IPHAS: The INT/WFC Photometric Hα Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane

IPHAS is a survey of the Northern Galactic Plane being carried out, in Hα, r and i filters, with the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). In the north, IPHAS is being followed by UVEX, a blue-optical INT/WFC survey collecting data in U,g,r and HeI 5876. In the south, a closely-related approved public survey, VPHAS+ began collecting survey pointings on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) using OmegaCam, in January 2012. Together, these high-resolution digital surveys provide a springboard to a quantitative revolution in our understanding of the extreme phases of stellar evolution. The previous generation of Hα surveys of the Galaxy, conducted over 30 years ago, begin to be incomplete even at mV=12 - the new generation extends this limit down to red magnitudes fainter than 20.

Publications arising from the IPHAS survey are being posted here.

Examples of image mosaics constructed from IPHAS observations are in our image gallery. See also the following Astronomy Picture of the Day entries: IC 1396 in its entirety, and a detail within it - and a detail in the Rosette Nebula.

Here, a mosaic using r, i, and Hα IPHAS images, of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula that forms a part of the HII region, IC 1396 (prepared by Nick Wright).

Elephant's Trunk Nebula

News on data products

Last update: 5/5/2013

REPLACEMENT FIELDS and NEXT DATA RELEASE (IPHAS-DR2): Roughly 95 percent of the survey footprint is ready for release. A paper, (Farnhill et al) and a uniformly calibrated point-source catalogue are in an advanced state of preparation. The expected systematic error in the photometry is ~0.03 (comparable to that of 2MASS.) Some replacement fields are still needed.

IPHAS INITIAL DATA RELEASE (IDR): This occurred in December 2007. All data taken up to the beginning of 2006 can be accessed via a cone-search tool and image thumbnail server (constructed at IoA Cambridge see Gonzalez-Solares et al 2008). These data are calibrated at the individual field (nightly) level. The IDR can be accessed via the Early IPHAS Data page - or by contacting the survey PI.

CATALOGUE OF EMISSION LINE OBJECTS: A preliminary catalogue listing photometry for nearly 5000 objects is available via CDS. See Witham et al (2008) for details.