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Moving Towards the Virtual Observatory

Explore the Virtual Observatory, a system that enables seamless access to astronomical data, data analysis tools, and collaborative research. Discover how it will revolutionize the way we do astronomy.

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Moving Towards the Virtual Observatory

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  1. Moving towards the Virtual Observatory Paolo Padovani, ST-ECF/ESO AVO Science Manager • The Virtual Observatory (VO) • Europe and the VO: the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory • AVO demo P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  2. Astronomy in the XXI century Radical changes are needed! • Huge surveys: 100Msources at <3k spectra/night  >100 yr! • Ever fainter sources: surpassed the identification limits of 8 - 10m telescopes (Rmag≈25) • Huge data collections: downloading Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR2 (~ 1/3 of total) images (5 Tb)  ~ 1 yr at 200 kb/s (ESO’s speed); catalogs (1.4 Tb)  ~ 3 months. On DVDs  ~ 1,000 of them. And analysis?? (similar size for MACHO, 2MASS etc …) • Ever increasing amount of data P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  3. R ~ 25.5, VLT/FORS2, texp ~ 2.5 hrs (Szokoly et al. 2004) P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  4. Astronomical Data Explosion ~ 100 Gb/night P. Quinn P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  5. ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility holdings  P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  6. The solution? • Data mining to increase observing efficiency  intelligent pre-selection • Statistical identification to diminish need for a spectrum  multi-wavelength, multi-parameter analysis • In-situanalysis to avoid download • Easy and smart access to all archives and data providers P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  7. The name: 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 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 • Good communication  common language! Adoption and definition of VO standards and protocols within the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA: http://ivoa.net) • And it’s all happening now … P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  8. International Virtual Observatory Alliance Mission To facilitate the international coordination and collaboration necessary for the development and deployment of the tools, systems and organizational structures necessary to enable the international utilization of astronomical archives as an integrated and interoperating virtual observatory SVO P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  9. So what …? • The VO will make life much easier for all astronomers, even those not involved with colossal surveys, huge teams, and Tb of data! • Web: all documents of the world inside your computer • VO: all astronomical databases in the world inside your computer • Concrete example: • Find all the observations of a given source available in all astronomical archives in a given wavelength range • Tell me which ones are in raw or processed form • Allow me to retrieve them • If raw, give me access to the tools to reduce them on-the-fly Very time consuming, if at all possible, at present P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  10. Virtual Observatory in Europe • AVO Project started November 2001 • Three-year, 5 M€, Phase A project, funded by the European Commission (FP5) and six organizations: ESO, ESA, AstroGrid, CNRS (CDS, TERAPIX), University Louis Pasteur, JBO • Manpower: ~ 17 FTEs/yr total, 50/50 EC and partners • Next step: EURO-VO, implementation phase (some EC funding secured, need more) • AVO Home Page at http://www.euro-vo.org • Science Working Group established two years ago to provide scientific advice to AVO Project; implementation of selected science cases through demonstrations P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  11. The AVO Prototype • Evolution of Aladin (Centre de Donnés astronomiques de Strasbourg [CDS]) • Downloadable Java application (http://www.euro-vo.org/twiki/bin/view/Avo/SwgDownload) • Extensible toolset with plug-ins which allows easy access to images, spectra, catalogues, with overlays, plotting facilities, and a cross-correlation utility • Still prototype but also research tool: first refereed, VO-based scientific paper “Discovery of optically faint obscured quasars with Virtual Observatory tools”, P. Padovani et al., A&A, in press (astro-ph/0406056) ST-ECF/ESO Press release May 28 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

  12. Summary • The Virtual Observatory is happening, because it has to! • Handling and manipulating astronomical data and tools residing at various locations across the world will be made much easier than it is now • Everybody will benefit! • Tools are available now to help you with your work • And now, on to the demo! P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

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