INAF researchers are involved in many of the most important galactic and extragalactic optical or near-infrared spectroscopic surveys, often with leading roles. INAF participation to these projects has benefited from the contribution of groups of researchers distributed in more than one or two institutes. Despite the fact that the same institutes/people are involved in several projects and that many skills and tools acquired in one project could be exploited in another one, the participation to these surveys has so far seen little coordination.
The goal of the proposed Laboratorio di Spettroscopia INAF is to further enhance the already strong role of INAF in this rapidly expanding field by pursuing a more synergic approach to on-going and future surveys. In particular, we aim at a more efficient use of the existing skills and tools and to stimulate the development of new ones that can beneficial for the whole INAF community.
The proposed Lab, and therefore this workshop, does not focus on the instrumentation needed to carry out spectroscopic surveys, nor on the fantastic science that can be extracted from them. It is instead conceived to explore the possibility of sharing within the INAF community software tools and expertise that are extremely valuable when planning, carrying out, or analyze data from large optical or near-infrared spectroscopic surveys. The Lab would be the focal point where to collect and distribute these tools, showcase individual or group expertise relevant for spectroscopic surveys, and stimulate the creation of new tools under the guidance of the INAF spectroscopic community.
