Collaborative Research: The Palomar-QUEST Survey

AST-0407448 Djorgovski这项研究包括一个大型的，新的，数字天空调查，使用48英寸的望远镜在帕洛玛天文台，和一个新的，112-CCD相机为此目的而建造。Palomar-QUEST（PQ）调查主要是加州理工学院和耶鲁大学之间的合作，其他几个团体参与了各个方面。 最终目标是覆盖大约15，000平方度，通过叠加达到斯隆数字巡天的两倍深度，但这次巡天的主要区别特征是它的天气性质，重复覆盖天空的相同区域，时间尺度从几天到几年不等。 这项调查使广泛的科学，其中大部分不是由目前的调查人员完成，而是由社区的其他人完成，一旦数据完全可用。 具体项目包括大型类星体调查，包括寻找非常高的红移和引力透镜类星体，寻找超新星，以及研究伽马射线爆发余辉。 这项调查将利用信息技术的最新进展，并将与正在形成的国家虚拟观测站密切合作，以确保有效利用和传播预期的大量数据集，并对其进行彻底的科学利用。 数据密集型科学的问题在科学、工业和社会的许多领域都很常见，因此任何解决方案都有望广泛适用，并增加国家网络基础设施。

AST-0407448DjorgovskiThis research consists of a large, new, digital sky survey, using the 48-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory, and a new, 112-CCD camera constructed for this purpose. The Palomar-QUEST (PQ) survey is a collaboration between Caltech and Yale primarily, with several other groups involved in various aspects. The ultimate goal is to cover about 15,000 square degrees, reaching to a depth twice that of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by coadding, but the key distinguishing characteristic of this survey is its synoptic nature, covering the same regions of the sky repeatedly, on time scales ranging from days to years. This survey enables a broad range of science, much of it to be accomplished not by the current investigators but by the rest of the community, once the data are fully available. Specific projects include a large quasar survey, including searches for very high redshift and gravitationally lensed quasars, a search for supernovae, and a study of gamma ray burst afterglows. The survey will draw on the latest advances in information technology, and will be developed in close collaboration with the emerging National Virtual Observatory, so as to assure effective use and dissemination of the massive data sets expected, and their thorough scientific exploitation. The problems of data intensive science are common to many fields of science, industry, and society, so any solutions are expected to be broadly applicable, and to add to the national cyber-infrastructure.