As the first minute-cadence time-domain survey toward the Galactic bulge using a 4-meter-class telescope, the DREAMS project utilizes the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4 m Blanco Telescope at CTIO, Chile, with complementary observations from the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. The survey monitors brightness variations of about 100 million stars near the Galactic Center. Observations began in June 2025 and are expected to continue through 2028, with data collected over more than 70 nights. The cadence for individual stars ranges from 1 to 3 minutes. .
1. The primary scientific goals of DREAMS are: Detecting low-mass rogue planets (free-floating planets) via microlensing, probing masses from Earth-mass to Mars-mass and even Moon-mass.
2. Detecting and characterizing rapid astrophysical variability on short timescales, including but not limited to stellar flares, ultra-compact binaries, pulsating stars, and eclipsing systems.
DR1: z- and r-band light curves for about 50 million stars observed with DECam in 2025.
After each observing season, a new data release will be produced. The next release is expected in late 2026 or early 2027, and will include the 2026 DECam observations as well as CFHT and Subaru data obtained in 2025 and 2026. The catalog will also become deeper, incorporating Subaru deep imaging and expanding to include roughly 100 million stars.