The MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey I. Survey Overview and Highlights
Creators: name: Knowles, K.
name: Cotton, W. D.
name: Rudnick, L.
name: Camilo, F.
name: Goedhart, S.
name: Deane, R.
name: Ramatsoku, M.
name: Bietenholz, M. F.
name: Brüggen, M.
name: Button, C.
name: Chen, H.
name: Chibueze, J. O.
name: Clarke, T. E.
name: de Gasperin, F.
name: Ianjamasimanana, R.
name: Józsa, G. I. G.
name: Hilton, M.
name: Kesebonye, K. C.
name: Kolokythas, K.
name: Kraan-Korteweg, R. C.
name: Lawrie, G.
name: Lochner, M.
name: Loubser, S. I.
name: Marchegiani, P.
name: Mhlahlo, N.
name: Moodley, K.
name: Murphy, E.
name: Namumba, B.
name: Oozeer, N.
name: Parekh, V.
name: Pillay, D. S.
name: Passmoor, S. S.
name: Ramaila, A. J. T.
name: Ranchod, S.
name: Retana-Montenegro, E.
name: Sebokolodi, L.
name: Sikhosana, S. P.
name: Smirnov, O.
name: Thorat, K.
name: Venturi, T.
name: Abbott, T. D.
name: Adam, R. M.
name: Adams, G.
name: Aldera, M. A.
name: Bauermeister, E. F.
name: Bennett, T. G. H.
name: Bode, W. A.
name: Botha, D. H.
name: Botha, A. G.
name: Brederode, L. R. S.
name: Buchner, S.
name: Burger, J. P.
name: Cheetham, T.
name: de Villiers, D. I. L.
name: Dikgale-Mahlakoana, M. A.
name: Toit, L. J. du
name: Esterhuyse, S. W. P.
name: Fadana, G.
name: Fanaroff, B. L.
name: Fataar, S.
name: Foley, A. R.
name: Fourie, D. J.
name: Frank, B. S.
name: Gamatham, R. R. G.
name: Gatsi, T. G.
name: Geyer, M.
name: Gouws, M.
name: Gumede, S. C.
name: Heywood, I.
name: Hlakola, M. J.
name: Hokwana, A.
name: Hoosen, S. W.
name: Horn, D. M.
name: Horrell, J. M. G.
name: Hugo, B. V.
name: Isaacson, A. R.
name: Jonas, J. L.
name: Jordaan, J. D. B.
name: Joubert, A. F.
name: Julie, R. P. M.
name: Kapp, F. B.
name: Kasper, V. A.
name: Kenyon, J. S.
name: Kotzé, P. P. A.
name: Kotze, A. G.
name: Kriek, N.
name: Kriel, H.
name: Krishnan, V. K.
name: Kusel, T. W.
name: Legodi, L. S.
name: Lehmensiek, R.
name: Liebenberg, D.
name: Lord, R. T.
name: Lunsky, B. M.
name: Madisa, K.
name: Magnus, L. G.
name: Main, J. P. L.
name: Makhaba, A.
name: Makhathini, S.
name: Malan, J. A.
name: Manley, J. R.
name: Marais, S. J.
name: Maree, M. D. J.
name: Martens, A.
name: Mauch, T.
name: McAlpine, K.
name: Merry, B. C.
name: Millenaar, R. P.
name: Mokone, O. J.
name: Monama, T. E.
name: Mphego, M. C.
name: New, W. S.
name: Ngcebetsha, B.
name: Ngoasheng, K. J.
name: Ockards, M. T.
name: Otto, A. J.
name: Patel, A. A.
name: Peens-Hough, A.
name: Perkins, S. J.
name: Ramanujam, N. M.
name: Ramudzuli, Z. R.
name: Ratcliffe, S. M.
name: Renil, R.
name: Robyntjies, A.
name: Rust, A. N.
name: Salie, S.
name: Sambu, N.
name: Schollar, C. T. G.
name: Schwardt, L. C.
name: Schwartz, R. L.
name: Serylak, M.
name: Siebrits, R.
name: Sirothia, S. K.
name: Slabber, M.
name: Sofeya, L.
name: Taljaard, B.
name: Tasse, C.
name: Tiplady, A. J.
name: Toruvanda, O.
name: Twum, S. N.
name: van Balla, T. J.
name: van der Byl, A.
name: van der Merwe, C.
name: van Dyk, C. L.
name: Van Tonder, V.
name: Van Wyk, R.
name: Venter, A. J.
name: Venter, M.
name: Welz, M. G.
name: Williams, L. P.
name: Xaia, B.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: MeerKAT's large number of antennas, spanning 8 km with a densely packed 1 km core, create a powerful instrument for wide-area surveys, with high sensitivity over a wide range of angular scales. The MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey (MGCLS) is a programme of long-track MeerKAT L-band (900-1670 MHz) observations of 115 galaxy clusters, observed for $\sim$6-10 hours each in full polarisation. The first legacy product data release (DR1), made available with this paper, includes the MeerKAT visibilities, basic image cubes at $\sim$8" resolution, and enhanced spectral and polarisation image cubes at $\sim$8" and 15" resolutions. Typical sensitivities for the full-resolution MGCLS image products are $\sim$3-5 μJy/beam. The basic cubes are full-field and span 4 deg^2. The enhanced products consist of the inner 1.44 deg^2 field of view, corrected for the primary beam. The survey is fully sensitive to structures up to $\sim$10' scales and the wide bandwidth allows spectral and Faraday rotation mapping. HI mapping at 209 kHz resolution can be done at $0
description: 43 pages, 33 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics