The BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey: concept, status, and future perspectives

We present the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) which is an optical/NIR spectroscopic survey of the least biased sample of hard X-ray selected local AGN. For more than a thousand AGN that identified through Swift-BAT hard X-ray all-sky survey, we are conducting dedicated spectroscopic observing runs using world-class telescopes such as ESO-VLT, Magellan, and Palomar. The goal of the project is measuring black hole mass, investigating supermassive blackhole growth and its structure, and providing a baseline for future X-ray missions that will perform deeper observations of more distant AGN. In this presentation, we briefly introduce the concept of the project, past and the current status, and future work.