Overview of the virtual observatory course by Juan de Dios Santander Vela, and part of the MTAF (Métodos y Técnicas Avanzadas en Física, Advanced Methods and Techniques in Physics) Master at the University of Granada (UGR).
Astrophysical records Aurignacian Lunar Calendar / diagram, drawing after Marshack, A. 1970; Notation dans les Gravures du Paléolithique Supérieur, Bordeaux, Delmas / Don’s Maps
Astrophysical records In astrophysics, we record the EM radiation from distant objects, in order to: understand the processes that generated the EM radiation understand the processes that affect the received EM radiation
Many different records Astrophysical records are different by means of their EM/energy range (long vs. short-λ radio, IR, optical, UV, X-Ray, ɣ-Ray) Product type (images, time series, spectra, spectral cube, image cube, combinations…) Instrument setup
Many different records Many, many things can change Coordinate system, physical measurement, physical support… And that’s just the observation generation!
FITS: the Flexible Image Transport System Header + Table data Special case: Image data Header: Keyword-value pairs 2-level hierarchies (Main HDU + Extensions) NASA Standard + IAU Recommendation
Curse of Flexibility FITS can accommodate data from any instrument/ telescope but the price is semantics can be very different from instrument to instrument initially solved through manuals for each instrument this doesn’t scale for multi-λ astronomy
Astronomical Catalogues Robert Grant: Catalogue of 6415 stars for the epoch 1870. Glasgow: James MacLehose & Sons, 1883. Pages 472-473, beginning of the catalogue. Sp Coll MacLehose f8.
Astronomical Catalogues Collections of astronomical object properties Typically, the result of many observations, or exhaustive treatment of all object in a observation Main index types Spatial Temporal Object template
References & Links FITS Standard Document FITS World Coordinate System FITS Dictionaries Standard for Documentation of Astronomical Catalogues UCD List