CS & IPAC Seminars: “Real-Time Astronomy with Skyalert”

“Real-Time Astronomy with Skyalert”
Roy Williams,
Center for Advanced Computing Research, Caltech

CS Lunch Bunch
Tuesday, April 21st
12:00 – 1:00pm
74 Jorgensen

~OR~

IPAC Colloquium
Wednesday, April 22nd
12:00 – 1:00pm
Morrisroe Large Conference Room, IPAC

There is a waterfall coming of astronomical surveys that discover change in the sky, and the data rates are of course exponentiating. Such transient events may be supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, cataclysmic variables, blazar eruptions, etc. To understand the astrophysics of these rapid followup observation is needed, and as rates increase, decisions will of necessity be made by automated systems. I will present a prototype of such a system.
More information about Skyalert: http://www.skyalert.org