Status Report for Data Archive
and Restoration Efforts (11/94 - 08/95)

L. Whitlock

HEASARC

Many activities have occurred with the restoration of the older data sets over the past 9 months. These activities will be briefly discussed below on a mission by mission basis. Note that only changes or new features or acquisitions will be discussed. A more complete description of what is available for each instrument from each mission can be found on a set of Data Restoration / Archive Status pages which have been added to the HEASARC WWW site at /docs/heasarc/restoration/status.html .

These pages show the past, current, and future restoration efforts of the HEASARC, as well as providing links to those missions with current archives and documentation. These pages are updated roughly once a month, for any effort whose status has changed.

1. Ariel 5

ASM

Data Products: Light curves for 250 sources are on-line in the Ariel 5 FTP area. Status: Completed February 1995.

Software: The XTE FTOOL PERDGRM performs timing analysis on light curve data. This FTOOL has been modified to recognize the Ariel 5 light curves. The PERDGRM FTOOL was included in the v3.3 release of FTOOLS. Status: Completed February 1995.

SSI

Raw data: The entire Sky Survey Instrument (SSI) raw data was converted to FITS by Clive Page (University of Leicester) and ingested at the HEASARC. Status: Data and software ingested December 1994.

2. BBXRT

Data products: The BBXRT data have been available for quite some time from the BBXRT data area on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. The FITS files, however, no longer conformed to current Office of Guest Investigator Programs (OGIP) standards, as well as containing other errors. The files have all been updated and put back on-line. Status: Completed 15 September 1995.

3. COS-B

Raw data: The raw data from the 65 COS-B observations have been converted to FITS and been placed on-line in the COS-B FTP data area . Status: Completed 15 February 1995.

Data products: Images have been created from each of the raw files using the FADMAP FTOOL. Each FADMAP run produces 4 product files: a source count map, a background count map, a source 'exposure' map and an background 'exposure' map. Four 'sets' of FADMAP outputs have been generated: one with the full energy range[1] and full aperture of the instrument (50-7800 MeV; ~30 degrees); one with a 'low' energy range (70-150 MeV); a 'medium' energy range (150-300 MeV); and one with a 'high' energy range (300-5000 MeV). These files have been placed on-line in the COS-B FTP map area on the HEASARC's legacy computer. The BROWSE database for these files is currently being constructed. Projected completion date: 1 October 1995.

Software: The FADMAP FTOOL to create flux maps with COS-B data was completed and included in the v3.3 release of FTOOLS. Some minor improvements in the FTOOL have been made and will be included with the v3.4 release of FTOOLS. Status: Completed 15 February 1995.

4. EXOSAT

A complete description of the restoration efforts and status of the EXOSAT data bases can be found on page 20 in this issue of Legacy.

5. Ginga

Data products: catalog: The HEASARC currently has the observation logs from the Ginga Large Area Counter Array (LACDUMP). A Ginga 'observation' consists of varying numbers of major frames which have lengths of 4, 32, or 128 seconds, depending on the setting of the bitrate. Within each 'observation' several parameters are recorded: the pointing mode, the on-board computer mode (related to the bitrate), transmission, RA, dec, magnetic rigidity, the PI (Payload Instrument) counts, the SUD (Surplus over Upper Discriminator) counts etc. It is a special log file because it keeps record of all those parameters on short time scales (4, 32, or 128 seconds) and it contains the low count and high counts collected during an 'observation' when pointing at a particular part of the sky.

All of the LACDUMP has been put into a FITS version. In particular it has been divided in several FITS files, generated every time a selected parameter changes.

In principle, it is possible to check for transient sources as in the case of a monitoring instrument. The only difference is that the sky-coverage is neither uniform nor complete. The current division of the LACDUMP in FITS files is not optimized to search easily for transient events, because not all the interesting parameters have been taken into account when the FITS files were created.

The Ginga LACDUMP FITS files can be found in the Ginga FTP data area on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. These files do not conform to the Office of Guest Investigator Programs (OGIP) FITS standards. Updates to the keywords and a review of the FITS columns/file selections are underway.

6. HEAO-1

A1 Experiment

Raw Data: The raw data from the HEAO-1 A1 experiment are being restored under an ADP grant awarded to Paul Hertz (NRL). The project involves converting portions of the data base from 7-track magnetic tapes to modern media, reformatting the entire data base into a uniform format, documenting the format and history, and delivering the data base to the HEASARC for permanent and public archiving. This project is being conducted in close collaboration with the HEASARC and the NSSDC. The data will be assembled into a coherent whole, including documentation of the format and processing history, and deliver it to the HEASARC for archiving. Status: the conversion of data from 7-track tape to modern media is completed.

Data products: Light Curves: A subset of the pointed observations (galactic plane sources) are currently archived in the HEAO-1 A1 FTP area. Data products from 300 of the 800 pointed observations have been extracted into FITS format and are currently being tested. Projected completion date: 1 October 1995.

A2 Experiment

Data products: Light curves: The HEASARC has the XRATES data base, which contains the complete set of (scanned and pointed) A2 rates data. We have modified the XRATES program to extract light curves for individual sources from the XRATES database. Software is currently being verified. Projected completion date: 31 December 1995.

Data Products: Spectra: Keith Arnaud provided a set of Standard Format (SF) spectral data files from the A2 pointed observations. These have been converted into FITS and placed in the HEAO-1 A2 pointed spectra FTP data area. A BROWSE data base is currently being populated for these files. Projected completion date: 15 October 1995.

Software: To ease access to the many maps created from the A2 data (see Allen, Jahoda, and Whitlock, Legacy #5, p. 27), we have written a WWW FTP access tool (available at /docs/heao1/heao1a2_ftpform.html) to allow the user to take advantage of the WWW's browsing features to preview the FITS images and select those of most interest. Status: Completed 5 June 1995.

A4 Experiment

Data products: Spectra: Corrected FITS files and associated files from ping-pongs by the experiment were redelivered as part of an ADP grant (D. Gruber - UCSD) and are available in the FTP area. We are awaiting delivery of additional data products.

7. HEAO-2 (Einstein)

FPCS

Data products: The Focal Plane Crystal Spectrometer (FPCS) data provided by MIT has been converted into FITS format. Data currently on-line includes the FPCS catalog, as well as events and spectral data available from the FTP area on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. The primary source of information on the FPCS analysis and results is Lum et al, ApJS, 78, 423. Status: Completed 20 March 1995.

IPC

Raw data: The HEASARC has copied the SAO's Einstein CD-ROM set including the Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) unscreened data. They have been placed in the IPC unscreened data FTP area on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. Status: Completed 15 July 1995.

Data products: The IPC event files and images from the SAO's Einstein CD-ROM set. They have been placed on-line in the IPC events and images FTP areas on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. Status: Completed 20 March 1995.

HRI

Data products: The High Resolution Imager (HRI) event files and images from the SAO's Einstein CD-ROM set have been placed on-line in the HRI events and images FTP areas on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. Status: Completed 20 March 1995.

Software: The SAO CD-ROM event and images files should be readable by the standard analysis programs, such as XIMAGE, XRONOS, and PROS. We will perform some verification tests to ensure they are, in fact, compatible and make modifications as needed. Projected completion date: December 1995.

SSS

Raw data: The raw data from the Einstein Solid State Spectrometer (SSS) have been put into FITS format and placed on-line in the Einstein SSS raw data FTP area of the HEASARC's Legacy computer. Status: Completed February 1995.

Data products: The observed light curves, spectra, backgrounds, corrections, and response matrix files for the SSS instrument are now available on-line in the Einstein SSS spectra FTP area on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. These files are currently being updated to match current FITS standards. Projected completion date: 30 November 1995.

Software: An FTOOL is being written to generate response matrices from the SSS raw data, as well as to generate background files. This software will be included in the v3.4 release of FTOOLS. PHA data is also being tested for compatibility with VIMAT. The FTOOL SAEXTRACT can be used to extract spectra from the SSS raw data; a script is being written to assist users to properly select "good" SSS data for timing and spectral analysis. Status: Completed April 1995.

MPC

Raw data: The 2.56 s raw data from the Einstein Monitor Proportional Counter (MPC) has been placed on-line in the Einstein MPC raw data FTP area of the HEASARC's Legacy computer. The source names and positions have been generated by cross-correlating the Einstein Sequence Number with the BROWSE EINLOG catalog. A small number of files contained sequence numbers that EINLOG did not know or which did not match other known characteristics of the MPC data file. These files have been culled from the on-line data. A more thorough investigation is pending, with the expectation that we will make some minor corrections to the local EINLOG catalog. This data does not include the high time resolution Time Interval Processor (TIP) data. We have no plans to restore the TIP data.

8. HEAO-3

Raw data: The HEASARC obtained a copy of the high time resolution HRGRS data on tape from JPL in December 1995. Software to read in the data from its native SEL-32/55 binary format (converting to IEEE binary) was also received. We will modify these programs to convert the raw data into standard FITS files at a future date.

9. OSO 8

Data products: Lightcurves: The program RATFIT has been modified to extract light curve data from the CXS experiment "A" detector for all times that a source is in the field of view. The CXS experiment should see approximately 100 sources. Light curves have been extracted for the "A" detector and placed in the FTP area. A BROWSE database was built for these files (completed 15 September 1995). Light curves for the "B" and "C" detectors are currently being extracted using different software.

Data products: Spectra: Spectra from the CXS experiment "B" and "C" detectors are extracted. We are currently working on generating calibration files. We are not certain that it will be possible for the HEASARC to extract spectra from the "A" detector; the available software appears to be unable to perform this task.

10. P78-1

Raw data: At present, a complete set of the P78-1 data is available only on approximately 4,500 analog tapes. For the XMON X-ray monitor experiment, approximately 9 months of the six and a half year mission was digitized by the United States Air Force (USAF) onto 7 track tapes. All of these tapes (analog and digital) have been brought to GSFC under an ADP grant (L. Whitlock- HEASARC). The analog tapes will be cleaned and digitized. Digitization should take approximately two years. Once digitized, an aspect solution will be developed and the binary data will then be converted into FITS for general distribution and analysis. The already digitized data tapes have been converted from 7-track tape to modern media, and will be of immediate use in beginning the aspect solution development. Projected completion date: late 1997.

11. SAS-2

Raw data: The raw data from the 28 SAS-2 observations have been converted to FITS and been placed on-line in the SAS-2 FTP data area . Status: Completed 15 February 1995.

Data products: Images have been created from each of the 28 raw files using the FADMAP FTOOL. Each FADMAP run produces 4 product files: a source count map, a background count map, a source 'exposure' map and an background 'exposure' map. Three 'sets' of FADMAP outputs have been generated: one with the full energy range[1] and full aperture of the instrument (35-1000 MeV; 30 degrees); one with a 'low' energy range (35-100 MeV); and one with a 'high' energy range (100-1000 MeV). These files have been placed on-line in the SAS-2 FTP map area on the HEASARC's legacy computer. The BROWSE database for these files is currently being constructed. Projected completion date: 30 October 1995.

Software: The FADMAP FTOOL to create flux maps with SAS-2 data was completed and included in the v3.3 release of FTOOLS. Some minor improvements in the FTOOL have been made and will be included with the v3.4 release of FTOOLS. Status: Completed 15 June 1995.

12. Ulysses

Raw data: Kevin Hurley will deliver approximately 4 years of gamma-ray burst data from the Ulysses spacecraft to the HEASARC. We have negotiated to receive the high time resolution burst data (8 ms resolution) in addition to the 'regular' data (0.25 - 2.0 s resolution) in the 25 - 150 keV energy range. Dr. Hurley is currently reformatting the data and the HEASARC will get a copy of the desired data directly from him when available.

13.Vela 5B

Time ordered raw data: The corruption-free time ordered data is available in FITS format on the Legacy computer in the Vela 5B raw data area. Files cover the entire ten year mission and have been split so that a single file covers five mission days. These files have also been ingested at the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC). Status: Completed November 1994.

Coordinate ordered raw data: The corruption-free coordinate ordered data are available in FITS format on the Legacy computer in the Vela 5B raw data area. The celestial sphere has been divided into approximately 12,000 boxes, most containing roughly a 2 deg x 2 deg area of sky. Status: Completed 20 February 1995.

Data products: A set of light curves for 99 known X-ray sources have been extracted and placed on-line in the Vela 5B data area on the HEASARC's Legacy computer. The light curves for sources in unconfused areas of the sky were generated both in a "natural" binning format (roughly 56 hours) and with the original 1 second time resolution. The light curves generated by deconvolving source contributions from crowded regions are in 112 hour bins. The files currently on-line were generated from the contaminated raw data in 1992. Creation of light curves using the corruption-free database is underway. Projected completion date: 15 October 1995.

Software: A package of Vela 5B FTOOLS will be included in the v3.4 release of FTOOLS.

The FVELALC FTOOL will generate a pair of light curves (one for each of the two detectors, usually referred to as Channel 1 and Channel 2) for a specified source which is in an unconfused region of the sky. For previous users of the raw binary data, FVELALC replaces the programs SVELA and BINIT. The VELABOX FTOOL determines which raw data files are required.

The FVELMAP and FVELGALLC tools combined perform the comparable function for crowded fields. FVELMAP computes a binned map of the region around the source of interest, FVELGALLC uses this map to subtract the contributions of neighboring sources to the light curve. For previous uses of the raw binary data, FVELMAP replaces NOD2D and FVELGALLC replaces NUSRC. The VELAMAP FTOOL determines which raw data files are required. Status: FTOOLS complete, will be delivered with next FTOOLS release.

The XTE FTOOL PERDGRM performs timing analysis on light curve data. This FTOOL has been modified to recognize the Vela 5B light curves. The PERDGRM FTOOL was included in the v3.3 release of FTOOLS.

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