VISTA science exploitation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Institute of Astronomy
Abstract
Observational astronomy in the UK is in a strong position with the advent of the pioneering near-infrared (NIR) survey facilities of VISTA and WFCAM and the opportunities for detailed followup provided by membership of ESO. Significant advances in astronomy have always relied heavily on surveys of the sky from radio, through optical to X-ray wavelengths and the new era of deep NIR surveys is the latest stage in this progression. It is also one where the UK has both a substantial lead and the requisite expertise in the Cambridge and Edinburgh survey units to exploit this advance in wide field astronomy. Recognising the benefits of this, ESO are now also heavily committed to public surveys through the VST and VISTA telescopes and to wider exploitation of expertly processed and archived science data products. In the modern era wide-field digital survey cameras produce enormous volumes of data that are way beyond the resource capacity and analysis skills of non-specialist astronomers. Systematic pipeline processing, calibration and legacy curation of observational data are a fundamental requirement of an end-to-end integrated observing strategy and a crucial component of a global Virtual Observatory. The Vista Data Flow System (VDFS) has been developed to allow an optimal ergonomic solution to this avalanche of data, through access to multi-Tbyte data storage systems, expert pipeline processing systems and science user support. Continuing development of the VDFS processing and analysis pipelines will not only benefit the UK astronomy community now, but will also be relevant in the era of Extremely Large Telescopes and the radio Square Kilometer Array, by further developing the infrastructure to analyse the data from these facilities. This standard grant proposal is a bid for resource to complete the full development of the VDFS and thereby provide fully integrated data processing support for the UK-led VISTA public surveys. This also includes the operational equipment necessary to carry out the data processing and store the data products. By building on the tremendous advances already made at CASU this will enable a cost-effective and optimal solution to the problem of converting the enormous quantities of VISTA data to fully calibrated science-ready products ripe for exploitation.
People |
ORCID iD |
Michael Irwin (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Walsh J
(2012)
The light element abundance distribution in NGC 5128 from planetary nebulae
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hebb L
(2010)
MML 53: a new low-mass, pre-main sequence eclipsing binary in the Upper Centaurus-Lupus region discovered by SuperWASP
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lodieu N
(2012)
First T dwarfs in the VISTA Hemisphere Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Greiner J
(2010)
The nature of "dark" gamma-ray bursts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Aoki W
(2009)
Chemical composition of extremely metal-poor stars in the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Preibisch T
(2011)
Detection of a large massive circumstellar disk around a high-mass young stellar object in the Carina Nebula
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Fraternali F
(2009)
Life at the periphery of the Local Group: the kinematics of the Tucana dwarf galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
L. Cioni M
(2009)
AGB stars as tracers of metallicity and mean age across M 33
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tafelmeyer M
(2010)
Extremely metal-poor stars in classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies: Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Rossi A
(2011)
The Swift/ Fermi GRB 080928 from 1 eV to 150 keV
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nicuesa Guelbenzu A
(2012)
Multi-color observations of short GRB afterglows: 20 events observed between 2007 and 2010
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Valentinuzzi T
(2009)
WINGS: a WIde-field nearby Galaxy-cluster survey III. Deep near-infrared photometry of 28 nearby clusters
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Saito R
(2012)
VVV DR1: The first data release of the Milky Way bulge and southern plane from the near-infrared ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Vía Láctea
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
De Boer T
(2012)
The star formation and chemical evolution history of the sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lemasle B
(2012)
VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy of red giant branch stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Clemens C
(2011)
GRB 071028B, a burst behind large amounts of dust in an unabsorbed galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Letarte B
(2010)
A high-resolution VLT/FLAMES study of individual stars in the centre of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mislis D
(2012)
Estimating transiting exoplanet masses from precise optical photometry
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sibbons L
(2012)
The AGB population of NGC 6822: distribution and the C/M ratio from JHK photometry
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pierini D
(2012)
First simultaneous optical/near-infrared imaging of an X-ray selected, high-redshift cluster of galaxies with GROND The galaxy population of XMMU J0338.7 + 0030 at z = 1.1?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Filgas R
(2011)
The two-component jet of GRB 080413B
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Krühler T
(2011)
Photometric redshifts for gamma-ray burst afterglows from GROND and Swift /UVOT
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Barrado D
(2010)
XMM- Newton investigations of the Lambda Orionis star-forming region (XILO) I. The young cluster Collinder 69?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Afonso P
(2011)
GRB 050502B optical afterglow: a jet-break at high redshift
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nicuesa Guelbenzu A
(2012)
The late-time afterglow of the extremely energetic short burst GRB 090510 revisited
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Starkenburg E
(2013)
The extremely low-metallicity tail of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
De Boer T
(2011)
Deep wide-field imaging down to the oldest main sequence turn-offs in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cioni M
(2011)
The VMC survey I. Strategy and first data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tafelmeyer M
(2011)
Extremely metal-poor stars in classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies: Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans ( Corrigendum )
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Revaz Y
(2009)
The dynamical and chemical evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Rossi A
(2012)
A deep search for the host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts with no detected optical afterglow
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Viironen K
(2009)
Candidate planetary nebulae in the IPHAS photometric catalogue
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nardini M
(2011)
On the nature of the extremely fast optical rebrightening of the afterglow of GRB 081029
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nicuesa Guelbenzu A
(2011)
GRB 090426: Discovery of a jet break in a short burst afterglow
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Krühler T
(2011)
The SEDs and host galaxies of the dustiest GRB afterglows
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Preibisch T
(2011)
Deep wide-field near-infrared survey of the Carina Nebula
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
North P
(2012)
Manganese in dwarf spheroidal galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Vaccari M
(2010)
The HerMES SPIRE submillimeter local luminosity function
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Starkenburg E
(2010)
The NIR Ca ii triplet at low metallicity Searching for extremely low-metallicity stars in classical dwarf galaxies
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Eales S
(2010)
First results from HerMES on the evolution of the submillimetre luminosity function
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Corradi R
(2009)
IPHAS and the symbiotic stars II. New discoveries and a sample of the most common mimics
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Hatziminaoglou E
(2010)
HerMES: Far infrared properties of known AGN in the HerMES fields
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Thompson M
(2010)
A search for debris disks in the Herschel -ATLAS
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Smart R
(2010)
The distance to the cool T9 brown dwarf ULAS J003402.77-005206.7
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Siana Brian
(2008)
High-redshift QSOs in the SWIRE survey and the
z~3 QSO luminosity function
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Koposov S.
(2008)
The luminosity function of the Milky Way satellites
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Kowalski M.
(2008)
IMPROVED COSMOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS FROM NEW, OLD, AND COMBINED SUPERNOVA DATA SETS
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Belokurov V.
(2008)
LEO V: A COMPANION OF A COMPANION OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY?
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Battaglia G.
(2008)
The kinematic status and mass content of the sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Minniti D.
(2011)
The VVV Survey of the Milky Way: first year results
in Boletin de la Asociacion Argentina de Astronomia La Plata Argentina
Description | This grant was awarded for completing the development of the Vista Data Flow System (VDFS). The VDFS has been developed to allow an optimal ergonomic solution to dealing with the avalanche of data (up to 1TB per night) generated on the VISTA survey telescope. Systematic pipeline processing, calibration and legacy curation of observational data are a fundamental requirement of an end-to-end integrated observing strategy and vital for exploiting the full science capabilities of this type of facility. The success of this programme is manifest in the range of science exploitation lead by UK PIs that it is supporting. Members of CASU have played a leading role in survey astronomy, not only by pioneering techniques to optimally extract knowledge from survey data, but also by taking a proactive role in exploiting this information to produce world-leading research. This synergy and feedback between data processing and exploitation has been crucial for the success of the programme. |
Exploitation Route | The infrastructure required for optimal exploitation of astronomical survey data has lead to many innovative solutions to data processing and analysis problems which have wide applicability across all image processing domains. As an example, we have been carrying out a collaborative medical imaging research project helping develop analysis tools applicable to Tissue Micro Arrays used for research into cancer diagnostic markers. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Other |
URL | http://casu.ast.cam.ac.uk/surveys-projects/ |
Description | Science exploitation of the VISTA survey facility was contingent on delivery and refinement of a high throughput data processing pipeline, the VISTA Data Flow System (VDFS). The VDFS has been used to optimally process and calibrate ALL science data taken on the VISTA survey telescope located at ESO's Paranal observatory. CASU are responsible for the development, delivery, operational deployment and maintenance of the processing pipelines that constitute the VDFS. All of the UK-lead VISTA public surveys are completely dependent on the VDFS data products for their own science programmes and also for fulfilling the requirement on the survey PIs to deliver science grade products back to ESO in exchange for further telescope time allocations. |
First Year Of Impact | 2009 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Other |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Vista Data Flow System |
Organisation | Royal Observatory Edinburgh |
Department | Wide Field Astronomy Unit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Collaborative venture to process and archive ALL data obtained on the VISTA telescope run by ESO in Paranal. |
Collaborator Contribution | CASU handle all the data processing and calibration. |
Impact | All of the VISTA public survey programmes are dependent on this collaboration. |
Start Year | 2009 |