Pointings Get Requests

Below are more examples for accessing the HST Pointings tables using HTTP GET requests. In general the allowed parameters are the column names listed on the Pointings Search Parameters page, and on the General Search Parameters page. In addition, however, there are a few parameters which are not table columns and are specific to the Pointings interface. These parameters are listed below.

Parameter NameValid ValuesNotes
actionSearch+Exposures, Search+Pointingsdetermines if Pointings or Exposures are searched
primaryNICMOS, ACS, FOC, STIS, WFPC2, WFPC2ASN required detector name parameter
galacticAbove, Within, Greater than, Less than requires galsearch parameter
galsearch0-90 (degrees)requires "galactic" parameter to be specified
eclipticAbove, Within, Greater than, Less than requires eclipsearch parameter
eclipsearch0-90 (degrees)requires "ecliptic" parameter to be specified
datediff0-? (days)Days between first and last observation in pointing
baoand, orintersection or union of filter number qualifications
expbaoand, orintersection or union for filter exposure times

Examples

Most MAST database tables can be accessed from either an HTML search form OR as an HTTP GET request. In the GET request, the search parameters are all specified in the URL. Here are some examples of using GET requests to access the MAST Pointings interface. To run, add the parameters listed in the examples below to the base URL:
http://archive.stsci.edu/pointings/search.php?

  1. find ACS pointings of target= "M 81", output format = "HTML_Table", with > 11 exposures in the U band OR > 1 exposure in I band, and show query (this option only available in HTML output): Try it
    primary=ACS&outputformat=HTML_Table
    &pnt_ucountp=%3E11&pnt_icountp=%3E1&bao=or
    &target=m+81
    &action=Search+Pointings&showquery=on

  2. find individual exposures of ACS HRC pointings taken more than 75 degrees from galactic plane with <5 exposures in the U band AND >2 exposures in the I band output format = "CSV": Try it
    primary=ACS&pnt_inst=ACS/HRC&outputformat=CSV
    &pnt_ucountp=%3C5&pnt_icountp=%3E2&bao=and
    &galactic=Above&galsearch=75
    &action=Search+Exposures

  3. find NICMOS pointings taken more than 75 degrees from the galactic plane, display the pointing number, ra, and dec, output format = "CSV": Try it
    primary=NICMOS&outputformat=CSV
    &selectedcolumnscsv=pnt_num,pnt_ra,pnt_dec
    &galactic=Above&galsearch=75
    &action=Search+Pointings

  4. find STIS Pointings taken within 1 degree of galactic plane with FarUV band OR Near UV band exposure times > 1500 seconds, display the pointing number, ra and dec of pointing, and use output format = "CSV": Try it
    primary=NICMOS&outputformat=CSV
    &selectedcolumnscsv=pnt_num,pnt_ra,pnt_dec
    &galactic=Within&galsearch=1
    &pnt_fexpp=%3E1500&pnt_nexpp=%3E1500&expbao=or
    &action=Search+Pointings

  5. Find all the exposures used in the ACS pointings assigned to the 'galaxy' category which have some associated high level science product, and in which the pointings cover a time period of less than 2 days, and display (some) fields related to individual exposures in CSV format: Try it
    primary=ACS&outputformat=CSV
    &pntd_hlsp=%3E0&datediff=%3C2&pntd_broad_category=%GALAXY%
    &selectedcolumnscsv=pnt_num,pntd_ra,pntd_dec,pntd_broad_category,
    pntd_hlsp,pntd_data_set_name &action=Search+Exposures

  6. Find all the exposures of M 81 used in the ACS pointings which are relaseable as of March 1, 2006 (i.e., where the release date is < Mar1,2006) and output results in CSV format: Try it
    target=m+81&primary=ACS&outputformat=CSV
    &pntd_release_date=%3CMar+1+2006&action=Search+Exposures