perform a quick search by target name or coordinates
for a specified set of data types (default is all)
(Note: this mode currently excludes x-ray and radio missions)
, or
list and briefly describe the available MAST missions
for a specified set of data types (default is all).
Clicking the "search" button without any selection
criteria will return a list of all the existing MAST data sets.
The information below describes the various search options.
Note: if you already know which data set(s) you are interested in,
(i.e., which mission or survey), you may instead
click the "Data Search" link to display
a list of links to mission-specific search
scripts, or
click on the mission names shown on the top MAST page
to go to the mission home pages (a similiar list is displayed
by clicking the "Missions" link at the top of the page).
For further assistance,
contact a MAST staff member by clicking the "Contacts" link at the
top of the page.
Entering either a target name (to be resolved by SIMBAD
(default), NED, or left unresolved),
or J2000 coordinates (RA and DEC separated by a comma or Dec sign)
will start a cross-correlation search for available data sets
within MAST. Multiple target names can also be specified with comma
delimiters, but only one set of coordinates can be specified.
Coordinates can be either in decimal degrees or sexigesimal
notation with either blanks or colons separating values.
Valid coordinates include:
8:32:40.3,+28:49:43
10.681,41.269
10 30 5 -28 30 0
If band/data types are selected, the search will
be restricted to the appropriate MAST missions.
(Note: target searches currently exclude data sets from x-ray and radio missions).
Currently all missions use 3.0 arcminutes as the default search radius
except for vlafirst (20 arcmin.) and galex (6 arcmin.).
Archived data sets have been classified
according to the type of data (i.e., spectral,
image or other) and wavelength coverage. Selecting various
data types and wavelength ranges and then clicking
"Search", will return a list
containing both a summary of each missions data holdings
and a link to the mission home pages. If a particular
target is also specified,
the results page will list the actual data sets
available from each of the selected missions
(Note: target searches currently exclude data sets from x-ray and radio missions).
The wavelength ranges and data types
used in the table are as defined below.
That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum having
wavelengths from ~0.1 to ~124 Å (i.e., ~124 kev to ~100 eV).
(Note searches on target name exclude x-ray mission data.)
Image data refers to digital images
obtained within various bandpasses and with various
spatial resolutions. (Note: images of spectra are not
included in this category.)
High-Level Science Products