VISTA Science Verification (SV) observations were carried out on 15 nights between October 15 - November 02, 2009. The VISTA Extragalactic Mini-Survey (SVNGC253) is a deep survey of the stellar halo in the nearby edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 253. This survey will use three different tile patterns. Tile patterns with 3 pawprints will be used for the "shallow survey" which aims to observe the bright disk of NGC 253. The 6 pawprint tile pattern will be used for the deep survey which aims to resolve the brightest red giant branch stars in the halo.

For more information see the Phase2 Information for SV NGC253 on the VISTA Science Verification page at ESO.