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COSMOS VLA Data                                                 Version 1.0
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The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is an HST Treasury Project to survey
a 2 square degree equatorial field, centered on RA=10:00:28.6 and
DEC=+02:12:21.0, using the ACS camera. The project also incorporates major
commitments from other observatories around the world, including the VLA
radio telescope.

These VLA data represent a pilot program in which a 1-degree diameter
circular region at the center of the field was surveyed for 10 hours at
1.4 GHz (20 cm), using the VLA A-array. This survey is a precursor to a
complete VLA survey of the entire field, being obtained in 2004 and 2005.
The complete survey will use the A- and C-arrays to obtain a sensitivity
of 10 uJy/beam.

The key characteristics of these data:

	Configuration:		VLA A-array
	Dates of observations:	August, 2003
	Observing time:		10 hours
	Frequency:		1.4 GHz ( = L band, 20cm)
	Bandwidth:		75 MHz (Multi-channel continuum mode)
	Pointings:		7 (hexagonal pattern)
	Area:			~0.84 sq degs (Diameter ~ 1 degree)
	Resolution:		1.9" x 1.6"; beam PA -23 degrees
	Sensitivity:		25-100 uJy/beam (inner to outermost regions)

The data products available here include:

	(1) a flux calibrated, astrometrically correct image,
	    in SIN projection [".fits" file]
	(2) a flux calibrated, astrometrically correct image,
	    in TAN projection ["_tan.fits" file]
	(3) a point source catalog, containing 246 sources, with
	    their position, fluxes, and sizes [ catalog is located
	    in http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/COSMOS/tables/ ]

Further information may be obtained from the VLA-COSMOS web page:

	http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/homes/schinner/cosmos/cosmos.html

or the main COSMOS web page:

	http://cosmos.astro.caltech.edu/

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January 3, 2004
pls@astro.caltech.edu