What are the challenges facing astronomy? How can astronomy cope with the changing landscape for both data and collaborations?
Here I tried to frame the problem and give some possible answers to what astronomers and others needs to address.
1. New Frontiers in Astronomy Dr Alberto Conti
Space Telescope Science Institute
2. • Visible – Hubble Space Telescope
• Gamma rays - Compton Gamma Ray Obs.
• X-rays - Chandra X-ray Observatory
April 2006
• Infrared - Spitzer Space Telescope
3. Optical & UV
Data Archive
Optimize the science from community-led
astrophysics missions and projects.
Develop, nurture, and share innovations in
space astronomy science operations.
Collaborate on the next generation of space
astrophysics programs.
4. Astronomy Project Timeline
A Partial List of Key Astrophysics Facilities
Ares V Flights
Beyond Einstein
INTEGRAL WISE JWST
SWIFT SIM? TPF?
WMAP Herschel - Planck
Kepler
GLAST
GALEX
FUSE
XMM
Chandra
Spitzer
HST
SOFIA
SDSS
VLT & Gemini Observatories
PANSTARRS
LSST
TMT
ALMA
NVO Development NVO Operations
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Start date and Probable Duration
5. Astronomy Project Timeline
STScI Project and Mission Activity
Ares V Flights
Beyond Einstein
INTEGRAL WISE JWST
SWIFT SIM? TPF?
WMAP Herschel - Planck
Kepler
GLAST
GALEX
FUSE
XMM
Chandra
Spitzer
HST
SOFIA
SDSS
VLT & Gemini Observatories
PANSTARRS
LSST
TMT
ALMA
NVO Development NVO Operations
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Start date and Probable Duration
6. Space is big!
For one picture you need a
2 Trillion pixels camera!
Challenges for the Future
7. Monochrome : 4 Terabytes
or
5% of the Library of Congress
Challenges for the Future
8. Color: 100 Terabytes
or
the 21% more than the entire
Library of Congress
Challenges for the Future
9. Time: 10 Petabytes
or
120 times the entire
Library of Congress
Challenges for the Future
10. New analysis & visualization tools are required
Challenges for the Future
11. Astronomy is changing
Detectors follow
Moore’s Law
Total data doubles
every year
Growth over 25
years is a factor of
30 in glass, 3000 in
pixels
12. Computer
Biology Economics
Science
Medicine Government Astronomy
Massive amounts
of information
13. e-S
Computer
Science
Biology Economics
c ien
Medicine c
Government
e
Astronomy
Massive amounts
of information
14. Data Volume
Time
New Science Paradigm for Astronomy
15. New Paradigm Issues
• Moving data around is hard
• Extracting knowledge is hard
• Complex, difficult to use
• Hard for user to publish their own data
• Many distributed services are unreliable
16. ASTRONOMY IS SPECIAL!
No commercial value
Ideal testbed for
complex algorithms
Interesting problems
Plenty of data
17. ADAPT OR PERISH
Google Earth, Microsoft
Virtual Earth have
revolutionized the way
we look at our planet
We need a new
synergistic approach to
the challenge of bringing
the universe to our
desktops
18. New Science Paradigm:
First Iteration
Few Data Standards, Some Protocols
Mission A
Mission B
Observatory X
Mission C
Observatory Y
19. New Science Paradigm:
Second Iteration
Data Standards, Protocols
Simple Mining Tools
Mission A
Metadata Mission B
Observatory X
Mission C
Observatory Y
20. New Science Paradigm:
Science 2.0
Individual
Users
MAST @ STScI
Intʼl Data Centers
Kitchen Sink
NASA Data Centers
21. Global Challenges
• Reduce obstacles to Capturing, Organizing,
Summarizing, Analyzing,Visualizing, and Curating
• Consider data and algorithms as “the product”
• Adopt semantic technologiesclustering and
automated metadata tagging,
to enable
mining
• Transition to the new astronomy
• Sociological issues
22. Technological Challenges
• Infrastructure not available for intensive
data mining
• Solutions for handling large datasets are
lacking
• Cloud hosting solutions still expensive
• Unclear if commercial solutions can fit
science needs
23. • We must partner with other academic
disciplines: Computer Science, Statistics, ...
• We must leverage partnerships with
industry interested in enabling Science 2.0
• We must learn to be humble and ask for
help
• We must remember that we have the
greatest datasets in the world (universe
really!)