VPHAS+

The VST/OmegaCam Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge

VPHAS+ is a public survey being carried out on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) operated by ESO. It is the southern counterpart to IPHAS and UVEX.

Survey data taking began in January 2012.

NGC 3293 and NGC 3324

Image: a u/g/Hα mosaicked image of NGC 3293 (open cluster, middle top) and NGC 3324 (HII region, centre left) in Carina, made from data obtained in 2012, during the first season of survey data taking. The area shown is a little over 1 square degree. (Mosaic prepared by Hywel Farnhill)

VPHAS+ reaches to g > 22 and r > 21, at an angular resolution of 1 arcsec

VPHAS+ is the digital successor to the AAO UK Schmidt Southern Galactic Plane Survey.

The VPHAS+ footprint entirely encloses that of the near-infrared survey, VVV. With IPHAS/UVEX in the north, VPHAS+ also at least matches the footprints of GLIMPSE, UKIDSS/GPS and other longer-wavelength Galactic Plane surveys.