Talk given at the National Academy of Sciences about the current astronomical landscape and some of the issues the virtual observatory is facing

1. New Challenges in Astronomy Dr Alberto Conti
Space Telescope Science

2. 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.

3. 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 VAO Operations
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Start date and Probable Duration

4. 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 VAO Operations
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Start date and Probable Duration

5. Astronomy is changing
Growth over 25
years is a factor of
30 in glass, 3000 in
pixels
Detectors follow
Moore’s Law
Total data doubles
every year

6. Computer
Biology Economics
Science
Medicine Government Astronomy
Massive amounts
of information

7. e-S
Computer
Science
Biology Economics
c ien
Medicine Government ce
Astronomy
Massive amounts
of information

8. e-S
Computer
Science
Biology Economics
c ien
Medicine Government ce
Astronomy
Massive amounts
of information

9. ASTRONOMY IS SPECIAL!
No commercial value
Ideal testbed for
complex algorithms
Interesting problems
Plenty of data, plenty
of dimensions!

10. ADAPT OR PERISH
Terraserver, Google Maps,
Google Earth & Microsoft
Virtual Earth have
revolutionized the way we
look at our planet
Microsoft’s World Wide
Telescope & GoogleSky
are starting to
revolutionize the way we
look at our universe

11. Data Volume
Time
New Science Paradigm for Astronomy

12. st
Pa
New Science Paradigm:
First Iteration
Few Data Standards, Some Protocols
Data Center A
Data Center B
Observatory X
Data Center C
Observatory Y

13. st
Pa
New Science Paradigm:
First Iteration
Few Data Standards, Some Protocols
Observations of small, carefully
selected samples of objects in a
narrow wavelength band

14. The Virtual Observatory

15. The Virtual Observatory
2001
NVO senior personnel:
Charles Alcock, University of Pennsylvania Kirk Borne, Astronomical Data Center/Raytheon
Tim Cornwell, NSF NaEonal Radio Astronomy Observatory David De Young, NSF NaEonal
OpEcal Astronomy Observatory Giuseppina Fabbiano, Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory Alyssa Goodman, Harvard University Jim Gray, Microso. Research Robert
Hanisch, Space Telescope Science InsEtute George Helou, NASA Infrared Processing and
Analysis Center Stephen Kent, Fermilab Carl Kesselman, University of Southern California
Miron Livny, University of Wisconsin, Madison Carol Lonsdale, NASA Infrared Processing
and Analysis Center Tom McGlynn, GSFC/HEASARC/USRA Andrew Moore, Carnegie Mellon
University Reagan Moore, San Diego Supercomputer Center/UCSD Jeff Pier, United States
Naval Observatory, Flagstaff StaEon Ray Plante, University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign
Thomas Prince, California InsEtute of Technology Ethan Schreier, Johns Hopkins University/
STScI Nicholas White, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Roy Williams, California InsEtute
of Technology

16. The Virtual Observatory
2001

17. The Virtual Observatory
2001 ................. 2008 (2010)

18. The Virtual Observatory
2001 ................. 2008 (2010)

19. 2001 ................. 2008 (2010)
and meanwhile...
+

21. New Science Paradigm:
t
n
se
e
Second Iteration
Pr
Ad-hoc Data Standards, Ad-hoc Protocols
Simple Mining Tools
Mission A
Mission B
Observatory X
Mission C
Observatory Y

22. New Science Paradigm:
t
n
se
e
Second Iteration
Pr
Ad-hoc Data Standards, Ad-hoc Protocols
Simple Mining Tools
Mission A
Mission B
Observatory X
Mission C
Observatory Y

23. New Science Paradigm:
t
n
se
e
Second Iteration
Pr

24. New Science Paradigm:
t
n
se
e
Second Iteration
Pr
“Transition may be chaotic”- Alex Szalay
“Astronomical data are now accessible
uniformly from federated, distributed,
heterogeneous sources, i.e the Virtual
Observatory.” - Kirk Borne

25. ?
tu
re
New Science Paradigm:
“Science 2.0”
Fu
Individual
Users
MAST @ STScI
Observatories
Kitchen Sink
NASA Data Centers

26. ?
tu
re
New Science Paradigm:
“Science 2.0”
Fu
Standards
Individual Metadata
Users
MAST @ STScI
Data Discovery
Data Association
Observatories
Data Dissemination
Kitchen Sink
NASA Data Centers
Enable New
Science

27. 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

28. Technological Challenges
• Infrastructure not available for intensive
data mining
• Solutions for handling large datasets are
lacking
• Cloud hosting solutions still expensive
‣ Hubble Archive on Amazon $500K+/yr
• Unclear which commercial solutions can fit
science needs

29. • We must partner with other academic
disciplines: Computer Science, Statistics,
Applied Mathematics
• 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!)