In the era of big data astronomy, next generation telescopes and large sky surveys produce data sets at the TB or even PB level. Due to their large data volumes, these astronomical data sets are extremely difficult to transfer and analyze using personal computers or small clusters. In order to offer better access to data, data centers now generally provide online science platforms that enable analysis close to the data. The Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) is one of the member projects in the International Virtual Observatory Alliance and it is dedicated to providing a research and education environment where globally distributed astronomy archives are simple to find, access, and interoperate. In this study, we summarize highlights of the work conducted at the China-VO, as well the experiences and lessons learned during the full life-cycle management of astronomical data. Finally, We discuss the challenges and future trends for astronomical science platforms.
The Astronomical Telescope of the University of Stuttgart (ATUS): Development, Optimization, and Lessons Learned
Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart（斯图加特大学空间系统研究所）；The German SOFIA Institute (Deutsches SOFIA Institut, DSI)（德国SOFIA研究所）；SOFIA Science Center, NASA Ames Research Center（NASA艾姆斯研究中心SOFIA科学中心）
A new generation of observational science instruments is dramatically increasing collected data volumes in a range of fields. These instruments include the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), terrestrial sensor networks, and NASA satellites participating in "decadal survey" missions. Their unprecedented coverage and sensitivity will likely reveal wholly new categories of unexpected and transient events. Commensal methods passively analyze these data streams, recognizing anomalous events of scientific interest and reacting in real time. We report on a case exam…
Enhancing astrometric registration of Chinese historical Astronomical Digital Plates with deep learning
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）
In the past few years, Chinese astronomical community is actively testing astronomical sites for several new optical/infrared ground-based telescopes. These site testing campaigns conducted were mainly focused on fundamental performances of the site, such as cloud coverage, seeing, temperature, etc. With increasing interests in sodium laser guide star adaptive optics for these new telescopes in the Chinese astronomical community, it is interesting to investigate the performance of the laser guide star at these sites, especially considering that the sodium laser guide star's on-sky performance …
The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (hereinafter CSTAR) is the first Chinese astronomical instrument on the Antarctic ice cap. The low temperature and low pressure testing of the data acquisition system was carried out in a laboratory refrigerator and on the 4500m Pamirs high plateau, respectively. The results from the final four nights of test observations demonstrated that CSTAR was ready for operation at Dome A, Antarctica. In this paper we present a description of CSTAR and the performance derived from the test observations.
The National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science (NAOC), has started building the largest antenna in the world. Known as FAST, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope is a Chinese mega-science project funded by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). FAST also represents part of Chinese contribution to the international efforts to build the square kilometer array (SKA). Upon its finishing around September of 2016, FAST will be the most sensitive single-dish radio telescope in the low frequency radio bands between 70 MHz and 3 GHz. The design …
The Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is studying a space VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometer) program. The ultimate objective of the program is to image the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the hearts of galaxies with a space-based VLBI array working at sub-millimeter wavelengths and to gain ultrahigh angular resolution. To achieve this ambitious goal, the mission plan is divided into three stages. The first phase of the program is called Space Millimeter-wavelength VLBI Array (SMVA) consisting of two satellites,…
The Mayan culture collected exquisite astronomical data for over a millennium. However, it failed to come up with the breakthrough ideas of modern astronomy because the data was analyzed within a mythological culture of astrology that rested upon false but mathematically sophisticated theories about the Universe. Have we learned the necessary lessons to prevent our current scientific culture from resembling Mayan Astronomy? Clearly, data collection by itself is not a guarantee for good science as commonly assumed by funding agencies. A vibrant scientific culture should cultivate multiple appro…
The Atacama Large mm and sub-mm Array (ALMA) radio observatory is one of the world's largest astronomical projects. After the very successful conclusion of the first observation cycles Early Science Cycles 0 and 1, the ALMA project can report many successes and lessons learned. The science data taken interleaved with commissioning tests for the still continuing addition of new capabilities has already resulted in numerous publications in high-profile journals. The increasing data volume and complexity are challenging but under control. The radio-astronomical data analysis package "Common Astro…
AstroCloud is a cyber-Infrastructure for Astronomy Research initiated by Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) under funding support from NDRC (National Development and Reform commission) and CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences){\url{http://astrocloud.china-vo.org}}\citep{O8-5_Cui_adassxxiv}. To archive the astronomical data in China, we present the implementation of the astronomical data archiving system (ADAS). Data archiving and quality control are the infrastructure for the AstroCloud. Throughout the data of the entire life cycle, data archiving system standardized data, transferring data, l…
Xinglong Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), is one of the major optical observatories in China, which hosts nine optical telescopes including the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the 2.16 m reflector. Scientific research from these telescopes is focused on stars, galaxies, and exoplanets using multicolor photometry and spectroscopic observations. Therefore, it is important to provide the observing conditions of the site, in detail, to the astronomers for an efficient use of these facilities. In this …
As the cyber-infrastructure for Astronomical research from Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) project, AstroCloud has been archived solid progresses during the last one year. Proposal management system and data access system are re-designed. Several new sub-systems are developed, including China-VO PaperData, AstroCloud Statics and Public channel. More data sets and application environments are integrated into the platform. LAMOST DR1, the largest astronomical spectrum archive was released to the public using the platform. The latest progresses will be introduced.
The Chinese Space Station Optical Survey (CSS-OS) is a major science project of the Space Application System of the China Manned Space Program. This survey is planned to perform both photometric imaging and slitless spectroscopic observations, and it will focus on different cosmological and astronomical goals. Most of these goals are tightly dependent on the accuracy of photometric redshift (photo-z) measurement, especially for the weak gravitational lensing survey as a main science driver. In this work, we assess if the current filter definition can provide accurate photo-z measurement to mee…
With many large science equipment constructing and putting into use, astronomy has stepped into the big data era. The new method and infrastructure of big data processing has become a new requirement of many astronomers. Cloud computing, Map/Reduce, Hadoop, Spark, etc. many new technology has sprung up in recent years. Comparing to the high performance computing(HPC), Data is the center of these new technology. So, a new computing architecture infrastructure is necessary, which can be shared by both HPC and big data processing. Based on Astronomy Cloud project of Chinese Virtual Observatory (C…
Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics & Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台南京天文光学技术研究所）；Chinese High Angular Resolution Southern Astronomical Laboratory (CHARSAL)（中国高分辨率南天天文实验室）
After its first implementation in 2003 the Astro-WISE technology has been rolled out in several European countries and is used for the production of the KiDS survey data. In the multi-disciplinary Target initiative this technology, nicknamed WISE technology, has been further applied to a large number of projects. Here, we highlight the data handling of other astronomical applications, such as VLT-MUSE and LOFAR, together with some non-astronomical applications such as the medical projects Lifelines and GLIMPS, the MONK handwritten text recognition system, and business applications, by amongst …
SPLAT-VO is a powerful graphical tool for displaying, comparing, modifying and analyzing astronomical spectra, as well as searching and retrieving spectra from services around the world using Virtual Observatory (VO) protocols and services. The development of SPLAT-VO started in 1999, as part of the Starlink StarJava initiative, sometime before that of the VO, so initial support for the VO was necessarily added once VO standards and services became available. Further developments were supported by the Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii until 2009. Since end of 2011 development of SPLAT-VO has been…
The U.S. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) is a product-driven organization that provides new scientific research capabilities to the astronomical community. Software development for the VAO follows a lightweight framework that guides development of science applications and infrastructure. Challenges to be overcome include distributed development teams, part-time efforts, and highly constrained schedules. We describe the process we followed to conquer these challenges while developing Iris, the VAO application for analysis of 1-D astronomical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Iris was…
Virtual Observatory (VO) is a data-intensively online astronomical research and education environment, which takes advantages of advanced information technologies to achieve seamless and global access to astronomical information. AstroCloud is a cyber-infrastructure for astronomy research initiated by Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) project, and also a kind of physical distributed platform which integrates lots of tasks such as telescope access proposal management, data archiving, data quality control, data release and open access, cloud based data processing and analysis. It consists o…
This paper presents a brief overview of how astronomy can help society in COVID-19 times, and the lessons that come from studying our place in the Universe and the global coordination of scientific and outreach activities. Several examples coordinated by the International Astronomical Union are presented.
The Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) standard has been a great boon to astronomy, allowing observatories, scientists and the public to exchange astronomical information easily. The FITS standard, however, is showing its age. Developed in the late 1970s, the FITS authors made a number of implementation choices that, while common at the time, are now seen to limit its utility with modern data. The authors of the FITS standard could not anticipate the challenges which we are facing today in astronomical computing. Difficulties we now face include, but are not limited to, addressing the need…
The Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ†1) in Spain is a young astronomical facility, conceived and developed from the beginning as a fully automated observatory with the main goal of optimizing the processes in the scientific and general operation of the Observatory. The OAJ has been particularly conceived for carrying out large sky surveys with two unprecedented telescopes of unusually large fields of view (FoV): the JST/T250, a 2.55m telescope of 3deg field of view, and the JAST/T80, an 83cm telescope of 2deg field of view. The most immediate objective of the two telescopes for the …
SVOM Science User Support Services at Chinese Science Center
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）
XRISM is an X-ray astronomical mission by the JAXA, NASA, ESA and other international participants, that is planned for launch in 2022 (Japanese fiscal year), to quickly restore high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of astrophysical objects. To enhance the scientific outputs of the mission, the Science Operations Team (SOT) is structured independently from the instrument teams and the Mission Operations Team. The responsibilities of the SOT are divided into four categories: 1) guest observer program and data distributions, 2) distribution of analysis software and the calibration database, 3) gues…
Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is a Chinese mega-science project to build the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. Its innovative engineering concept and design pave a new road to realize a huge single dish in the most effective way. FAST also represents Chinese contribution in the international efforts to build the square kilometer array (SKA). Being the most sensitive single dish radio telescope, FAST will enable astronomers to jump-start many science goals, for example, surveying the neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way and other galaxies, detecting f…
Over the next decade we will witness the development of a new infrastructure in support of data-intensive scientific research, which includes Astronomy. This new networked environment will offer both challenges and opportunities to our community and has the potential to transform the way data are described, curated and preserved. Based on the lessons learned during the development and management of the ADS, a case is made for adopting the emerging technologies and practices of the Semantic Web to support the way Astronomy research will be conducted. Examples of how small, incremental steps can…
India reached a major milestone in the area of space astronomy with the successful launch and post-launch operations of its first space observatory, AstroSat. The success of this space observatory and the lessons learned must be utilized effectively to enlarge the footprint of Indian space astronomy in the international scene. In response to a call for proposals by the Indian Space Research Organisation, a detailed proposal for a next generation UV-optical mission, the INdian Spectroscopic and Imaging Space Telescope (INSIST) was submitted. Combining a large focal area with a simple and effici…
NASA's WB-57 High Altitude Research Program provides a deployable, mobile, stratospheric platform for scientific research. Airborne platforms are of particular value for making coronal observations during total solar eclipses because of their ability both to follow the Moon's shadow and to get above most of the atmospheric airmass that can interfere with astronomical observations. We used the 2017 Aug 21 eclipse as a pathfinding mission for high-altitude airborne solar astronomy, using the existing high-speed visible-light and near-/mid-wave infrared imaging suite mounted in the WB-57 nose con…
Pictorial and Documentary Guide for Research, Teaching, and Education through Astronomy, Physics, and Mathematics Pursued under the Umbrella of the United Nations (1974-2024)
