PyKOA: A Python Interface to KOA Data

PyKOA offers provides access to public raw science and calibration files acquired with any of the KOA instruments. Keck Observatory PIs may use the KOA credentials already assigned to them with PyKOA to access their protected data.

PyKOA also enables a rich variety of searches, including cone, box, polygon, or all-sky spatial searches; temporal searches; searches on program infortmation; and complex searches on multiple attributes, through queries structured in the IVOA Astronomical Query Language (ADQL).

Functionality For End Users

PyKOA supports the following methods for accessing KOA science and calibration data:

• Query by date or date range (with examples for each file format).
• Query by position.
• Query by object.
• Query by program information.
• Query by by combinations of the above search criteria.
• Download raw science and associated calibration files, or a subset of data, corresponding to a collection of metadata.
• General metadata queries in the IVOA Astronomical Data Query Language (ADQL).
  (note: not all of the ADQL specifications have been implemented yet)
• Queries for protected data (available to Keck PIs only).
• Queries for a moving object searches for observations of an asteroid, comet, planet, or natural satellite by NAIF ID (SPK-ID), or by manually entering the orbital elements. (as of version 1.7.2)

PyKOA writes the output metadata data to an output file, in the IPAC ASCII, VOTable, CSV or TSV data formats.

Installation

PyKOA can be installed from PyPI:

pip install --upgrade pykoa

Requirements

Requires Python 3.6 (or above), plus table read and write functions from Astropy. We have tested with Astropy 4.0.1. We recommend using the Anaconda Python distribution.

Jupyter Notebooks

These Jupyter Notebooks provide examples of the methods supported by PyKOA, and examples of how Keck PIs may login and access their protected data.