The Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS)

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The Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) is a significant imaging and spectroscopic project aimed at detecting and monitoring approximately 2000 supernovae using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope from 2003 to 2008. It focuses on high-redshift supernovae, utilizing 8m class telescopes for spectroscopy to identify supernovae and measure their redshifts, which is essential for validating Type Ia supernovae as cosmological candles. The project has already shown promising results, outperforming previous ground-based high-redshift supernova surveys and potentially offering more robust data due to its innovative design and extensive observational capabilities. The SNLS is positioned as both a competitor and a complement to the Supernova Cosmology Project, enhancing the understanding of supernova standardization. Overall, the SNLS aims to refine the use of supernovae in cosmology and address existing limitations in simulations and models.
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http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Science/CFHLS/MidTermReview/CFHTLS-SNLS-SACreview2005.pdf

http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/SNLS/

The SNLS survey consists of:

A large imaging survey at CFHT
The CFHT Legacy Survey aims at detecting and monitoring about 2000 supernovae with Megaprime at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope between 2003 and 2008.​

A large spectroscopic survey
Hi-z spectroscopy of SNe is being carried on 8m class telescopes (Gemini, VLT, Keck). The primary goal is to obtain Supernova identification and redshift. Detailed spectroscopy of a subsample of distant SNe is also done to validate the use of Type Ia SNe as cosmological candles.​

This program yielded information on SNLS-03D3bb.
 
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A very interesting programme - the work that will be done to characterise, in considerably more detail, the distant type 1a SNe is just what's needed to constrain many possible systematics for these (i.e. just how 'standard' they are, as candles). This will be particularly welcome, given that computer-based simulations/models of these are still not good enough (for the full 'standard candle' use).
 
Is this a high redshift project competing with the Supernova Cosmology Project? Or are they somehow complementary?
 
hellfire said:
Is this a high redshift project competing with the Supernova Cosmology Project? Or are they somehow complementary?
http://snls.in2p3.fr/conf/posters/AAS207/PosterAAS207-Perrett.pdf from a member of the SNLS team (a poster at the 207th AAS meeting, in Jan this year) puts it rather nicely: "After just over 2 years of operation, the SNLS is already outperforming all previous ground-based high-z SN surveys." (though if you look more closely, you'll see much collaboration).

The design is different from earlier teams', and (one could argue) more robust, and more efficient (not to mention having a great deal more dark time available, on many different 8-10m class observatories!).
 

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