The OPTICON Wide Field Imaging Working Group

This working group was set up to consider a standardised European survey system to facilitate research, data reduction and data mining using data from the new generation of wide field survey cameras. A meeting held on November 2-3 2000 on Astronomical Survey Systems in Edinburgh, UK, highlighted the need to develop human resources and IT systems to produce catalogues and survey products from the new generation of wide field imaging telescopes.

Following this meeting the data centres involved in wide field imaging including NOVA (NL), Capodimonte (I), Terapix (F), the Universitäts-Sternwarte Munchen (D) ESO (international), VISTA and WFCAM (UK), formed a consortium to provide both hardware and human resources for a European wide-field-imaging initiative. This led to the ASTRO-WISE (Astronomical Wide-Field Survey System for Europe) project which is co-ordinated by Edwin Valentijn at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen, NL. The Astrowise consortium won EU funding, a contract was agreed and the network became operational on 1 December 2001. Details of this exciting project can be found here

These datasets resulting from this effort will be a vital component of the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory.

John Keith Davies
Astronomy Technology Centre, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ.
jkd@roe.ac.uk
tel: 0131 668 8348/ fax: 0131 668 8407

Return to OPTICON home page.

 
 

Last update, 1 February 2002