Abstract / Description of output
The SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey (SSS {http://www-wfau.roe.ac.uk/sss}; Hambly
et al., 2001) consists of digitised scans of Schmidt photographic survey
material in a multi-colour (BRI), multi-epoch, uniformly calibrated
product. It covers the whole southern hemisphere, with an extension
into the north currently underway. Public online access to the 2 Tbytes
of SSS pixel data and object catalogues has been available for some
time; data are being downloaded at a rate of several gigabytes per week,
and many new science results are emerging from community use of the
data. In this poster we describe the terabyte-scale SuperCOSMOS Science
Archive {http://thoth.roe.ac.uk/ssa} (SSA), which is a recasting of the
SSS object catalogue system from flat files into an RDBMS, with an
enhanced user interface. We describe some aspects of the hardware and
schema design of the SSA, which aims to produce a high performance,
VO-compatible database, suitable for data mining by `power users', while
maintaining the ease of use praised in the old SSS system. Initially,
the SSA will allow access through web forms and a flexible SQL
interface. It acts as the prototype for the next generation survey
archives to be hosted by the University of Edinburgh's Wide Field
Astronomy Unit, such as the WFCAM Science Archive of infrared sky survey
data, as well as being a scalability testbed for use by AstroGrid, the
UK's Virtual Observatory project. As a result of these roles, it will
display subsequently an expanding functionality, as web - and later,
Grid - services are deployed on it.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS) XIII |
| Subtitle of host publication | Proceedings of the conference held 12-15 October, 2003 in Strasbourg, France |
| Publisher | Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
| Pages | 137 |
| Volume | 314 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2004 |