Successful second 4MOST community workshop

by Joe Liske on 2020-07-14

On 9 – 14 July 2020, ESO and the 4MOST consortium jointly organised the second 4MOST community workshop Planning for 4MOST: toward the 4MOST survey programme. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the workshop was held entirely online.

Following ESO's request for "Letters of Intent for Public Spectroscopic Surveys" (LoIs) from the ESO community, and the review of the submissions by ESO's Public Survey Panel (PSP), the successful teams have been invited to submit a detailed proposal in December 2020. The purpose of this workshop was to support the teams behind the successful LoIs in preparing their proposals, and to facilitate a well-matched and efficient joint 4MOST survey programme.

In a total of 12 presentations, the 4MOST consortium provided the participants with up-to-date information on the 4MOST operations, survey strategy, available tools to prepare their proposals and data processing pipelines, while ESO described the further selection process. In turn, 19 successful LoI applicants presented their proposed community surveys, focusing in particular on their operational requirements.

A number of question and discussion sessions, as well as a dedicated slack workspace, provided the opportunity for the 210 registered participants to discuss and clarify any remaining issues, and to jointly prepare for the integration of potential Participating Community Surveys into the 4MOST Science Team.