We prefer all models/simulations to be delivered in FITS format whenever possible. We have tried to generalize the FITS keywords requirements across any number of models/simulations data types, therefore some of these keywords may not be applicable to your data. We suggest you consult a MAST staff member prior to delivery, to be sure your data abides by the FITS and MAST delivery standards.
MAST has put together the following information because it is essential for data deliveries. If the archive cannot extract the information they need from dataset headers, MAST will attempt to calculate it based on the information provided (in the data and README). If MAST is not able to extract or calculate what it needs based on the delivered dataset headers, then some of the data will not be searchable and will not be displayed across multi-mission search results.
[Keyword Nomenclature] [Units] [README File] [Superseded Results] [Examples]
Overview
HLSP models/simulations data deliveries are preferred to be in FITS format (N-dimensional image or FITS
BINARY table) whenever possible (tabular data
can be delivered in ASCII format). The following types of data are considered models/simulations;
the links provide information on observational data requirements per data type; we suggest reading
the requirements and following the rule set as close as possible when applicable:
General Header Information
MAST requires that FITS headers contain the following information:
We realize that difference projects have very different data, we suggest using the "mission" or "product" naming slot to indicate that these data are simulations/models by using text such as "modelmap", "theory", "sim", "model", "map" and "SED" within the file name.
All delivered files must have unique names (no duplicate file names). The naming convention used should be documented in the README file. As an example, see the DIGGSS project naming scheme by following any link under the 'Name' column.
Data need to be correctly described - tabular axes have to abide by the FITS standards; data should have either a physical, logical or a World Coordinate System (WCS) using header keywords (see IRAF help pages for a description of coordinate systems). Metadata needs to be provided as header keywords. A listing of required, recommended and optional header keywords are provided for observation data types (see: images, spectra, catalogs, time-series and spectral line lists). Please use appropriate keywords for models/simulations that best match your data type. For questions, please contact MAST.
Please provide data previews whenever possible in JPEG, GIF or PDF format. Animations are also accepted and can be delivered in any format as long as they can be played on a standard player such as realPlayer, Quicktime or VLC player.
For example, the single image can have FITS keyword 'FILTER' = "g". For a composite image made of UBV exposures, the keys would be as follows:
To designate multiple keywords, we denote this as [nn].
You can specify the keyword units using a second, similar keyword where the keyword name
contains the string "_UNIT" or "UNIT". Please remember to stay within the FITS 8-character
keyword name limit. E.g.:
WAVECENT = 1688 / central wavelength
WAVEUNIT = angstrom / central wavelength units
Comments can contain the keyword unit within brackets; this should be the first text following
the standard fits comment delimiter "/", the single slash. Please remember to stay within the
FITS 80-character line length limit, which includes the comments. E.g.:
RA_TARG = 2.0952854139 / [deg] right ascension of target
MAST will not store the software which was used to create the models or simulations; this may be done by the data provider using services like the Astrophysics Source Code Library. The README should contain instructions on how to reproduce the data based on a model (pointer to the software when possible/available, the version used and parameters/settings/configuration). Software to create previews may be accepted in the event that MAST can use it on-the-fly to create dynamic data previews; but, such software will not be maintained long-term by MAST. Suggestions on data visualization software tools is highly valuable information in the README.
If the data are associated with existing observational data already part of the MAST archive, please provide a file listing all the associated datasets/exposures. If MAST does not have the related datasets, we will accept these associated data for ingest; these should be described within the README file. Observational data deliveries need to follow more rigorous MAST HLSP guidelines per data type, please see requirements for: images, spectra, catalogs, time-series and spectral line lists.
Models and simulations may become out of date. It is up to the data provider to contact MAST and provide improved/updated results. If data are not superseded by the data provider, they will be subject to review nominally every 3-5 years. MAST will contact the PI to inquire whether better models exist since the previous delivery; models can be replaced with more up to date results; the file version number must be incremented when delivering updates to archived data.
HLSP Models/Simulations Examples
MAST has been ingesting and distributing HLSP data products for over 10 years. During this period, the requirements for HLSP data deliveries have expanded in order to help unify all datasets housed at MAST for ease of multi-mission searching. The example HLSP headers may not abide by all the requirements listed above because they were delivered prior to some requirements being written. We encourage the data delivery teams to provide data sample so that all header and data issues can be worked out prior to the actual delivery for ingestion into the archive.
The following project contains example simulation datasets: