Wide-Field Surveys from the SNAP Mission

The Supernova / Acceleration Probe (SNAP) is a proposed space-borne observatory that will survey the sky with a wide-field optical/near-infrared (NIR) imager. The images produced by SNAP will have an unprecedented combination of depth, solid-angle, angular resolution, and temporal sampling. For 16 months each, two 7.5 square-degree fields will be observed every four days to a magnitude depth of AB = 27.7 in each of the SNAP filters, spanning 3500–17000Å. Co-adding images over all epochs will give AB = 30.3 per filter. In addition, a 300 square-degree field will be surveyed to AB = 28 per filter, with no repeated temporal sampling. Although the survey strategy is tailored for supernova and weak gravitational lensing observations, the resulting data will support a broad range of auxiliary science programs.