A summary of the presentations and some of the issues raised in discussions follows. The burden is somewhat reduced by the use of modern, large-format CCD cameras, such as the University of Hawaii 8kx8k mosaic camera, which covers a 30 arcmin field in a single exposure. Discussion centered on the future role of improved multi- object spectrographs and CCDs that yield some color as well as positional information. The AXAF Science Center has proposed to obtain CCD images, possibly three-color, of deep AXAF fields. There could be an important role for the ASC in arranging simultaneous optical observations in the case of transient and variable sources.
Similar concerns apply for targets observed at lunar bright time.
The quality of the plate material should permit astrometry to 0.25 arcsec and photometry to 0.2 mag. B. McLean continued with a report on the digitizing and cataloging that is in progress at STScI. The digitizing is proceeding at a rate of more than 1000 plates per year. It is sponsored by the Sloan Foundation, the NSF, and about eight participating institutions, and absorbs the efforts of about 100 staff members. The tentative schedule calls for the telescopes to be instrumented and operating by the end of 1996, with 1997 devoted to tests and data to be gathered in 1998 to 2002. Reduction of the expected 20 TBy of data must be highly automated.