Space Telescope Science Institute: COMPASS
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The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is home to planning, scheduling, and public outreach activities for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Data archive and distribution services for the HST and other missions are also provided by STScI. Additionally, STScI has been selected to develop and manage the science and operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract to NASA.
Note: STScI is on the same campus as the John Hopkins University: SDSS project, but there is no direct connection between the two.
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[edit] Objectivity Case History
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[edit] Important
This information is an archive, so any use of the present sense in the text should be taken in the historical context, generally determinable from the Status section below.
[edit] Customer Information
- Customer: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
- Project: COMPASS
- Location: Baltimore, MD
- Territory: Eastern Region
- Industry Verticals:
- (look at that page)
- Technologies:
- (look at that page)
- Application Domain:
- Market Characterization:
- Number of developer licenses:
- Runtime license volume and type:
[edit] Status
- First Contact: 2000
- Lead came from: [{CERN: RD45]]
- Evaluation Start Date:
- Evaluation Finish Date:
- First Purchase Date:
- Deployment Date:
- Current Status: Deployed
- Can we talk about this customer and the product/project? Yes
- Referenceable?: Check with the Sales representative.
[edit] Environment
- Hardware:
- Operating System:
- Precision:
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- Compiler:
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- Open Source tools:
[edit] The Project/Product
[edit] Project Background
STScI found Objectivity/DB via the CERN: RD45 Project.
[edit] Project/Product Description
COMPASS (Catalogs of Objects and Measured Parameters from All Sky Surveys) is a database for the production and distribution of the second-generation Guide Star Catalog (GSC-II).
The STScI is responsible for the operation of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). By providing precise reference information about star fields anywhere in the sky, the celestial maps implicit in the GSC concept are used to assure that HST is properly positioned for observing its selected targets. Additionally, the GSC-II is to be used to support target acquisition and pointing at many of the new ground-based telescopes currently under construction, including the 8-meter Gemini telescopes in Chile and Hawaii.
The Guide Star Catalog is a collaborative project with the Astronomico Osservatorio di Torino (Italy), the European Coordinating Facility of the European Space Agency (Germany), and other international partners.
The COMPASS project is based on the digitization of about 6000 photographic sky survey plates (itself a 4-Terabyte dataset), from which about 10**9 objects will be identified to the limits required for HST and other telescopes, plus a comparable number of additional objects that will exploit the opportunities that this dataset offers for astrophysical research.
In order to store this data in small accessible units that are logically structured on the sky, the COMPASS database is partitioned into 32,768 regions (each an individual database in an Objectivity federation). Every region contains approximately 50,000 objects, each representing an observed star or galaxy in the sky. The final database size is expected to occupy 4 terabytes. The data, which consists of plate source measurements and their calibrations, is directly traceable to the original photographic images and the reference systems on which the calibrations are based.
[edit] Buying Criteria
[edit] Business Priorities
[edit] Technical Priorities
- Scalability (Multi-Terabyte)
- Performance with complex, highly inter-related data.
Our most demanding database requirements come from the calibrations and the need to optimize them by using iterative techniques," according to Barry Lasker, GSC Project Scientist at STScI.
[edit] Competitors/Alternatives
[edit] Why They Chose Objectivity
The lead developer for the project, Gretchen Greene, stated that "Objectivity/DB has a very robust kernel that is well-matched to our science goals. The COMPASS database, built on Objectivity/DB, is exciting because it is one of the first large scale production astronomical databases to utilize this latest object-oriented technology."
[edit] Partners
- DEC
- CERN: RD45 was an important influence.
[edit] Collateral
- Press Releases: Objectivity selected
- Fliers:
- White Papers:
- Case Study:
- Other: COMPASS presentation at WorldView 2005
[edit] Contact Information
- Objectivity Rep:
- Customer Contact:
- Customer Phone:
- Customer Email:
- URL:
