Moving towards the Virtual Observatory Paolo Padovani, ST-ECF/ESO AVO Science Manager The Virtual Observatory (VO) Europe and the VO: the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory AVO demo July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

Astronomy in the XXI century Radical changes are needed! Huge surveys: 100M sources at <3k spectra/night  >100 yr! Ever fainter sources: surpassed the identification limits of 8 - 10m telescopes (Rmag ≈ 25) Huge data collections: downloading Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR2 (~ 1/3 of total) images (5 Tb)  ~ 1 yr at 200 kb/s (ESO’s speed); catalogs (1.4 Tb)  ~ 3 months. On DVDs  ~ 1,000 of them. And analysis?? (similar size for MACHO, 2MASS etc …) Ever increasing amount of data July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

P. Padovani, NEON Archive School R ~ 25.5, VLT/FORS2, texp ~ 2.5 hrs (Szokoly et al. 2004) July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

Astronomical Data Explosion ~ 100 Gb/night P. Quinn July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility holdings  July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

P. Padovani, NEON Archive School The solution? Data mining to increase observing efficiency  intelligent pre-selection Statistical identification to diminish need for a spectrum  multi-wavelength, multi-parameter analysis In-situ analysis to avoid download Easy and smart access to all archives and data providers July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

The name: Virtual Observatory An innovative, evolving system, which takes advantage of astronomical data explosion It will allow users to interrogate multiple data centres in a seamless and transparent way and to utilize at best astronomical data Data analysis tools and models will be made more accessible It will allow new science by moving Astronomy beyond era of “classical” identification by combining all available information Good communication  common language! Adoption and definition of VO standards and protocols within the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA: http://ivoa.net) And it’s all happening now … July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

International Virtual Observatory Alliance Mission To facilitate the international coordination and collaboration necessary for the development and deployment of the tools, systems and organizational structures necessary to enable the international utilization of astronomical archives as an integrated and interoperating virtual observatory SVO July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

P. Padovani, NEON Archive School So what …? The VO will make life much easier for all astronomers, even those not involved with colossal surveys, huge teams, and Tb of data! Web: all documents of the world inside your computer VO: all astronomical databases in the world inside your computer Concrete example: Find all the observations of a given source available in all astronomical archives in a given wavelength range Tell me which ones are in raw or processed form Allow me to retrieve them If raw, give me access to the tools to reduce them on-the-fly Very time consuming, if at all possible, at present July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

Virtual Observatory in Europe AVO Project started November 2001 Three-year, 5 M€, Phase A project, funded by the European Commission (FP5) and six organizations: ESO, ESA, AstroGrid, CNRS (CDS, TERAPIX), University Louis Pasteur, JBO Manpower: ~ 17 FTEs/yr total, 50/50 EC and partners Next step: EURO-VO, implementation phase (some EC funding secured, need more) AVO Home Page at http://www.euro-vo.org Science Working Group established two years ago to provide scientific advice to AVO Project; implementation of selected science cases through demonstrations July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

P. Padovani, NEON Archive School The AVO Prototype Evolution of Aladin (Centre de Donnés astronomiques de Strasbourg [CDS]) Downloadable Java application (http://www.euro-vo.org/twiki/bin/view/Avo/SwgDownload) Extensible toolset with plug-ins which allows easy access to images, spectra, catalogues, with overlays, plotting facilities, and a cross-correlation utility Still prototype but also research tool: first refereed, VO-based scientific paper “Discovery of optically faint obscured quasars with Virtual Observatory tools”, P. Padovani et al., A&A, in press (astro-ph/0406056) ST-ECF/ESO Press release May 28 July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

P. Padovani, NEON Archive School Summary The Virtual Observatory is happening, because it has to! Handling and manipulating astronomical data and tools residing at various locations across the world will be made much easier than it is now Everybody will benefit! Tools are available now to help you with your work And now, on to the demo! July 19, 2004 P. Padovani, NEON Archive School