WideField Plate Database: Status and Pilot Projects

1
Wide-Field Plate DatabaseStatus and Pilot
Projects

• Milcho K. Tsvetkov
• Sofia Sky Archive Data Center
• Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• Strasbourg, November 29th, 2002

2002-2005 Action 283
2
I.WFPDB Project History

• Developed as a project of the IAU WG WFI,
  started in 1991 at the IAU GA in Buenos Aires
  (Argentina) WG WFI Chairman
  Richard West
• Supported by
  - the Bulgarian NSF 1993, F-311,340...
  - Alexander von Humboldt
  Foundation
  - Center for Informatics, Muenster University
  - German Research Council DFG
• ESO, IAU and COST A283

3
WFPDB Project Goals

• Main Directions
• Catalog of WFPA 345, 2x106 plates
• Plate logs transformation
• Search in WFPDB
• Plate digitization
• Relationship to other projects Collaboration
  CDS, ESO, IVO, GAVO, UDAPAC, SVO, HYPERLEDA,
  DENIS, etc.

4
Web Sitehttp//www.skyarchive.org
5
Web Sitehttp//www.skyarchive.org
6
More Descriptions
FOR MORE INFO...

• Ask me at the address milcho_at_skyarchive.org
• Websitehttp//www.skyarchive.org

7
WFPDB SEARCH
8
STAR GAZER-Visualization!
9
Team/Resources

• State assumptions about resources, allocated for
  this project as a unit of the Bulgarian Academy
  of Sciences
• locations SOFIA, BAS - Campus 7km
• people 4As, 2PhD, 2St, 2Eng
• equipment SSADC, PDS, (UMAX), HPC
• we support plate logs cataloging, database
  access, plate digitization, expert consultations,
  etc.
• WFPDB Core project for the Bulgarian AstroGrid
  Development

10
Competitive Analysis

• Strengths
• we have already cataloged and collected info for
  1/3 of the existing WF plates listed
  (practically) all existing ones free internet
  access is provided via database search browser in
  Sofia and CDS,
• Key role in the Bulgarian AstroGrid
• Weaknesses
• low speed of cataloging and visualization, bad
  website updating, but funding...

11
Current PILOT Projects

• Bamberg plate archive incorporation (LMC
  survey), fields preview
• Pleiades digitization of the 5 field around
  Alcyone for 100 yrs period
• CWFPA version 5.0
• 2003 UMAX PL3000 flatbed scanners, involving in
  the plate digitization

12
Bamberg plate archive incorporation 2002-2003

• Bamberg plate archive contains 32000 plates from
  Northern (10000) and Southern (22000) Surveys
  Period 1928-1939(N) / 1963-1976 (S)
• 13925 (43) already cataloged and web available
  (2002), another 14000 (in early 2003) totally
  28000 (88) will be on line
• 2003 UMAX PL3000 flatbed scanners, involving in
  the plate digitization

13
Bamberg Photographic Patrol Sky Surveys

• LMC plates from SBPPSS were selected and
  catalogued from all used telescopes and previews
  with CCD camera were made, including Mt. John and
  San Miguel Observatories plates
• About 300 survey plates taken with Bamberg
  astrographs in Boyden, Lake Tekapo and San Miguel
  will be available via WFPDB in 2003. Previews of
  all plates will be added. Scanning of the plates
  will be done with UmaxPL3000Pro

14
Pleiades Photographic Plate Database

• WFPDB Search in VizieR (VI/90) about 3000 plates
  in the field of 5
• Plates are distributed in different
  observatories from 1888-1990 Sonneberg,
  Harvard, Konkoly, Asiago, Byurakan, Rozhen,
  Bamberg, Tautenburg, UKSTU, etc.

15

Pleiades Photographic Plate Database

• Plate scanning is going in Konkoly, Sofia,
  Edinburgh, Cambridge (Bamberg and Sonneberg in
  progress). Already 400 plates are scanned from
  Konkoly, Rozhen, Potsdam, Bordeaux, Byurakan,
  UKSTU, Moscow...
• The old scans from RGO (for about 300 plates in
  the database of Floor van Leeuwen) will be added.

16
Pilot Projects cont.

• USING COMMERSIAL FLATBED SCANNERS
• Commercial flatbed scanners are already involved
  in the plate digitization
• Epson E1640XL, Asiago, DLR, (2003 Byurakan)
  (16 µ/pix)
• MMO (USA) AGFA T5000 (10 µ/pix) .
• UMAX PL3000Pro in Konkoly (2003 - Bambreg,
  Sofia, Harvard(?) (8 µ/pix)
• Using HPC (MOSIX based) for data compression for
  the WFPDB purposes

17
Future Projects

• Orion Nebula M42/43 cataloging and plate
  digitization at the 5 field around Trapezium
• Digitization of the plates in the field of M31
  Already started in Asiago they just completed
  M31 Asiago Schmidt telescope survey, 200
  plates, from Asiago 80 from Castle Gandolfo are
  scanned (C. Barbieri F. Rampazzi).

18
F I N