From exoplanets to galaxy clusters: science with Astro-WISE

Astronomical wide-field imaging surveys of unprecedented volume and depth have started recently or will start in the near future. Their science goals reflect the most compelling issues in their fields such as the nature of dark matter, dark energy, the origin of galaxies and their mysterious morphological transformations and the uniqueness of our solar planetary system. At the workshop detailed science objectives will be discussed and confronted with the technicalities required to achieve them.

The processing, analysis, calibration and astrophysical modeling of such large data volumes by distributed communities imply complex challenges in the fields of information technology and project management. At an abstract level these challenges can be very similar in other sciences. This motivates to initiate multi-disciplinary collaborations developing solutions and sharing information systems.

This international workshop brings together astronomers and information technology experts involved in large astronomical imaging surveys. The astronomical surveys are either on-going or will start in 2008. At the workshop the astronomical science talks will be programmed in tandem with talks on information-technology aspects relevant for that particular science topic. Attention will also be given to recent multi-disciplinary developments with Astro-WISE. 

The astronomical surveys range from radio to infrared in wavelength and from exoplanets to galaxy clusters in astrophysical content. Surveys and studies presented and discussed at the workshop include:

·    3Π survey with Pan-STARRS

·    Kilo Degree Survey (KIDS) and OmegaCAM Guaranteed Time projects at the optical VLT Survey Telescope

·    HST/ACS Coma Legacy Survey

·    ULTRAVISTA and VIKING surveys with the VISTA near-infrared telescope

·    LOFAR galaxy surveys in the radio

·    Exoplanet transit surveys and various galaxy cluster surveys at the WFI@ESO/MPG 2.2m telescope

·    The WINGS survey of galaxy clusters

·    The OmegaWHITE compact binary survey

·    Combined UKIDDS/SDSS studies

The technical talks will include presentations on:   

·    Scalable and federated archiving and processing ·    Virtual Observatory ·    Astrometric and photometric calibration in optical and infrared ·    PSF homogenization ·    Photometric redshift estimation ·    Difference imaging and variability estimation ·    Galaxy surface photometry