“My God! It’s Full of Stars…” Astronomers, Computers, and Data Deluges

W. Patrick McCray

University of California, Santa Barbara

Image fromKubrick’s film2001

An early solution to data floods…

“Computers” classifying stellar spectra at Harvard College Observatory, c. 1890

Data analyst, Lawrence Berkeley Lab Cyclotron, c. 1965;

Neil Armstrong, X-15 test pilot, 1960: “this hypersonic vehicle is an instrument of the pilot…

depending on him for control and flight success.”

X-15 Cockpit; note the 3 control sticks

‘Old-School’ Astronomical Observing(as imagined in 1930s)

Using a large telescope demanded “…high artistry – doing it yourself.

Mastery of a beautiful and cantankerous instrument, a big

telescope.” (Albert E. Whitford)

Kitt Peak 4-meter Control Room, c. 1988(note the blacked out window)

Illustration from Dennison, “Computer Control of Large Telescopes,” 1971

Was “Technology Supplanting Artistry”?

Kitt Peak astronomer Roger Lynds, 1975, at Cassegrain focus of 4-m telescope

Astronomical Cyborgs?

Gemini – Example of a modern “cyber-observatory”

Example of “data flow” in a modern observatory(from c. 1998)

NSF depiction (2001) of its “National Virtual Observatory” initiative

Galaxy Zoo Project; part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Another way of dealing with the data flood…enlist the public

“Know thyself… Know your telescope.”

Hallway sign, Cornell Astronomy Department, 2002