BR-VO

Brazilian Virtual Observatory

The Basic Structure

(Draft)

2006, April 30

Albert Bruch

Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica

Several institutions and individual groups within the Brazilian astronomical community develop activities related to the Virtual Observatory. Other institution, which do not act primarily in the area of astronomy but develop related activities; either already collaborate or have expressed their interest in doing so. Efforts are going on to coordinate the activities of these partners in order to create an effective and sustainable Brazilian Virtual Observatory – BR-VO.

The present document is meant to delineate a possible structure for the BR-VO. It should by no means de regarded as final, considering that the talks between the involved groups are still going on, and also because the structure should be open and dynamic, permitting new members to enter and others to withdraw. The figure reflects the current situation.

The circular symbols represent research institutions which are part of the structure of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT). They are directly subordinated to the Ministry to fulfill missions with a nation-wide scope. The rectangular symbols represent university institutions.

The core institutes:

The institutions in the dark blue field may be regarded as the current core of the Brazilian efforts towards a BR-VO. They have either formulated as an institutional priority the development of projects as part of the BR-VO, or they harbor research groups with a strong affinity, and whose projects fit into the BR-VO or could become part of it in the future. These institutions and the VO related projects developed therein are (without particular order):

·        INPE – Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (National Institute of Space Research): This is the Brazilian equivalent of ESA or NASA. It is the largest of the Research Institutes of the MCT. Its main activities are centered on space research mission. But it contains within its structure also an important Department of Astronomy. Scientist of that Department, in collaboration with the Laboratory for Computer Science of INPE, develop a project to create tools and procedures for data mining, which are considered part of a VO effort.

·        LNA – Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica (National Astrophysical Laboratory): Charged with the operation of the infra-structure for observational astronomy on a national scale, LNA runs the largest purely national Brazilian observatory (Observatório do Pico dos Dias) and is responsible for the Brazilian participation in the international Observatories Gemini and SOAR. As an institutional project, LNA prepares for the creation of a VO compatible archive for all data of the SOAR telescope and its efficient use in the Virtual Observatory.

·        ON – Observatório Nacional (National Observatory): As the oldest Brazilian research institute of its kind, the ON has a long tradition in observational astronomy. One of its research groups continues a project, previously developed for many years at ESO, and being in an advanced stage, for the automatic processing of large volumes of astronomical images (with plans for an extension towards spectra) which may be regarded as a tool for the Virtual Observatory

·        IAG – Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Meteorologia (Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Meteorology) of the University of São Paulo: This is by far the most important university institute within Brazil, developing astronomical research. A strong group within the IAG is in the process to install a mirror of the SDSS and (maybe more important) to develop tools for its use in research, efforts which are understood as being part of the BR-OV.

It is important to note that two of the mentioned institutions (LNA and ON) included their VO-related projects as priorities in their recent Master Plans for the period 2006-2010, approved by the MCT. INPE is still working on its Master Plan which may also well mention their VO projects. Thus, there is an institutional commitment, backed by the MCT, strengthening the projects of a BR-VO.

Peripheral institutes:

In the lighter blue part of the figure institutions are mentioned which (so far) do not persue own project in the context of the BR-VO but collaborate with the core-institutions in their efforts:

·        CBPF – Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (Brazilian Center for Physical Research): CBPF has a long research tradition in fundamental and applied physics. One of their research groups collaborate on the base of a formal agreement with the ON on its project on image processing with a special emphasize on the Dark Energy Survey to be realized at CTIO.

·        University Institutes: This field stands for a couple of other institutes at various Brazilian universities with smaller groups or individual scientists which have intentions to collaborate or already do so with the groups of the core institutions. These efforts occur on a personal base, without being formalized.

Support institutions:

Two more institutions are show in the Figure, LNCC and CenPRA. They appear outside the blue fields in order to indicate that they are not research institutes with a proper interest in the BR-VO. They are rather institutions which can provide strong hardware and software support. As such they can contribute greatly to the success of a BR-OV:

·        LNCC – Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (National Institution of Scientific Computation): LNCC is responsible, on a national level, for the development of scientific computation, with a special emphasize on the creation and application of mathematical and computational models and methods to scientific and technological problems. As such, LNCC can play an important role in the development of VO tools. It also has the hardware capacity to store large amounts of data and is ready to put it at the disposal of the BR-VO.

·        CenPRA – Centro de Pesquisa Renato Archer (Renato Archer Research Center): Previously know as the “National Institute for Information Technology” (which better describes its activity), CenPRA is an institution with a strong background in the development of computer hardware and software. With a particular strength in data bank software applications, it has the potential to provide important support in the development of VO tools. (As a caveat it must be mentioned here, that contacts between CenPRA and the core institutions on VO matters are very recent and CenPRA is still in the process of defining whether it can participate in a BR-OV. For this reason, the figure shows CenPRA in a lighter shade of yellow.)

Without disregarding the importance of the universities in the context of the BR-VO the above outlined structure has as a particularly appealing feature the direct involvement of five Research Institutions (six, if CenPRA agrees to collaborate) of the Ministry of Science and Technology. It is the explicit policy of the MCT to strengthen collaborations between its research institutes. Regarding VO related activities as institutional projects, rather than projects of individual scientists or groups, provides a guarantee for a long term commitment, including funding, and makes a BR-VO less vulnerable to fluctuations and shifts of interests of individuals.