The fifth data release of the Kilo Degree Survey: Multi-epoch optical/NIR imaging covering wide and legacy-calibration fields

¹ Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Astronomical Institute (AIRUB), German Centre for Cosmological Lensing, 44780 Bochum, Germany
e-mail: awright@astro.rub.de
² Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
³ Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, via dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁴ Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
⁵ Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
⁶ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
⁷ Dept of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 519082, Zhuhai Campus, PR China
⁹ E.A Milne Centre, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
¹⁰ Centre of Excellence for Data Science, AI, and Modelling (DAIM), University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Kingston-upon-Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
¹¹ Department of Physics E. Pacini, University of Napoli Federico II, Via Cintia 6, 80126 Napoli, Italy
¹² Institut für Astrophysik, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Wien, Austria
¹³ Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
¹⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi”, Alma Mater Studiorum Universitá di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁵ Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) ‐ Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio (OAS) di Bologna, via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁶ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
¹⁷ Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
¹⁸ Instituto de Ciencias del Cosmos (ICC), Universidad de Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁹ Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) - Sezione di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
²⁰ School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University, Herschel Building, NE1 7RU, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
²² Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
²³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
²⁴ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
²⁵ Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Technikerstr. 25/8, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
²⁶ Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Heidelberg University, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
²⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) - Sezione di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
²⁸ Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
²⁹ Department of Astrophysics, National Centre for Nuclear Research, Pasteura 7, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
³⁰ Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO), Nandan Road 80, Shanghai 200030, PR China
³¹ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
³² Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Casilla 4059, Valparaíso, Chile
³³ Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland

Received: 24 April 2023
Accepted: 27 November 2023

Abstract

We present the final data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-DR5), a public European Southern Observatory (ESO) wide-field imaging survey optimised for weak gravitational lensing studies. We combined matched-depth multi-wavelength observations from the VLT Survey Telescope and the VISTA Kilo-degree INfrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey to create a nine-band optical-to-near-infrared survey spanning 1347 deg². The median r-band 5σ limiting magnitude is 24.8 with median seeing 0.7″. The main survey footprint includes 4 deg² of overlap with existing deep spectroscopic surveys. We complemented these data in DR5 with a targeted campaign to secure an additional 23 deg² of KiDS- and VIKING-like imaging over a range of additional deep spectroscopic survey fields. From these fields, we extracted a catalogue of 126 085 sources with both spectroscopic and photometric redshift information, which enables the robust calibration of photometric redshifts across the full survey footprint. In comparison to previous releases, DR5 represents a 34% areal extension and includes an i-band re-observation of the full footprint, thereby increasing the effective i-band depth by 0.4 magnitudes and enabling multi-epoch science. Our processed nine-band imaging, single- and multi-band catalogues with masks, and homogenised photometry and photometric redshifts can be accessed through the ESO Archive Science Portal.