Preparing and Releasing the La Silla QUEST Variability Survey Data

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Data mining is a very effective method for doing scientific studies. The La Silla QUEST Survey (LSQ ) made for the detection of Supernovae and Kuiper belt objects, can be repurposed to give a very useful history of the variable sky in the southern hemisphere. In its six years operation, roughly half the sky was imaged an average of 200 times (several hundred square degrees over 1000-2000 times), making it suitable for variability timescales studies from hours to years down to faint visibility magnitudes. The data will be particularly useful in the areas overlapped by current and future variability surveys by extending their time baseline. The available light curves for both transient and persistent variable sources will be placed in a database accessible via the Internet with precomputed "signatures information on the variability and position". The pipeline reprocessed imaged data will also be made available. This data will be available to the citizen scientists like the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), the Zooniverse, and the WorldWide Telescope by providing them with a plug-in to the AAVSO that lets their software access to LSQ light curves. This grant will preserve the valuable data from the La Silla Quest Variable Survey (LSQ) for future time variable studies of stellar phenomena. The data collected by the LSQ will be fully calibrated, cleaned, and reprocessed to correct for errors in photometry and astrometry caused by the CCD performance, charge effects for bright stars, and effects caused by the PSF. It will provide a global set of reference stars to improve differential photometry and provide light curves for persistent sources with accurate error bars. The light curve data will be made data searchable as well as in postage stamp "movies" for any location on the Southern Hemisphere sky with access to raw files and made accessible to the astronomical community and the public. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.