This tutorial is an attempt to summarize basic information about MAST. There is additional technical information about the design and implementation of the MAST Web Site.
MAST data holdings can be searched via web services, as described here.
All of the searches and web tools have help options with tips for how to use them.
The help button is generally placed in the top right of the screen for the searches and tools
(although for some older tools the help button may be elsewhere).
In each search page, the labels are all links to information about the item and
when needed, information about entering qualifications for that field.
In the search results pages, the column headings are links to information about the
data in that column.
Most MAST missions have a listing of the fields in the mission observation catalogs/database
that are searchable via the "User defined fields" on the search pages
or via the MAST web services that permit searching.
Click on the "Field Descriptions" link on the search forms or on the links
of interest in the description of MAST web services.
Almost all documentation about a mission and its data was received from the mission project
so the level and quantity of documentation varies from mission to mission. In
general you can find documentation about the mission itself (e.g. Instrumentation and Operations)
by clicking on the "About mission" tab in the second navigation bar. Documentation about the
mission data can be found in the "About mission Data" pullouts in the left menu.
MAST maintains an archive of news items. The 5 most recent news items are posted
in the "News" section of the main MAST page and on the top "mission" pages.
The news on the MAST page contains news for the entire MAST archive.
The news on the mission pages contains news items relevant to that mission.
The mission news may pertain to changes in the web site that affect all missions.
To see older news items click on the "NEWS" link.
For more information about the news item, click on the "headline".
The news item will usually contain links to any additional, relevant pages.
MAST NEWS is also available as an RSS News Feed.
MAST has an electronic archive newsletter
that is sent to a mailing list of self-subscribed recipients.
MAST news is also reported in the quarterly
STScI Newsletter.
Use the HELP for searches and tools
Mission Documentation
News