Data-Mining for Astronomy

Astronomers, it turns out, are people too.   In a white paper from last year entitled Wide-Field Astronomical Surveys in the Next Decade, Michael Strauss (Princeton University) and co-authors present a fine overview of the growing scientific importance of astronomical surveys in scientific discovery.   But what I found particularly interesting was the discussion of the emerging role of the “Survey Astronomer” as a unique career path requiring special considerations.   There will be those who work on the requisite development of survey infrastructure, including its database, software, instrumentation, and analysis pipeline.   It can take many years for the fruits of their labor to be realized.   Consider, the LSST is still at least several years into the future.   During this time, opportunities for publication, often the currency for measuring ones contribution to science,  are obviously more limited in the many years leading before first light.  Strauss et al. write:

[Astronomers] who work on the survey infrastructure are often at a disadvantage in career advancement.   A major challenge in the next decade will be finding ways to change the astronomical culture to more directly recognize the tremendous intellectual contribution of those people working on survey infrastructure, and to understand that papers are not the only mark of productivity and creativity in the field.

While emphasizing that all data generated from astronomical surveys should be made immediately public (particularly in synoptic surveys that depend on rapid follow-up by other observatories when transient events are discovered), he notes that those working on the survey have the inside track due to their more intimate knowledge of the data and its “quirks.”   But to fully take advantage of this opportunity requires funding, and Strauss argues that special funds should be set aside for the survey builders themselves.