NEWS: AstroGrid Project : Community Newsletter May 2005
EDI Starlink Manager
Expires: 12-Jul-2005
AstroGrid Project : Community Newsletter May 2005
This is a brief newsletter to update the UK astronomy community on the
status of the AstroGrid project. A working system is now publicly
available, as recently announced on "AstroGrid News" at
http://news.astrogrid.org. This is a first release, with some known
bugs, and incomplete documentation, and so is released on a "shared
risks" basis. A fuller release is intended in late summer - meanwhile,
we are keen for interested astronomers to register, explore the system,
and provide feedback. You can start exploring at
http://www.astrogrid.org/release-v1.0 There is no need to install
software - all you need is an up to date web browser, and a recent
version of java. Connect, register, go.
INTRODUCTION
The AstroGrid project began in September 2001. The original proposal
stated that a genuine Virtual Observatory (VO) would be achieved on an
international scale on a timescale of about six years or so, but we set
ourselves the goal of having a preliminary working system of real use by
the end of 2004. We are about six months behind that schedule. Various
software demonstration events have been held, with the latest being at
NAM2005 in Birmingham, and a small number of community beta-testers have
been test-driving the system, but we are now ready for our first open
release.
WHAT IS ASTROGRID ?
AstroGrid is doing two related things - building generic VO
infrastructure, and building a specific deployed system for UK
astronomers to use. The VO is not a monolithic piece of software, but an
open framework of standards, and inter-operable modules which can be put
together in various ways. Likewise, tools writers follow standard
interfaces so their applications can plug-in, and data centres publish
access to their data in a standardised way, as well as "data services"
like queries to databases. AstroGrid's main job is writing the
infrastructure software modules, which can be deployed in a variety of
ways by a variety of people. About a third of the work is actually
working with international colleagues to develop new standards, through
the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA - see
http://www.ivoa.net). Several releases of our software suite have
already been made.
However, we are also building a specific working system that UK
astronomers can log on to and do useful work. We are using our own
software to do this of course, but also need to work with colleagues at
UK data centres to make sure they are interfaced correctly, and with
tools writers, both in the UK and in Europe, to make sure users can
actually do useful things. This collaboration with data centres has come
together in the last few months so you can now connect to a system that
can do science. All you will need will be an up-to-date web browser and
Java on your machine - all the software works either at the server, or as
a Java Web Start application that starts automatically on your machine.
For details of which versions of browsers and java are compatible, see
the the release pages at http://www.astrogrid.org/release-v1.0, which
contain some automatic testing links.
ASTROGRID COMPONENTS and SERVICES
There are four key components that make AstroGrid new from a user's point
of view.
The launch point is the PORTAL. This is a web page that allows you to
log on, gives you access to all the components described below, and
allows you to monitor the progress of jobs and so on. It is also a
jumping off point for any number of third party applications that can be
bundled in (for example, the Starlink TopCat tool, and the CDS Aladin
visualiser).
At the centre of AstroGrid is WORKFLOW. The idea is that you can compose
a complex series of tasks - e.g. query a database for images in a certain
range, pick the ones that fit your criteria, run these through
Sextractor, merge the object catalogues, run this through Hyperz, plot
the result. (The tasks can proceed in sequence or parallel, and loop).
You use a graphical tool to put the workflow together, and the parameters
each task needs pop up automatically because the system looks up the task
in the Registry (see below). The workflow is saved as an xml file. The
power of course comes because later you can re-use the workflow and edit
it to change parameters.
The next key component is the REGISTRY - a kind of yellow pages of
astronomical resources - not just catalogues and images, but applications
you can use, and so on. You will be able to query and browse these
resources, but more importantly, pieces of software that use combinations
of resources automatically know how to look up what they need.
The final new component is MYSPACE. This is a kind of virtual scratch
space where you can store results, temporary files, and new things like
query files and workflow files, so you can adjust and re-run jobs on a
later day.
The AstroGrid system is fairly complex. Once the learning curve has been
climbed, this will be an advantage. It is not a toy - you can do quite
powerful and flexible things. But we have also tried to make some
standard jobs easy, with a more standard "fill-in-this-form" approach.
These are known as "AstroGrid Science Services". Under the hood, these
are driven by workflows, which you can still get at and alter.
WHAT WILL YOU GET IN MAY AND LATER THIS SUMMER ?
The May release (V1.0) has a Portal, with access to MySpace, Workflow,
Query Builder, Job Monitor, and a simple Resource querying system. It
also has launch points for TopCat and Aladin. It has the first two
packaged Science Services - Solar Movie Maker, and Redshift Maker.
Interfaces will have been established to a limited set of key UK
databases, and a very large number (6000) of catalogues, through the CDS
link-up. It has some known bugs, and relatively limited documentation,
which is why we see this as a commissioning style shared-risks release.
The late summer release (V1.1) will have the same basic functionality,
but with two added Science Services - Colour Cutter, and AstroScope. The
latter is a resource browsing and querying facility which links up to
other worldwide registries and datasets, and so will give access in some
form or other to huge amounts of data. V1.1 should also be more robust
and reliable, and with better documentation.
WHAT WILL YOU GET IN 2006 and 2007 ?
With the basic infrastructure in place, the VO will grow naturally as
more data centres follow the rules, tools writers write useful
applications, and we think of ways to improve the interface and so on.
However there are two key ways in which the first AstroGrid system will
not be as ambitious as the full VO vision. Our current R&D work is aimed
at bringing these aspects into play for 2006 and 2007. The first is a
more automated and semi-intelligent approach to resource discovery. This
will reply on developments in the Web world centred around the concepts
of ontology and the semantic web. The second key thing is the growing
importance of heavy-duty datamining applications. New algorithms are
being developed elsewhere. Our job is to work out how to integrate them
into the infrastructure.
WORKSHOP IN JULY
AstroGrid will be holding a three day workshop in Cambridge, 12-14 July,
aimed at introducing the UK astronomy research community, and in
particular those researchers actively involved in observational data
analysis activities, to the potential of emerging Virtual Observatory
capabilities in supporting scientific research. The workshop will be of
limited size, some 30 attendees being the maximum, to ensure that all are
able to gain a good grounding in the opportunities and techniques
available to them through use of AstroGrid and VO systems.
For further details see the news announcement at
http://news.astrogrid.org, or full details at
http://wiki.astrogrid.org/bin/view/Astrogrid/AgWorkshopJul05.
Andy Lawrence
on behalf of the AstroGrid Team.