Exploring the Time Domain With Synoptic Sky Surveys

TL;DR

Synoptic sky surveys are revolutionizing astronomy by enabling systematic exploration of the time domain, leading to better understanding of phenomena and potential discovery of new ones, with lessons learned guiding future survey strategies.

Contribution

The paper reviews lessons from the past decade of synoptic sky surveys and offers strategic ideas for future survey planning and execution.

Findings

Enhanced understanding of known astronomical phenomena.

Potential for discovering unknown phenomena.

Guidelines for future survey strategies.

Abstract

Synoptic sky surveys are becoming the largest data generators in astronomy, and they are opening a new research frontier, that touches essentially every field of astronomy. Opening of the time domain to a systematic exploration will strengthen our understanding of a number of interesting known phenomena, and may lead to the discoveries of as yet unknown ones. We describe some lessons learned over the past decade, and offer some ideas that may guide strategic considerations in planning and execution of the future synoptic sky surveys.