Rationale

Astronomical surveys based on obtaining images in three or more photometric bands have become widespread in recent decades, revolutionizing, among others, the fields of large-scale structure and galaxy evolution. With the arrival of large-sky photometric surveys such as Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), studies that were previously based on the analysis of hundreds or thousands of objects, now they involve millions or even billions of them. Such volumes of data impose the need for modern computational techniques to select sources of interest and determine parameters of objects accurately with photometry only.

The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) is a joint scientific effort of Brazilian, Chilean and Spanish institutions that aims to map ~9300 square degrees of the Southern sky with twelve optical filters consisting of 5 broad-band filters (four are similar to SDSS filters) and 7 narrow-band filters centered on several prominent features (i.e., [OII], Ca H+K, D4000, Hδ, Mgb, Hα and CaT). Due to the narrow-band filter system, S-PLUS data are ideal for searching low-metallicity and blue-horizontal branch stars, studying the star formation histories of large numbers of galaxies selected based on the accurate 12-band photometric redshifts, and mapping the large-scale structure in the nearby Universe, among other science goals. S-PLUS will cover an additional ~1300 square degrees of the Galactic plane and the Bulge, and observe ~100 square degrees with some cadence to be determined. The latter will allow us to measure variability in stars and active galaxies, and to detect new supernovae and asteroids. S-PLUS is carried out with the T80-South (T80-S), a new 0.826-m telescope optimised for robotic operation, equipped with a wide FoV camera (~2 square degrees). The telescope, camera, and filter set are identical to those of the Javalambre Auxiliary Survey Telescope (T80/JAST), installed at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre. T80/JAST is currently performing the Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS), a 12-band survey of a complementary area in the northern hemisphere. S-PLUS generates, each night, ~500 Gb of raw data and it has provided, so far, ~20 Tb of public data ready to be used by the international community.

The XI La Plata International School (LAPIS) on Astronomy and Geophysics will be focused on how to handle large data volumes in Astronomy from data acquisition using high-performance frameworks (e.g. Large Survey DataBase) to the application of state-of-the-art methods in Data Science. The classes will be a combination of theoretical and hands-on sessions that involve machine learning, deep learning and an introduction to Bayesian methods. Common applications in astronomical datasets will be covered in this school with practical applications on the S-PLUS data, such as object detection, and object classification, as well as on variability studies with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

Credit: Ricardo Demarco