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Rearranged the statement of need section, I think the changes are done!
Signed-off-by: David Turner <[email protected]>
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@@ -64,23 +64,7 @@ will be vital to the continuation of X-ray astronomy. | |
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# Statement of need | ||
X-ray observations provide a powerful view of some of the most extreme processes in the Universe, and have had a | ||
profound impact on our understanding of many types of astrophysical objects. As such, access to X-ray data should be | ||
made as simple as possible, both for X-ray experts and non-specialists whose research benefits from a high-energy | ||
view; organisations such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research | ||
Center (HEASARC) have gone to great lengths to enable this access, and our software builds on their success. | ||
Through [Daxa]{.smallcaps}, most X-ray observatory archives are accessible through a single unified interface | ||
available in a programming language that is ubiquitous in astronomy (Python); locally searching for data relevant | ||
to a particular sample gives us the opportunity to better record and share the exact search parameters, through a | ||
Jupyter notebook for instance. X-ray data can also be particularly intimidating to those astronomers who have not | ||
used it before, which acts as a barrier to entry, undermining the open-source nature of X-ray astronomy data, and | ||
limiting the reach and scientific impact of X-ray telescopes; it is in our interest to maximise the use of these | ||
data, both to support X-ray astronomy through the `X-ray desert', and to persuade funding bodies of the great need for | ||
further X-ray telescopes. Our solution is to provide a normalised interface to different backend software | ||
packages (some of which can be difficult for new users), allowing for the easy processing of X-ray data to a | ||
scientifically useful state; this is in addition to the ability to download pre-processed data from many of the | ||
data archives. | ||
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![A flowchart giving a brief overview of the [Daxa]{.smallcaps} workflow. We indicate the different ways that [Daxa]{.smallcaps} can be used to access, process, and use archival X-ray data. \label{fig:flowchart}](figures/daxa_paper_flowchart.pdf) | ||
profound impact on our understanding of many types of astrophysical objects. | ||
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Every sub-field of astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology has benefited significantly from X-ray coverage over | ||
the last three decades; the observation of X-ray cavities in galaxy clusters caused by central AGN helped to shed light | ||
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@@ -113,6 +97,25 @@ enable the maximum use of existing X-ray archives, to traverse the X-ray desert | |
are fully prepared for future X-ray telescopes such as _Athena_ [@athena] and _Lynx_ [@lynx]. Having easy access to | ||
the whole X-ray observation history of an object can provide valuable astrophysical context at little extra cost. | ||
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![A flowchart giving a brief overview of the [Daxa]{.smallcaps} workflow. We indicate the different ways that [Daxa]{.smallcaps} can be used to access, process, and use archival X-ray data. \label{fig:flowchart}](figures/daxa_paper_flowchart.pdf) | ||
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As such, X-ray data should be made as accessible as possible, both for X-ray experts and non-specialists who may | ||
face barriers to entry; X-ray data can be particularly intimidating to those astronomers who have not used it | ||
before, though their research may benefit from a high-energy view. Difficulty of use undermines the open-source nature | ||
of X-ray astronomy data, which organisations such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the High Energy Astrophysics | ||
Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) have gone to great lengths to build. This may limit the reach and scientific | ||
impact of X-ray telescopes; we should seek to maximise the user of X-ray data, both to support X-ray astronomy | ||
through the `X-ray desert', and to persuade funding bodies of the great need for further X-ray telescopes. | ||
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||
We build on ESA and HEASARC's success and make the data more accessible by providing a normalised interface to | ||
different backend software packages and datasets, allowing for the easy processing of X-ray data to a scientifically | ||
useful state; this is in addition to the ability to download pre-processed data from many of the data archives. | ||
Through [Daxa]{.smallcaps}, most X-ray observatory archives are accessible through a single unified interface | ||
available in a programming language that is ubiquitous in astronomy (Python); locally searching for data relevant | ||
to a particular sample gives us the opportunity to better record and share the exact search parameters, through a | ||
Jupyter notebook for instance. | ||
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[^*]: [email protected] | ||
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# Features | ||
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