Wednesday Nite @ The Lab

The goal of astronomical surveys is to map as much of the sky as quickly as possible. Rather than starting from a specific set of pre-defined targets for detailed study, astronomical surveys represent a statistical census of the cosmos. A confluence of technologies, including large-aperture and wide field-of-view telescopes, CCD cameras, and ever growing computational power, have motivated increasingly ambitious surveys that combine depth, wide areal coverage, and high observing cadence.