1. 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

2. 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 m 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

3. 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

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

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

6. 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

7. 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:
And it’s all happening now …
July 19, 2004
P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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
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

11. P. Padovani, NEON Archive School
The AVO Prototype
Evolution of Aladin (Centre de Donnés astronomiques de Strasbourg [CDS])
Downloadable Java application (
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/ )
ST-ECF/ESO Press release May 28
July 19, 2004
P. Padovani, NEON Archive School

12. 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