Astroinformatics School

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Perth, Western Australia

16-18th February, 2011

In 2011 we are ran an exciting new addition to the Astroinformatics School, a day of high performance computing and GPU programming.

The Astroinformatics School was immediately preceded by an ANITA workshop, also at ICRAR in Perth.  See the ANITA Workshop page for details.

Computational techniques are becoming increasingly important in astronomy. Being familiar with a few central IT skills can greatly enhance your scientific research.

For this Astroinformatics School we have put together a broad program of lectures and tutorials to serve as an introduction to a selection of common tools. These span scripting and programming, database construction and data-mining, as well as techniques for developing webservices and interacting with and developing virtual observatory tools to do science.

The intended audience is postgraduate students and other interested astronomers. Students starting honours in astronomy were also welcome to attend. The Astroinformatics School is a great opportunity to develop or update your IT skills!

The School consisted of lectures and practical exercises delivered by astronomers and software engineers. 

Feedback Form 

Program

Download the 2011 program as a pdf.

• Wednesday 16th Feb: 9am - Start of main program
• Friday 18th: 5pm - Program ends

Important Dates

• 20th September 2010 First Announcement
• October 2010 Registration opens
• December 2010 Registration closes
• 16th - 18th February 2011 Astroinformatics School

Registration

The registration fee was $80, waived for student ASA members. Registration has now closed.  For enquiries please email Tara Murphy. 

Location

The 2011 Astroinformatics School was jointly hosted by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Perth, Western Australia.  The location for the sessions was the Monadelphous Integrated Learning Centre at UWA.  Download a pdf map of the location.  Download a bus timetable for the bus service from Perth's CBD to the location at UWA. 

Information on activities in Perth can be found at the What's On website.  

Suitable dinner locations close by:

• Corner Broadway and Caporn St: IGA/Kebabs/Chinese/Basement on Broadway Pub
• Hampden Road: Tiamo Cafe/Lambretta Cucina Italiano/Borsalino Ristorante
• Stirling Hwy (catch bu 99): Captain Stirlings Pub/Chealsea Pizza/Nandos etc.
• Perth City (See bus timetable above) 

Accommodation

Suitable accommodation for students is available at the Residential colleges of The University of Western Australia.  

There is a block booking at St George's College (adjacent to UWA) that will expire on January 15th 2011.  To stay in one of the block-booked rooms at St George's College please email caroline@stgeorgescollege.com.au with the subject 'Astroinformatics School (ICRAR)'.  Caroline will then provide you with the booking procedure (a deposit will be required).  You can still book accommodation at St Georges College through Caroline after January 15th, but availability may be limited.  

Trinity College also has guest accommodation that will be vacant.  Contact Trinity through their website to enquire and book a room there.   

Please forward any accommodation enquiries to Kathy Kok (kathy.kok@icrar.org)

Travel Support

As in previous years we expect some travel support will be available for students.

Software and Documentation

To participate fully in the Astroinformatics School you will need to have particular software packages installed on your computer. Many of these are standard and will already be present on most machines.

A full list of software installation requirements can be found at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/Malte.Marquarding/ai2011/

Some notes can also be found at the previous school's (2009) website.

• Instructions for the GPU Computing Session (rtf).
• SQL Tutorials (pdf)
• Subversion Notes
• Basic Unix
• Advanced Unix
• Python 1
• Python 2
• Python 3
• Python 4
• Python 5
• Python CGI notes
• pyraf Data 1
• pyraf Data 2 (externally hosted)
• ADS Labs
• Web Technology
• scipy/plotting Tutorial
• Parallel Computing
• Parallel Computing with MPI
• VO Tools

Scientific Organising Committee

• Tara Murphy (Chair) - tara@physics.usyd.edu.au
• James Curran - james@it.usyd.edu.au
• Chris Harris - christopher.harris@icrar.org
• Andrew Hopkins - ahopkins@aao.gov.au
• Malte Marquarding - Malte.Marquarding@csiro.au
• Martin Meyer - Martin.Meyer@icrar.org
• Randall Wayth - randall.wayth@icrar.org

Please contact us if you have any queries.

Email is the best way of contacting us.  In the first instance contact Tara Murphy (tara@physics.usyd.edu.au).

Local Organising Committee

• Chris Harris - Chair
• Jacinta Delhaize
• Kirsten Gottschalk
• Martin Meyer
• Toby Potter
• Lister Staveley-Smith
• Randall Wayth

Supporters

We would like to thank the ASA, and the institutions listed below, for their financial support of the Astroinformatics School. This support makes it possible for us to offer registration waivers for members of the supporting institutions, (including the ASA) and travel assistance for student ASA members, as well as covering the costs of running the program.

• The Astronomical Society of Australia
• The Cole Fund
• ICRAR
• Australian Astronomical Observatory
• CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science
• Skymapper
•  

We would also like to thank the following institutions for providing in-kind support in the form of presenters and facilities, without which the school would not have been possible.

• The University of Western Australia
• Curtin University
• Sydney University
• iVEC