Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters
Part of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array
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| Alternative names | FIRST |
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| Survey type |
astronomical survey 
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| Target |
astronomical radio source
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| Started | 1993
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| Ended | 2011
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| Observations |
Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array
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| Wavelength | 20 centimetre
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| Website | sundog |
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Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, or FIRST, was an astronomical survey of the Northern Hemisphere carried out by the Very Large Array. It was led by Robert H. Becker, Richard L. White, and David J. Helfand, who came up with the idea for the survey after they had completed the VLA Galactic Plane survey in 1990, as well as Michael D. Gregg and Sally A. Laurent-Muehleisen. The survey was started 50 years after the first systematic survey of the radio sky was completed by Grote Reber in April 1943.
The survey covers 10,575 square degrees, around 25% of the sky, with regions centred on the North and South Galactic poles. The regions were chosen so that they would also be covered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in 5 optical bands, and the survey was comparable to the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey in terms of resolution and sensitivity.
The observations were made in 'B' configuration at a wavelength of 20 centimetres (1,500 MHz) (in the L Band), with an angular resolution of 5 arcmin. It was proposed at the same time as the NRAO VLA Sky Survey, and trial observations for both surveys were taken in 1992. Survey observations of the North Galactic pole started in 1993, with 144 hours of observing time in April and May 1993 for test observations and the initial survey strip of 300 square degrees, producing an initial catalogue of 28,000 sources. Survey observations continued until 2004. Observations of the South Galactic pole were made in 2009 and 2011; the 2011 observations used the EVLA. The target flux density limit was 1 milliJansky, with an <0.15mJy r.m.s. noise limit.
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