Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit Project Portfolio
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 Astronomical
Survey Unit (CASU) to exploit this advance in wide field astronomy
through delivery of expertly processed and calibrated science data
products. Recognising the benefits of this, ESO are now also heavily
committed to public imaging surveys through the VST and VISTA telescopes and
large scale public spectroscopic surveys, such as Gaia-ESO, with 300 allocated
nights on the VLT over the next 5 years.
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.
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) was
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
CASU 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 developing the
infrastructure and skills to analyse the data from these facilities.
This standard grant proposal builds on the tremendous advances already
made and requests funding for CASU for the period 2012-2015 for the
following activities: continued operation and maintenance of the WFCAM
data processing and calibration pipeline; advanced development,
enhancement, and operation of the UK VISTA pipelines; maintenance and
upgrades for the VDFS ESO pipeline deliverables; operational support
and pipeline processing for the UK-led VST public surveys in the
southern hemisphere and the equivalent precursor surveys in the
northern hemisphere; and support for the design, development and operation of
spectroscopic processing pipelines for the Gaia ESO public survey and future
proposed spectroscopic survey instruments such as WEAVE and 4MOST
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 Astronomical
Survey Unit (CASU) to exploit this advance in wide field astronomy
through delivery of expertly processed and calibrated science data
products. Recognising the benefits of this, ESO are now also heavily
committed to public imaging surveys through the VST and VISTA telescopes and
large scale public spectroscopic surveys, such as Gaia-ESO, with 300 allocated
nights on the VLT over the next 5 years.
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.
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) was
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
CASU 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 developing the
infrastructure and skills to analyse the data from these facilities.
This standard grant proposal builds on the tremendous advances already
made and requests funding for CASU for the period 2012-2015 for the
following activities: continued operation and maintenance of the WFCAM
data processing and calibration pipeline; advanced development,
enhancement, and operation of the UK VISTA pipelines; maintenance and
upgrades for the VDFS ESO pipeline deliverables; operational support
and pipeline processing for the UK-led VST public surveys in the
southern hemisphere and the equivalent precursor surveys in the
northern hemisphere; and support for the design, development and operation of
spectroscopic processing pipelines for the Gaia ESO public survey and future
proposed spectroscopic survey instruments such as WEAVE and 4MOST
Planned Impact
The University of Cambridge has one of the most successful programmes
for encouraging knowledge transfer and resulting societal impact
between University departments and industry both in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere. CASU's approach to the search for impact opportunities
has been guided by the mechanisms the University has in place to
facilitate this.
CASU specifically, is now significantly involved in the transfer of
image analysis and data handling systems to the medical domain, and in
particular image processing applied to oncology. This exchange has the
potential to both increase the effectiveness of clinical health care
and enhance the quality of life of those with cancer, through improved
outcomes through better targeted therapeutic treatments.
CASU (Walton \& Irwin) recently had a one year Knowledge Exchange MRC
grant to apply image processing techniques developed in CASU to the
analysis of tissue micro array (TMA) data supporting oncological
research programmes at Cancer Research UK's, Cambridge Research
Institute (CRI). This was followed up with a STFC miniPIPSS
collaborative project between CASU and CRUK's CRI. This work is now
attracting considerable external attention. It was highlighted in a
recent Times article 'Advances in cancer treatment could be
astronomical' (Sat August 14 2010). The PathGrid system formed the
centrepiece of an extended news feature in the Science special issue
'Dealing with Data' (vol 331, Feb 12, 2011).
First results of the system have been published (Walton et al, Phil
Trans R Soc A, 2010, 368, 3937) where the pilot infrastructure was
described, demonstrating the effectiveness of the analysis applied to
the measurement of ER protein expression in TMA data. With co-workers
in the CR-UK, The University of Cambridge Dept of Oncology,
Strangeways Laboratory, and the Cambridge Breast Unit and Department
of Histopathology at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, we are about
to publish our latest work utilising our algorithms where a
significant large scale study - with a dataset of over 2400 tumours
in tissue micro-arrays. This points the way to the
adoption of our technique in a clinical operational setting.
Future beneficiaries include BBSRC's Institute of Food
Health, who have begun investigating utilising our analysis applied to
their full section mouse data. Further we are initiating validation
pilots with the Dept of Pathology at Addenbrooke's NHS hospital, with
the longer term aim to deploy the PathGrid processing system in the
Addenbrooke's clinical setting of high throughput analysis
of routine breast cancer pathology tests.
The PathGrid processing system gives a significant benefit in
improving the high throughput quantitative analysis of a range of
analysis processes across medical research and operational
environments.
The results of this work will be disseminated to the wider audience
via a number of mechanisms: medical (e.g. BMC Bioinformatics) and
eScience technical journals; presentations highlighting the scientific
discoveries at a range of venues and meetings. Exploitation of the
system will be facilitated via workshops aimed at informing new user
groups, across the CR-UK research institutes, across UK cancer
research groups, and NHS pathology departments. CASU will continue to
interact with the medical and clinical communities through forum such
as the Technology Strategy Board's Health Tech and Medicines KTN.
Outside of the medical area, CASU is active in supporting the public
understanding of science activities undertaken more generally at the
IoA and the university of Cambridge. CASU provides a range of high
quality processed images of the sky which are used as high impact
visual material in outreach activities such as the successful series
of one-day conferences for schools, each day in turn targeting KS3,
KS4, KS5 and secondary school teachers.
for encouraging knowledge transfer and resulting societal impact
between University departments and industry both in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere. CASU's approach to the search for impact opportunities
has been guided by the mechanisms the University has in place to
facilitate this.
CASU specifically, is now significantly involved in the transfer of
image analysis and data handling systems to the medical domain, and in
particular image processing applied to oncology. This exchange has the
potential to both increase the effectiveness of clinical health care
and enhance the quality of life of those with cancer, through improved
outcomes through better targeted therapeutic treatments.
CASU (Walton \& Irwin) recently had a one year Knowledge Exchange MRC
grant to apply image processing techniques developed in CASU to the
analysis of tissue micro array (TMA) data supporting oncological
research programmes at Cancer Research UK's, Cambridge Research
Institute (CRI). This was followed up with a STFC miniPIPSS
collaborative project between CASU and CRUK's CRI. This work is now
attracting considerable external attention. It was highlighted in a
recent Times article 'Advances in cancer treatment could be
astronomical' (Sat August 14 2010). The PathGrid system formed the
centrepiece of an extended news feature in the Science special issue
'Dealing with Data' (vol 331, Feb 12, 2011).
First results of the system have been published (Walton et al, Phil
Trans R Soc A, 2010, 368, 3937) where the pilot infrastructure was
described, demonstrating the effectiveness of the analysis applied to
the measurement of ER protein expression in TMA data. With co-workers
in the CR-UK, The University of Cambridge Dept of Oncology,
Strangeways Laboratory, and the Cambridge Breast Unit and Department
of Histopathology at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, we are about
to publish our latest work utilising our algorithms where a
significant large scale study - with a dataset of over 2400 tumours
in tissue micro-arrays. This points the way to the
adoption of our technique in a clinical operational setting.
Future beneficiaries include BBSRC's Institute of Food
Health, who have begun investigating utilising our analysis applied to
their full section mouse data. Further we are initiating validation
pilots with the Dept of Pathology at Addenbrooke's NHS hospital, with
the longer term aim to deploy the PathGrid processing system in the
Addenbrooke's clinical setting of high throughput analysis
of routine breast cancer pathology tests.
The PathGrid processing system gives a significant benefit in
improving the high throughput quantitative analysis of a range of
analysis processes across medical research and operational
environments.
The results of this work will be disseminated to the wider audience
via a number of mechanisms: medical (e.g. BMC Bioinformatics) and
eScience technical journals; presentations highlighting the scientific
discoveries at a range of venues and meetings. Exploitation of the
system will be facilitated via workshops aimed at informing new user
groups, across the CR-UK research institutes, across UK cancer
research groups, and NHS pathology departments. CASU will continue to
interact with the medical and clinical communities through forum such
as the Technology Strategy Board's Health Tech and Medicines KTN.
Outside of the medical area, CASU is active in supporting the public
understanding of science activities undertaken more generally at the
IoA and the university of Cambridge. CASU provides a range of high
quality processed images of the sky which are used as high impact
visual material in outreach activities such as the successful series
of one-day conferences for schools, each day in turn targeting KS3,
KS4, KS5 and secondary school teachers.
Publications
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
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
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)
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
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
Okamoto S
(2015)
A HYPER SUPRIME-CAM VIEW OF THE INTERACTING GALAXIES OF THE M81 GROUP
in The Astrophysical Journal
Clark J
(2015)
A long-period Cepheid variable in the starburst cluster VdBH222
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
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
Ramos Almeida C
(2019)
A near-infrared study of the multiphase outflow in the type-2 quasar J1509+0434
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
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
González-Fernández C
(2015)
A new survey of cool supergiants in the Magellanic Clouds
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Crnojevic D
(2014)
A PAndAS view of M31 dwarf elliptical satellites: NGC 147 and NGC 185
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Rossi A
(2014)
A quiescent galaxy at the position of the long GRB 050219A
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Van Velzen S
(2016)
A radio jet from the optical and x-ray bright stellar tidal disruption flare ASASSN-14li.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Ibata RA
(2013)
A vast, thin plane of corotating dwarf galaxies orbiting the Andromeda galaxy.
in Nature
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
Mackey A
(2014)
Accretion in action: phase space coherence of stellar debris and globular clusters in Andromeda's South-West Cloud?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Nie J
(2015)
AN EXTENDED VIEW OF THE PISCES OVERDENSITY FROM THE SCUSS SURVEY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Walsh J
(2015)
An imaging and spectroscopic study of the planetary nebulae in NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) Planetary nebulae catalogues???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tabernero H
(2018)
An LTE effective temperature scale for red supergiants in the Magellanic clouds
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Belokurov V
(2014)
ATLAS lifts the Cup: discovery of a new Milky Way satellite in Crater
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Diaz J
(2014)
Balancing mass and momentum in the Local Group
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Negueruela I
(2018)
Berkeley 51, a young open cluster with four yellow supergiants
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Swan J
(2016)
Ca ii triplet spectroscopy of RGB stars in NGC 6822: kinematics and metallicities
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Farnhill H
(2016)
Calibrated and completeness-corrected optical stellar density maps of the northern Galactic plane
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lardo C
(2015)
Carbon and nitrogen abundances of individual stars in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kalari V
(2015)
Classical T Tauri stars with VPHAS+ - I. H a and u -band accretion rates in the Lagoon Nebula M8
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Banerji M
(2014)
Combining Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data with near-infrared data from the ESO VISTA Hemisphere Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Weisz D
(2014)
COMPARING M31 AND MILKY WAY SATELLITES: THE EXTENDED STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF ANDROMEDA II AND ANDROMEDA XVI
in The Astrophysical Journal
Collins M
(2015)
COMPARING THE OBSERVABLE PROPERTIES OF DWARF GALAXIES ON AND OFF THE ANDROMEDA PLANE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Reed S
(2015)
DES J0454-4448: discovery of the first luminous z = 6 quasar from the Dark Energy Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rowan-Robinson M
(2014)
Detailed modelling of a large sample of Herschel sources in the Lockman Hole: identification of cold dust and of lensing candidates through their anomalous SEDs?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cruz P
(2015)
Detection of the secondary eclipse of WASP-10b in the K s-band
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
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
Koposov S
(2014)
Discovery of a cold stellar stream in the ATLAS DR1 data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Chapman S
(2013)
Dynamics in the satellite system of Triangulum: is And XXII a dwarf satellite of M33?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Laporte N
(2015)
ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUBMILLIMETER-BRIGHT MASSIVE STARBURST HFLS3 AT z ~ 6.34
in The Astrophysical Journal
Mislis D
(2012)
Estimating transiting exoplanet masses from precise optical photometry
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Elias-Rosa N
(2015)
Explosion of a massive, He-rich star at z = 0.16
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sabin L
(2014)
First release of the IPHAS catalogue of new extended planetary nebulae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Lodieu N
(2012)
First T dwarfs in the VISTA Hemisphere Survey
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
Lanzafame A
(2015)
Gaia -ESO Survey: Analysis of pre-main sequence stellar spectra
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Blagorodnova N
(2015)
Gaia transient detection efficiency: hunting for nuclear transients
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Blagorodnova N
(2014)
gs-tec: the Gaia spectrophotometry transient events classifier
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Wardlow J
(2013)
HerMES: CANDIDATE GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXIES AND LENSING STATISTICS AT SUBMILLIMETER WAVELENGTHS
in The Astrophysical Journal
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
| Description | The primary goals of this proposal were to provide a cost effective solution to the processing and rapid delivery to the astronomical community of key science data products from ESO imaging and spectroscopic survey telescopes. This involved the further development and operational execution of advanced processing modules, and also updates to and maintenance of pipeline software, modules and documentation for delivery to ESO as part of an in-kind software contribution. The full calibrated world-class data products delivered by these processing pipelines are a crucial step for full science exploitation of the acquired data. |
| Exploitation Route | Fully calibrated and optimally processed data are crucial ingredients for full science exploitation of observational data. The outputs from the CASU processing pipelines are world-class and provide the necessary inputs for a broad range of the subsequent astronomical research that is initiated by having these products available. These data products are used throughout the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. 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 | The primary objective of the CASU programme is to provide cost-effective and timely delivery of key science data and service products from the ESO VISTA and VST telescopes and a range of other high value UK optical and near-infrared missions including WFCAM, the ESO Gaia Large Survey Programme. The science product outputs from these missions are used by a large part of the astronomical community both nationally and internationally and form the underpinning observational data for a large range of key programmes. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2005 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | ESO in-kind |
| Organisation | European Southern Observatory (ESO) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Upgrading the VISTA data processing pipeline delivered to ESO. Developing new data processing pipelines for HawkI and VIMOS imaging systems. Processing all existing data for these instruments. |
| Collaborator Contribution | CASU designed, developed and operate these deliverables. |
| Impact | ESO SOW deliverables. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | MoU JACH |
| Organisation | Joint Astronomy Centre |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | CASU undertakes data processing for all WFCAM data obtained on UKIRT |
| Collaborator Contribution | CASU developed the data processing system and operates it on a 24/7 basis. |
| Impact | The main beneficiary is the UKIDSS science consortium who have access to fully processed and calibrated near-infrared survey data. |
| 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 |
| Description | Talks to Astronomy Societies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talks to mainly amateur astronomy societies around the country. These are well-attended 50-100 participants and include much discussion and question/answer sessions. Stimulates interest in science. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |