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
Bayliss K
(2011)
[O ii] emitters in the GOODS field at z~ 1.85: a homogeneous measure of evolving star formation [O ii] emitters in the GOODS field at z ~ 1.85
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Carlberg R
(2011)
DENSITY VARIATIONS IN THE NW STAR STREAM OF M31
in The Astrophysical Journal
Barb
(2011)
Advances in the VVV-2MASS photometric transformations from Galactic disk CASU catalogues: Milky Way demographics with the VVV survey
in Boletin de la Asociacion Argentina de Astronomia La Plata Argentina
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
Mortlock DJ
(2011)
A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085.
in Nature
Verbeek K
(2012)
Spectroscopic follow-up of ultraviolet-excess objects selected from the UVEX survey Spectroscopic follow-up of UV-excess objects
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Walsh J
(2012)
The light element abundance distribution in NGC 5128 from planetary nebulae
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lodieu N
(2012)
First T dwarfs in the VISTA Hemisphere Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bernard E
(2012)
A deep, wide-field study of Holmberg II with Suprime-Cam: evidence for ram pressure stripping A wide-field study of Holmberg II
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Findlay J
(2012)
Selection constraints on high-redshift quasar searches in the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy survey Quasar selection in VIKING
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Search for anomalous production of multiple leptons in association with W and Z bosons at CDF
in Physical Review D
Banerji M
(2012)
Heavily reddened quasars at z ~ 2 in the UKIDSS Large Area Survey: a transitional phase in AGN evolution Heavily reddened quasars at z ~ 2 in UKIDSS LAS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Conn A
(2012)
A BAYESIAN APPROACH TO LOCATING THE RED GIANT BRANCH TIP MAGNITUDE. II. DISTANCES TO THE SATELLITES OF M31
in The Astrophysical Journal
Venn K
(2012)
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS AND THE INHOMOGENEOUS CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CARINA DWARF GALAXY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Battaglia G
(2012)
THE EXTENSIVE AGE GRADIENT OF THE CARINA DWARF GALAXY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Mahaffy P
(2012)
The Sample Analysis at Mars Investigation and Instrument Suite
in Space Science Reviews
Oliver S
(2012)
The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: HerMES HerMES
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tanvir N
(2012)
The structure of star clusters in the outer halo of M31 Halo star clusters of M31
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fleuren S
(2012)
Herschel -ATLAS: VISTA VIKING near-infrared counterparts in the Phase 1 GAMA 9-h data ? Herschel-ATLAS: VIKING counterparts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Battaglia G
(2012)
A wide-area view of the Phoenix dwarf galaxy from Very Large Telescope/FORS imaging? Survey of the Phoenix transition type
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barker M
(2012)
Quantifying the faint structure of galaxies: the late-type spiral NGC 2403?† The Faint Structure of NGC 2403
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Leaman R
(2012)
THE RESOLVED STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF AN ISOLATED DWARF GALAXY: A VLT AND KECK SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF WLM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Casewell S
(2012)
WD0837+185: THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF AN EXTREME MASS-RATIO WHITE-DWARF-BROWN-DWARF BINARY IN PRAESEPE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Nicuesa Guelbenzu A
(2012)
Multi-color observations of short GRB afterglows: 20 events observed between 2007 and 2010
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Powell S
(2012)
The periodic spectroscopic variability of FU Orionis Periodic spectroscopic variability of FU Ori
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Lemasle B
(2012)
VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy of red giant branch stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
De Boer T
(2012)
The star formation and chemical evolution history of the sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nefs S
(2012)
Four ultra-short-period eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey Eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in WTS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mislis D
(2012)
Estimating transiting exoplanet masses from precise optical photometry
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Verbeek K
(2012)
A first catalogue of automatically selected ultraviolet-excess sources from the UVEX survey A first catalogue of UVEX UV-excess sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Casewell S
(2012)
A photometric and astrometric investigation of the brown dwarfs in Blanco 1 Blanco 1 brown dwarfs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bayliss K
(2012)
[O ii ] emitters at z ~ 4.6 in the GOODS field: a homogeneous measure of evolving star formation [O ii ] emitters at z ~ 4.6 in the GOODS field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Birkby J
(2012)
Discovery and characterization of detached M dwarf eclipsing binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey WTS: masses and radii of M dwarf EBs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Greiss S
(2012)
INITIAL DATA RELEASE OF THE KEPLER -INT SURVEY
in The Astronomical Journal
Nicuesa Guelbenzu A
(2012)
The late-time afterglow of the extremely energetic short burst GRB 090510 revisited
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Conn B
(2012)
SLICING THE MONOCEROS OVERDENSITY WITH SUPRIME-CAM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cappetta M
(2012)
The first planet detected in the WTS: an inflated hot Jupiter in a 3.35 d orbit around a late F star Inflated HJ in close orbit around a late-F-star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cockcroft R
(2012)
Unearthing foundations of a cosmic cathedral: searching the stars for M33's halo
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gauza B
(2012)
A new L dwarf member of the moderately metal poor triple system HD 221356 A new L dwarf member of the HD 221356 system
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mislis D
(2012)
A massive exoplanet candidate around KOI-13: independent confirmation by ellipsoidal variations A massive exoplanet candidate around KOI-13
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rossi A
(2012)
A deep search for the host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts with no detected optical afterglow
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bernard E
(2012)
The star formation history and dust content in the far outer disc of M31? The far outer disc of M31
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Savaglio S
(2012)
Supersolar metal abundances in two galaxies at z ~ 3.57 revealed by the GRB 090323 afterglow spectrum? Supersolar metallicity in two z~ 3.57 galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Search for a dark matter candidate produced in association with a single top quark in pp collisions at v[s]=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Search for dark matter in events with one jet and missing transverse energy in pp¯ collisions at vs=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
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 |