Research Division Seminar
SHARKS: More than 20 million near-infrared sources across cosmic time

Abstract

IAC leads the extragalactic ESO Public Survey SHARKS (Southern H-ATLAS Regions Ks band Survey; PI: H. Dannerbauer). We survey with the ESO 4m telescope VISTA and the near-infrared camera VIRCAM more than 300 square degrees at 2micron with the near-infrared filter K_s, reaching a depth of K_s~22.7 (AB) with 1200 hours of observations. The covered fields have been previously observed with the infrared space telescope Herschel. Optical coverage already exists from the Dark Energy  Survey and the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. In the future, these fields will be observed with the SKA-precursor ASKAP, EUCLID, LSST and eROSITA. Thus due to its exquisite multi-wavelength coverage, this dataset has a huge legacy value. The principal aims of the survey are: i) to search for counterparts of infrared and radio-selected sources, ii) to study the evolution of the most massive structures in the Universe and iii) to produce a sample of a thousand strong lenses for cosmography studies. Nonetheless, given its sensitivity and wide-area coverage in the near-infrared, it represents an excellent data-set for a wide range of astrophysical studies beyond their initial objectives, including the study of ultracool dwarfs in the Milky Way and high-redshift quasars. Currently, we are preparing the first public data release (DR1) of SHARKS at ESO. In this talk I will introduce the science that can be done with SHARKS. Finally, I will present the current status of the project, including a first look up at the DR1, and try to encourage the community to exploit this outstanding dataset.