The First Public Release of South Pole Telescope Data: Maps of a
  95-square-degree Field from 2008 Observations
  The South Pole Telescope (SPT) has nearly completed a 2500-square-degree
survey of the southern sky in three frequency bands. Here we present the first
public release of SPT maps and associated data products. We present
arcminute-resolution maps at 150 GHz and 220 GHz of an approximately
95-square-degree field centered at R.A. 82.7 degrees, decl. -55 degrees. The
field was observed to a depth of approximately 17 micro-K arcmin at 150 GHz and
41 micro-K arcmin at 220 GHz during the 2008 austral winter season. Two
variations on map filtering and map projection are presented, one tailored for
producing catalogs of galaxy clusters detected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
effect signature and one tailored for producing catalogs of emissive sources.
We describe the data processing pipeline, and we present instrument response
functions, filter transfer functions, and map noise properties. All data
products described in this paper are available for download at
http://pole.uchicago.edu/public/data/maps/ra5h30dec-55 and from the NASA Legacy
Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis server. This is the first step
in the eventual release of data from the full 2500-square-degree SPT survey.
