Gaia-CU9
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics
Publications
Taylor Mark
(2015)
TOPCAT's TAP Client
in arXiv e-prints
Taylor Mark
(2017)
TOPCAT: Desktop Exploration of Tabular Data for Astronomy and Beyond
in arXiv e-prints
Taylor Mark
(2017)
TOPCAT: Working with Data and Working with Users
in arXiv e-prints
Teuben Peter
(2016)
Implementing Ideas for Improving Software Citation and Credit
in arXiv e-prints
Description | The software tools developed are the principal means by which astronomers (and the public, in future) access the Gaia database, and so can examine the positions and motions of stars in the Galaxy. The plotting and remote data access methods are generic, and widely applicable. Scientists using these tools have generated publications with high impact on our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the Galaxy. |
Exploitation Route | The data access and plotting methods are widely applicable for any users with distributed datasets which need combining and/or comparing. The tools developed are available from public archives. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Electronics Financial Services and Management Consultancy |
Description | The software developed under this grant provides user interface to the Gaia dataset, and the results from the first extractions from that dataset, performed usually with these tools, have been the subject of extensive press releases about the distribution of stars in the Galaxy and are leading to many highly-cited papers on the structure of the Galaxy. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Title | TOPCAT |
Description | TOPCAT is the most-used astronomical catalogue handling tool. It is extensively used to handle Gaia data and to create exploration plots of stellar populations, as well as in many other astronomical applications. It is also used for education in astronomical methods in the UK, Africa, and elsewhere. The underlying libraries are also used extensively for software developments. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Extensively used world-wide. |
URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ |
Description | GAIA team |
Organisation | ESA - ESTEC |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Taylor has written much of the database access code for end-users, including major graphical display improvements. |
Collaborator Contribution | ESA satellite project to map star positions in the Galaxy: highly successful at generating vast database, requiring our database access methodology |
Impact | Extensive database for studies of structure of Galaxy. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Title | JSAMP |
Description | Message-passing software used for interaction between distinct desktop software components used by astronomers (e.g., to relate catalogue data to images). Methodology of general application, and used in commercial products. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used worldwide, including in Microsoft World-Wide Telescope. v1.1 release in 2010. v1,2, v1.3, v1.3-1, v1.3-2 releases in 2011 v1.3-3 release in 2012 v1.3-4 release in 2013 |
URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/jsamp/ |
Title | STIL |
Description | Library underlying TOPCAT and STILTS, used for complex pipeline catalogue manipulations. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Worldwide use. 2010 release v3.0 2011 release v3.0-1, v3.0-2, v3.0-3 2012 release v3.0-4 2013 release v3.0-5 2014 release v3.0-6, v3.0-7 |
URL | http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stil/ |
Title | STILTS |
Description | Set of command-line tools that can be used for powerful astronomical catalogue interrogation, manipulation, and plotting. 2010 releases v2.1-2, v2.2, v2.2-1 2011 releases v2.3, v2.3-1, v2.4 2013 releases v2.5, v2.5-1, v2.5-2 2014 releases v2.5-3, v3.0 |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Heavily used in catalogue manipulation, world-wide. |
URL | http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stilts/ |
Title | TOPCAT |
Description | Astronomical data-handling software |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used internationally for interaction with large distributed databases. 2010 releases v3.5-2, v3.6, v3.7 2011 releases v3.8, v3.9 2013 releases v4.0b, v4.0-1 2014 releases v4.1, v4.2 |
URL | http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/ |