| November 22, 2002 | Space Telescope Science Institute | Volume 13 |
| The Multimission Archive at STScI (MAST) Newsletter disseminates information to users of the HST, FUSE, IUE, Copernicus, EUVE, HUT, UIT, WUPPE, IMAPS, BEFS, TUES and VLA-FIRST data archives supported by MAST. Inquiries should be sent to archive@stsci.edu. |
MAST, in collaboration with the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC)
and the Space Telescope European Coordination Facility (ST-ECF),
announces the availability of Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2)
Associations. These associations are co-added, cosmic-ray-rejected
WFPC2 images and provide researchers with an important new archive tool
for data mining, proposal preparation, and basic astronomical
research.
MAST, CADC, and ST-ECF have released this tool simultaneously on
November 8, 2002. Users may access the WFPC2 association retrieval
interface at any of the three archive centers, namely:
CADC
MAST
ST-ECF.
Over 16,000 combined images, created using algorithms developed at
CADC, are available in this initial release. More details are available
at the above World Wide Web (WWW) sites and in the article by David
Schade et al. in this issue. The library of available co-added data
will be augmented simultaneously at all three sites on a regular basis.
Future releases will also provide the association (ASN) files which
will enable users to use the PyDrizzle algorithm to create their own
co-added images.
An example of the improvement afforded by the WFPC2 associations is
given in the figure shown at the above mentioned WWW sites. The figure
compares a portion of a single WFPC2 F814W image of the Chandra Deep
Field South (CDF-S) to the combined, cleaned association of eight
exposures.
In the Summer 2002 issue of this Newsletter we announced the
opportunity for users to contribute high-level science products (HLSP)
to MAST. HLSP are defined as fully processed images and spectra as well
as ancillary products such as object catalogs. The WFPC2 associations
discussed above are examples of HLSP already in MAST. We expect the
Hubble Treasury, Archival Legacy, and Large programs established in
Cycle 11 to be the main sources of new HLSP.
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) observations from the Great
Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS;
See the GOODS Website)
constitute one of the Cycle 11 Treasury Programs. The first HLSP from
the GOODS program were delivered to MAST at the beginning of October and
made available
the archive's anonymous ftp site.
These "best effort" processed data
represent preliminary results from the GOODS survey (Version 0.5), and
will eventually be supplemented by deeper images combining all epochs
of observation. These initial HLSP include pipeline-processed,
cosmic-ray cleaned, drizzled and co-added images of each "tile" of the
CDF-S field in the B, V, i, and z bands. The images have also been
corrected for the geometrical distortions introduced by the ACS and
have been put onto the Guide Star Catalog-2 (GSC-2) astrometrical
reference system. More details on the data reduction process can be
found in the file h_goods_s1v05_rdm.txt in the ftp directory.
As of November 15 2002, almost 75 gigabytes of GOODS HLSP have been
retrieved to more than 170 different hosts. MAST is developing ways to
ensure that these and other HLSP will be easily discovered from all
available search methods, including the regular HST search interface
and the mission cross-correlation tool.
MAST has new WWW search interfaces. While they provide much of the
functionality of the previous interfaces, they also include some new
features, and will make it easier to add the features some of our users
have been asking for. Here is a sample of what is new:
There are some little enhancements too, like a highlighted search
button, total number of results reported, angular separation calculated
for all missions, etc. Over the next few months we will be adding new
functionality that users have frequently asked for. Here is what is on
tap for the near future:
Give the new interface a try and let us know what you think. And if
you have any suggestions for new functionality, we would be glad to
hear them. As usual, send your comments to archive@stsci.edu.
Here are links to the new search interface URLs:
HST,
FUSE,
FUSE/exposure,
IUE,
EUVE,
HUT,
UIT,
WUPPE,
BEFS,
TUES,
Copernicus,
Copernicus/coadd
MAST has automatised the process of registration to access Hubble and
FUSE data. By filling out the WWW registration form, available at
http://archive.stsci.edu/registration_form.html, new users will
immediately receive a confirmation e-mail with their archive username
and password, which will allow them to start retrieving Hubble and FUSE
data. Registration will now be done without human intervention and
therefore it will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This
should make access to Hubble and FUSE data faster.
The FUSE Project has just begun to reprocess all their data through a
new processing pipe-line, with preview plots being generated as new
data products. As the data are processed and become public, MAST will
make these comprehensive previews available. An example of the new
FUSE previews may be seen at:
http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/mastpreview?mission=fuse&dataid=Z9073601000
The reprocessing effort will take several months to complete, so in the
interim, the FUSE project will generate a simple quick-look preview
from the existing archive, to use until the data are reprocessed. MAST
expects delivery of these quick-looks in early December, when they will
be made available via the FUSE search interface.
At MAST request, the FUSE project has decided upon an agreed package
of "minimum recommended data files" for users who do not want to receive
unneeded files. Additions are being implemented to the FUSE query options
web page
Researchers may now perform string searches on EUVE proposal abstracts
using the interface at:
http://archive.stsci.edu/euve/abstract.html
Easy access to proposal information is also available through the new
EUVE search interface. When a user clicks on the proposal ID in the
search results page, a program page is displayed listing the title,
investigator, abstract, any papers using data acquired for the program
and a list of the data acquired for the program.
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Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 Associations
First Treasury Program High-level Science Products Available
New MAST Interface
Automatic Archive Registration for HST and FUSE Data
FUSE Quick-Look Previews and New "Minimal" Retrieval Option
Proposal Information Available for EUVE Observations
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