ESO Imaging Survey (EIS)

Stacking of dithered images is carried out using pixel-based astrometry which enables the efficient removal of cosmic rays and image defects, yielding remarkably clean final images. The final astrometric calibration is based on a pre-release of the GSC-II catalog and has an estimated intrinsic accuracy of la 0.10 arcsec, with all passbands sharing the same solution. The data are taken in six different filters (U'UBVRI), cover an area of about 0.25 square degrees, and reach the 5{sigma} limiting magnitudes of U'_AB_=26.0, U_AB_=25.7, B_AB_=26.4, V_AB_=25.4, R_AB_=25.5 and I_AB_=24.7 mag, as measured within a 2xFWHM aperture.

The optical data covers an area of ~0.1 square degree for which moderately deep observations in two near-infrared bands are also available, reaching 5{sigma} limiting magnitudes of J_AB_~23.4 and K_AB_~22.6. The current optical/infrared data also fully encompass the region of the deep X-ray observations recently completed by the Chandra telescope. The optical data presented here, as well as the infrared data released earlier, are publicly available world-wide in the form of fully calibrated pixel and associated weight maps and source lists extracted in each passband.

These data can be requested through the URL ``eso.org/eis''. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile within program ESO 164.O-O561.