SPLUS: Science Hunters

Insights from a Photometric Survey

Picture yourself trying to measure how bright stuff in the sky is. Sounds easy, right? But it's not that straightforward. The brightness of what you see depends on a bunch of things, like how far away things are, how dusty it is in between, their size, and how hot they are.

Now, imagine doing this on a massive scale. That's where a "Photometric survey" comes into play. Think of it as a huge project to gather a ton of data from the stars and objects in the sky. Each time we observe something, we make decisions about how long to look, what type of light to use, and which filters to slap on. These choices depend on what we want to learn. Bellow are presented the main points about the SPLUS survey and what it was made for.

Given the vast number of objects we observe, there's an opportunity for diverse scientific contributions. Within a photometric survey, we're not just peering at galaxies and asteroids; we're also exploring intriguing entities like H-alpha emitters and more. Of course, the common objects vastly outnumber the extraordinary ones. Over time, we've developed an vast number of tools to detect them, but every now and then, these tools fall short and need adjustments.

This is where you come in. Your assistance in identifying these 'exotic' objects is pivotal, accelerating our data exploration and adding a significant dimension to our scientific endeavors. Through your contributions in selecting interesting objects, we are curating a dataset of images with corresponding labels, including galaxies, green dots, asteroids, and exotic objects, denoting their respective classes. These images serve as the foundation to extract relevant features, enabling the training of algorithms to recognize and classify new objects. SPLUS project continues its sky observations, generating new images regularly, your efforts not only aid in identifying targets within the current sample but also contribute to the ongoing and future images of the project. Your dedication plays a key role in advancing our understanding of the celestial landscape and fuels the continuous progress of our scientific pursuits.

S-PLUS Project

Welcome to the S-PLUS project! The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) is a Brazilian-led and coordinated project that employs a robotic telescope located at the Cerro Tololo observatory in Chile to image nearly half of the celestial sphere visible from the southern hemisphere. The project's primary goal is to identify intriguing celestial bodies in previously unreleased images.

Project Overview and Mapping

S-PLUS employs a robotic telescope with an 80 cm diameter mirror and utilizes twelve photometric filters covering a wide range of wavelengths, from ultraviolet to red. These filters highlight various characteristics of observed sources, aiding in star classification based on factors such as color, temperature, chemical composition, age, and content. The mapping process is outlined in detail in a 2019 scientific article published in the journal MNRAS (Mendes de Oliveira et al. 2019). The project is funded by FAPESP (project 2019/26492-3) and has received significant contributions from various federal agencies.

The S-PLUS Filter System

Light consists of photons with diverse wavelengths, corresponding to the colors we perceive. S-PLUS utilizes a combination of twelve photometric filters, including both wideband (covering a broader range of wavelengths) and narrow filters (more selective). These filters aid in identifying crucial characteristics of celestial objects. Notably, the J0660 filter is designed to measure brightness in the H-alpha spectral line region, linked to electron level transitions in hydrogen atoms. Celestial bodies exhibiting brightness in this filter are known as H-alpha emitters, a category of objects studied within S-PLUS.

The S-PLUS Imaging Process

For each telescope pointing, S-PLUS captures 36 individual images—3 for each of the 12 filters. The resulting color image is a composite of these 36 images, accounting for filter wavelengths. The images reveal a plethora of celestial bodies, including stars, galaxies, star clusters, and asteroids. Asteroids, in particular, appear as trails of multicolored light due to their movement during the image capture process. The project aims to detect and categorize unusual and exotic celestial objects through collective efforts. This initiative will contribute to scientific research and aid in developing a machine learning program, utilizing neural networks, to identify and study these objects with larger telescopes.

SPLUS - Science Hunters invites you to join us in this astronomical exploration, scanning the sky to appreciate the wonders that constitute our universe. Come, be a part of this extraordinary journey!

For more in-depth information about the S-PLUS project, please visit the official website: S-PLUS Website. Get an introductory glimpse into S-PLUS with this video: