The Faint Sky Variability Survey - I. Goals and data reduction process

Abstract

The Faint Sky Variability Survey is aimed at finding photometric and/or astrometric variable objects in the brightness range between ∼16th and ∼24th mag on time-scales between tens of minutes and years with photometric precisions ranging from 3 millimag for the brightest to 0.2 mag for the faintest objects. An area of ∼23 deg2, located at mid and high Galactic latitudes, has been covered using the Wide Field Camera on the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma. Here we describe the main goals of the Faint Sky Variability Survey and the data reduction process.