The CAMCEAD group at the University of Cambridge develops and operates the computational infrastructure supporting the MOONS Guaranteed Time Observations surveys at the VLT. We coordinate the operational data repository, backend processing services, Level 1 and Level 2 pipelines, operational databases, and Kubernetes-based services that move observations from raw frames to science-ready products.
CAMCEAD, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
0.64 to 1.8 µm, optical to near-infrared
LRS and HRS: R ≈ 4,000 and R ≈ 19,000
Runs on the IRIS National Facility
What CAMCEAD does for MOONS
CAMCEAD coordinates and runs the production data flow for MOONS and develops the main backend components together with the international MOONROCCS team.
Operational Repository and infrastructure
The Operational Repository, its database and the Kubernetes environment that all MOONS data operations depend on.
Backend and L1 processing
Backend data processing services, and the wrapper that runs the L1 pipeline for the nightly reduction.
L2 pipelines and Jupyter
The L2 redshift pipeline, Galactic and extragalactic science processing, and Jupyter notebook services for the science teams.
The nightly data flow
CAMCEAD runs the whole path from observations at the VLT to checked science products that the teams can query.
The MOONROCCS collaboration
Cambridge coordinates the MOONROCCS Data Flow team, which brings the work of the partner institutes together into one operational system for the MOONS GTO surveys.
- Cambridge: coordination, OR, DB, backend, L1/L2 services
- USACH: Galactic L2 pipeline
- St Andrews: L2 spectral fitting
- Edinburgh: archive services
- INAF IASF-Milano: validation, monitoring and simulations
- Observatoire de Paris: DRS, calibration and joining the spectrograph arms
Software
moonsdr_wrap: the Python layer that runs the MOONS nightly reductionmoons_backends: backend modules that process the data after the DRSrmwrap_moons: a wrapper around Redmonster for redshift fitting and classification
About MOONS
MOONS, the Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph, is being built for ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal. About 1,000 fibres feed two cooled spectrographs that record optical and near-infrared spectra for large Galactic and extragalactic surveys.
Contact: casuhelp@ast.cam.ac.uk
Related Links
CamCEAD Collaborators
Research Associate
Assistant Research Professor
