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Solano, E., González-Riestra, R., de la Fuente, A. J., Ponz, J. D., Rodríguez, F., Talavera, A., Skillen, I., & Wamsteker, W. 2001, in ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 238, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems X, eds. F. R. Harnden, Jr., F. A. Primini, & H. E. Payne (San Francisco: ASP), 152
INES Version 3.0: Functionalities and Contents
E. Solano, R. González-Riestra, A. Talavera1,
F. Rodríguez
Laboratorio de Astrofísica Espacial y Física Fundamental (LAEFF), P.O. Box 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain
A. de la Fuente, I. Skillen2, J. D. Ponz, W. Wamsteker
Villafranca Satellite Tracking Station (VILSPA), P.O. Box 50727,
28080 Madrid, Spain
Abstract:
We describe the functionalities and contents of
Version 3.0 of the IUE Newly Extracted Spectra (INES) System, which
has been developed jointly by ESA and LAEFF, and which has been
operational at the INES Principal Centre (LAEFF)
since August 2000. At the time of writing, it is being distributed to
the National Hosts.
The IUE Newly Extracted Spectra (INES) System was
developed by the ESA-IUE observatory at VILSPA in order
to make IUE data available in a simple and efficient way.
The system design was driven by the concept of delivering fully
calibrated data, ready for analysis, with minimum development and
maintenance costs (González-Riestra et al. 2001). Special attention was
given to making the graphical user
interface, tuned for the occasional users of the archive,
display useful scientific information in a simple form.
INES has been operational since November 1997. In this paper we will
summarize the main functionalities of the INES Version 3.0. This release
includes new features such as a built-in name resolver,
homogenization of object names and coordinates, query by list of objects,
and an improved data viewer facility, including errors, quality flags and
updated bibliographic references. An overall
description of the system capabilities is given in the next section. A
detailed user guide to the system can be found in the
INES Newsletter (2000, http://iuearc.vilspa.esa.es/Ines_PC/Newsletter.pdf).
The functionalities of Version 3.0 of the INES data distribution
system are outlined below.
The INES archive contains 110033 entries.
The query to the access catalogue is made by
means of an HTML fill-in form with permits the Archive to be queried by
object name, coordinates, object type, observing date, instrumental
parameters and object or image list (see Figure 1). Four
predefined output fields are available,
emphasising General, Observation, Variability and
Pointing information, and each may be output in HTML, ASCII or as
tab- or comma-separated values. The output fields may be ordered by
date and time of the observation, coordinates, camera and image
number, object type and object name. The system allows one to
select either the Principal Centre at LAEFF, Madrid, Spain
(http://ines.vilspa.esa.es) or the Mirror Site at
CADC, Victoria, Canada (http://ines.hia.nrc.ca).
INES version 3.0 has a built-in name resolver
utility which
permits one to query the Archive using any of the object names provided
by SIMBAD. The Name
Resolver gives 168571 identifications for the 9494 astronomical
objects contained in the INES access catalogue.
The following
utilities are provided in HTML output format
(Figure 2):
- Links to Publications: Associated with each spectrum is
the number of
publications which have made use of it. By clicking the
link, the reference of the publication and links to the abstract
and/or the full paper are obtained through the ADS facility.
In addition to this, ADS also includes direct links to the INES archive.
The IUE publication catalogue includes 38812 images
referenced in 2103 scientific articles published before January, 2000.
- Data Previews: A browse plot of a spectrum including bad
pixels and flux errors can be generated
by clicking on the corresponding link. A panel summarising the
observation is displayed next to the plot, and the full FITS header can
be listed from there. For a high resolution spectrum, zoom plots of
30 Å of selected regions may be
generated transparently on the Principal Centre/Mirror server by
entering the desired central wavelength. A copy of a browse or zoom
plot can be saved as a GIF file.
(Figure 3).
- FITS Header Display: Links are provided to display the FITS
primary and binary table headers of each requested low resolution or
re-binned spectrum.
- Data Retrieval: Spectra may be retrieved individually or
in groups. Multiple retrieval of concatenated, high resolution
spectra can be restricted to a specific wavelength interval. Spectra
are delivered as FITS files. Single spectra are retrieved uncompressed
from the appropriate repository: Principal Centre/Mirror Site or
National Hosts.
For multiple retrieval, it is possible to include/exclude
individual spectra. Inclusion/exclusion of files by type is also
possible. Multiple spectrum retrieval generates a packed file
in either tar or ZIP format. Compression of packed files is also
possible and recommended for network efficiency, in particular when
downloading large data sets.
- On-line Help: Help on a specific keyword can be
obtained by simply clicking on it.
- On-line Access to Project
Documentation: A
detailed description of the spacecraft, the IUE Final Archive and the INES
System is given in the on-line project documentation. The information is
stored in PDF format files to be easily browsed.
- Access
Statistics:
The distribution package also includes some
tools to help in the administration of the National Hosts. These
tools, implemented in a set of Perl scripts, allow one to generate access
statistics for the National Host with different views and selection of
the time period, and to monitor the status of the network by using
"ping" and "traceroute" in an interactive form.
- HelpDesk: The Principal Centre includes a Help Desk
facility, based on "JitterBug", to channel questions and to provide
continuous support to users of the Archive.
Figure 1:
Search capabilities of the INES System (see Section 2 for details).
|
Figure:
Result of the search displayed in Figure 1. The
different sources of data are indicated by the grey areas
(Principal Centre/Mirror Site) and the white fields (National Host).
Data are retrieved in a transparent way for the end user regardless of
the repository.
|
Figure 3:
Data previewing capabilities supplied within the INES system.
Left panel: high resolution concatenated
spectrum re-binned to the low dispersion wavelength scale
(González-Riestra et al. 2000). Right panel: The active box
(HiRes 30 Å zoom centre) allows the choice of part of the high
resolution data.
|
References
González-Riestra, R., Cassatella, A., Solano, E.,
Altamore, A., & Wamsteker, W. 2000, A&AS, 141, 343
González-Riestra, R., et al. 2001,
this volume, 156
Footnotes
- ... Talavera1
- Presently at the XMM Science Operations Centre, VILSPA
- ... Skillen2
- Presently at the Isaac Newton Group, La Palma
© Copyright 2001 Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, California 94112, USA
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