Planned LSST: It’s a novel approach for collecting
and distributing data
movie
is really The Google announcement is be-
ing timed to precede a Seattle con-
ference frequently dubbed the
worth of images will be generat-
ed every evening, Jacoby said. This
daily tsunami of data will have to be
LEARN MORE
For more information about the
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
out
“Super Bowl of Astronomy,” the na- analyzed constantly as it accumu-
tional meeting of the American As- lates over time, she said, and then
project, see lsst.org.
tronomical Society. Some 2,500 efficiently managed to make it pub- The American Astronomical Society
meeting is not open to the public,
there
professional stargazers will gather licly accessible.
at the Washington State Conven- “Google’s mission is to take the but for more information about
tion and Trade Center for four days world’s information and make it the organization and the event see
starting Sunday to discuss such ex- universally accessible and useful,” www.aas.org
otica as supernovae, quasars, astro- said William Coughran, vice presi-
Google joins effort
biology and the mysteries of dark dent of engineering for Google, in a
matter and gravitational waves. news release announcing the firm’s
to digitally film Proponents of the LSST will be
there as well, seeking new partners
new partnership with the LSST.
Besides accumulating an unprec-
Certainly, this year’s most wide-
ly recognized local contributor to
the entire universe and more money to move ahead
with the new telescope.
edented amount of astronomical
imagery in this moving-image for-
the advancement of astronomy was
the UW’s Donald Brownlee, princi-
BY TOM PAULSON “The LSST is certainly emblem- mat, the new telescope could help pal investigator for NASA’s Stardust
P-I reporter atic of a new trend in astronomy,” answer some important scientific mission that captured some com-
said astronomer Stephen Maran, questions such as when the Earth et dust and brought it back to Earth
Google today will announce its spokesman for the American As- might next get whacked by a killer for analysis.
partnership with the University of tronomical Society. Though it’s just asteroid. Brownlee said he expects to keep
Washington, the University of Ari- one of several proposed telescopes “Right now, we don’t really a low profile at this year’s astrono-
zona and others to create the world’s aimed at achieving new insights have any way of finding them ear- my meeting in Seattle, adding that
largest database -- a moving picture into the nature of the universe, Ma- ly enough, before it’s obvious,” said the organization only lets members
of the universe. ran said, it does represent a novel Suzanne Hawley, chairwoman of give a “big talk every 10 years” and
“It will be the greatest movie of approach for collecting and distrib- the UW astronomy department. he had his shot last year (speaking
all time,” said UW astronomer Craig uting basic data. Because the LSST collects images about Stardust, of course).
Hogan, one of the leading scien- Operated as a private-public re- of moving objects, Hawley said, it This year’s meeting is expected
tists working on the project. “It will search consortium headquartered could be useful for identifying much to provide many new findings and
transform how we do science.” in Tucson, the LSST project was earlier any asteroid on a collision hypotheses, including new imag-
Technically, it’s called the Large launched in 2003 by the UW, the course with our planet. es from the Hubble, Chandra and
Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST, University of Arizona, the Nation- The UW’s interest in the LSST Spitzer space telescopes and a vari-
and it’s still mostly just a twinkle in al Optical Astronomy Observato- project, she noted, is based on its ety of land-based telescopes.
the astronomical community’s col- ry and a private foundation called previous work in the 1980s that led The possibility of life on Mars,
lective eye. Planned to begin oper- Research Corp. Many other insti- to a similar project known as the new kinds of celestial phenomena,
ation in 2013 on a mountaintop in tutions, such as Harvard, Princeton Sloan Digital Sky Survey -- another the demotion of Pluto’s status as a
Chile, the telescope will take mov- and the Brookhaven National Labo- collaborative effort still under way true planet, the search for extra-so-
ing digital images -- rather than ratory, have since signed on in sup- collecting a photographic survey of lar planets and extraterrestrial in-
the typical static snapshots -- of all port of the project. hundreds of millions of stars, galax- telligence are all either on the con-
space, the entire visible sky. “The amount of data involved ies and other celestial objects. ference’s agenda or likely to be hot
“This will provide an incredibly here is going to be just enormous,” “We were also one of the found- topics at this confab of stargazers.
rich view of the universe,” Hogan said Suzanne Jacoby, project co- ing members of that,” said Hawley,
said. Once completed, he added, the ordinator for the LSST in Tucson. who currently serves as director of
movies will be publicly accessible “That’s where Google’s expertise the Sloan consortium that operates P-I reporter Tom Paulson
for anyone to watch and study. “It comes in.” its telescope from Apache Point, can be reached at 206-448-8318
will be the YouTube of astronomy.” More than 30,000 gigabytes N.M. or tompaulson@seattlepi.com.