Expanded Use of DR2 | 24 Jul 2019

The list of protected survey science programs, against which DR2 users are not allowed to compete, has been dramatically reduced in order to allow Australian users of SkyMapper data to expand their scientific reach. You may check the remaining programs here.

The SkyMapper team thanks the previous program PIs for their permission to open up the data to the wider Australian community.

SkyMapper-Gaia comparison catalogue released | 15 Jul 2019

SkyMapper photometry has been used to derive fundamental stellar parameters for 9+ million stars in common with the Gaia satellite mission. This dataset provides the largest up-to-date set of stellar parameters for stellar and Galactic studies.

For more information, and to download the catalogue, please visit http://skymapper.anu.edu.au/_data/sm-gaia/.

DR1 access through CDS & NOAO Data Lab | 7 Jun 2019

The 'master' table from SkyMapper's DR1 is now available in the NOAO Data Lab (through the Query Interface) and CDS' VizieR service. Both portals provide additional cross-matching capabilities and other tools for data exploration.

DR2 live across Australia now | 27 Feb 2019

The SkyMapper Team is pleased to announce that Data Release 2 (DR2) of the Southern Survey is now available to all Australia-based users. It is deeper, wider and more accurate than DR1. DR2 improves on DR1 notably by 

• Adding Main Survey images; some areas are now complete to 21 mag instead of 18 mag
• Nearly hemispheric coverage with deep i/z-band images
• Greater coverage of the Galactic plane
• Greater homogeneity of photometric calibration using Gaia DR2 as primary reference
• Improved photometric precision (internal reproducibility 0.01 mag in uv, 0.007 mag in griz)
• Improved PSF magnitudes for stars with neighbours ...

ASVO User Preferences Survey extended | 19 Feb 2019

SkyMapper is a member of the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO) project, which aims to federate astronomical datasets from the Australian astronomical community.

In order to provide more guidance for ongoing development of ASVO services, the deadline for the ASVO User Preferences Survey 2018 has been extended. You can find the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/0tuSrMoO3nFvRn0k1

The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, and your time and effort will help ensure that the ASVO is best positioned to meet the needs of the Australian astronomical community. If you haven't already completed the survey, we strongly encourage you to do ...