Using the Search Form

Choosing Instrument Choosing which file types to return Entering Search Criteria:
	Spatial Search & Name Resolver Search by Target Name keyword Observation Date Observation Time Wavelength Exposure Time Program ID Semester Principal Investigator Program Title Institution Frame Number KOAID (file identifier)

Choosing Instrument:

You can search for data taken with one or more of the instruments in the archive where you can select different modes or states (except LWS and NIRC) The schedule for public access to non-proprietary data can be found in the description of User Access and Proprietary Periods. To retrieve public Keck Interferometer data, use the dedicated KI Search Form.

For DEIMOS, OBSMODE, imaging, longslit or mos

For ESI, OBSMODE, imaging: image or spectroscopy: low or high

For HIRES, The iodine cell is used to create a reference wavelength in order to measure very precise radial velocities. This column specifies whether or not the iodine cell was in the light path during the observation, as determined from the IODIN and IODOUT keywords (i.e, if IODIN = F and IODOUT = T, then the iodine cell was not in the light path).

For KCWI, CAMERA, blue, red or fpc (focal plane camera)

For KPF, there are three cameras: CA_HK and GREEN and RED. Additionally you can choose to select or deselect the observations of the Sun calibration files KOAIMTYP = solar - do keep all camera modes checked to return solar data.

For LRIS, OBSMODE, IMAGING or SPEC

For MOSFIRE, GRATMODE, IMAGING or SPECTROSCOPY

For NIRC2, DETMODE and GRSNAME, Low-dispersion or Medium-dispersion spectra are taken with the low- or medium-dispersion grism inserted in the optical beam. Read more about NIRC2 modes and instrument properties here.

For NIRES, INSTR, imag or spec

For NIRSPEC, CAMERA (or DETMODE prior to December 2018) and DISPERS, Low-dispersion spectra are taken only with the cross-disperser, a flat mirror replacing the echelle in the optical path. Only a single order is recorded. High-dispersion spectra are taken with both the echelle grating and the cross-disperser, and produce multiple orders across the detector. Imaging is a two-dimensional picture of the sky, without any spectral information (other than the filter in which the image was taken). Imaging with NIRSPEC is taken with a separate detector, SCAM. Read more about NIRSPEC modes and instrument properties here.

For OSIRIS, INSTR, image or spec

Choosing which file types to return:

In this section of the search form, you instruct the archive to search for science or calibration files, and whether or not to use the automatic calibration association algorithm.

• Search for any files (science or calibration) that match all input criteria. The search will be performed using only the user-input search criteria, with no restrictions on file type. By default, all types of calibration files are selected. Automatic calibration association will not be performed. This mode is useful if you'd like to retrieve all the files taken on a given night, or as part of a given observing program. Note that a spatial or targeted search may return several science files, but no calibration files, as coordinates and target names do not apply to most calibration types.
• Search for science files that match all input criteria. In this mode, the search is restricted to science frames (i.e., the KOAIMTYP FITS keyword is "object" or "object_lamp_on").
  
  Also find appropriate calibration files for data reduction. Check this box to retrieve calibration files associated with the resulting science files. Read more about the science/calibration association algorithm here.
• Search for calibration files that match all input criteria, and are of type... Restrict the search to frames which are of one of the types selected below: arclamp, bias (or bias_lamp_on), contbars (KCWI only), dark (or dark_lamp_on), domearc, eng calib (NIRC2 only), fcscal (DEIMOS only), flatlamp, flatlampoff, focus, fpc (KCWI only), polcal (LRIS only), solar (KPF only), svc (KCWI only), trace, and undefined. By default, all types will be returned. See the description of calibration types.

Entering Search Criteria:

Spatial Search & Name Resolver:

To search an area on the sky, provide the center location and search radius:

• Center: Enter a coordinate string or object name (must be resolvable into coordinates by NED first then SIMBAD). Coordinate strings with no equinox specified will be treated as J2000. Note: If an equinox year is provided, but is not preceded by either a Bessel "B" or a Julian "J", the year will be ignored and J2000 will be assumed. The search field is case- and space-insensitive.
  
  Examples:
    NGC 7479
    346.23595 12.32297 eq
    23h04m56.63s 12d19m22.7s Equ J2000
    16:39:54.38 +36:33:20.1 B1950
    34.55 54.23 gal
    34. 54. ecl
    17:44:34 -41:16:08 Equatorial B1950
  
  
• Radius: Determines the area around the center coordinates over which to search. The default search radius is 30 arcseconds; valid entries are 0.1 arcseconds to 6 degrees.

NED first then SIMBAD

By default, NED is contacted first; if no matching location is found, SIMBAD will be searched. For stellar objects, SIMBAD locations may be more accurate.

Please note that observations taken of a specific object (i.e., M51) may not be returned when you perform a spatial search for that object, if the RA and DEC values of the observation are too far away from the NED or SIMBAD location of the object. If you don't see the results you expect when doing a spatial search by object name, try increasing the "Radius" value to increase the search area, or switching to "Search by TARGNAME keyword" (below).

For "More Search Options":
To instruct the search program to attempt to resolve the location using SIMBAD first, enter your search criteria and check the radio button labeled "SIMBAD first."

Search by TARGNAME keyword:

For "Guider Search":
The value of TARGNAME in a guider camera FITS header is taken from TARGNAME in the corresponding science file. This value may or may not be resolvable into a sky position by NED or SIMBAD. Queries on TARGNAME search for case-insensitive substrings of the entries in the TARGNAME keyword, without any name resolution.

For "Basic Search" or "More Search Options":
At the time of observation, the target name included in the table of scheduled observations is recorded in the TARGNAME FITS keyword. The target often corresponds to an object name that NED or SIMBAD can resolve into sky coordinates.

Queries on TARGNAME search for case-insensitive substrings of the entries in the TARGNAME keyword, without any name resolution. For files where TARGNAME is blank (common in calibration files), KOA searches the OBJECT keyword, entered by observers at the telescope and intended for their records and often does not correspond to a name that NED or SIMBAD can resolve into sky coordinates. For NIRC2 and OSIRIS data, the string search is performed on both TARGNAME and OBJECT, though only OBJECT is displayed in the results since for these instruments, the OBJECT keyword is more likely to contain the observer's name for the science target. Searches on TARGNAME are particularly useful for finding Solar System objects.

• Example: A search for Europa will return observations with TARGNAME (or OBJECT for NIRC2/OSIRIS) values of “Europa”, “Europa 2510”, “Europa 12:30”, and “52 Europa.”

Queries on TARGNAME may, however, return an incomplete set of data.

• Example: A search for Pluto will return data for targets called “Pluto”, “Pluto12UT”, “Pluto-09UT”, “Pluto 07UT”, and “Pluto PSF2.” If an observer had named Pluto “My favorite ex-planet” data corresponding to this name would not be returned in a query on TARGNAME.

KOA performs no validation on the returned data, and so TARGNAME searches may return data that do not contain the desired target. Be sure to examine the quicklook images of the returned records and only select the desired data before proceeding with analysis.

• Example: A search for Mars will return targets called “Mars for Marcos”, “mars 14:40”, “Mars UT 15-15”, and “MARS UT14-15.” It will also return a target called “SN CAND MARDSEN,” an extragalactic measurement.

Observation Date:

You may restrict your search to a single UT date, or an inclusive range of dates. The date on which an observation was made is determined by the DATE-OBS FITS keyword. Please note that an observing run that goes over the UT date line will include observations with two different values of DATE-OBS.

Allowed formats:

MM/DD/YY
MM/DD/YYYY
YYYYMMDD

Examples:

03/01/05
08/15/04-9/5/2004
20050101

Observation Time:

The archive restricts time searches independently of dates, allowing you to search for all files taken at a certain time (or within a range of times) across multiple days. It is currently not possible to search between two specific date/time values (i.e, 10pm July 5 - 2am July 6).

A single time may be entered, or a range of times (two times separated by a hyphen). Valid formats are: HH, HH:MM, or HH:MM:SS.

Occasionally, DATE-OBS and UTC keyword values, showing the time that the data were taken, are missing from the original FITS files. A relatively small number of NIRSPEC files, mostly afternoon calibration files, are affected by this. For these cases, the KOA software has attempted to recreate values, but they are estimates only, and may be highly inaccurate in the case of UTC. You can identify these recreated UTC values by the comment line in the FITS header. Recreated values of UTC or DATE-OBS have the comment: "Original value missing - added by KOA"

If DATE-OBS values cannot be determined accurately, the data are not ingested into KOA, and the archive user will never see them. If the UTC must be recreated, the goal is to keep the observations for that night in sequence. If available, the time stamp of the file when it was written is used. If not, the following algorithm is used. For afternoon calibrations, the first UTC that must be recreated is given 00:00:00 UTC. Subsequent files are assigned times in 5 second increments. Files taken during the night and having missing UTC values are assigned a UTC approximately midway between the UTC times of adjacent files which have valid times.

Sample Searches:

Wavelength Covered:

Enter a single wavelength or wavelength range of interest (in Angstroms or microns). All files that overlap any part of the user-specified range will be returned. Not available for LWS or NIRC

Instrument	Angstrom	Micron
DEIMOS	4000 - 11000	.4 - 1.1
ESI	3700 - 10900	.37 - 1.09
HIRES	2000 - 11000	.2 - 1.1
KCWI	3500 - 10800	.35 - 1.08
KPF	3900-8700	.39 - .87
LRIS	3000 - 12000	.3 - 1.2
MOSFIRE	9000 - 25000	.9 - 2.5
NIRC2	9000 - 50000	.9 - 5
NIRES (imager)	19500 - 22950	1.95 - 2.295
NIRES (spec)	9400 - 24500	.94 - 2.45
NIRSPEC	8500 - 60000	.85 - 6
OSIRIS	10000 - 24100	1 - 2.41

Exposure Time:

Enter a single exposure time (in seconds), or a range of desired exposure times (i.e., 60-90).

Program ID:

The string entered in the Program ID field will be compared against the values of the PROGID FITS keywords stored in the archive. The comparison is space- and case-insensitive.

For instance, to retrieve files taken under the Program ID "Hu33H", any of the following could be entered:

Hu33H
hu33h
h u33
33h

Important note regarding calibration files: Because of a policy change at WMKO, starting on February 14, 2022 (see release notes), calibration files that do not contain any proprietary target information in their headers, particularly those taken during daytime hours, are assigned to engineering (PROGID = 'ENG') and are available for immediate public release. As a result of this change, these calibration files will not be attached to the science programs for which they were taken and PROGID queries using the "Return any files" option (see file types) will not return them. Users who want these calibration files returned in a PROGID query should select "Return only science files" with the "Also show calibration files that are appropriate for data reduction" option.

Semester:

Enter a valid observing semester, of the form "2004A" or "2005B" (case-insensitive).

Principal Investigator:

Enter a string to match against the FITS keyword "PROGPI," which contains at least the last name of the principal investigator (case- and space-insensitive).

Program Title:

This search field lets you search for words included in the program title (PROGTITL keyword) of observations. Enter a space-separated list of title keywords to match against PROGTITL. For instance, to retrieve files from a program titled "HIRES Deep Impact Observations of Comet Tempel 1", you could enter any of the following in the Program Title field:

Examples:

impact
Deep Impact Observations
tempel comet

Institution:

Select the institution associated with the observing program (as recorded in the PROGINST keyword) from a drop-down list.

Frame Number:

Each FITS file that the observer records is assigned a sequential frame number, stored in the FRAMENO keyword. Observers often keep lists of frame numbers that correspond to images of interest; this field allows you to search for only those frame numbers you're interested in.

Examples:

1-10
5,8,65
>=20
2,6-8,>50

Sometimes, there will be multiple files with the same frame number. This is due to the fact that the archive preserves even those files which the observer may have opted not to write to the telescope disk, but the frame number value is not incremented until an observer has indicated that the file should be kept.

KOAID:

KOAID is a unique file name assigned by the archive software to each FITS file. Each filename is in the form XX.YYYYMMDD.#####.fits (pre real-time ingestion) or XX.YYYYMMDD.#####.nn.fits (post real-time ingestion.) NIRC2 additionally has XX.YYYYMMDD.#####.nn_unp.fits), where XX denotes the 2 letter instrument name, YYYYMMDD is the UT date of observation (from the DATE-OBS keyword in the FITS header), and #####.nn is the UTC time (in seconds) at which the exposure was taken (from the UTC keyword). The decimal (nn) portion of the UTC time in seconds is added only for Real Time Ingested files. When the KOAID column contains an active link, clicking on it will initiate a download of that FITS file. Selecting the checkbox to the left of the KOAID will add the FITS file to your download selection list. The 2 letter instrument names are:

• DE = DEIMOS, DF = DEIMOS Flexure Compensation System (fcscal)
• ES = ESI
• HI = HIRES
• KB = KCWI Blue, KF = KCWI Focal Plane Camera (fpc), KR = KCRM Red, KS = KCWI Svc
• KP = KPF
• LB = LRIS Blue, LR = LRIS Red
• LW = LWS
• MF = MOSFIRE
• N1 = NIRC
• N2 = NIRC2
• NR = NIRES spectroscopy, NI = NIRES imaging
• NS = NIRSPEC spectroscopy, NC = NIRSPEC-SCAM imaging
• OS = OSIRIS spectroscopy, OI = OSIRIS imaging

You may enter a whole or partial KOAID value known from a previous session with the archive by using one of the following formats:

N2.20230413.06826.17_unp.fits (NIRC2 only)
N2.20230413.06826.17.fits
HI.20031212.18900.fits
HI.20031212.18900
HI.20031212
HI.2003