WD-Ontology

[Tony Linde]

> ordinarily one would include them.  For instance, what if it 
> is like a 
> cataclysmicVariable but not quite a LateType star. 

Is this not where relations come into play: you could define relations such
as 'like a' and 'not quite a' and then, depending on what you want to do,
manipulate the objects and relations in your code. 

> whether or not to use strictly observational qualities or interpreted 
> qualities.  As in, what if it erupts and has emissions like a 

And this is where the uniqueness of astronomy comes into play and we start
to build intelligent *astronomy* applications rather than generic
information handling apps.

T.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-semantics at eso.org 
> [mailto:owner-semantics at eso.org] On Behalf Of Ed Shaya
> Sent: 21 February 2007 20:15
> To: Andrea Preite Martinez
> Cc: semantics at ivoa.net
> Subject: Re: WD-Ontology
> 
> 
> 
> Andrea Preite Martinez wrote:
> > A Working Draft on
> > 
> > Ontology of Astronomical Object Types, version 1.0
> > 
> > has been uploaded in the Document section of IVOA
> > http://ivoa.net/Documents/latest/AstrObjectOntology.html
> > 
> > and in the Semantics WG twiki page
> > http://www.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/IvoaSemantics  .
> > 
> > In this page you can also find the ontology file (.owl) that can be
> > explored/edited with the protégé browser/editor
> > http://protege.stanford.edu/overview/protege-owl.html .
> > 
> > The document and the Ontology are open to discussion and 
> contributions.
> > 
> > Note that the ontology is made of "defined" concepts, and 
> only a fraction
> > of them has been defined, for the moment only in terms of 
> components and/or
> > morphology and/or processes.
> > Indeed, there are still 87 astronomical concepts that are 
> missing an 
> > NS-condition (Necessary&Sufficient)
> > 
> > I then ask for the contribution of the members of the WG and of the 
> > scientific
> > community to help finding the necessary and/or sufficient 
> conditions to 
> > define the concepts.
> > What is needed is a complete but concise description in 
> plain text of 
> > the concepts in terms of components/ morphology / physical 
> processes / 
> > observational properties and/or ...
> > 
> > An example:
> > CataclysmicVariable: close binary, components WD/subGiant 
> and LateType 
> > Star,
> > variability due to thermonuclear processes...
> > 
> > The concepts without NS-conditions (but sometimes already 
> with N or S 
> > conditions) are the following:
> There are dangers in defining the necessary and sufficient 
> conditions, 
> particularly if one requires too many necessaries.  You can 
> end up with 
> things that are not in any class although they are so close 
> to one that 
> ordinarily one would include them.  For instance, what if it 
> is like a 
> cataclysmicVariable but not quite a LateType star. One also run into 
> whether or not to use strictly observational qualities or interpreted 
> qualities.  As in, what if it erupts and has emissions like a 
> cataclysmic variable but it is too far away to discern the individual 
> components?  Can you still call it a CV?
> 
> On the other hand, if we don't make clear and distinct boundaries you 
> are left with a system that is too fuzzy to do any good.
> 
> Having noted these difficulties, in the grand tradition of 
> semantics, we 
> simply push forward and appreciate that we can always pull 
> back on some 
> of these  NS qualities or define both strict and loose 
> versions of each 
> class, as in StandardCalaclysmicVariable/TentativeCataclysmicVariable.
> > 
> > AssociationOfStars - alias (equivalent class)  StellarAssociation 
> Loose concentration of young stars (how loose? 1-100 per 
> cubic pc?), but 
> may contain 1 or more StellarClusters within it.
> subclasses -
> 	OB-Association - association with many O and B stars 
> (massive stars)
> 	R-Association - contains medium mass stars with 
> reflection nebulae
> 	T-Association - contains only low mass stars including 
> some T-Tauri stars
> 
> > ClusterOfGalaxies - alias GalaxyCluster
> Observationally - a region with a concentration of galaxies several 
> times the neighboring background density with similar galaxy 
> redshifts.
> Theoretically - a collapsed and virialized system of galaxies
> subclasses
> 	AbellCluster - there are two definitions here
> 		a) A cluster in the Abell Catalog
> 		b) A cluster with the criteria given by Abell 
> for his catalog
> 	Perhaps a) should be called an AbellCatalogCluster
> 
> > SuperClusterOfGalaxies 
> 	A 3-d region of contiguous overdensity on Mpc scales.  
> Usually these 
> contain several clusters, but this should not be the 
> definition becuase 
> a) the Local Supercluster contains only 1 cluster b) if one found a 
> large contiguous overdensity without a cluster you probably 
> would still 
> want to classify it as a supercluster.
> 
> > ClusterOfStars - alias StarCluster.  
> Observational - A tight system of stars with less than 10^9 stars.
> Theoretical - A system of stars formed out of a single cloud 
> of gas and 
> with less mass than a galaxy (that is, .
> 
> > GlobularCluster - 
> A roughly spherical ClusterOfStars with 10^4 - 10^9 stars and with an 
> orbit that takes it out of the plane of its parent galaxy.
> [Normally the definition would include the idea that it is 
> composed of 
> old stars, but blue globular clusters in N1375 and other 
> galaxies show 
> that there are exceptions.  Also, when globular clusters were 
> young they 
> had young stars and they were still globular clusters.]
> 
> > OpenCluster - alias GalacticCluster
> ClusterOfStars with young stars and with center of mass orbit 
> that stays 
> in the plane.
> 
> > GalaxiesGroup 
> This should be GalaxyGroup - alias GroupOfGalaxies.
> A system with on the order of 10 galaxies separated by 10-100 galaxy 
> diameters [Hopkins, J. 1976 Glossary of Astronomy and Astrophysics]
> 
> I stop here to rest and wait for comments.
> Ed
> > Galaxy
> > ActiveGalaxyNucleus
> > Blazar
> > BLLacObject
> > OpticallyViolentlyVariableObject
> > LINERTypeActiveGalaxyNucleus
> > SeyfertGalaxy
> > Seyfert1Galaxy
> > Seyfert2Galaxy
> > BlueCompactGalaxy
> > EmissionLineGalaxy
> > HighRedshiftGalaxy
> > HIIGalaxy
> > LowSurfaceBrightnessGalaxy
> > QuasiStellarObject
> > StarburstGalaxy
> > SpectroscopicBinary
> > XRayBinary
> > InterStellarMedium
> > EmissionNebula
> > HIRegion
> > HIRegionCold
> > HIRegionWarm
> > MolecularCloud
> > BokGlobule
> > DarkCloud
> > ReflexionNebula
> > StellarObject
> > BrownDwarf
> > Star
> > PostAsymptoticGiantBranchStar
> > RedGiant
> > AsymptoticGiantBranchStar
> > CarbonStar
> > OHIREnvelopeTypeStar
> > STypeStar
> > RVTauri
> > PeculiarStar
> > CHEnvelopeTypeStar
> > BeStar
> > WolfRayetStar
> > HorizontalBranchStar
> > StellarRemnant
> > NeutronStar
> > Pulsar
> > AccretionPoweredPulsar
> > Magnetar
> > RotationPoweredPulsar
> > StellarBlackHole
> > WhiteDwarf
> > YoungStellarObject
> > PreMainSequenceStar
> > HerbigHaro
> > TTauri
> > ClassicalTTauri
> > WeakLineTTauri
> > ProtoStar
> > SubStellarObject
> > BrownDwarf
> > NonStellarBody
> > Asteroid
> > Comet
> > Planet
> > CataclysmicVariable
> > DQHerCataclysmicVariable
> > DwarfNova
> > Nova
> > NovaLikeObject
> > RapidIrregularVariableStar
> > IrregularVariableStar
> > RapidIrregularVariableStar
> > BetaCepheid
> > LTypeIrregularStar
> > MiraCeti
> > SemiRegularPulsatingStar
> > RRLyrae
> > WVir
> > BYDraconis
> > EllipsoidalVariableStar
> > SymbioticStar
> > 
> > 
> > P.S.:
> > I think we can envisage a half-session in the spring IVOA 
> meeting in 
> > Beijin dedicated to the ontology and its applications.
> > 
> > Andrea
> > 
> > 
> ==============================================================
> ===================== 
> > 
> > Andrea Preite Martinez                 
> > andrea.preitemartinez at iasf-roma.inaf.it
> > IASF                                   Tel.IASF:+39.06.4993.4641
> > Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100        Tel.CDS :+33.3.90242452
> > I-00133 Roma                           Cell.1  :+39.320.43.15.383
> >                                        Cell.2  :+39.
> > 
> ==============================================================
> ===================== 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
>