Related papers: Great Surveys of the Universe
Laboratory astrophysics and complementary theoretical calculations are the foundations of astronomy and astrophysics and will remain so into the foreseeable future. The mission enabling impact of laboratory astrophysics ranges from the…
As astronomy enters an era defined by global telescope networks, petabyte-scale surveys, and powerful computational tools, the longstanding goals of astronomy education, particularly introductory ``ASTRO101'', but equally encompassing both…
The Mega-MUSE Nearby Galaxy Serendipity Survey is a White Paper in response to the ESO Expanding Horizons Call for Ideas. It is based on the notion that novel observing facilities for astronomy almost always make discoveries that were not…
Discoveries in the last few years have revolutionized our knowledge of the universe and our ideas of its ultimate fate. Measurements of the expansion of the universe show that it is not slowing down under normal gravity but accelerating due…
Galaxy redshift surveys and Cosmic Microwave Background experiments are undertaken with larger and larger teams, in a fashion reminiscent of particle physics experiments and the human genome projects. We discuss the role of young…
At the turn of the decade we arguably move from the era of precision cosmology to the era of galaxy formation. One approach to this problem will be via the construction of comprehensive galaxy samples. In this review I take the opportunity…
The tens of millions of radio sources to be detected with next-generation surveys pose new challenges, quite apart from the obvious ones of processing speed and data volumes. For example, existing algorithms are inadequate for source…
As the next decade approaches, it is once again time for the US astronomical community to assess its investment priorities for the coming decade on the ground and in space. This report, created to aid NOAO in its planning for the 2020…
Availability of reliable atomic and molecular opacity tables is essential in a wide variety of astronomical modeling: the solar and stellar interiors, stellar and planetary atmospheres, stellar evolution, pulsating stars, and protoplanetary…
Breakthroughs in physics and astrophysics are often driven by technological advances, with the recent detection of gravitational waves being one such example. This white paper focuses upon how improved astrometric and spectroscopic…
I review the present status of the mapping of the large-scale structure of the Universe through wide-angle redshift surveys. In the first part of the paper, I discuss the current state of the art, describing in some detail the recently…
Astronomy is entering a new era of discovery, coincident with the establishment of new facilities for observation and simulation that will routinely generate petabytes of data. While an increasing reliance on automated data analysis is…
Opening up a new window of millimeter-wave observations that span frequency bands in the range of 30 to 500 GHz, survey half the sky, and are both an order of magnitude deeper (about 0.5 uK-arcmin) and of higher-resolution (about 10…
Galaxy redshift surveys are one of the pillars of the current standard cosmological model and remain a key tool in the experimental effort to understand the origin of cosmic acceleration. To this end, the next generation of surveys aim at…
Galaxies represent the visible fabric of the Universe and there has been considerable progress recently in both observational and theoretical studies. The underlying goal is to understand the present-day diversity of galaxy forms, masses…
What is the shape of the Universe? Is it finite or infinite ? Is space multi-connected to create ghost images of faraway cosmic sources? After a "dark age" period, the field of cosmic topology has now become one of the major concerns in…
The past fifty years have been an epoch of impressive progress in the field of astronomical technology. Practically all the technical tools, which we use today, have been developed during that time span. While the first half of this period…
Systematic surveys of astronomical objects often lead to discoveries, but always provide invaluable information for statistical studies of well-defined samples. They also promote follow-up investigations of individual objects or classes.…
Supernovae play a critical role in observational cosmology as well as in astrophysics of stars and galaxies. Recent era has seen dramatic progress in the research of supernovae. Several programs to search systematically supernovae in nearby…
Despite the large budgets spent annually on astronomical research equipment such as telescopes, instruments and supercomputers, the general trend is to analyse and view the resulting datasets using small, two-dimensional displays. We report…