The NRAO VLA Sky Survey

TLDR

The NRAO VLA Sky Survey covers 82 % of the sky north of δ = –40° at 1.4 GHz, serving the astronomical community. It provides 2326 4° × 4° continuum cubes with Stokes I, Q, U images at 45″ resolution and a catalog of ~2 × 10⁶ sources brighter than ~2.5 mJy, with rms noise of ~0.45 mJy beam⁻¹ (I) and ~0.29 mJy beam⁻¹ (Q,U) and positional uncertainties down to ≲1″ for bright sources. All data products, user software, and updates are released via the World Wide Web as soon as they are produced and verified.

Abstract

The NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) covers the sky north of J2000.0 δ = -40° (82% of the celestial sphere) at 1.4 GHz. The principal data products are (1) a set of 2326 4° × 4° continuum "cubes" with three planes containing Stokes I, Q, and U images plus (2) a catalog of almost 2 × 106 discrete sources stronger than S ≈ 2.5 mJy. The images all have θ = 45'' FWHM resolution and nearly uniform sensitivity. Their rms brightness fluctuations are σ ≈ 0.45 mJy beam-1 ≈ 0.14 K (Stokes I) and σ ≈ 0.29 mJy beam-1 ≈ 0.09 K (Stokes Q and U). The rms uncertainties in right ascension and declination vary from ≲1'' for the N ≈ 4 × 105 sources stronger than 15 mJy to 7'' at the survey limit. The NVSS was made as a service to the astronomical community. All data products, user software, and updates are being released via the World Wide Web as soon as they are produced and verified.