Amateur

 Virtual Observatory

Updated 4th August 2009

 Exercises using the Virtual Observatory

Following the lecture I have delivered to a number of societies about the Amateur Virtual Observatory the questions asked and subsequent discussions indicated that there is so much in the Virtual Observatory that people don't know where to start. As a result I have written a number of exercises that are designed to 'break the ice' and to aid you getting familiar with the various facilities of the virtual observatory. The exercises start with a very gentle introduction and then build on this. Most exercises assume familiarity with the material covered in the previous exercises so it is best to attempt them in order.

Introduction

The following exercises are designed to introduce you to some of the facilities available to Amateur Astronomers in the Virtual Observatory. The first exercises are designed to introduce you to the AVO. The initial exercises will concentrate on one of the graphical front ends to the VO called Aladin as this has a powerful graphical interface that allows you to explore large sections of the VO as well as using the facilities for your own projects. Where possible hyperlinks to the various programmes and websites have been included as clickable links.

For some exercises you will require additional images or software. These will be shown at the start of each exercise.

Before we start it is perhaps worth mentioning that Aladin is designed for professional astronomers who are generally interested in very small areas of the sky. While Aladin is capable of showing all the catalogue objects in a constellation you will get a very large list of objects. Also Aladin does not tile images so you need to find an image that covers the whole area you are interested in. For small areas say less than one degree this is normally quite easy but there are very few images that span several degrees. Also a lot of images taken by surveys only cover part of the sky so don’t be surprised if your favourite images or survey are not available for the area you are looking at. In addition to the exercise number the list below shows the programme that you will learn about and brief summary of what the exercise is designed to teach you

Equipment:

To run Aladin you need a computer that has Java installed (most have). There are no special hardware requirements though a large monitor running at high resolution is helpful to see some of the fine detail. The exercises should run under Windows, Mac and Linux Operating Systems though the methods of installing Aladin are different. You will also need a high speed Internet connection as some of the images and catalogues are quite large. You will also need a reasonable amount of spare space on your hard disc as the uncompressed FITS format images tend to be quite large.

VO Software Changes:

The exercises are designed around the current version of the software – currently in July 2009 Aladin V6. Due to the rate of change of the VO the software may have been upgraded and additional functionality added by the time you try these exercises.

 The exercises below are in draft and any feedback would be welcome. Exercises 1 to 4 are available, the others will be added as I write them and verify them. The exercises in purple Italics have yet to be written and may be changed.

John Murrell

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