diff --git a/content/newsletter/011.md b/content/newsletter/011.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..72f8795 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/newsletter/011.md @@ -0,0 +1,331 @@ +--- +title: "IVOA Newsletter - October 2013" +date: 2013-10-01T00:01:00+02:00 +tags: +- news +--- + +[Subscribe](http://www.ivoa.net/mailman/listinfo/ivoa-news) | [Newsletter archives](http://www.ivoa.net/newsletter/) | [Write to the editors](mailto:ivoa-news-editors@ivoa.net) +**IVOA Newsletter Editors:** Mark G. Allen, Deborah Baines, Sarah Emery Bunn, +Chenzou Cui, Mark Taylor, & Ivan Zolotukhin. + +**The International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) was formed in June 2002 +with a mission to facilitate the international coordination and collaboration +necessary for the development and deployment of the tools, systems and +organizational structures necessary to enable the international utilization of +astronomical archives as an integrated and interoperating virtual observatory. +The IVOA now comprises 20 VO programs from Argentina, Armenia, Australia, +Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, +Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States +and an inter-governmental organization (ESA). Membership is open to other +national and international programs according to the +[IVOA Guidelines for Participation](http://ivoa.net/Documents/latest/IVOAParticipation.html). +You can read more about the IVOA and what we do at +.** + +### What is the VO? + +The Virtual Observatory (VO) aims to provide a research environment that will +open up new possibilities for scientific research based on data discovery, +efficient data access, and interoperability. The vision is of global astronomy +archives connected via the VO to form a multiwavelength digital sky that can be +searched, visualized, and analyzed in new and innovative ways. VO projects +worldwide working toward this vision are already providing science capabilities +with new tools and services. This newsletter, aimed at astronomers, highlights +VO tools and technologies for doing astronomy research, recent papers, and +upcoming events. + +--- + +# IVOA news + +{{< side-image image="SAcubed_logo.png" position="left" >}} + +### South Africa's Astronomical Agreement for Big Data + +The South African National Research Foundation’s three astronomical facilities +have formed the [South African Astroinformatics Alliance](http://www.sa3.ac.za/) +(SA3 pronounced “SA cubed”), which serves as a virtual observatory for the +country. South Africa hosts new and upcoming observational facilities that will +generate huge amounts of data including the Southern African Large Telescope +(SALT), the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) and a large part of the SKA. See +[the SA3 announcement](http://www.saao.ac.za/sa-astroinformatics-alliance-launched/) +of their "Astronomical agreement signed for big data!". SA3 is a member of the +IVOA since October 2012. + +{{}} + +{{< side-image image="logo-euhoumw-transp.png" position="right" >}} + +### News from VObs.it: Remote Telescope networks for schools: toward publishing educational data in VO + +The [European Hands-On-Universe Milky Way](http://euhou.obspm.fr/public/) +(EUHOUMW) is an educational project funded by the European Commission to bring +real radio observations into classrooms, where participating students use five +remotely controlled educational radio telescopes. EUHOUMW is now evaluating how +to publish the collected radio data in VO format to enable data sharing (e.g. +with the Italian optical robotic telescope network), to simplify data management +of multi-classroom projects, and to more easily incorporate professional data in +education projects. An unofficial kick-off of the collaboration between EUHOUMW +and VO was held in Paris, September 5-6, 2013. The topics being addressed +included; how to tag education data alongside professional data in the VO, and +the use of "educationalized" VO tools (following +[educational use of Aladin and Stellarium](http://wwwas.oats.inaf.it/aidawp5/eng_download.html?fsize=medium)). +Publishing, archiving, and maintaining educational data are topics for the +September 2013 IVOA Interoperability and ADASS meetings. + +{{}} + +--- + +# VO applications and implementation highlights + +{{< side-image image="alma-vo-screenshot.png" thumbnail="alma-vo-screenshot_thum.png" position="right" >}} + +### ALMA VO Service + +The Japanese Virtual Observatory (JVO) and ALMA-J teams have opened a VO-based +data distribution system for ALMA data cubes. The aim is to help users access +public ALMA data without huge data transfers. Two user applications, ALMAWebQL +and Vissage, were developed for this system. ALMAWebQL is a component of the JVO +Portal and enables the user to visualize and make cut-outs of ALMA data cubes in +a web browser, while Vissage is a desktop application to visualize downloaded +ALMA data cubes in more detail. + +**More Information:** + +{{}} + +{{< side-image image="TheoSSA.png" thumbnail="TheoSSA_thumb.png" position="" >}} + +### TheoSSA + +The TheoSSA (Theoretical Stellar Spectra Access) service provides access to +synthetic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) that may be calculated by any +model-atmosphere code. The database contains pre-calculated SEDs over a wide +range of effective temperature, surface gravity, and elemental composition. The +related [TMAW tool](http://astro.uni-tuebingen.de/~TMAW) allows the calculation +of individual SEDs that presently can consider opacities of the elements H, He, +C, N, O, Ne, Na, and Mg. + +**More Information:** + +{{}} + +{{< side-image image="TIRO.png" thumbnail="TIRO_thumb.png" position="right" >}} + +### TIRO + +The TIRO (Tuebingen IRon Opacity) service constructs model atoms of Ca, Sc, Ti, +V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni based on +[Kurucz' atomic data](http://kurucz.harvard.edu/atoms.html) using a statistical +approach (introducing super-levels and super-lines) and calculates the +respective bound-bound and bound-free absorption cross-section. + +**More information:** + +{{}} + +{{< side-image image="ivoaBlurbSciencePics.png" thumbnail="ivoaBlurbSciencePics_thumb.png" position="left" >}} + +### Iris version 2.0 + +The US VAO has released Iris 2.0, the latest version of the spectral energy +distribution (SED) analysis tool. Iris comes with powerful new science +capabilities which allow the redshifting, interpolation and smoothing of SEDs, +and measurement of integrated fluxes through simple spectral bandpasses or +through one of the thousands of photometric filters provided by the Spanish VO +Filter Profile Service. Users can also apply simple aperture corrections to +individual photometric points or to whole SED segments. In addition to improved +visualization capabilities, including the co-plotting of SEDs, Iris 2.0 has +increased interoperability with other VO tools. You can watch Iris in action in +this [video tutorial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMaLgJfxJHI). + +**More information:** + +{{}} + +--- + +# Some recent papers about VO-enabled science + +### Featured Paper + + +[The virtual observatory service TheoSSA: Establishing a database of synthetic stellar flux standards. I. NLTE spectral analysis of the DA-type white dwarf G 191-B2B](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013arXiv1308.6450R) + +_Rauch, T.; Bohlin, R.; Kruk, J. W.; Werner, K. Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press_ + +H-rich, DA-type white dwarfs are particularly suited as primary standard stars +for flux calibration. State-of-the-art NLTE models consider opacities of species +up to trans-iron elements and provide reliable synthetic stellar-atmosphere +spectra to compare with observation. We establish a database of theoretical +spectra of stellar flux standards that are easily accessible via a web +interface. In the framework of the Virtual Observatory, the German Astrophysical +Virtual Observatory developed the registered service TheoSSA. It provides easy +access to stellar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and is intended to ingest +SEDs calculated by any model-atmosphere code. In case of the DA white dwarf G +191-B2B, we demonstrate that the model reproduces not only its overall continuum +shape but also the numerous metal lines exhibited in its ultraviolet spectrum. +TheoSSA is in operation and contains presently a variety of SEDs for DA white +dwarfs. It will be extended in the near future and can host SEDs of all primary +and secondary flux standards. The spectral analysis of G 191-B2B has shown that +our hydrostatic models reproduce the observations best at an effective +temperature of 60000 +/- 2000K and a surface gravity of log g = 7.60 +/- 0.05. +We newly identified Fe VI, Ni VI, and Zn IV lines. For the first time, we +determined the photospheric zinc abundance with a logarithmic mass fraction of +-4.89 (7.5 times solar). The abundances of He (upper limit), C, N, O, Al, Si, O, +P, S, Fe, Ni, Ge, and Sn were precisely determined. Upper abundance limits of +10% solar were derived for Ti, Cr, Mn, and Co. The TheoSSA database of +theoretical SEDs of stellar flux standards guarantees that the flux calibration +of all astronomical data and cross-calibration between different instruments can +be based on the same models and SEDs calculated with different model-atmosphere +codes and are easy to compare. + +### Refereed Publications + +* [Bayesian Analysis to Identify New Star Candidates in Nearby Young Stellar Kinematic Groups](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...762...88M) + _Malo, Lison; Doyon, René; Lafrenière, David; Artigau, Étienne; Gagné, Jonathan; Baron, Frédérique; Riedel, Adric + The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 762, Issue 2, article id. 88, 50 pp. (2013)._ + +* [The Pseudo-evolution of Halo Mass](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...766...25D) + _Diemer, Benedikt; More, Surhud; Kravtsov, Andrey V. + The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 766, Issue 1, article id. 25, 15 pp. (2013)._ + +* [Environmental Effects in the Interaction and Merging of Galaxies in zCOSMOS](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...762...43K) + _Kampczyk, P. et al._ + _The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 762, Issue 1, article id. 43, 16 pp. (2013)._ + +* [The Cosmic History of the Spin of Dark Matter Halos within the Large-scale Structure](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...762...72T) + _Trowland, Holly E.; Lewis, Geraint F.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss + The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 762, Issue 2, article id. 72, 12 pp. (2013)._ + +* [Unveiling the Nature of Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources. I. A New Method for the Association of Gamma-Ray Blazars](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJS..206...12D) + _D'Abrusco, R.; Massaro, F.; Paggi, A.; Masetti, N.; Tosti, G.; Giroletti, M.; Smith, H. A. + The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, Volume 206, Issue 2, article id. 12, 26 pp. (2013)._ + +* [Fomalhaut b: Independent Analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope Public Archive Data](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...769...42G) + _Galicher, Raphaël; Marois, Christian; Zuckerman, B.; Macintosh, Bruce + The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 769, Issue 1, article id. 42, 12 pp. (2013)._ + +* [The binary fraction of planetary nebula central stars - I. A high-precision, I-band excess search](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.428.2118D) + _De Marco, Orsola; Passy, Jean-Claude; Frew, D. J.; Moe, Maxwell; Jacoby, G. H. + Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 428, Issue 3, p.2118-2140 + +* [Galaxy Zoo: bulgeless galaxies with growing black holes](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.429.2199S) + _Simmons, Brooke D.; Lintott, Chris; Schawinski, Kevin; Moran, Edward C.; Han, Anna; Kaviraj, Sugata; Masters, Karen L.; Urry, C. Megan; Willett, Kyle W.; Bamford, Steven P.; Nichol, Robert C. + Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 429, Issue 3, p.2199-2211_ + +* [Symbiotic stars and other Hα emission-line stars towards the Galactic bulge](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.432.3186M) + _Miszalski, Brent; Mikołajewska, Joanna; Udalski, Andrzej + Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 432, Issue 4, p.3186-3217_ + +* [Constraints on dark matter annihilation by radio observations of M31](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013PhRvD..88b3504E) + _Egorov, A. E.; Pierpaoli, E. + Physical Review D, vol. 88, Issue 2, id. 023504_ + +* [Estimating gas masses and dust-to-gas ratios from optical spectroscopy](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.432.2112B) + _Brinchmann, Jarle; Charlot, Stéphane; Kauffmann, Guinevere; Heckman, Tim; White, Simon D. M.; Tremonti, Christy + Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 432, Issue 3, p.2112-2140_ + +* [The Detection of the Large-scale Alignment of Massive Galaxies at z ~ 0.6](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...770L..12L) + _Li, Cheng; Jing, Y. P.; Faltenbacher, A.; Wang, Jie + The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 770, Issue 1, article id. L12, 5 pp. (2013)._ + +* [Fueling the central engine of radio galaxies. II. The footprints of AGN feedback on the ISM of 3C 236](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013A%26A...549A..58L) + _Labiano, A.; García-Burillo, S.; Combes, F.; Usero, A.; Soria-Ruiz, R.; Tremblay, G.; Neri, R.; Fuente, A.; Morganti, R.; Oosterloo, T. + Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 549, id.A58, 14 pp._ + +* [The stellar mass-size relation for the most isolated galaxies in the local Universe](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.434..325F) + _Fernández Lorenzo, M.; Sulentic, J.; Verdes-Montenegro, L.; Argudo-Fernández, M. + Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 434, Issue 1, p.325-335_ + +* [The Protoplanetary Disks in the Nearby Massive Star-forming Region Cygnus OB2](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...773..135G) + _Guarcello, M. G.; Drake, J. J.; Wright, N. J.; Drew, J. E.; Gutermuth, R. A.; Hora, J. L.; Naylor, T.; Aldcroft, T.; Fruscione, A.; García-Alvarez, D.; Kashyap, V. L.; King, R. + The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 773, Issue 2, article id. 135, 24 pp. (2013)._ + +* [The local luminosity function of star-forming galaxies derived from the Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.429.1309N) + _Negrello, M.; Clemens, M.; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J.; De Zotti, G. and 17 coauthors + Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 429, Issue 2, p.1309-1323_  + +* [A Cross-correlation Analysis of AGN and Galaxies using Virtual Observatory: Dependence on Virial Mass of Super-Massive Black Hole](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...775...43K) + _Komiya, Yutaka; Shirasaki, Yuji; Ohishi, Masatoshi; Mizumoto, Yoshihiko + The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 775, Issue 1, article id. 43, 12 pp. (2013)._ + +### More Ways to Find VO-related Publications + +[All ADS links](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&db_key=PRE&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_sel=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=&object=&start_mon=&start_year=&end_mon=&end_year=&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=%22virtual+observatory%22&nr_to_return=200&start_nr=1&jou_pick=ALL&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&end_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=SCORE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YES&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1) mentioning the "virtual observatory" in the abstract + +[All refereed publications](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_sel=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=&object=&start_mon=&start_year=&end_mon=&end_year=&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=%22virtual+observatory%22&nr_to_return=200&start_nr=1&jou_pick=NO&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&end_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=SCORE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YES&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1) mentioning the "virtual observatory" in the abstract + +--- + +# VO calendar + +* **26-28 September, 2013 - [IVOA Interoperability Meeting](http://www.usvao.org/ivoa-sept-2013/)** + + (Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA) + + The IVOA Interop Meetings are aimed at making significant progress in defining + standards and sharing best practices in the development of the world wide + Virtual Observatory initiatives. The fall interop will be held just prior to + the ADASS Conference (September 26-28), in the same venue. ADASS participants + are welcome to attend; there is no registration fee. + +* **29 Sept - 3 October 2013 - [Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS)](http://www.adass.org/index.html)** + + (Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA) + + The ADASS conference provides a forum for scientists and programmers + concerned with algorithms, software and software systems employed in the + acquisition, reduction, analysis, and dissemination of astronomical data. + +* **13-15 November, 2013 - [Hot-wiring the Transient Universe III](http://hotwireduniverse.org/)** + + (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA) + + Hot-wiring the Transient Universe 3 will explore opportunities and challenges + of massively parallel time domain surveys coupled with rapid coordinated + multi-wavelength follow-up observations. The interdisciplinary agenda includes + future and ongoing science investigations, information infrastructure for + publishing observations in real time, as well as novel data science to + classify events and systems to optimize follow-up campaigns. + +* **November 18, 2013 - [Data-Intensive Scalable Computing Systems (DISCS-2013)](https://ft.ornl.gov/discs-2013/?q=home)** + + (Denver, Colorado, USA) + + The primary goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers and other + interested people in the areas of data intensive computing and high + performance parallel computing to exchange ideas and discuss approaches for + addressing the challenges facing data intensive computing at the extreme + scale. + +* **9-13 December, 2013 - [Astroinformatics 2013: Knowledge from Data](http://tinyurl.com/astroinfo)** + + (Sydney, Australia) + + Astroinformatics is an emerging discipline at the intersection of + astronomy/astrophysics and applied computer science and engineering. + Registration and abstract submission for Astroinformatics 2013 are now open. + +* **17-19 December 2013 - [VO-Day & Friends](http://vobs.astro.it/index.php/vofriends)** + + (Catania, Italy) + + This workshop, organized by VObs.it and IA2, on behalf of the EURO-VO project, + will be a 3-day meeting for the Italian community focusing on VO dissemination + and tutorials, the connections of VO with grid/cloud/HPC, and hands-on work on + science gateways. + +* **7 January 2014 - Building the Astronomical Information Sciences: From NASA's AISR Program to the New AAS Working Group on Astroinformatics and Astrostatistics** + + This special session at the 223rd AAS meeting will showcase science results + that were at least partially enabled by modern astroinformatics and + astrostatistics tools. There will also be a poster session associated with this + Special Session. Abstracts are being accepted via the regular AAS form and are + due October 1, 2013. + +* **17-20 June, 2014 - [LISA (Library and Information Services in Astronomy VII)](http://www.oacn.inaf.it/lisa7_2014/)** + + (Naples, Italy) diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/SAcubed_logo.png b/static/newsletter/011/SAcubed_logo.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53604df Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/SAcubed_logo.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/TIRO.png b/static/newsletter/011/TIRO.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68f1e4d Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/TIRO.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/TIRO_thumb.png b/static/newsletter/011/TIRO_thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61b7755 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/TIRO_thumb.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/TheoSSA.png b/static/newsletter/011/TheoSSA.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5813160 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/TheoSSA.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/TheoSSA_thumb.png b/static/newsletter/011/TheoSSA_thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d68ae1c Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/TheoSSA_thumb.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/alma-vo-screenshot.png b/static/newsletter/011/alma-vo-screenshot.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fca7bfb Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/alma-vo-screenshot.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/alma-vo-screenshot_thum.png b/static/newsletter/011/alma-vo-screenshot_thum.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f33e0a Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/alma-vo-screenshot_thum.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/ivoaBlurbSciencePics.png b/static/newsletter/011/ivoaBlurbSciencePics.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c093269 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/ivoaBlurbSciencePics.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/ivoaBlurbSciencePics_thumb.png b/static/newsletter/011/ivoaBlurbSciencePics_thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ed839f Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/ivoaBlurbSciencePics_thumb.png differ diff --git a/static/newsletter/011/logo-euhoumw-transp.png b/static/newsletter/011/logo-euhoumw-transp.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c98e4f1 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/newsletter/011/logo-euhoumw-transp.png differ