35 research outputs found
Integrating Existing Software Toolkits into VO System
Virtual Observatory (VO) is a collection of interoperating data archives and
software tools. Taking advantages of the latest information technologies, it
aims to provide a data-intensively online research environment for astronomers
all around the world.
A large number of high-qualified astronomical software packages and libraries
are powerful and easy of use, and have been widely used by astronomers for many
years. Integrating those toolkits into the VO system is a necessary and
important task for the VO developers.
VO architecture greatly depends on Grid and Web services, consequently the
general VO integration route is "Java Ready - Grid Ready - VO Ready". In the
paper, we discuss the importance of VO integration for existing toolkits and
discuss the possible solutions. We introduce two efforts in the field from
China-VO project, "gImageMagick" and " Galactic abundance gradients statistical
research under grid environment". We also discuss what additional work should
be done to convert Grid service to VO service.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, will be published in SPIE 2004 conference
proceeding
Abundance gradients in the galactic disk
The relationship between abundances and orbital parameters for 235 F- and
G-type intermediate- and low- mass stars in the Galaxy is analyzed. We found
that there are abundance gradients in the thin disk in both radial and vertical
directions (-0.116 dex/kpc and -0.309 dex/kpc respectively). The gradients
appear to be flatter as the Galaxy evolves. No gradient is found in the thick
disk based on 18 thick disk stars. These results indicate that the ELS model is
mainly suitable for the evolution of the thin disk, while the SZ model is more
suitable for the evolution of the thick disk. Additionally, these results
indicate that in-fall and out-flow processes play important roles in the
chemical evolution of the Galaxy.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Published in Science in China (Series G) vol
46(1), 200
Big data research infrastructure collaboration toward the SKA (BRICSKA)
Astronomy is entering an era of mega-data that will render conventional
research methods as well as data and visual analytics tools ineffective. The Square
Kilometre Array (SKA) drives one of the most significant big data challenges of the next
decades. South Africa, China and India are partners in the global SKA collaboration
and host recently completed, next generation radio astronomy facilities. South Africa,
Brazil, China and India are involved in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST),
which represents a complementary mega-data challenge, vastly increasing the current
data volume of optical surveys, and providing critical multi-wavelength data set
for SKA analytics. Russian researchers are also engaged in radio astronomy and
multi-wavelength, multi-messenger projects driving increasing volumes of observational
data
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