Roberto Cid Fernandes, M. Girard, A. Luiz de Amorim, I. Millan, Martin Bureau, P. Amram, Eric W. Pellegrini, Gilles Joncas, Anne Pellerin, Francoise Combes, Hugo Martel, Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, Dimitrios A. Gouliermis, B. Mazzilli-Ciraulo, Thomas Martin, Jorge Iglesias-Páramo, Christophe Morisset, Andreea Petric, S. Duarte Puertas, Marianne Takamiya, Rieko Momose, T. Ruiz Lara, Pauline Barmby, A. F. McLeod, I-Ting Ho, Fumi Egusa, Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, Ralf S. Klessen, Benoît Epinat, Mercedes Mollá, Angela Adamo, C. Robert, Isabel Pérez, Alexandre Alarie, A. K. Pati, Alessandro Boselli, Laurent Chemin, Grazyna Stasinska, L. Sánchez-Menguiano, Lijie Liu, Simon Prunet, Zacharie Sie Kam, Victor F. Ksoll, Kathryn Grasha, Clare Higgs, J. D. Lyman, Q. Liu, L. Della Bruna, Henri Plana, I. Moumen, N. Vale Asari, V. Gómez Llanos, Daniel Rahner, Hsi-An Pan, Fabio Bresolin, Anne-Laure Melchior, Laurent Drissen, José M. Vílchez, Robert C. Kennicutt, Kristine Spekkens, C. Crowder, R. P. Martin, Sophia Lianou, P. Karera, Génétique moléculaire, génomique, microbiologie (GMGM), Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), D´epartement de Physique, de G´enie Physique et d'Optique and Observatoire du mont M´egantic, Université Laval [Québec] (ULaval), Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation (CFHT), National Research Council of Canada (NRC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-University of Hawai'i [Honolulu] (UH), Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN), Normandie Université (NU), Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Harvard University-Smithsonian Institution, Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory (CAL), Columbia University [New York], Collège de France - Chaire Galaxies et cosmologie, Collège de France (CdF (institution)), Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères = Laboratory for Studies of Radiation and Matter in Astrophysics and Atmospheres (LERMA), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-CY Cergy Paris Université (CY), Département de Physique [Montréal], Université de Montréal (UdeM), Institute of Astronomy [Cambridge], University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM), Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d'Investigation Clinique 1432 (Dijon) - Module Plurithématique : Périnatalité Cancérologie Handicap et Ophtalmologie (CIC-P803), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Direction Générale de l'Organisation des Soins (DGOS)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Laboratorio de Astrofísica Teórica e Observacional, Universidade Estadual De Santa Cruz [Brazil] (UESC), Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH (UMR_8102)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES), Harvard University [Cambridge]-Smithsonian Institution, Chaire Galaxies et cosmologie, Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique (LERMA (UMR_8112)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-CY Cergy Paris Université (CY), Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR_7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), ILL, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Canada Foundation for Innovation, National Research Council of Canada, Fonds de la Recherche en Sante du Québec, Newton Fund, Université Laval, Smithsonian Institution-Harvard University [Cambridge], Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation (GEPI), PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique (LERMA), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université de Cergy Pontoise (UCP), Université Paris-Seine-Université Paris-Seine-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Montréal [Montréal], Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Direction Générale de l'Organisation des Soins (DGOS)-Université de Bourgogne (UB), PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Spain] (CSIC)
SIGNALS, the Star formation, Ionized Gas, and Nebular Abundances Legacy Survey, is a large observing programme designed to investigate massive star formation and HII regions in a sample of local extended galaxies. The programme will use the imaging Fourier transform spectrograph SITELLE at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Over 355 h (54.7 nights) have been allocated beginning in fall 2018 for eight consecutive semesters. Once completed, SIGNALS will provide a statistically reliable laboratory to investigate massive star formation, including over 50 000 resolved HII regions: the largest, most complete, and homogeneous data base of spectroscopically and spatially resolved extragalactic HII regions ever assembled. For each field observed, three datacubes covering the spectral bands of the filters SN1 (363386 nm), SN2 (482-513 nm), and SN3 (647-685 nm) are gathered. The spectral resolution selected for each spectral band is 1000, 1000, and 5000, respectively. As defined, the project sample will facilitate the study of small-scale nebular physics and many other phenomena linked to star formation at a mean spatial resolution of similar to 20 pc. This survey also has considerable legacy value for additional topics, including planetary nebulae, diffuse ionized gas, and supernova remnants. The purpose of this paper is to present a general outlook of the survey, notably the observing strategy, galaxy sample, and science requirements.© 2019 The Author(s).Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society, This research was based on observations obtained at the CFHT, which is operated from the summit of Mauna Kea by the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. The authors are most grateful to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. The observations were obtained with SITELLE, a joint project between Universite Laval, ABB-Bomem, Universite deMontreal, and the CFHT, with funding support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Fonds de Recherche du Quebec -Nature et Technologies (FRQNT), and CFHT. The collaboration is grateful to the FRQNT, CFHT, the Canada Research Chair programme, the NSERC, the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsradet), the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), the Royal Society and the Newton Fund via the award of a Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship (NAF\R1\180403), FAPESC, CNPq, FAPESP (2014/11156-4), FAPESB (7916/2015), and CONACyT (CB2015-254132).