ATOA Observation Search

Overview | ATOA Observation Search | ATOA Observation Search Results | Data Access Options

Overview

This search facility allows users to search for some data from the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF). This includes:

• Long Base Array (LBA)
• Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) – data availability dependent on data migration schedule
• Parkes – Continuum and Spectra – data availability dependent on data migration schedule

Other ATNF data are available elsewhere:

• Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) – ASKAP Observation Search
• Parkes – Pulsars – ATNF Pulsar Observation Search

ATOA Observation Search

The ATOA Observation Search is making data from Australia’s Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) telescopes available to the astronomical community.

Cone Search

Single position

Either

• enter and Object name and click Resolve. This will populate the Right ascension and Declination fields.
• or manually enter the Right Ascension and Declination

Enter the required Search radius.

Click the Search button.

Multiple positions

Click the Multiple tab to select this option.

Click the Browse button and then select your file.

If you choose this option then you will be prompted to upload a file.

This file must be a text file with one position per line. Each line must contain J200 RA and Dec and an optional radius in arcmin with spaces between entries.

Examples of acceptable formats are:

18:05:03.214 -26:02:05.23 1.0

18 05 03.214 -26 02 05.23 1.0

278.555  27.829  1.2

Up to 100 lines can be uploaded.  (If using Internet Explore the limit is 50.)

Observations / Project

Project

This is a type ahead field which is a combination of the project code and project title. The format of this field is Project code – Project title

Examples for project code include:

• C320   for ATCA
• P1123 for Parkes
• V252 for LBA

Filename

This field can be used to search for data products by the filename.

User can enter part of the filename and use the * wildcard in their search where necessary.

• ATCA    e.g.  C*.tar or *2022OCTS*
• LBA      e.g.   V*FITS or V252*
• Parkes  e.g.  uwl*hdf5 or *231026*

Principal Investigator (PI)

The Principal Investigator of the project can be selected by entering one of the following:

• firstname
• lastname
• firstname lastname

Observation Date (UTC)

This field allows a date range to be entered. Times are given in UTC+0 rather than a local time. The search will return observations which are within the specified start and end time ranges.

Scheduling Block ID (SBID)

This field allows a Scheduling Block ID (SBID) to be entered. The search will return observations for the specified SBID.

Note: The same SBID numbers can be used by multiple telescopes, so select only 1 telescope if you want SBIDs from a specific telescope.

Released versus Unreleased Data

Search can be performed for data that have been released to the public or data that have yet to be released. The default is to display only Released data. Only specified project team members have access to unreleased data products.

Telescope

This field allows the selection of 1, 2 or 3 telescopes.

• Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA)   
• Long Base Array (LBA )
• Parkes

Frontend

This field has a list of the frontends (receivers) applicable for the selected telescope(s). The list includes both historic and current instruments.

One or more frontends can be selected.

Note: If you have selected more than one telescope, it is possible to select invalid frontend and backend combinations which would result in no results.

Backend

This field has a list of the backends applicable for the selected telescope(s). The list includes both historic and current instruments which can be searched for.

One or more backends can be selected.

Note: If you have selected more than one telescope, it is possible to select invalid frontend and backend combinations which would result in no results.

Bandwidth Range

Enter the Minimum and Maximum values to define the required range of bandwidth values to return.

Number of Channels

Enter the Minimum and Maximum values to define the required range for the Number of Channels to return.

Frequency

Enter the Start and End values to define the required range of Frequencies to return.

ATOA Observation Search Results

The ATOA search results page is displayed after a search request.

The search parameters you selected are displayed at the top of the page. Parameters with a ‘x’ can be deleted to refresh the search.

25 rows are displayed by default. Use the selector to change to 10, 50 or 100 rows per page.

There is a horizontal scroll bar above the columns to user can see all columns incl.

Each column can be sorted by using the  arrows.

Visibilities tab at the top displays the total number of records found which satisfy the search parameters.

The results are displayed. The default displayed columns are:

• Actions – click the  icon to view the scans for this observation
• Filename
• File Size
• Obs Start (UTC)
• Project(s) – links to the Collection page for the Project
• Array
• Principal Investigator (PI)
• Num Scans
• Frontend
• Backend

Additional columns can be displayed by clicking the “Configure Table Columns” button. The available additional columns are:

• Collection
• Last Modified (UTC)

Source Summary

The Source Summary is displayed by selecting the information icon

Filters

Filter facets that are available to further refine the search results.

Available filters are:

• Principal Investigators
• Backed
• Telescope
• Frontend
• Project Codes

Buttons

The following buttons are available on the search results page:

• Refine search – This button returns the user to the ATOA Observation search  page with the search parameters retained from the previous search.
• Configure columns – For each of the search results tabs there will be default set of columns with metadata. This function allows users to customise which columns are displayed within each tab by clicking “Configure columns” on the particular tab.

Data Access Options

To retrieve data

1. Select the data you wish to access by marking the checkbox(es) next to the items you’re interested in.
   The Download button at the top will display a count of the number of files selected for download.
2. Click on the “Download” button at the top to select a format and method.
3. Select the method you want.
4. Click the “Request files” button.
5.  Check the box for the Licence Agreement and click the “Accept” button. 
6. The “Retrieve Files” screen will be displayed. The page will refresh every 30 seconds until all files have been retrieved. 
   You can also bookmark the page or save a link to return to the page later. You will also receive an email confirmation. 
7. When your data is ready the “Retrieve Files” page is displayed providing options for accessing your data.

Link to Collection

If there is a Collection click on the link  

The Collection page opens displaying collection metadata on the “Description” tab and access to the files on the “Files” tab.