Introducing VOGCLUSTERS

Dear friends, while it may seems that the gclusters project (The Galactic Globular Clusters Database) has not been interested by much activities lately, as a matter of fact we have worked setting the stage for a big improvement: gclusters is on its way to became a real web application. This means that a lot of new feature will be implemented, such as the possibility (for registered users) to submit information in the database, an extensive and complete system to perform searches, a lot of more data available online, etc..

The web application (codename VOGCLUSTERS) is being developed under the DAME Project (in particular, see the DAME Science page): “DAME (DAta Mining & Exploration) is a project aimed at designing and developing instruments and tools for scientific data mining, based on information and comunication technology. DAME is an evolution of the Astroneural and VO-Neural projects and is funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as by the European project VOTECH (Virtual Observatory Technological Infrastructures) and by the Italian PON-S.Co.P.E.” (from DAME webpage).

In the past months, I had several contacts with the kind people of the DAME Working group , and I’m extremely  satisfied about their work on the project, which is now in an advanced phase of realisation (we have defined a complete and detailed document about Software Requirement Specification, and the work on the webpages is already started).

I’ll use this blog to keep you updated about the status of VOGCLUSTERS; meanwhile, as you may understand, I do not plan to make major improvements in the current implementation of gclusters (which anyway well remain online and fully operative). If you desire more detailed information, you’re invited to contact me (let a comment in this blog, in case)

Needless to say, I’m quite excited about the upcoming steps for gclusters/VOGCLUSTERS…

Marco Castellani

Omega Centauri with WFC3

A wonderful panoramic view of the globular cluster Omega Centauri, taken by the new Wide Field Camera 3 installed aboard Hubble in May 2009… enjoy !

Image Credit: NASA

[Jan. 09] A remote repository for gclusters

Dear friends, first of all, accept my best wishes for a good and peaceful new year!

Speaking about the Globular Clusters Database, I should say that work is still in progress, even if at a slow rate, also for my involvement as a developer in the ESA-GAIA project, that takes much of my time at the moment.

I have just put all the files of gcluster on a remote website, in order to allow other person to see the code, send bug report, and even make modifications to the files themselves. If you are interested (even in sending bug report or just to have a quick look at the PHP code) please email me at m.castellani (at) gmail.com, and I’ll give you access to the remote repository.

Specifically, the files of the project has now put under git ( a software of revision control); the remote repository is hosted by http://www.indefero.net/. This should turn very useful to keep track of all modifications in the files and to work towards a distribuite collaboration (well, that’s still my dream!)

The location of the reporitory is

http://mcastel.indefero.net/p/gclusters/

As specified above, (at the moment) an allowed account is needed to access the project (source code). Conversely, bug submission is free to all registered inDefero users, and listing of submitted bugs is free for all.

Do not hesitate to ask if you have questions

Kind regards,

Marco Castellani

http://mcastel.net63.net/

[Nov. 08] Facebook group, clusters revision…

Dear friends, we have just a couple of updates for the Galactic Globular Clusters Database project this month:

• Facebook group gclusters: in these days, it seems that facebook popularity keeps growing with no rest, so now we are also present in this popular social network with a group named (you guess?) gclusters. The address of the group is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52471272288. Every topic related to globular clusters (at any level) is allowed; Italian and English languages are fine for posting.
• Cluster Data Revision : I started a (sort of) long time project, devoted to analyze the data for each cluster and to complement information when it’s possible, adding link bibliography and values of parameters. I started from the bulge clusters, moving from center of the Milky Way outward (NGC 6522 has been the first to be “revised”). If you want to help (for example, submitting links of interest and similar stuff), fill free to get in touch.

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and have a nice month!

Marco Castellani

[Oct. 08] Globularnews, cluster descriptions…

Hi all, for this month, we have just a couple of updates for the Galactic Globular Clusters Database:

• Introduced a “new What’s New” page: you can reach it at http://globularnews.tumblr.com
• Introduced a field with a short description of the cluster; e.g. see M53
• I set up a simple poll to help me to understand “what to do next”: please select your preference below (you can add other answers too)

That’s all for now.
Have a nice month!

Marco Castellani

Papers on NGC6715, NGC 6752; link on 47 Tuc

– New papers added to the gclusters database:

1. “The Nucleus of the Sagittarius Dsph Galaxy and M54: a Window on the Process of Galaxy Nucleation”

Bellazzini, M.; Ibata, R. A.; Chapman, S. C.; Mackey, A. D.; Monaco, L.; Irwin, M. J.; Martin, N. F.; Lewis, G. F.; Dalessandro, E.

The Astronomical Journal, Volume 136, Issue 3, pp. 1147-1170 (2008)

2. “XMM-Newton observations of the low-mass X-ray binary XB 1832-330  in the galactic globular cluster NGC 6652″

Sidoli, L.; La Palombara, N.; Oosterbroek, T.; Parmar, A. N.

Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 488, Issue 1, 2008, pp.249-255

http://venus.mporzio.astro.it/~marco/gc/biblio_new.php

- New link added on gclusters database:

47 Tuc: A Great Globular Cluster of Stars

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080826.html