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The Virtual Observatory

Astrophysical Virtual Observatory and the EURO-VO Paolo Padovani Head, ESO Virtual Observatory Systems Department EURO-VO Facility Centre Scientist. The Virtual Observatory Europe and the VO: the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory and the EURO-VO. Astronomy in the XXI century.

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The Virtual Observatory

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  1. Astrophysical Virtual Observatory and the EURO-VOPaolo PadovaniHead, ESO Virtual Observatory Systems DepartmentEURO-VO Facility Centre Scientist • The Virtual Observatory • Europe and the VO: the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory and the EURO-VO

  2. Astronomy in the XXI century Radical changes are needed! • Huge surveys: 100Msources at <3k spectra/night  >100 yr! • Ever fainter sources, routinely surpassing the identification limits of 8 - 10m telescopes (Rmag≈ 25) • Huge data collections: e.g., downloading Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR3 (~ 1/2 of total) images (6 Tb)  ~ 2.3 months at 1 Mb/s (ESO’s speed); catalogs (2.3 Tb)  ~ 1 month. On DVDs  ~ 1,300 of them. And analysis?? (similar size for MACHO, 2MASS etc …) • Ever increasing amount of data: e.g., ESO archive: x 100 increase in next 7 yrs to 1,000 Tbytes P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  3. The solution: Virtual Observatory • An innovative, evolving system, which takes advantage of astronomical data explosion • It will allow users to interrogate multiple data centres in a seamless and transparent way and to utilize at best astronomical data • Data analysis tools (in-situ) and models will be made more accessible • It will allow new SCIENCE by moving Astronomy beyond era of “classical” identification by combining all available information: data mining (increase obs. efficiency) + statistical identification (less need for spectra) • Good communication  common language! Definition and adoption of VO standards and protocols within the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA: http://ivoa.net) P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  4. 15 P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  5. AVO • Astrophysical Virtual Observatory Project: 5 M€,R&D on scientific requirements and technology for building the VO in Europe, 50% funded by European Community (Fifth Framework Programme [FP5]) • Phase A, 2001 - 2004/5 (http://www.euro-vo.org) • Driven by strategy of scientific VO annual demonstrations • Science Working Group established to provide scientific advice to AVO project • Project completed; now EURO-VO P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  6. AVO’s Main Achievements • Three science demonstrations • First refereed astronomicalpaper enabled via end-to-end use of VO tools and systems: “Discovery of optically faint obscured quasars with Virtual Observatory tools”, Padovani, Allen, Rosati, & Walton, 2004, A&A, 424, 545 ESA/ESO press release May 28 2004 • New VO tools: the AVO prototype can be used NOW for the day-to-day work of astronomers; Java application (http://www.euro-vo.org/twiki/bin/view/Avo/SwgDownload) • A Science Reference Mission • Founding member of IVOA P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  7. The Next Step • European Virtual Observatory (EURO-VO) Project: a program to build the Virtual Observatory in Europe • Eight partners: ESO & ESA, plus six national nodes: French VO, GAVO (Germany), INAF (Italy), NOVA (Netherlands), Spanish VO, and ASTROGRID (UK) • Total planned EURO-VO resources ~60 person-years (2005 - 2008), ~ 3 more than AVO • Three components P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  8. An alliance of European data centres who will populate the EURO-VO with data, provide the physical storage and computational fabric and who will publish data, metadata and services to the EURO-VO using VO technologies An operational organization, that provides the EURO-VO with a persistent, centralized registry for resources, standards and certification mechanisms as well as community support for VO technology take-up and scientific programs A distributed organization that coordinates a set of research and development projects on the advancement of VO technology, systems and tools in response to scientific and community requirements P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  9. EURO-VO Startup • VOTC funded (VO-TECH) • VOFC and DCA activities already started with help from OPTICON, RADIONET, ESO and ESA • DCA board meetings held (Dec. 2004 & Jun. 2005) • EURO-VO workshop (ESO June 2005) first VOFC activity • EURO-VO MOU to be signed in July 2005 (2005 - 2008) P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  10. VO-TECH • A VO-TC project to complete the technical work necessary to build the EURO-VO • 6.6 M€ from EC [FP6], 12 FTEs (+12 from partners) for 3 yrs; VO development at ASTROGRID (Edinburgh, Leicester, & Cambridge), ESO, French VO, and INAF (Italy) • Start: April 1st 2005 • Four broad areas (Design Studies): • Infrastructure (Lead: Leicester) • New User Tools (Lead: ESO) • Resource Discovery (Lead: French VO) • Data Exploration (Lead: Edinburgh) • Six month sub-projects • Input: EURO-VO Science Advisory Committee, partners, AVO Science Reference Mission, AVO Science Working Group P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  11. EURO-VO and the Community • AVO has reached out to the European astronomical community mostly through the SWG, plus papers and articles (ESO Messenger, ST-ECF & EAS Newsletters) • EURO-VO has reached out to the data providers through a dedicated workshop at ESO (June 27 - July 1) • EURO-VO will get community input through the SAC • We have also started having a presence at JENAM meetings, to contact directly (and get feedback from) astronomers P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

  12. Summary • The Virtual Observatory will make handling and manipulating astronomical data and tools residing at various locations around the world much easier than it is now • The Virtual Observatory is a science driver! • The AVO project has produced REAL science tools, which can be (and are!) used for astronomical research • The EURO-VO will now make the VO in Europe a (non-virtual!) reality P. Padovani, JENAM 2005

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