SDWFS: Spitzer Infrared Survey of the Boötes Field, Four Epochs

The Spitzer Deep Wide-Field Survey (SDWFS) covers 10 square degrees in the Boötes field. It is a four-epoch infrared survey from the Spitzer Space Telescope's IRAC instrument, designed to study galaxy evolution beyond redshift 1.5 and select variable or high proper motion objects. The data was produced by NASA as a Spitzer Cycle 4 Legacy project.

Use Cases

• Selecting infrared-variable astronomical objects based on four epochs of observation.
• Identifying high proper motion objects over a wide field using multi-year timescales.
• Characterizing galaxy evolution at redshifts up to approximately 3 based on the survey's large volume.
• Analyzing photometric properties using Vega magnitudes in four IRAC bands (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8 microns).

Strengths

• Covers a wide 10-square-degree field, reducing the impact of cosmic variance for most systems.
• Includes four observational epochs, enabling time-domain analysis over years.
• Provides source coordinates aligned with the 2MASS catalog to within 0.2 arcseconds.
• Reports photometry using three measurement apertures (4", 6", and Kron radius) for each source.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Observations from the IRAC instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope, processed into band-matched catalogs.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 16:51:40.406634; freshness should be verified.

Geography

The Boötes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey.