40 likes | 178 Views
The Astronomical Photographic Data Archive. J.D. Cline 1 , M. W. Castelaz 1 ,T. Barker 1 , E. Griffin 2 , W. Osborn 3 1 Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute; 2 Dominion Astrophysical Observatory; 3 Central Michigan University. Not-for-profit public foundation. www.pari.edu.
E N D
The Astronomical Photographic Data Archive J.D. Cline1, M. W. Castelaz1,T. Barker1, E. Griffin2, W. Osborn3 1Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute; 2Dominion Astrophysical Observatory;3Central Michigan University Not-for-profit public foundation www.pari.edu AAS 211th Meeting • Workshop on a National Plan for Preserving Astronomical Photographic Data • November 1-3, 2007 at PARI • Focus • Document scientific and historical rationale for preserving astronomical photographic plate collections. • Evaluate the processes at APDA located at PARI. • Establish an operational plan to ensure the preservation of astronomical plate collections. • Major Workshop Results • Census of North American astronomical photographic plates will be carried out. • PARI’s Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) will be developed as an astronomical photographic data repository. • Special session on “time-domain astronomy” should be held at the American Astronomical Society for the January 2009 meeting. • The importance to astronomy of these historic data should be brought to the attention of those conducting the next decadal survey and the astronomical community in general. • Demonstrated uses of the plates in astronomical research is a priority in order to attract funding. Current Status of the Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) at PARI • Collections • CTIO plates: 4-m, Curtis Schmidt and miscellaneous slit spectra from 1967- 1998 • Warner and Swasey plates: direct and objective prism plates from 1944 to 1992 • University of Michigan plates: slit spectra from 1911 to 1973 • Storage Status • Plates in original envelopes and cabinets. • Temperature (18 C) and humidity (35%) controlled climate with backup power. • Essentially negligible chance of plate damage from natural disasters. Astronomers tour one area of APDA. November 2007. • Access • Preliminary catalogues of the plates are available on line: • Visits are encouraged. APDA has light tables, an iris photometer, and a high resolution scanner • Requests for limited scanning of plates can be accommodated • Move towards compatibility with NVO, SIMBAD Scanning a plate using the APDA 64-bit dual CPU 16 GB RAM computer and Microtek ScanMaker i800 transmission scanner. Images are stored on a 20 TB drive. • Research Conducted Using Plates from APDA • - Open Cluster Project • > McGurk & Castelaz 2007 “The Dolidze 27 and Alessi 10 Open Star Clusters” • > Aubrey & Castelaz 2007 “Analysis of Open Star Clusters Collinder 394 and NGC 6645” • Star Classification Project • > Harnesses the power of the internet by allowing public participation in the classification of hundreds of thousands of stars. • > Build a database of newly classified stars that can be combined with photometric, astrometric, and other spectroscopic databases for a more complete catalog of stellar types Stars in Dolidze 27 from CTIO Blue Objective Prism Plate Stars in NGC 6645 from CTIO Blue Survey Objective Prism Plate
Access • Preliminary catalogues of the plates are available on line: • Visits are encouraged. APDA has light tables, an iris photometer, and a high resolution scanner • Requests for limited scanning of plates can be accommodated • Move towards compatibility with NVO, SIMBAD • Research Conducted Using Plates from APDA
The Astronomical Photographic Data Archive J.D. Cline1, M. W. Castelaz1,T. Barker1, E. Griffin2, W. Osborn3 1Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute; 2Dominion Astrophysical Observatory;3Central Michigan University Not-for-profit public foundation www.pari.edu AAS 211th Meeting • Workshop on a National Plan for Preserving Astronomical Photographic Data • November 1-3, 2007 at PARI • Focus • Document scientific and historical rationale for preserving astronomical photographic plate collections • Evaluate the processes at APDA located at PARI • Establish an operational plan to ensure the preservation of astronomical plate collections Current Status of the Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) at PARI • Collections • CTIO plates: 4-m, Curtis Schmidt and miscellaneous slit spectra from 1967- 1998 • Warner and Swasey plates: direct and objective prism plates from 1944 to 1992 • University of Michigan plates: slit spectra from 1911 to 1973 • Storage Status • Plates in original envelopes and cabinets. • Temperature (18 C) and humidity (35%) controlled climate with backup power. • Essentially negligible chance of plate damage from natural disasters. • Major Workshop Results and Next Steps for APDA • Census of North American astronomical photographic plates will be carried out. • PARI’s Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) will be developed as an astronomical photographic data repository. • Special session on “time-domain astronomy” should be held at the American Astronomical Society for the January 2009 meeting. • The importance to astronomy of these historic data should be brought to the attention of those conducting the next decadal survey and the astronomical community in general. • In order to attract funding, a priority for will be to have some demonstrated uses of the plates in astronomical research. Astronomers tour one area of APDA. November 2007. • Access • Preliminary catalogues of the plates are available on line: • Visits are encouraged. APDA has light tables, an iris photometer, and a high resolution scanner • Requests for limited scanning of plates can be accommodated • Move towards compatibility with NVO, SIMBAD Scanning a plate using the APDA 64-bit dual CPU 16 GB RAM computer and Microtek ScanMaker i800 transmission scanner. Images are stored on a 20 TB drive. • Research Conducted Using Plates from APDA • - Open Cluster Project • > McGurk & Castelaz 2007 “The Dolidze 27 and Alessi 10 Open Star Clusters” • > Aubrey & Castelaz 2007 “Analysis of Open Star Clusters Collinder 394 and NGC 6645” • Star Classification Project • > Harnesses the power of the internet by allowing public participation in the classification of hundreds of thousands of stars. • > Build a database of newly classified stars that can be combined with photometric, astrometric, and other spectroscopic databases for a more complete catalog of stellar types Stars in NGC 6645 from CTIO Blue Survey Objective Prism Plate Stars in Dolidze 27 from CTIO Blue Objective Prism Plate