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FAQs: Data Archive |
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Table of Contents: Q: It's Tuesday morning. How come I can't get through to the Archive? Q: How long does it take to download data? Q: How long does it take to get data after it's been observed? Q: What do I do with the zip file(s) Leopard puts on my disk? Q: What is the filenaming scheme for all these files? Q: I've got a password for checking in my program through Spot. Is that all I need to access the archive? Q: How can I tell which pipeline processed my data? How can I tell if my data have been reprocessed under the most recent pipelines? Q: Leopard says that these data should be public today, but I'm getting error messages when I try to download it. What gives? Q: Where was Spitzer exactly during my observations so that I can calculate light-time corrections? Q: What time keywords should I use from the header for the exact start of my AOR? Q: How should I reference my Spitzer data in my journal articles? What acknowledgment should I use? Q: It's Tuesday morning. How come I can't get through to the Archive?A: We have database blocktime every Tuesday from 6 to 9 AM Pacific time. You may not be able to retrieve data or view programs during this time.
Q: How long does it take to download data?A: It can vary a lot from program to program, but a baseline number to stage and retrieve data is something like 30 min / AOR.
Q: How long does it take to get data after it's been observed?A: It can vary, but up to 3-4 weeks. See the page on how the Archive works.
Q: What do I do with the zip file(s) Leopard puts on my disk?A: To uncompress the files Leopard puts on your disk, type "unzip foo.zip". To uncompress multiple files at once, type "unzip '*.zip'" (the single quotes are important), or "unzip \*.zip" -- you just have to escape out the wildcard.
Q: What is the filenaming scheme for all these files?A: If you look either in the individual instrument pages (IRAC, IRS, MIPS) or on the Archives and Analysis page, there are links to pages for each instrument with the filenames and contents spelled out:
Q: I've got a password for checking in my program through Spot. Is that all I need to access the archive?A: No, your program password (aka "Spot password") is not the same as your archive password (aka "Leopard password"), sorry! If you want to access publicly accessible data through Leopard, you do not need a password. If you want to access proprietary data through Leopard, you need to get a password from the Helpdesk (you will only be given access to proprietary data if you are the PI or TC for the program in question, or you have permission from the PI or TC). FYI, archive access is granted on a program-by-program basis; you cannot be granted archive access to just a few AORs from a program.
Q: How can I tell which pipeline processed my data? How can I tell if my data have been reprocessed under the most recent pipelines?A: This is a multi-step process at least at the moment.
Q: Leopard says that these data should be public today, but I'm getting error messages when I try to download it. What gives?A: Despite the fact that Leopard only displays the date (not the time), the data are released to the second after the proprietary period expires, e.g., 2004-07-27 17:51:34.000, not just 2004-07-27. Try again tomorrow, and these data will be available.
Q: Where was Spitzer exactly during my observations so that I can calculate light-time corrections?A: The answer can be found in this file.
Q: What time keywords should I use from the header for the exact start of my AOR?A: In a nutshell, DATE_OBS is the most accurate, absolute measurement for comparing with astronomical emphemerides. SCLK_OBS (in real sec) is good for relative timing comparisons within an AOR or even a campaign. More words on this: The DATE_OBS value is a real date-time string representing the absolute UTC time at the very start of data aquisition or "array activity" for the DCE, i.e, the start of any boost (for DCENUM=0) or, the start of a reset (for DCENUMs > 0). (It has nothing to do with image timing or readouts.) UTCS_OBS is the number of real seconds past midnight, year 2000 at the _UTC_ time of the DCE start (or array activity as above). Both DATE_OBS and UTCS_OBS are computed from spacecraft telemetry clock counters (SCLK_OBS coarse and fine bit ticks) and calibrated using an atomic clock in Boulder to correct for on-board drifts.
Q: How should I reference my Spitzer data in my journal articles? What acknowledgment should I use?A: This answer comes in two parts: |
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