Time-resolved WISE/NEOWISE Coadds

• Published in: The Astronomical journal 2018-08, Vol.156 (2), p.69, Article 69
• Main Authors: Meisner, A. M., Lang, D., Schlegel, D. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activation; Astronomy; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Exposure; infrared: general; Sky surveys (astronomy); surveys; techniques: image processing
• ISSN: 0004-6256; 1538-3881; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aacbcd

We have used the first ∼3 years of 3.4 m (W1) and 4.6 m (W2) observations from the WISE and NEOWISE missions to create a full-sky set of time-resolved coadds. As a result of the WISE survey strategy, a typical sky location is visited every six months and is observed during 12 exposures per visit, with these exposures spanning a ∼1 day time interval. We have stacked the exposures within such ∼1 day intervals to produce one coadd per band per visit-that is, one coadd every six months at a given position on the sky in each of W1 and W2. For most parts of the sky, we have generated six epochal coadds per band, with one visit during the fully cryogenic WISE mission, one visit during NEOWISE, and then, after a 33-month gap, four more visits during the NEOWISE-Reactivation mission phase. These coadds are suitable for studying long-timescale mid-infrared variability and measuring motions to ∼1.3 mag fainter than the single-exposure detection limit. In most sky regions, our coadds span a 5.5-year time period and therefore provide a >10× enhancement in time baseline relative to that available for the AllWISE catalog's apparent motion measurements. As such, the signature application of these new coadds is expected to be motion-based identification of relatively faint brown dwarfs, especially those cold enough to remain undetected by Gaia.