[vsnet-chat 7812] Mahabal's talk on Catalina Realtime Transient Survey

[Taichi Kato]

   We have a live streaming of Ashish Mahabal's talk tomorrow.
The talk is scheduled to start at 07:00 UT (June 29).  Please visit
the following address:

   http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mahabal

Title: A variety of Science with the Catalina Realtime Transient Survey

Speaker: Ashish Mahabal
(Astronomy Department, California Institute of Technology)

Abstract:
Astronomy has come a long way from small-area focused observations of a
small set of objects to panoramic, deep, multi-wavelength survey and has
opened floodgates of discovery. This revolution has been enabled by
faster computers, by the availability of larger and cheaper storage
devices, and even more so by the advance in observing technology.
Astronomy has moved from taking static pictures of the sky to digital
movies that can be data-mined in a variety of ways.
We present an overview of the field with a special emphasis on open
surveys like Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS), modes of
communicating information about transient events so that rapid follow-up
becomes possible.
Given the large number of transients we will soon be witnessing per unit
time, deciding which transients are worth following up in detail for
rarity or new physics is an important question. We present a few
classification methods that can make this happen and the role of small
and large telescopes in the process.
Finally we present several examples of transients ranging from
interesting variable stars to blazars and AGNs.