Survey Design
Image Quality
This is an example of improvements in image quality and depth. Panels 1, 2 and 3 show a random 8x8 sq. arcmin large patch of sky as imaged by the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (r<21), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (r<24.5), and the Deep Lens Survey (r<26). Panel 4 shows a processed Deep Lens Survey image that is still a magnitude shallower than anticipated LSST images (and with about a factor of two worse seeing).
| Panel 1: Palomar Observatory Sky Survey with r < 21 | Panel 2: Sloan Digital Sky Survey with r < 24.5 |
| Panel 3: Deep Lens Survey with r < 26 | Panel 4: A Deep Lens Survey image processed to simulate an LSST image, but it is still a magnitude too shallow and the seeing is worse by a factor of 2 |
Source: American Astronomical Society 213th Meeting, Poster Exhibit, "LSST: from science drivers to reference design and anticipated data products", Z. Ivezic et al., 460.03