66 research outputs found
WorldWide Telescope in Research and Education
The WorldWide Telescope computer program, released to researchers and the
public as a free resource in 2008 by Microsoft Research, has changed the way
the ever-growing Universe of online astronomical data is viewed and understood.
The WWT program can be thought of as a scriptable, interactive, richly visual
browser of the multi-wavelength Sky as we see it from Earth, and of the
Universe as we would travel within it. In its web API format, WWT is being used
as a service to display professional research data. In its desktop format, WWT
works in concert (thanks to SAMP and other IVOA standards) with more
traditional research applications such as ds9, Aladin and TOPCAT. The WWT
Ambassadors Program (founded in 2009) recruits and trains
astrophysically-literate volunteers (including retirees) who use WWT as a
teaching tool in online, classroom, and informal educational settings. Early
quantitative studies of WWTA indicate that student experiences with WWT enhance
science learning dramatically. Thanks to the wealth of data it can access, and
the growing number of services to which it connects, WWT is now a key linking
technology in the Seamless Astronomy environment we seek to offer researchers,
teachers, and students alike.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, describes software available at
worldwidetelescope.or
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The ADS All-Sky Survey
The ADS All-Sky Survey (ADSASS) is an ongoing effort aimed at turning the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS), widely known for its unrivaled value as a literature resource for astronomers, into a data resource. The ADS is not a data repository per se, but it implicitly contains valuable holdings of astronomical data, in the form of images, tables and object references contained within articles. The objective of the ADSASS effort is to extract these data and make them discoverable and available through existing data viewers. The resulting ADSASS data layer promises to greatly enhance workflows and enable new research by tying astronomical literature and data assets into one resource.Astronom
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How Do Astronomers Share Data? Reliability and Persistence of Datasets Linked in AAS Publications and a Qualitative Study of Data Practices among US Astronomers
We analyze data sharing practices of astronomers over the past fifteen years. An analysis of URL links embedded in papers published by the American Astronomical Society reveals that the total number of links included in the literature rose dramatically from 1997 until 2005, when it leveled off at around 1500 per year. The analysis also shows that the availability of linked material decays with time: in 2011, 44% of links published a decade earlier, in 2001, were broken. A rough analysis of link types reveals that links to data hosted on astronomers' personal websites become unreachable much faster than links to datasets on curated institutional sites. To gauge astronomers' current data sharing practices and preferences further, we performed in-depth interviews with 12 scientists and online surveys with 173 scientists, all at a large astrophysical research institute in the United States: the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Cambridge, MA. Both the in-depth interviews and the online survey indicate that, in principle, there is no philosophical objection to data-sharing among astronomers at this institution. Key reasons that more data are not presently shared more efficiently in astronomy include: the difficulty of sharing large data sets; over reliance on non-robust, non-reproducible mechanisms for sharing data (e.g. emailing it); unfamiliarity with options that make data-sharing easier (faster) and/or more robust; and, lastly, a sense that other researchers would not want the data to be shared. We conclude with a short discussion of a new effort to implement an easy-to-use, robust, system for data sharing in astronomy, at theastrodata.org, and we analyze the uptake of that system to-date
The Infrared Extinction Law at Extreme Depth in a Dark Cloud Core
We combined sensitive near-infrared data obtained with ground-based imagers
on the ESO NTT and VLT telescopes with space mid-infrared data acquired with
the IRAC imager on the Spitzer Space Telescope to calculate the extinction law
A_\lambda/A_K as a function of \lambda between 1.25 and 7.76 micron to an
unprecedented depth in Barnard 59, a star forming, dense core located in the
Pipe Nebula. The ratios A_\lambda/A_K were calculated from the slopes of the
distributions of sources in color-color diagrams \lambda-K vs. H-K. The
distributions in the color-color diagrams are fit well with single slopes to
extinction levels of A_K ~ 7 (A_V ~ 59 mag). Consequently, there appears to be
no significant variation of the extinction law with depth through the B59 line
of sight. However, when slopes are translated into the relative extinction
coefficients A_\lambda/A_K, we find an extinction law which departs from the
simple extrapolation of the near-infrared power law extinction curve, and
agrees more closely with a dust extinction model for a cloud with a total to
selective absorption R_V=5.5 and a grain size distribution favoring larger
grains than those in the diffuse ISM. Thus, the difference we observe could be
possibly due to the effect of grain growth in denser regions. Finally, the
slopes in our diagrams are somewhat less steep than those from the study of
Indebetouw et al. (2005) for clouds with lower column densities, and this
indicates that the extinction law between 3 and 8 micron might vary slightly as
a function of environment.Comment: 22 pages manuscript, 4 figures (2 multipart), 1 tabl
Recommended from our members
WorldWide Telescope in Research and Education
The WorldWide Telescope computer program, released to researchers and the public as a free resource in 2008 by Microsoft Research, has changed the way the ever-growing Universe of online astronomical data is viewed and understood. The WWT program can be thought of as a scriptable, interactive, richly visual browser of the multi-wavelength Sky as we see it from Earth, and of the Universe as we would travel within it. In its web API format, WWT is being used as a service to display professional research data. In its desktop format, WWT works in concert (thanks to SAMP and other IVOA standards) with more traditional research applications such as ds9, Aladin and TOPCAT. The WWT Ambassadors Program (founded in 2009) recruits and trains astrophysically-literate volunteers (including retirees) who use WWT as a teaching tool in online, classroom, and informal educational settings. Early quantitative studies of WWTA indicate that student experiences with WWT enhance science learning dramatically. Thanks to the wealth of data it can access, and the growing number of services to which it connects, WWT is now a key linking technology in the Seamless Astronomy environment we seek to offer researchers, teachers, and students alike.Astronom
FLAMINGOS Spectroscopy of New Low-Mass Members of the Young Cluster IC 348
We present spectroscopy of candidate stellar and substellar members of the
young cluster IC 348. Using the Florida Multi-Object Imaging Near-Infrared
Grism Observational Spectrometer with the 4 meter telescope at Kitt Peak
National Observatory, we have obtained multi-object moderate-resolution
(R=1000) J- and H-band spectra of 66 infrared sources (H=12-17) toward IC 348,
many of which are difficult to observe spectroscopically at optical wavelengths
(I>20) because they are highly reddened and/or intrinsically cool and red. We
have also observed 19 known cluster members that have optical spectral types
available from previous work. By using these latter sources as the spectral
classification standards, we have identified 14 new members of the cluster with
types of M2-M6 in the sample of 66 new objects. Two additional objects exhibit
types of >M8.5, but cannot be conclusively classified as either field dwarfs or
cluster members with available data. We have estimated extinctions,
luminosities, and effective temperatures for these 16 M-type objects, placed
them on the H-R diagram, and used the evolutionary models of Chabrier & Baraffe
to estimate their masses. If the two candidates at >M8.5 are indeed members,
they should be among the least massive known brown dwarfs in IC 348
(M/M_sun~0.01).Comment: 15 pages, The Astrophysical Journal, 2004, v618 (January 10
Unproceedings of the Fourth .Astronomy Conference (.Astronomy 4), Heidelberg, Germany, July 9-11 2012
The goal of the .Astronomy conference series is to bring together
astronomers, educators, developers and others interested in using the Internet
as a medium for astronomy. Attendance at the event is limited to approximately
50 participants, and days are split into mornings of scheduled talks, followed
by 'unconference' afternoons, where sessions are defined by participants during
the course of the event. Participants in unconference sessions are discouraged
from formal presentations, with discussion, workshop-style formats or informal
practical tutorials encouraged. The conference also designates one day as a
'hack day', in which attendees collaborate in groups on day-long projects for
presentation the following morning. These hacks are often a way of
concentrating effort, learning new skills, and exploring ideas in a practical
fashion. The emphasis on informal, focused interaction makes recording
proceedings more difficult than for a normal meeting. While the first
.Astronomy conference is preserved formally in a book, more recent iterations
are not documented. We therefore, in the spirit of .Astronomy, report
'unproceedings' from .Astronomy 4, which was held in Heidelberg in July 2012.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, .Astronomy 4, #dotastr
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