Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs

The next stage after performing observations and their primary reduction is to transform the set of observations into a catalog. To this end, objects that are irrelevant to the catalog should be excluded from observations and gross errors should be discarded. To transform such a prepared data set in...

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Main Authors: Prokhorov M. E., Zakharov A. I., Kroussanova N. L., Tuchin M. S., Kortunov P. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2016-12-01
Series:Open Astronomy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/astro-2017-0259
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author Prokhorov M. E.
Zakharov A. I.
Kroussanova N. L.
Tuchin M. S.
Kortunov P. V.
author_facet Prokhorov M. E.
Zakharov A. I.
Kroussanova N. L.
Tuchin M. S.
Kortunov P. V.
author_sort Prokhorov M. E.
collection DOAJ
description The next stage after performing observations and their primary reduction is to transform the set of observations into a catalog. To this end, objects that are irrelevant to the catalog should be excluded from observations and gross errors should be discarded. To transform such a prepared data set into a high-precision catalog, we need to identify and correct systematic errors. Therefore, each object of the survey should be observed several, preferably many, times. The problem formally reduces to solving an overdetermined set of equations. However, in the case of catalogs this system of equations has a very specific form: it is extremely sparse, and its sparseness increases rapidly with the number of objects in the catalog. Such equation systems require special methods for storing data on disks and in RAM, and for the choice of the techniques for their solving. Another specific feature of such systems is their high “stiffiness”, which also increases with the volume of a catalog. Special stable mathematical methods should be used in order not to lose precision when solving such systems of equations. We illustrate the problem by the example of photometric star catalogs, although similar problems arise in the case of positional, radial-velocity, and parallax catalogs.
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spelling doaj.art-1badebdd55564a6cab897870d704ae642022-12-21T21:31:00ZengDe GruyterOpen Astronomy2543-63762016-12-0125440041010.1515/astro-2017-0259astro-2017-0259Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical CatalogsProkhorov M. E.0Zakharov A. I.1Kroussanova N. L.2Tuchin M. S.3Kortunov P. V.4 Sternberg Astronomical Institute, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Universitetsky prosp. 13, Moscow 119992, Russian Federation Sternberg Astronomical Institute, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Universitetsky prosp. 13, Moscow 119992, Russian Federation Sternberg Astronomical Institute, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Universitetsky prosp. 13, Moscow 119992, Russian Federation Sternberg Astronomical Institute, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Universitetsky prosp. 13, Moscow 119992, Russian Federation Azmerit Ltd., Leninskye Gory 1 build. 75G, Moscow, Russian FederationThe next stage after performing observations and their primary reduction is to transform the set of observations into a catalog. To this end, objects that are irrelevant to the catalog should be excluded from observations and gross errors should be discarded. To transform such a prepared data set into a high-precision catalog, we need to identify and correct systematic errors. Therefore, each object of the survey should be observed several, preferably many, times. The problem formally reduces to solving an overdetermined set of equations. However, in the case of catalogs this system of equations has a very specific form: it is extremely sparse, and its sparseness increases rapidly with the number of objects in the catalog. Such equation systems require special methods for storing data on disks and in RAM, and for the choice of the techniques for their solving. Another specific feature of such systems is their high “stiffiness”, which also increases with the volume of a catalog. Special stable mathematical methods should be used in order not to lose precision when solving such systems of equations. We illustrate the problem by the example of photometric star catalogs, although similar problems arise in the case of positional, radial-velocity, and parallax catalogs.https://doi.org/10.1515/astro-2017-0259methods: data analysiscatalogs: photometric
spellingShingle Prokhorov M. E.
Zakharov A. I.
Kroussanova N. L.
Tuchin M. S.
Kortunov P. V.
Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs
Open Astronomy
methods: data analysis
catalogs: photometric
title Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs
title_full Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs
title_fullStr Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs
title_full_unstemmed Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs
title_short Mathematical Problems in Creating Large Astronomical Catalogs
title_sort mathematical problems in creating large astronomical catalogs
topic methods: data analysis
catalogs: photometric
url https://doi.org/10.1515/astro-2017-0259
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AT kroussanovanl mathematicalproblemsincreatinglargeastronomicalcatalogs
AT tuchinms mathematicalproblemsincreatinglargeastronomicalcatalogs
AT kortunovpv mathematicalproblemsincreatinglargeastronomicalcatalogs