The ESO KiDS-DR5 multi-band source catalog

We combined matched-depth multi-wavelength observations from the VLT Survey Telescope and the VISTA Kilo-degree INfrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey to create a nine-band optical-to-near-infrared survey spanning 1347deg^2^. The median r-band 5{sigma} limiting magnitude is 24.8 with median seeing 0.7".

The main survey footprint includes 4deg^2^ of overlap with existing deep spectroscopic surveys. We complemented these data in DR5 with a targeted campaign to secure an additional 23deg^2^ of KiDS- and VIKING-like imaging over a range of additional deep spectroscopic survey fields. From these fields, we extracted a catalogue of 126085 sources with both spectroscopic and photometric redshift information, which enables the robust calibration of photometric redshifts across the full survey footprint.