+ Minor planets discovered: 79 see
The Deep Lens Survey (DLS, short for "Deep Gravitational Lensing Survey") is an ultra-deep multi-band optical survey of seven 4 square degree fields. Mosaic CCD imagers at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Blanco (Cerro Tololo) and Mayall telescopes (Kitt Peak) are being used. The deep fields took five years to complete (2001–2006), in four bands: B, V, R, and z', to 29/29/29/28 mag per square arcsecond surface brightness. Optical transient events (including moving objects such as minor planets and comets) and supernova candidates are released in real time.
Survey
The main goal of the survey is to produce unbiased maps of the large-scale structure of the mass distribution beyond the local universe, via very deep multicolor imaging of seven 2-degree fields and colour-redshifts. The shear of distant galaxies induced by the mass of foreground structures will be measured. These weak-lensing observations are sensitive to all forms of clumped mass and will yield unbiased mass maps with resolution of one arcmin in the plane of the sky (about 120 kpc/h at z = 0.2), in multiple redshift ranges. These maps will measure for the first time the change in large scale structure from z = 1 to the present epoch, and test the current theories of structure formation, which predict that mass in the low-redshift universe has a particular filamentary/sheetlike structure. These observations will directly constrain the clustering properties of matter, and, when compared with the results from microwave background anisotropy missions, will test the basic theory of structure formation via gravitational instability.
While this is the main goal of the survey, a wide-field imaging survey has a myriad of other uses. In addition, the group is acquiring the data in a way which makes it possible to detect variable objects on scales of hours to months, by spreading observations of individual subfields over 4 runs over two years.
Discoveries
List of discovered minor planets
26 February 2001 14 February 2002 5 March 2000 23 February 2001 26 March 2001 3 April 2003 7 January 2003 29 March 2004 1 April 2003 17 December 2001 4 April 2003 12 January 2002 31 March 2003 21 December 2000 4 January 2003 23 February 2001 3 April 2003 26 March 2001 12 January 2002 5 March 2000 26 March 2004 1 April 2003 1 April 2003 31 March 2003 3 May 2005 19 December 2000 26 March 2004 2 May 2005 14 January 2002 4 May 2005 6 May 2005 20 December 2000 20 December 2000 26 March 2001 30 October 2003 26 March 2001 17 February 2002 5 March 2000 8 March 2003 24 November 2000 23 February 2001 31 March 2003 14 February 2002 5 March 2000 14 February 2002 4 January 2003 1 April 2003 2 April 2003 5 January 2003 6 March 2000 31 March 2003 3 May 2005 23 February 2001 25 November 2000 9 March 2003 26 March 2004 3 May 2005 31 March 2003 3 May 2005 9 March 2003 3 May 2005 15 February 2002 26 March 2004 1 April 2003 3 April 2003 2 April 2006 24 November 2000 3 May 2005 6 May 2005 6 May 2005 4 May 2005 19 December 2000 3 May 2005 31 March 2003 6 May 2005 4 May 2005 5 May 2005 6 May 2005 3 May 2005
Galaxy clusters + Significant discoveries Cluster Date Notes Names Refs 2012 This is a dissociative galaxy cluster merger with a large separation between the baryonic and dark matter components.
References
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