[1] The UKIDSS data become available online to the ESO community immediately upon entering the WFCAM Science Archive (WSA), and are then released to the world 18 months later.

The motivation for the GPS is to obtain a clearer view of the Galactic Plane than is possible at optical wavelengths, due to absorption by material in the disk of the galaxy.

The area is distributed over ten open star clusters with the aim of measuring the mass function in a variety of Galactic environments.

The UDS (extra-Galactic) covers an area of 0.77 square degrees within the XMM-LSS field (which is contained within the DXS) in JHK to a depth of K=23.0.

This is the deepest near-infrared survey yet conducted over such an area of sky, with the aim of studying the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early Universe.