ABSTRACT. This special issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters is dedicated to presenting initial results from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) that are primarily, but not exclusively, based on multiband imaging data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The survey covers roughly 320 arcmin² in the ACS F435W, F606W, F814W, and F850LP bands, divided into two well-studied fields. Existing deep observations from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ground-based facilities are supplemented with new, deep imaging in the optical and near-infrared from the European Southern Observatory and from the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Deep observations with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility are scheduled. Reduced data from all facilities are being released worldwide within 3-6 months of acquisition. Together, this data set provides two deep reference fields for studies of distant normal and active galaxies, supernovae, and faint stars in our own Galaxy. This Letter serves to outline the survey strategy and describe the specific data that have been used in the accompanying letters, summarizing the reduction procedures and sensitivity limits.

Subject headings: cosmology: observations; galaxies: distances and redshifts; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: formation

^* Based on observations obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555; observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile (ESO programmes 168.A-0845, 64.O-0643, 66.A-0572, 68.A-0544, 164-O-0561, 169.A-0725, 267.A-5729, 66.A-0451, 68.A-0375, 168.A-0485, 164.O-0561, 267.A-5729, 169.A-0725, 64.O-0621, and 170.A-0788); and observations collected at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), National Optical Astronomical Observatories (NOAO), which is operated by AURA, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

Print publication: Issue 2 (2004 January 10)
Received 2003 May 23, accepted for publication 2003 August 26
Published 2004 January 9