First images with the VLT Survey Telescope - VST and 268 megapixel OmegaCAM start work
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST), the latest addition to ESO's Paranal Observatory, has made its first release of impressive images of the southern sky.
The VST is a state-of-the-art 2.6-metre telescope, with the huge 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart, which has been designed under Dutch (Leiden/Groningen) leadership to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality.
Astro-WISE system
The data volume produced by OmegaCAM will be very large. Every year about 30 Terabyte of raw data will flow from Paranal to processing datacenters in Europe. A consortium led by OmegaCEN at the University of Groningen has developed a new advanced information system containing a grid of compute clusters, archives and databases, the Astro-WISE system.
Innovation
This system will facilitate processing and analysis of the very large dataflow. Astro-WISE stores automatically not only the end-products but also all intermediate steps in processing and analysis. Everything can be accessed via the internet. 'The complex path of analysis that leads to a stunning result is just as important as the result itself. It forms the proof of the result. An astronomer can share in real-time his analysis in full detail with every colleague in the world via Astro-WISE. One can also take the (intermediate) result of a colleague as a starting point for further analysis. That is called E-Science, that is the innovation that Astro-WISE brings,' says Prof Edwin Valentijn, head of OmegaCEN .
Contact
Edwin Valentijn, Kapteyn Instituut, University of Groningen, tel: 050-363 4011, valentyn astro.rug.nl of Gijs Verdoes Kleijn, Kapteyn Instituut, University of Groningen, tel: 050-363 8326, verdoes astro.rug.nl
| Last modified: | 25 January 2022 2.47 p.m. |
More news
-
13 May 2024
‘The colourful cells of petals never get boring!’
Most people will enjoy colours in nature. However, the interest of evolutionary biologist Casper van der Kooi goes much further: he studies how flowers, birds, butterflies, and beetles get their colours. He also studies how these colours are used...
-
13 May 2024
Trapping molecules
In his laboratory, physicist Steven Hoekstra is building an experimental set-up made of two parts: one that produces barium fluoride molecules, and a second part that traps the molecules and brings them to an almost complete standstill so they can...
-
07 May 2024
Lecture with soon to be Honorary Doctor Gerrit Hiemstra on May 24
In celebration of his honorary doctorate, FSE has invited Hiemstra to give a lecture entitled ‘Science, let's talk about it’ on the morning of 24 May