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Canada Explores New Frontiers In Astroinformatics

Posted by Soulskill on from the fodder-for-the-spellchecker dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The number of scientific instruments available to astronomy researchers for gathering data has grown significantly in recent years, leading to unprecedented amounts of information that requires vast storage and processing capabilities. Canadian researchers are finding a way around this problem (PDF) with a new solution that combines the best of grid and cloud computing, allowing them to more efficiently reach their research goals."

39 comments

  1. Cassandra 0.7 obv by TafBang · · Score: 0

    I thought of this yesterday and how it could help space travel, cut me a check... jk, but really though

    1. Re:Cassandra 0.7 obv by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought of this yesterday and how it could help space travel, cut me a check... jk, but really though

      Can you post more irrelevant shit please?

  2. We just need to call it . . . by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

    Science informatics. (Now with 30% more science!)

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
    1. Re:We just need to call it . . . by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're just jealous that us Canadians have managed to find new and interesting ways to butcher the English language while ya'll just drop letters n shorten words.

    2. Re:We just need to call it . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am can hardly wait for the NFB vignette, and the 2-hour Lightfoot-Murray CBC special.

    3. Re:We just need to call it . . . by Tumbleweed · · Score: 3, Informative

      You're just jealous that us Canadians have managed to find new and interesting ways to butcher the English language while ya'll just drop letters n shorten words.

      Colour me impressed, eh!

    4. Re:We just need to call it . . . by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      You've got to give the Canadians credit for one thing: they pronounce the words exactly as they spell them; as different from the Americans as is possible!

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    5. Re:We just need to call it . . . by Redlazer · · Score: 1

      "We say Eh instead of what, or duh - that's the mighty power of Canada". Oh Canada - Five Iron Frenzy

      --
      Guns don't kill people, "with glowing hearts" kills people.
    6. Re:We just need to call it . . . by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1

      I believe we should have call that starcomputing just to piss them off with their cloud-computing.

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
  3. I think that PDF needs the following amend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1) Telescopes
    2) Data
    3) ?????
    4) Profit

    1. Re:I think that PDF needs the following amend by arisvega · · Score: 0

      Plus, at the start, where it reads "We detail the significance of the emerging field of astroinformatics to the next decade of Canadian astronomy"

      How many decades is a "Canadian astronomy decade" in SI units?

      Careful; if you die in Canada, you die in real life too.

      --
      The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
  4. The best of grid and cloud computing by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

    "Well, Gromit, that sounds like A Grand Day Out! Whoops! The grid and the cloud have The Wrong Trousers!"

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:The best of grid and cloud computing by treeves · · Score: 1

      Favorite part in all those films: shot of Gromit reading a book entitled "Electronics for Dogs".
      What does it have to do with this story though?

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  5. Canadian astronomy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hehehehehehehe. When's their planetary probe going up? Come on, be serious.

  6. Yes, but... by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    Does this solution scale up well enough to meet the enormous storage and bandwidth demands of porn?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Yes, but... by iONiUM · · Score: 1

      Yes.

    2. Re:Yes, but... by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Well then, I must really give a hand to our friends North of the border! (Just one hand, mind you, the other one is busy...)

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    3. Re:Yes, but... by RogerWilco · · Score: 1

      The data challenges in astrophysics over the next 10 years are, together with particle physics (LHC/CERN), one of the few fields that might compare to the needs of porn.

      For example, I'm working on LOFAR, we currently have a data rate of just over 200 Gbit/s and could be going as high as 1440 Gbit/s in the next couple of years. This is not just for a few seconds, like most particle experiments, but this will be 24/7 from March 2011. Our archive will store only scientific results, but still about 5 PB a year.

      How does that compare to your porn?

      --
      RogerWilco the Adventurous Janitor
  7. Scaling up to Porn by handy_vandal · · Score: 1

    The "enormous storage and bandwidth demands of porn" are manageable situations.

    The enormous discharge of porn -- that's a real problem.

    --
    -kgj
    1. Re:Scaling up to Porn by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

      Note to self: buy stock in Kleenex corp.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  8. A GOOD use for "cloud" by syousef · · Score: 3

    THIS is a good use for "cloud" computing. Doing something that desktop computers or even individual large scale computers can't do on their own. A much more legitimate use than storing your documents and family photos on servers that belong to companies that may or may not honour their promises.

    "cloud" is still just an irritating buzzword though.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    1. Re:A GOOD use for "cloud" by RogerWilco · · Score: 2

      In my experience neither GRID nor Cloud computing is a good fit for these things, mostly because the data handling is very bandwidth/storage intensive and requires usually a very specialized software stack.

      On a generic GRID or Cloud solution these are usually not available or easy to install/run/debug.

      We are trying to get our data and software on GRID and Cloud solutions because it would indeed help us in processing our data, but it's been a real struggle and until now with only limited success.

      --
      RogerWilco the Adventurous Janitor
    2. Re:A GOOD use for "cloud" by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      THIS is a good use for "cloud" computing

      I'd have thought that was a little beneath astrophysics.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:A GOOD use for "cloud" by syousef · · Score: 1

      In my experience neither GRID nor Cloud computing is a good fit for these things, mostly because the data handling is very bandwidth/storage intensive and requires usually a very specialized software stack.

      On a generic GRID or Cloud solution these are usually not available or easy to install/run/debug.

      It doesn't have to be that way.
      http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/
      http://nebula.nasa.gov/

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    4. Re:A GOOD use for "cloud" by wwphx · · Score: 1

      The problem, in addition to volume, is bandwidth. At my wife's observatory, Apache Point, one of the telescopes is the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 2.5 meter. When it's operating in certain modes, it's streaming data to seven or eight DAT drives in parallel (don't ask me what model, but it's a whomping volume of data). They complete a night, then ship the tapes off to another site for analysis.

      Considering how rural most observatories are, I don't see how they could have enough bandwidth to stream that amount of data real-time to wherever the analysis takes place.

      --
      When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
  9. Astronomers and coulds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Usually clouds are getting in the way of astronomy.

  10. Astroinformatics ? by rossdee · · Score: 2

    Well I guess they could have used the term "Astrometrics" but Seven (of Nine) had patented that already...

  11. canadians are well poised for this frontier by circletimessquare · · Score: 2

    familiar as they are with large mostly empty frigidly cold spaces

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:canadians are well poised for this frontier by SilverEyes · · Score: 3, Informative

      It really isn't that cold in Canada where all the people live. The largest state in the U.S., much of Russia, Antarctica, Finland, etc. are all pretty much colder on a continual basis with more people than Canada. I think people think it's so cold here because we use metric (as opposed to the Americans) and that we complain so much more about it... (possibly from a strong UK cultural heritage?)

      --
      Interesting.
    2. Re:canadians are well poised for this frontier by Abstrackt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Of course! Where else would we store the beer?

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
  12. Astroinformatics != Astrometrics by oneiros27 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Astrometrics has to do with precise measurements of the celestial objects.

    Astroinformatics has to do with the data systems used to store & process astronomy data.

    (I'm a member of AGU's Earth and Space Science Informatics group, but we don't really deal with the nighttime folks; all of my data's solar)

    --
    Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
    1. Re:Astroinformatics != Astrometrics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well, they needed very precise measurements of a certain heavenly body... to create her catsuit!

  13. get some work done! by underdiver · · Score: 0

    they won't get anywhere. Just like the Avro Arrow they'll get great ideas but won't have the manpower or $ to carry them out.

    1. Re:get some work done! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just like the Avro Arrow they'll get great ideas...

      Ah, the Avro Arrow, the world's first sentient aircraft.

  14. PDF by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    OK I know no one read the article so I thought I would point out it a bit funny that the summary either cleverly or accidentally made a good pun on "PDF" (One being Portable Document Format and the other Probability Density Function):

    "Canadian researchers are finding a way around this problem (PDF) with a new solution that combines the best of grid and cloud computing, allowing them to more efficiently reach their research goals.""

    AND

    "However, much more useful than a single scalar-valued redshift, is the assignation of a full probability density function (PDF) in redshift. This substantially increases the amount of information available to the next stage of the analysis." :)

    Thought I am puzzled WTF this has to do with "Cloud Computing". As it isn't mentioned at all in the article and from what I read it sounds more like distributed and parallel processing to take advantage of current and future infrastructure, than any kind of centralized online collaboration. Unless you can classify SETI@HOME as cloud computing as well...

  15. blah blah blah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Canadian this. Canadian that.

    How about: "Researchers in Canada..". For all we know, they're all foreign nationals or some thing. And really, does it matter where on the globe they happen to be?