survey using the VST to image the Arp catalogue of peculiar galaxies across multiple bands, aiming to provide deep, high-quality data on galaxy morphology and interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive, publicly accessible survey of the Arp galaxies with deep multi-band imaging using the VST, enhancing the study of galaxy peculiarities.

Findings

Deep, multi-band images of Arp galaxies acquired

Data will be publicly released via ESO Science Archive

Enhanced understanding of galaxy interactions and morphology

Abstract

Arp@VST is a public observing programme, conducted at the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) hosted at ESO's Paranal Observatory. It aims to revisit the Arp catalogue by creating a public survey. The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies was produced by Halton Arp in 1966 and contains 338 galaxies with distorted morphologies and/or interacting systems. Given the excellent capabilities of the VST to map the galaxies' structure down to low surface brightness levels, for this project we will acquire deep, multi-band (g, r, i, H{\alpha}) images for all the Arp galaxies visible from Paranal Observatory (Declination < +10 deg). Being a public survey, the reduced data will be released via the ESO Science Archive as soon as they are processed.