Talk:Astronomical survey
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Intro Section and Definition
[edit]I just completely tore down and rebuilt the introductory section of this article. Hopefully it's an improvement, even if it is a bit skeletal. The most important changes are in the first two sentences where "astronomical survey" is defined. I wanted it to be of the form: "An astronomical survey is..." but I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a clear and concise definition. I think the heart of it is how a survey differs from a "typical" astronomical observation, i.e. that a survey is more general and includes many objects, not just one thing in particular. That could mean a single image (or composite image) covering a wide field of view, maybe even the entire sky; it can also mean a collection of images of similar things, say galaxy clusters. Did I hit the mark? Can the wording be improved?
I also had a few thoughts about what might be included or discussed in the future:
- History of astronomical surveys. Can ancient or pre-telescope star charts be regarded as surveys?
- possible source from the folks at the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: History of Astronomical Surveys (I have not read it yet)
- Notable scientific discoveries resulting from surveys. Hubble's discovery of galactic recession? Dark matter halos? Etc
Braincricket (talk) 05:59, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
I propose adding the following: -quantitative measures of surveys, such as some kind of figure of merit involving depth as well as area. -quantitative measures of survey instruments, including an explanation of relevant terms such as etendu and grasp, and how they apply to survey capabilities.