Virtual Astronomical Observatory Status Update Hashima Hasan, NASA Nigel Sharp, NSF

1. Virtual Astronomical Observatory Status Update Hashima Hasan, NASA Nigel Sharp, NSF Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

2. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Update • Intent: move beyond the very successful NVO (international standards, software, data mining support, user interfaces, etc.) to create a real astronomical observatory • Continue excellent relations with international efforts and IVOA • VAO, LLC created by AURA and AUI - significant initial delay in NSF award, made in May 2010. This did not affect NASA support, which was passed through their existing centers Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

3. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) NSF Cooperative Agreement (CA) • The Virtual Astronomical Observatory is the second phase of a project recommended by the 2001 Decadal Survey … The first phase, the National Virtual Observatory, was supported by NSF and NASA to develop international standards, software, user interfaces, and general middleware, which it has successfully accomplished. It is time to build on those successes and create a working observatory, which places its priority on delivering data to the research and education communities to support their activities, including further development of standards and interfaces only to the limited extent needed to stay current. The intent is to provide an observatory, one more amongst the suite of observatories available to the community, from which working astronomers can obtain data with which to address their scientific questions, and from which educators can draw real data for teaching and outreach. • The important guiding principle is that the VAO should build on, but not be a continuation of, the existing NVO project. The VAO should become a working observatory serving the user community, widely used, recognized, and acknowledged in published research papers. (emphasis added) Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

4. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Project Execution Plan Review • Is VAO going the right way, and how well has it been going? • PEP review April 2011 Final Report: • Application development slow, falling behind other groups • Applications lack a consistent and intuitive user interface • Need assessment and testing of design interface • Web query tool does not yet work well: need user feedback • Still no clear transition from NVO to user-oriented VAO • EPO not impressive • Commendedwork on standards and protocols and noted strong penetration, that is, the use of those standards and protocols by other projects Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

5. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Review & Redirection • PEP: other concerns and suggestions • More effort at promoting the VAO – the problem of marketing and branding • Documentation to IVOA standard • Since EPO is not required perhaps it had better be cut • Still no “killer app”, so cut application development altogether • Focus on core, enable others to integrate VAO interoperability into their own software • Result was joint agency redirection guidance to emphasize the goals from the CA Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

6. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Progress www.usvao.org Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

7. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Progress • Science initiatives as ranked by VAO Science Council released at January 2012 AAS meeting • Data Discovery Tool • Cross-Matching Service • Spectral Energy Distribution builder/analyzer (175 downloads) • Integrated Time Series Database and Periodogram service • Semantic browser (advanced literature/data linking) • VO-aware version of IRAF (March 2012 release from NOAO) • Data mining, via collaboration with U. Naples (Italy) and Caltech • VAO tools work in concert with software developed by international VO partners and utilize existing tools/libraries whenever possible Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

8. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Progress: VO-IRAF integration 2000 registered IRAF users ~5000 total users >700 IRAF tasks will become VO-aware Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

9. NB: an old presentation from February 2005 – notice the tools at bottom right http://us-vo.org NSF Grant Number: NSF-AST0122449PI: Dr. Alex SzalayInstitution: The Johns Hopkins UniversityTitle: Building the Framework for the National Virtual Observatory Five data discovery, federation, and analysis applications were released to the astronomical community in January 2005. These are built using the international VO standards and provide access to global astronomy databases. Access is being extended for education and public outreach clients. Our goal is to enable every astronomer to easily tap into the hundreds of terabytes of archived data available around the world. Combining such data from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum is essential for making new discoveries. The IT framework has been driven by science use cases. Development has proceeded in three phases: (I) Build prototypes utilizing Web and Grid services, (ii) Develop standards in collaboration with the 15-member Interna-tional VO Alliance, and (iii) Deploy applications based on these standards that implement the most frequently needed research functions (to find, retrieve, and federate data). The Virtual Observatory is becoming an essential component of the astronomical research environment. The VO will maximize availability and re-use of data, enable large-scale computation and analysis, and provide research opportunities for astronomers and students everywhere.

10. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Redirection • The core functionality and the maintenance of standards and updated middleware should be the primary function of VAO. • It simply appears that applications are better (and come faster and often cheaper) when produced by smaller groups, focused and usually co-located, and motivated to use the results in their research. In particular, the complex multi-institution development model of interconnected but widely distributed efforts adopted in the current and previous PEPs leads to an unnecessary management overhead burden that is simply not sustainable. • VAO should concentrate on adopting, integrating, and disseminating tools, not on developing them. • We need a healthy, focused, and efficient data-grid and middle-ware infrastructure. • EPO [is] not a high priority [and] could well be discontinued. • The project should regroup … reducing scope to fit within ~55% of the original budget ($2M+$1M from NSF+NASA, not $4M+$1.5M). • Option to restart, even to the extent of reissuing the solicitation. Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

11. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Redirection Response • Project Response: • Revised PEP includes four technical work areas, plus management • Education and public outreach work proposed as “overguide” • Five other overguide options to address important capabilities • Intent is to continue discussion between the project and the agencies, involving further community review, to find the best path forward. • Note that in the current climate especially, $3.0M/year is not a small amount, even if it isn’t $5.5M. • Advice is both welcome and actively solicited. • Standards and Infrastructure (40%) • Science Applications (15%) • Operations (20%) • User Support (10%) • Management (15%) Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

12. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Update Backup Slides Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

13. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Key Personnel • Board of Directors: Jay Gallagher (chair, U. Wis.) Ethan Schreier (AUI) Bill Smith (AURA) Bruce Margon (UCSC) Caty Pilachowski (Indiana U.) Roscoe Giles (Boston U.) Scott Kirkpatrick (Hebrew U.) • Director: Robert Hanisch (STScI) • Science Council: • Pepi Fabbiano (chair, SAO) Crystal Brogan (NRAO) Daniela Calzetti (U. Mass.) Paul Eskridge (Minn. St. U.) Eric Feigelson (Penn St. U.) Zeljko Ivezic (U. Wash.) Alicia Soderberg (Harvard) Travis Rector (U. Alaska) • Consultants to Science Council: George Djorgovski (Caltech) Alyssa Goodman (Harvard) Barry Madore (Carnegie Obs.) Marc Postman (STScI) Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

14. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) Science Council Report • From July 2011 meeting: • Based on the results presented by the VAO …, the VAO-SC is extremely pleased with the positive response of the VAO, its high performance, timely deliveries after this first year of activity, and vision for the future of interoperable multi-domain data analysis. The VAO has listened to science input and has delivered. The VAO is on the right track to meeting crucial needs of the astronomical community. • We strongly urge the funding agencies to review the impressive results of this year’s activities, and continue fully supporting the VAO. The impact of the VAO on the community is clearly within close reach, and support should continue so as not to slow the momentum and have a negative impact on the access to interoperability by the astronomical community. Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

15. Data Discovery Tool Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

16. Semantic Browser Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

17. SED Tool: Iris Specview display IVOA SAMP communication Sherpa fitting module Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp SAMP = Simple Applications Messaging Protocol Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

18. SED Fitting Broken power-law plus ISM absorption Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

19. Cross-Matching Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

20. Time Series Integration P = 0.055277 days Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp

21. Time Series Integration Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director

22. Data mining http://dame.dsf.unina.it Hashima Hasan, Nigel Sharp Courtesy Robert Hanisch, VAO Director