Preparing and Releasing the La Silla QUEST Variability Survey Data

数据挖掘是进行科学研究的一种非常有效的方法。为探测超新星和柯伊伯带天体而进行的La Silla QUEST巡天（LSQ）可以重新利用，为南半球多变的天空提供非常有用的历史。在它6年的运行中，大约有一半的天空被平均成像200次（1000-2000次几百平方度），这使得它适合于从小时到年的变化时间尺度研究，直到微弱的可见星等。这些数据在当前和未来变率调查重叠的领域将特别有用，因为它们延长了时间基线。可获得的瞬变光源和持续可变光源的光曲线将通过互联网放入一个数据库，其中有预先计算的“变异性和位置的特征信息”。管道重新处理的图像数据也将提供。这些数据将提供给公民科学家，如美国变星观测者协会（AAVSO）， Zooniverse和世界望远镜，通过向AAVSO提供插件，让他们的软件访问LSQ光曲线。这笔拨款将为未来对恒星现象的时间变量研究保存来自拉西拉探索变量调查（LSQ）的宝贵数据。LSQ收集的数据将经过全面校准、清洗和再处理，以纠正由于CCD性能、明亮恒星的电荷效应和PSF引起的光度和天体测量误差。它将提供一组全球参考恒星，以改进差分光度法，并为具有精确误差条的持久光源提供光曲线。光曲线数据将可用于南半球天空任何位置的数据搜索以及邮票“电影”，可以访问原始文件，并向天文学界和公众开放。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Data mining is a very effective method for doing scientific studies. The La Silla QUEST Survey (LSQ ) made for the detection of Supernovae and Kuiper belt objects, can be repurposed to give a very useful history of the variable sky in the southern hemisphere. In its six years operation, roughly half the sky was imaged an average of 200 times (several hundred square degrees over 1000-2000 times), making it suitable for variability timescales studies from hours to years down to faint visibility magnitudes. The data will be particularly useful in the areas overlapped by current and future variability surveys by extending their time baseline. The available light curves for both transient and persistent variable sources will be placed in a database accessible via the Internet with precomputed "signatures information on the variability and position". The pipeline reprocessed imaged data will also be made available. This data will be available to the citizen scientists like the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), the Zooniverse, and the WorldWide Telescope by providing them with a plug-in to the AAVSO that lets their software access to LSQ light curves.This grant will preserve the valuable data from the La Silla Quest Variable Survey (LSQ) for future time variable studies of stellar phenomena. The data collected by the LSQ will be fully calibrated, cleaned, and reprocessed to correct for errors in photometry and astrometry caused by the CCD performance, charge effects for bright stars, and effects caused by the PSF. It will provide a global set of reference stars to improve differential photometry and provide light curves for persistent sources with accurate error bars. The light curve data will be made data searchable as well as in postage stamp "movies" for any location on the Southern Hemisphere sky with access to raw files and made accessible to the astronomical community and the public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.