Great Surveys of the Universe
  Looking ahead to the next decade and imagining the landscape of astronomy in
2020, it is clear that astronomical surveys, large and small, plus extensive
follow-up projects, will be a great engine of progress in our profession.
Surveys have long had a critical role in astronomy, and in the coming decades
will be even more central as we probe deeper into the Universe. In fact, one
might call the next two decades the "Era of Great Surveys". This next
generation of surveys will probe a huge range of astronomical objects and
phenomena including planets, stars, gas, galaxies, background radiation, dark
matter, dark energy, degenerate matter compact objects, black holes, magnetic
fields, cosmic ray particles, neutrinos, gravity waves, and exotica (particles,
topological defects, etc.). This Position Paper advocates the overarching theme
of a true Survey of the Universe built up of a diverse range of "great surveys"
and the exploitation of these surveys. A significant number of the proposed
decadal activities and facilities are either explicitly Survey Telescopes or
plan to devote significant amounts of time to survey science. Others, such as
large aperture narrow field telescopes, are aimed at targeted detailed
observations that are a necessary counterpoint or follow-up to surveys. To
discuss overarching issues such as this, the Great Surveys of Astronomy
Workshop was held 20-22 November 2008 in Santa Fe, NM and was sponsored by the
LANL Institute for Advanced Study and AUI.
