The MDW Survey has roots stretching back several decades to the time of emulsion-based photography. It is, however, modern digital imaging, image processing, and recent advances in technology – especially in the realm of remote, autonomous telescope operation – that have made the project a reality. The survey is currently using two, custom-modified Astro-Physics 130mm Starfire GTX refractors operating at f/4.5. Each is equipped with an FLI ProLine 16803 CCD camera and a 3-nm Astrodon hydrogen-alpha filter. They are mounted on a pair of Software Bisque Paramount MX+ German equatorial mounts in one of the roll-off-roof observatory buildings at New Mexico Skies Observatory outside of Mayhill, New Mexico. The equipment operates autonomously using the observatory-automation software package ACP Expert by DC-3 Dreams.

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A single exposure made with each telescope records an area of sky roughly 3.5 degrees wide for a total coverage of 12+ square degrees at a resolution of 3.17 arcseconds/pixel. Taking into account the field overlap necessary to create a mosaic image, slightly more than 4,100 individual fields are needed to cover the entire sky. Approximately 80% of these fields are accessible from the New Mexico site, and because each field is being imaged with at least 4 hours of exposure it is expected to take several years to complete the survey’s northern component.

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Plans for release of the MDW Survey data have not been finalized, but for now we will be periodically releasing data in the form of large-field mosaic images as sections of the sky are completed.