Mini-Surveys#

The LSST mini-surveys extend the survey footprint to additional areas of sky which are important for the core science goals, but do not require coverage at standard WFD levels.

The minisurvey regions in the survey footprint, including the North Ecliptic Spur, the dusty plane, and the south celestial pole. More details on these regions are below.

The total sky area in minisurveys is 7.5k square degrees.

North Ecliptic Spur (NES)#

The North Ecliptic Spur (NES) includes the region north of the WFD footprint, up to ecliptic latitude of +10 degrees. This enables discovery and monitoring of Solar System Objects throughout the ecliptic plane.

The NES is only observed in g, r, i and z filters, dropping u and y, with a median of 189 visits per pointing.

Dusty (Galactic) Plane#

Portions of the Galactic Plane are covered at WFD levels, however this is not possible for the entire plane. The remainder of the galactic plane is included in the Dusty Plane minisurvey, which receives approximately 245 visits per pointing.

South Celestial Pole#

The South Celestial Pole (SCP) covers the remainder of the visible southern sky beyond the WFD (and Magellanic Cloud extension in the LMC + SMC) and dusty plane. This completes the survey footprint. The SCP receives approximately 118 visits per pointing.