Astronomical image data compression by morphological skeleton transformation

Astronomical instruments currently provide a large amount of data. Nowadays, a large part of these data are image frames obtained with receivers of increasing size. The scan of large astronomical plates using fast microdensitometers gives image frames of over 30000×30000 pixels. More and more often, images are transmitted over a network in order to control the observations, to process the data, and to examine or to fill a data bank. The time taken for archiving, the cost of communication, the available memory given by magnetic tapes, and the limited bandwidth of transmission lines are reasons which lead us to examine the data compression of astronomical images.The astronomical image has the characteristic of being a set of astronomical sources in the sky background whose values are not zero. We are, in fact, only interested in the astronomical sources. Once a suitable detection is made, we generally want a compression without any distorsion. In this paper, we present a method which can be adapted for this purpose. It is based on morphological skeleton transformations. The experimental results show that it can give us an efficient compression. Moreover, the flexibility of choosing a structure element adapted to different images and the simplicity of implementation are other advantages of this method. Because of these characteristics, different compression applications may be treated.     

天文底片保存和我国天文底片数字化的建议

阐述了国际上天文照相底片数字化工作的进展:底片的保存、底片数字化的意义和相关技术。扼要地介绍了国际虚拟天文台的情况及其与底片数字化的关系。分析了我国天文底片资料的保存现状,并提出了底片数字化建议:成立由各天文台专家组成的全国底片数字化协调小组,建立各单位保存底片的信息库、改进底片的保存条件、有步骤地对有价值底片上的全部目标进行扫描,以便将其与现代高精度的观测资料相结合,开展有意义的课题研究。     

适用于古天文研究的计算机软件

天文软件是进行古天文研究非常有用的辅助工具。对一些常见的商业软件与专业软件的计算结果进行了分析比较,发现它们在两三百年的短期内都是足够可靠的,但是若干商业软件并不适用于涉及几千年跨度的古天文研究。分析表明:无论从数据精确度和长期稳定性,还是从功能的强大程度来说,SkyMap都是值得推广的天文计算软件。     

An overview of the astrophysics data system

The Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a distributed data system that provides access to astronomical data and literature information. The data are stored at different data centers. They are searched and retrieved by the users in real time over the Internet The ADS provides access to about 300 catalogs and 4 data archives. In addition about 160,000 abstracts from the astronomical literature can be searched. Besides the data access the ADS provides services such as plotting and image display tools, coordinate conversion tools and table manipulation capabilities. The ADS is available for free to users interested in astronomical data worldwide. Currently there are no restrictions to accessing any of the data in the ADS.     

The Digital Archive of the Photographic Images of the Córdoba Observatory Plates Collections

The astronomical events registered in photographic plates are unique. A remarkable interest in using old plates in many areas of the current astronomical research is widely recognized by the IAU. There are almost ten thousand plates in several collections at the Córdoba Observatory and most of them are nearly one century old. This photographic material is difficult to handle in order to get the information stored in it. The goal of this project is to make a digital archive of images of these collections. In this first survey plates are being scanned with a standard commercial transparency scanner. These low spatial resolution, low digital resolution and low signal-to-noise ratio images are intended for facilitating handling and visual inspection. However, one arc-second positions can be obtained. Photometric quality has not been yet determined. Otherwise high quality digital images can be acquired with a microdenstitometer based on a scientific grade CCD whose implementation is at its final stage. The possibility of using a better-performance scanner is being evaluated. It is planned to permit the access to low-resolution images via internet. High-resolution images of selected zones will be available upon request. At this first stage, collections totally digitized at low resolution are:Carte du Ciel and Small Magellanic Cloud Zones. Gaviola's Eta Carinae Spectra and Pulkovo Zones are still in process.     

天文文献情报工程概述

本文主要介绍中国科学院天文系统文献情报自动化建设、文献工程建设、数据工程建设、资源共享与计算机共享网建设。由于其牵涉到1984年以来的一系列工程建设呐容繁多,所以仅从文献情报现代化建设、资源共享建设出发,从整体上对各有关内容作一概述。     

Wide‐Field Plate Archive of the University Observatory Jena

We present the archive of the wide‐field plate observations obtained at the University Observatory Jena, which is stored at the Astrophysical Institute of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. The archive contains plates taken in the period February 1963 to December 1982 with the 60/90/180‐cm Schmidt telescope of the university observatory. A computer‐readable version of the plate metadata catalogue (for 1257 plates), the logbooks, as well as the digitized Schmidt plates in low and high resolution are now accessible to the astronomical community.This paper describes the properties of the archive, as well as the processing procedure of all plates in detail. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Building a VO-compliant Radio Astronomical DAta Model for Single-dish radio telescopes (RADAMS)

The Virtual Observatory (VO) is becoming the de-facto standard for astronomical data publication. However, the number of radio astronomical archives is still low in general, and even lower is the number of radio astronomical data available through the VO. In order to facilitate the building of new radio astronomical archives, easing at the same time their interoperability with VO framework, we have developed a VO-compliant data model which provides interoperable data semantics for radio data. That model, which we call the Radio Astronomical DAta Model for Single-dish (RADAMS) has been built using standards of (and recommendations from) the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA). This article describes the RADAMS and its components, including archived entities and their relationships to VO metadata. We show that by using IVOA principles and concepts, the effort needed for both the development of the archives and their VO compatibility has been lowered, and the joint development of two radio astronomical archives have been possible. We plan to adapt RADAMS to be able to deal with interferometry data in the future.     

天文星表入库的自动化

天文数据主要包括星表、星图、光谱、文献资料等,其中星表是包含天体信息的数据表格,是天文学家最常用到的天文数据。目前天文数据分布存储在全球各个数据中心。中国最大的天文数据中心是北京天文数据中心,其数据库的重要部分是天文星表数据库。本文阐述了建设天文星表数据库的意义,着重探讨了星表自动入库工具的实现,并介绍了在天文星表数据库基础上的数据融合和数据挖掘。     

天文常数研究的进展——IAU 2009天文常数系统

回顾了1900年以来LAU采用天文常数系统的简况,以及一些天文常数之间的数学关系,并描述了以前每次改变天文常数系统的主要因为.介绍了1991年以来IAU在天文常数方面的工作:包括IAU天文常数工作组和天文常数最佳估计值的情况.叙述了IAU 2009年天文常数系统替代IAU 1976天文常数系统的因为:随着人类对太阳系的探测,获得新的天文常数测定值;1991年以来在相对论框架下BCRS和GCRS的使用;P03岁差模型和MHB2000章动模型的采用.比较了IAU2009和1976天文常数系统的差异.最后介绍中国在天文常数方面工作的情况和今后工作的建议.     

离群数据的探测

综述了离群数据(outliers)探测是数据挖掘和知识发现的一项重要任务及其在天学中兴起的必然性。简要介绍了离群数据的定义、特点、产生原因及影响，着重阐述了探测一维离群数据和多维离群数据的方法，并且与一些聚类算法作了对比。每一种算法各有优劣，天学家应根据天数据的特点，探讨出适合天数据特点的离群数据探测方法，以发现一些不同寻常的、稀有的，甚至新类型的天体和天现象。     

面向Web服务的天文数据发布技术

目前主流的天文数据发布主要使用基于Web页面和基于REST风格的Web服务两种发布技术,但存在诸多不足,特别是不利于自动化工具实现机器识别并调用。WebService技术作为一种日趋成熟的分布式计算模型,拥有跨平台与松耦合等很多优势,通过Web服务实现天文数据发布可以提高天文研究工作的灵活性和自动化程度。对Web服务在虚拟天文台中的应用情况及目前主要的天文数据发布技术进行了系统的调研,并在此基础上就如何实现符合IVOA规范且面向Web服务的天文数据发布服务进行了分析,针对一个天文数据发布实例,设计并实现了同时支持SOAP风格和REST风格的锥型检索服务,测试结果表明服务设计是成功的。     

用MapReduce框架构建虚拟天文台数据节点

MapReduce是一种大规模分布式并行处理框架,最初被用于互联网服务中的海量数据处理,并逐渐扩展到各个行业领域。目前,虚拟天文台面临着越来越多的地面及空间望远镜观测到的海量天文数据。为了提高中国虚拟天文台数据节点处理海量天文数据的能力,首次提出基于MapReduce框架构建中国虚拟天文台数据节点的方法,并以批量星表交叉认证为例描述了具体实现过程,性能评估结果证明基于MapReduce框架构建虚拟天文台数据节点,可以在性能、扩展性与成本等多方面获得收益。     

10-GHz Tenerife cosmic microwave background observations at 8° resolution and their analysis using a new maximum entropy method

The complete set of data from the Tenerife 10-GHz (8° FWHM) twin-horn, drift scan experiment is described. These data are affected by both long-term atmospheric baseline drifts and short-term noise. A new maximum entropy procedure, utilizing the time invariance and spatial continuity of the astronomical signal, is used to achieve a clean separation of these effects from the astronomical signal, and to deconvolve the effects of the beam-switching. We use a fully positive/negative algorithm to produce two-dimensional maps of the intrinsic sky fluctuations. Known discrete sources and Galactic features are identified in the deconvolved map. The data from the 10-GHz experiment, after baseline subtraction with MEM, are then analysed using conventional techniques, and new constraints on Galactic emission are made.     

Astronomical spectroscopy in the last four decades: survival of the fittest

Spectroscopic astronomical instrumentation has much evolved in the last 40 years. Long-slit grating spectrographs with a photographic plate as the detector working in the 0.3–1 μm range were prevalent up to the early 1970s. The replacement of photographic plates by two-dimensional digital detectors provided gains in sensitivity of two orders of magnitude and much better photometric and radial velocity precision, and opened the 1 to 25 μm infrared domain. Another gain in speed by up to two orders of magnitude was then obtained through the development of various spectroscopic systems, each optimized for a subset of astronomical objects. This development was underpinned by a number of technological advances, in particular the development of automatic data reduction pipelines using sophisticated algorithms. With ever larger and more complex instrument systems for the present 8–10 m diameter telescopes—and soon even more for the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes, the development of an instrument is now a big enterprise, ranging all the way from long-term enabling technology efforts to management of large teams for construction and deployment over typically 7–8 years.     

A possible geophysical interpretation of the anomalies in the residuals of astronomical time and latitude determination

Short period anomalies in astronomical time and latitude residuals sometimes appeared simultaneously and/or separately before major earthquakes which occurred in the vicinity of site where astronomical time and latitude observations were made with classical instruments. This article summarizes our results, and suggests that the anomalies could be caused by some vertical changes due to the motion of the underground mass.     

AstroGridCEA架构的应用研究

AstroGrid是一个成熟并已广泛运用的英国虚拟天文台（VO-Virtual Observatory）项目。公共执行架构（Common Execution Architecture,CEA）作为其重要组成部分,通过构建一套合理的接口和框架实现对虚拟天文台天文应用执行过程的建模。详细介绍了AstroGrid CEA的实现原理、基本架构、接口分析和应用模型,并通过CEA实现中国科学技术大学光谱处理数据的发布,完成基于FITS格式的锥型检索服务,最后在此基础上就如何运用CEA进行完整的讨论。     

Testing the bivariate series of Mira light curve rise and fall times for changes

The American Association of Variable Star Observers supplies the astronomical community with a large data base of times of light maxima and minima of Mira (long-period pulsating) stars. Period change studies using these data invariably use either times between maxima, or those between minima. A statistical analysis based on the two-component time series of light curve rise and fall times is developed. The results, which enable one to detect changes in the shapes of light curves, are applied to observations of seven long-period variables.     

AstroGrid CEA架构的应用研究

AstroGrid是一个成熟并已广泛运用的英国虚拟天文台(VO-Virtual Observatory)项目。公共执行架构(Common Execution Architecture,CEA)作为其重要组成部分,通过构建一套合理的接口和框架实现对虚拟天文台天文应用执行过程的建模。详细介绍了AstroGrid CEA的实现原理、基本架构、接口分析和应用模型,并通过CEA实现中国科学技术大学光谱处理数据的发布,完成基于FITS格式的锥型检索服务,最后在此基础上就如何运用CEA进行完整的讨论。     

人工神经网络在天文学中的应用

人工神经网络具有自学习、自适应、鲁棒性好、动态响应快等特点,并具有较强的非线性处理问题能力,因此在天文学中得到广泛而成功的应用．综述了人工神经网络在天文学中主要应用模型的基本原理和优缺点,阐述了人工神经网络适用于天文学的某些基本特征,着重介绍了人工神经网络在天文学中的具体应用实例,并对其发展和应用前景进行了展望．由于天文数据分布的庞杂和天文数据量的急剧增加,人工神经网络将日益显示出优越性．