The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE): first data release

We present the first data release of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), an ambitious spectroscopic survey to measure radial velocities and stellar atmosphere parameters (temperature, metallicity, surface gravity) of up to one million stars using the 6dF multi-object spectrograph on the 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO). The RAVE program started in 2003, obtaining medium resolution spectra (median R=7,500) in the Ca-triplet region (λλ 8,410–8,795 Å) for southern hemisphere stars drawn from the Tycho-2 Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany University of Ljubljana, Department of Physics, Ljubljana, Slovenia Steward Observatory, Tucson AZ, USA Anglo Australian Observatory, Sydney, Australia RSAA, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, Australia INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Asiago, Italy Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD, USA Observatoire de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France Astronomische Rechen Institut, Heidelberg, Germany University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK Astronomical Institute of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, UK University of Leicester, Leicester, UK University of Rochester, Rochester NY, USA University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Australia Telescope National Facility, Sydney, Australia Deceased. This paper is dedicated to the memory of John Alan Dawe (1942-2004), Astronomer-in-Charge of the UK Schmidt Telescope 1978-1984, and enthusiastic RAVE observer 2003-4.