24,873 research outputs found
First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program
The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is a three-layered
imaging survey aimed at addressing some of the most outstanding questions in
astronomy today, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The
survey has been awarded 300 nights of observing time at the Subaru Telescope
and it started in March 2014. This paper presents the first public data release
of HSC-SSP. This release includes data taken in the first 1.7 years of
observations (61.5 nights) and each of the Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep layers
covers about 108, 26, and 4 square degrees down to depths of i~26.4, ~26.5, and
~27.0 mag, respectively (5sigma for point sources). All the layers are observed
in five broad bands (grizy), and the Deep and UltraDeep layers are observed in
narrow bands as well. We achieve an impressive image quality of 0.6 arcsec in
the i-band in the Wide layer. We show that we achieve 1-2 per cent PSF
photometry (rms) both internally and externally (against Pan-STARRS1), and ~10
mas and 40 mas internal and external astrometric accuracy, respectively. Both
the calibrated images and catalogs are made available to the community through
dedicated user interfaces and database servers. In addition to the pipeline
products, we also provide value-added products such as photometric redshifts
and a collection of public spectroscopic redshifts. Detailed descriptions of
all the data can be found online. The data release website is
https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, 7 tables, moderate revision, accepted for
publication in PAS
Enhanced Management of Personal Astronomical Data with FITSManager
Although the roles of data centers and computing centers are becoming more
and more important, and on-line research is becoming the mainstream for
astronomy, individual research based on locally hosted data is still very
common. With the increase of personal storage capacity, it is easy to find
hundreds to thousands of FITS files in the personal computer of an
astrophysicist. Because Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) is a
professional data format initiated by astronomers and used mainly in the small
community, data management toolkits for FITS files are very few. Astronomers
need a powerful tool to help them manage their local astronomical data.
Although Virtual Observatory (VO) is a network oriented astronomical research
environment, its applications and related technologies provide useful solutions
to enhance the management and utilization of astronomical data hosted in an
astronomer's personal computer. FITSManager is such a tool to provide
astronomers an efficient management and utilization of their local data,
bringing VO to astronomers in a seamless and transparent way. FITSManager
provides fruitful functions for FITS file management, like thumbnail, preview,
type dependent icons, header keyword indexing and search, collaborated working
with other tools and online services, and so on. The development of the
FITSManager is an effort to fill the gap between management and analysis of
astronomical data.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in New Astronom
The Astro-WISE approach to quality control for astronomical data
We present a novel approach to quality control during the processing of
astronomical data. Quality control in the Astro-WISE Information System is
integral to all aspects of data handing and provides transparent access to
quality estimators for all stages of data reduction from the raw image to the
final catalog. The implementation of quality control mechanisms relies on the
core features in this Astro-WISE Environment (AWE): an object-oriented
framework, full data lineage, and both forward and backward chaining. Quality
control information can be accessed via the command-line awe-prompt and the
web-based Quality-WISE service. The quality control system is described and
qualified using archive data from the 8-CCD Wide Field Imager (WFI) instrument
(http://www.eso.org/lasilla/instruments/wfi/) on the 2.2-m MPG/ESO telescope at
La Silla and (pre-)survey data from the 32-CCD OmegaCAM instrument
(http://www.astro-wise.org/~omegacam/) on the VST telescope at Paranal.Comment: Accepted for publication in topical issue of Experimental Astronomy
on Astro-WISE information syste
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