Utilizing Astroinformatics to Maximize the Science Return of the Next
  Generation Virgo Cluster Survey
  The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey is a 104 square degree survey of the
Virgo Cluster, carried out using the MegaPrime camera of the
Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, from semesters 2009A-2012A. The survey will
provide coverage of this nearby dense environment in the universe to
unprecedented depth, providing profound insights into galaxy formation and
evolution, including definitive measurements of the properties of galaxies in a
dense environment in the local universe, such as the luminosity function. The
limiting magnitude of the survey is g_AB = 25.7 (10 sigma point source), and
the 2 sigma surface brightness limit is g_AB ~ 29 mag arcsec^-2. The data
volume of the survey (approximately 50 terabytes of images), while large by
contemporary astronomical standards, is not intractable. This renders the
survey amenable to the methods of astroinformatics. The enormous dynamic range
of objects, from the giant elliptical galaxy M87 at M(B) = -21.6, to the
faintest dwarf ellipticals at M(B) ~ -6, combined with photometry in 5 broad
bands (u* g' r' i' z'), and unprecedented depth revealing many previously
unseen structures, creates new challenges in object detection and
classification. We present results from ongoing work on the survey, including
photometric redshifts, Virgo cluster membership, and the implementation of fast
data mining algorithms on the infrastructure of the Canadian Astronomy Data
Centre, as part of the Canadian Advanced Network for Astronomical Research
(CANFAR).
