| Concept and objectives of UkrVO |
The concept of virtual observatory provides a unification of existing astronomical resources as interoperable data obtained from various institutions at national and international levels. The current concept of UkrVO supports development of photo plate archives in the form of direct images of certain sky areas and celestial objects, as well as the spectra of celestial objects. A convenient web interface and search engine will provide an access to these archives. Development of software packages for data processing and astronomical research is also envisaged.
In 2009-2010, a working group of Ukrainian Astronomical Association (UAA) developed basic concept of UkrVO as well as its aim and objectives, proposed organizational structure, analyzed scientific resources of UkrVO, formulated prospects of development, created a prototype site of UkrVO, which includes databases of the Main Astronomical Observatory (MAO) of Ukraine (Kyiv) and Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory.
The objectives of UkrVO are the following:
- development of registry;
- development of an Joint Digital Archive (JDA) of photographic, CCD, spectral observations accumulated at observatories in Ukraine.
8th Congress of the UAA on June 26, 2009 approved a resolution on creation of a consortium of observatories, which have a unique astronomical observations. Joining the consortium is purely voluntary and implies that each organization undertakes the obligation to prepare its records of observations in accordance to the concept of UkrVO. To resolve the UkrVO priorities, the Congress established a working group, comprising representatives from 12 members of the consortium, and nominated the MAO of National Academy of Science (NAS) as a leading organization.
Organizational structure of UkrVO was adopted to be the Consortium of Ukrainian observatories as the owners of their unique observational archives. Accession of the institution to UkrVO Consortium is absolutely on a voluntary basis and implies that every member supports the goals and principles of IVOA and UkrVO, takes an active part in all UkrVO events and all the decisions and documents of IVOA and UkrVO takes as mandatory for carrying out its VO activity.
| Scientific component of UkrVO |
The core scientific resource of UkrVO will be the JDA of astronomical data. The JDA is being created using archives of observations of various celestial objects in the optical, UV, radio and gamma ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum obtained in different observatories.
Conceptual content of scientific component is the following:
- combined archive of photographic observations of celestial objects obtained from 1890 to 1990's, stored in Ukraine;
- combined archive of CCD observations of celestial objects obtained from the early 1990's, combined archive of spectral observations of celestial objects (in optical, UV, radio and gamma bands), started in 1940’s;
- data archives of space missions, which were obtained with the participation of Ukrainian observatories;
- catalogues have been created at observatories in Ukraine since the beginning of their activities.
| Principal activities of UkrVO |
The main activities of UkrVO in 2011-2015 years are the following:
- to create a web site of UkrVO and to develop and put in the public domain formats for publication of data within the UkrVO;
- to conduct an inventory of the current state of photographic, CCD and spectral archives;
- to carry out certification of CCD and spectral observations, collected at astronomical institutions in Ukraine;
- to create the necessary software for the JDA on the base of DBGPA V2 package, developed by MAO NAS of Ukraine, and VO package, developed by Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory;
- to create the JDA of photographic and CCD observations obtained at astronomical observatories in Ukraine, having total volume up to 20 TB, especially that part of the photographic observations in 1890-1945, representing more historical and scientific value;
- to elaborate methods of joint management of multi-terabyte data sets on the basis of databases developed at the MAO NAS of Ukraine and Mykolaiv AO, including those located on different computing resources, to formalize the requirements for inclusion in the JDA of information resources from other organizations;
- to create the JDA-based online services for primary processing of digitized images;
- to carry out research projects using the JDA, including those started in previous years, such as: search for optical counterparts in the direction of gamma-ray flashes, search of asteroids, study of distant planet satellites, study of variable stars, creation of stellar catalogues in selected fields, etc.;
- to develop a program by using GRID-technologies to speed up processing of massive database queries.
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