Help Page for ESO Data Product Query Forms

In the course of the Phase 3 process, the PI of an ESO observing programme organises the data products according to appropriate high-level criteria into self-consistent groups, called "data collections", which, subsequently, the archive user can browse and access. Later on the PI may issue further data releases to add further data or to update already released data products. The full list of collections is available via the Phase 3 release overview page.

Note that when the query form is invoked for a specific collection (e.g.: http://archive.eso.org/wdb/wdb/adp/phase3_main/form?collection_name=VMC) then all the pulldown menus are filled-in only with the set of values pertaining to the selected collection.

The name of the release. A data collection can consist of a series of *data releases* (e.g. DR1, DR2, etc.) which could either complement or improve the data products of the previous releases.

Every product of Phase 3 is subject to version control; in the lifetime of a data collection, the same product could have been published multiple times, for example because the reduction pipeline could have been improved. This information is reflected in the product version and in the product status (see below).
The product version is expressed as a running number.
In HTML output the link onto this field brings the user to the Product Version History view of the selected product, providing a chronological view of the different versions that exist in Phase 3, whether current, obsolete, or deprecated, with ancillary information like the submission history and the reason why a product was deprecated. In this view, the various records are displayed over a colored background:

• transparent background for current products
• orange background for obsolete products
• red background for deprecated products

The product status can assume one of the following values:

• current: the current version of the product, supported by default by the Phase 3 query interfaces;
• obsolete: if this product version has been declared obsolete, in favour of a newer version;
• deprecated: if this product version has been deprecated by the data provider (e.g. because faulty).

At any time only one product version could have the status of “current”; all the others are either “obsolete” or “deprecated”.

The default query of the Phase 3 archive interfaces is for current data only, meaning that obsolete and deprecated products do not appear until the product version history is invoked (see Product version above).

When chosing a specific release from the list of available collections/releases, then the query interface presents to the user only the selected collection, with, highlighted in a new pale brown panel, the releases belonging to that collection; at this point the Product Status pulldown menu is set to “all product versions” allowing the user to search for a specific data release; the results will show all the matching products in the provided release, whether current, obsolete, or deprecated.

Special note on the release written by the ESO operator in the course of the data publishing process. Available only in the so-called full-screen mode (detailed query result page of a single record).

The release description is a PDF document which provides an account of the release content, the originating observations, the calibration and data reduction procedures, the data quality, the data format, and, possibly, the scientific context of the programme.
In the HTML query result page the link on this field brings the user to the release description related to the product at hand.

ESO public survey region name.

The identifier of the ESO observing run. Read the documentation on the ESO programme identification code.

The Principal Investigator either of the team that provided the product to ESO through the Phase 3 process, or of the original observing team, as it is the case for ESO certified data, or for data generated by some data centres.

Name of the ESO telescope. For more information, please check ESO telescope web page..

Name of the instrument. For more information on ESO instrumentation, please check ESO instrumentation web page.

Technique used during the observation. For the complete list of current values, please check the pull-down menu of OBSTECH on the Phase3 generic query form. Some possible values are:

• CONTINUUM (submillimiter continuum emission [APEX])
• ECHELLE (cross-dispersed spectrum)
• IMAGE (any picture)
• SPECTRUM (single-order spectrum)
• etc.

Target name for SIMBAD, NED or OBJECT name in FITS header, depending on the setting of the selector.

• SIMBAD: SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/ will be used to find coordinates of the target.

  Examples:

  • Orion
  • M17

• NED: The NASA Extragalactic Database (nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu) will be used to find coordinates of target.

  Examples:

  • 3C273

• Phase3 target name. The target name will be searched in the Phase 3 database. In this case, it is a constraint against the OBJECT keyword information (case insensitive string match, no coordinates involved).

  Examples:

  • d020
  • XMMU J2235.3-2557

• either a Name (a name must contain at least one letter);
• or a set of RA and DEC TAB-separated coordinates;
• or a set of RA and DEC sign-separated coordinates, that is, the sign (+ or -) of the declination must be present as it acts as a separator.

If so wished, a comment can be provided on each line, following a '#' character

Coordinates can be provided as decimal degrees (both RA and DEC) or as sexagesimal hours (RA) and sexagesimal degrees (DEC).

Valid sexagesimal separators are both the blank and the colon, as in: 01:23:45.678, 01 23 45.678.

Example of input target list:

15: +08:                        # sexagesimal, sign separated
15 +08                          # decimal, sign separated -> degrees!
BD +8 4236                      # name which will be resolved using the chosen name resolver (default SIMBAD)
15:30 +08:23                    # sexagesimal, sign separated
15:30:41.1 +08:23:38.1          # sexagesimal, sign separated
15 30 41.1	08 23 38.2      # sexagesimal, tab separated
15:30:41.1	+08:23:38.3     # sexagesimal, tab separated
15:30:41.1 -08 23 38.4          # sexagesimal, sign separated
15 30 41.1 -08:23:38.5          # sexagesimal, sign separated
eta car                         # name which will be resolved using the chosen name resolver (default SIMBAD)
232.67208333	8.393916666     # decimal, tab separated
232.67208333+8.393916666        # decimal, sign separated
b212                            # name which can be matched against an existing Phase 3 target name
                                # by setting the Phase3 Target Name as name resolver (see NAME).

15 30 41.2 08 23 38.4          # no separator
15 30 41 08 23 38              # no separator
15 30 08 23                    # no separator

The right ascension of the target in hours or degrees, depending on the selected format. The values can be expressed as decimal (e.g., 8.2) or sexagesimal values where minutes and seconds are blank or colon separated (e.g., 8 12 or 8:12). If a Search Box is specified, the search will be in a box around the given coordinates. Ranges can be specified with " .. " in which case the box size will not be used.

Examples:

• 12:19:35.934
• > 190.3
  if RA(deg) DEC(deg) is selected.
• 12:15 .. 12:30

The galactic longitude of the target in decimal degrees.

Examples:

• > 45
• 180 .. 270

The declination of the target in degrees. The values can be expressed as decimal (e.g., 8.2) or sexagesimal values where minutes and seconds are blank or colon separated (e.g., 8 12 or 8:12). If a Search Box is specified, the search will be in a box around the given coordinates. Ranges can be specified with " .. " in which case the box size will not be used.

Examples:

• +47:19:19.85
• < 0
• 60 .. 80

The galactic latitude of the target in decimal degrees.

Examples:

• < 0
• 60 .. 80

Survey tile RA in decimal degrees.

Survey tile Declination in decimal degrees.

Tile rotator offset angle as defined using the Survey Area Definition Tool (in degrees).
Note: Orientation on the sky, opposite sign convention than the position angle on the sky.

Selects Equatorial(FK5) or Galactic coordinates as input.

Choose here the output format for coordinates: either sexagesimal hours or decimal degrees.

If you search by coordinates or target name to be resolved by SIMBAD/NED, enter here the size of the search box around the target.
Different query forms use different default search box sizes, so to adapt to the different science use cases.

• In the imaging case, the default value is set to "02:09:00" so to make sure to cover the size of a VIRCAM tile.
• In the spectral case, the default value is set to 2 arcmin.

The universal time marking the start of the observation (or the start of the earliest observation if the product results from the combination of multiple observations). To query it is possible to either enter:

• a single instant in time (format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSS) (UTC) to find all products whose start time and stop time cover the provided UTC value;
• a single day (format: YYYY-MM-DD, no time) to find all products whose start of observation was within the specified day.
• a range constraint, either using > or < or the range operator '..'

With the range operator '..' the extremes are included e.g.: 2014-04-30T02..2014-04-30T03
is the same as: >=2014-04-30T02:00:00 AND <=014-04-30T03:00:00

It specifies the end of the observation, or the end of the last observation if the product resulted from the combination of multiple observations. The stop time of a product can be displayed on the tabular output by selecting (highlighting) it in the Extra Columns section at the bottom of the query form.

The modified juliand date of the moment in time when the observation started (or when the earliest observation started if the product results from the combination of multiple observations).
Similarly to the "Date OBS", if a single value is provided all products covering that instant in time will be returned. Otherwise, it is possible to use the regular WDB operators like > >= = <= < and the range operator '..' (as in 57080.26..57080.27)

Specifies the end of the observation unid the Modified Julian Date (MJD) format; the end of the latest observation if the data product results from the combination of multiple observations.

Total integration time per pixel (in seconds).
For an imaging data product resulting from the co-addition of multiple exposures pointing at the same sky position (with a tolerance given by a small fraction of the instrumental field of view), EXPTIME represents the total integration time per pixel obtained in the centre of the image.
A common case are imaging observations using the jitter technique, for which EXPTIME=DIT*NDIT*NJITTER, the VISTA/VIRCAM pawprint images being an example. If the product has been constructed from exposures whose positions were offset from each other in order to sample a region of the sky being larger than the instrumental FOV (also known as mosaicing) then the total integration time may vary across the image array. In this case EXPTIME represents the nominal total integration time obtained in at least 50% of the image array taking into account the chosen offset pattern.
For a VISTA tile image being filled using the standard pattern of 6 pointed observations with fixed offsets with NJITTER exposures per pointing, EXPTIME is set to the product 2*NJITTER*NDIT*DIT. The factor 2 reflects that most of the pixels of the final co-added image receive the contributions of at least two observations except for two narrow stripes along the edges, which receive just ‘single’ exposure time.

Total integration time per product (in seconds).
Arithmetic sum of the integration time of all exposures included in the product.
For a VISTA tile being filled using the standard pattern of 6 pointed observations with fixed offsets with NJITTER exposures per pointing, TEXPTIME is set to the product 6*NJITTER*NDIT*DIT. If individual exposures were rejected before combination into the tile, TEXPTIME should be adjusted accordingly.

Flag to indicate that the data product includes observations obtained in more than one epoch. The exact definition of an epoch, particularly the associated time scale, depends on the scientific goals and is at the discretion of the programme P.I. The VISTA public survey programmes UltraVISTA, VIDEO and VVV are expected to deliver multi-epoch data products.

You can identify data products originating from a specific Observation Block ID or a list of OB ID vlues separated with commas (e.g.: 548167,585023), or logically OR-ed together (e.g.: 548167 OR 585023 OR 429776).

Users can request or exclude data products obtained by combining observations from several Observing Blocks.

The wavelength coverage of any Phase 3 1D spectrum is characterised by 2 parameters: its minimum and maximum wavelengths in nanometers (from the WAVELMIN and WAVELMAX FITS keywords)⁽¹⁾. Using those two parameters an overlap criterion (for 1D spectra only) is implemented, as if gaps were not present in the data:

• 656 - a single wavelength matches any spectrum that contains it (i.e., WAVELMIN ≤ 656 ≤ WAVELMAX);
• 393 AND 656 - two AND-ed wavelengths match any spectrum that contains both wavelengths, that is, the spectrum covers the entire wavelength range between 393 and 656
• 320..420 - a wavelength range matches any spectrum whose wavelengths cover the provided range partially (at least). Example of wavelength extents of the matching spectra: i) 400-500 ii) 500-700 iii) 200-400 iv) 200-700
• < 555 - a '<' inequality matches any spectrum whose min wavelength is < than 555;
• > 555 - a '>' inequality matches any spectrum whose max wavelength is > than 555.
• 656 OR (393 AND 397) - Multiple conditions can be logically ORed and/or ANDed together.

The spectral resolving power (unitless).

The spectral bin size, that is, the wavelength sampling size in units of nanometers.

The signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum (unitless).

It characterises the quality of the flux calibration in terms of two possible values: ‘ABSOLUTE’ or ‘UNCALIBRATED’. For imaging data, it certifies the validity of PHOTZP if set to ‘ABSOLUTE’, otherwise ‘UNCALIBRATED’. For spectroscopic data, it represents the type of flux calibration, whether ‘ABSOLUTE’ or ‘UNCALIBRATED’ e.g. when normalised to the continuum.

The slit width or the fiber diameter expressed in arcsec. NOTE: Please be aware that the XSHOOTER aperture value might not be correct.

The name of the dispersive element.

A flag set to T (true) if the spectrum refers to an extended object, F (false) if it is point-like.

A flag set to T (true) if the spectrum is normalised to the continuum, F (false) otherwise.

T (true) indicates that the flux data represent the total source flux if, for instance, observations were obtained under photometric conditions and measures were taken to capture the total source flux e.g. by choosing a slit sufficiently wide with respect to the seeing. It applies to spectroscopic data having FLUXCAL = ‘ABSOLUTE’.

Detector Integration Time. Any query by DIT (detector integration time) includes all data product that have keyword DIT properly defined in the primary HDU.

Number of sub-integration.

Number of jitter positions per observation.

Number of offset positions per observation.

The field of view on the sky sampled by the image in the largest dimension in units of degree.

The sky coverage in units of square degrees.

The image product's typical pixel size in units of arcsec.

The product's typical spatial resolution (or FWHM of the PSF) including the effect of atmospheric blurring if applicable (in units of arcsec).

Average ellipticity of point sources defined as (1-b/a) with a and b denoting major and minor axes of the source profile, resp.

Filter name (imaging only).

The field Product category in the Generic and Spectral query interfaces, and the field PRODCATG in the Imaging and VISTA query interfaces, allow to constrain the search to one (or more) specific data product format(s). The mapping between the Product category and the PRODCATG is documented in the following table.

Product Category	PRODCATG
catalog	SCIENCE.CATALOG or SCIENCE.CATALOGTILE
cube	SCIENCE.CUBE.IFS
image	SCIENCE.IMAGE or SCIENCE.MEFIMAGE or SCIENCE.IMAGE.FLUXMAP
source_table	SCIENCE.SRCTBL
spectrum	SCIENCE.SPECTRUM
visibility	SCIENCE.VISIBILITY

The Data Product Format is specified by the value of the Phase 3 FITS keyword PRODCATG.
If you wish to find source lists only, then select just only source_table or, correspondingly, the SCIENCE.SRCTBL value.

See the VISTA/VIRCAM paragraph of the Phase3 user documentation "ESO Science Data Products Standard" for the list of VISTA product types.

Type of imaging product: TILE, PAWPRINT, VSTRIPES as defined in the keyword IMATYPE.

Flag to indicate if DP represents a contiguous area of the sky or a sampling thereof (depends on type of product).

Typical 5-sigma limiting depth for point-sources (AB mag, total flux, approximately, that is +-0.1 mag).

AB mag of point sources that appear to be saturated on the image.

Number of raw science data files that were combined in the data product.

Number of micro step positions per observation.

A reduced or fully calibrated data product can either be certified:

• by ESO: the data have been generated at ESO, as part of the ESO data operation flow;
• by an external entity: in this case the data have been generated either:
  • by a user, typically the P.I. of an ESO observing programme or other investigation (e.g. a survey, archive research, etc.) that results in the generation of some Phase 3 data products
  • by a data centre responsible for the products' generation

To learn more about the actual generation process, please refer to the corresponding release description, which can be reached (for example) by clicking on the Release version number on the record of interest in the tabular output of the query result page.

Corresponding FITS keyword: P3ORIG

The Digital Object Identifier of the collection.

As input, the user can provide one or more DOIs using either the OR or the | operator, and can input indifferently the full DOI (with https://doi.org/ prefix) or the relative one (without such prefix), e.g.:

10.18727/archive/6 or 10.18727/archive/7

10.18727/archive/6 | https://doi.org/10.18727/archive/7

In output, the DOI is provided only in full output mode (that is, not in the tabular output mode); the full output mode can be reached for example by clicking on the magnifier lens specific to one record in the tabular output mode (the More field).

Processed data downloaded from the ESO Archive are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), one per data collection. The list of the DOIs currently available can be found here. The following statement must be included in any publication making use of them:

Based on data obtained from the ESO Science Archive Facility with DOI(s): https://doi.org/10.18727/archive/NNN

It is the date before which the product is under a proprietary period (and downloadable only by the PI or delegates), and after which the product is publicly available.

The date when the product became available through the Phase 3 system.

The Original file name is assigned by the PI (in the case of a product generated by a User [p3orig=User]) or by the ESO data reduction process (when p3orig=ESO) and corresponds to the FITS keyword ORIGFILE.

The Dataset ID is the name under which the data product is stored in the ESO Archive. The Dataset ID corresponds to the FITS keyword ARCFILE, without the extension. The timestamps in the Phase 3 ARCFILE identifiers (ADP.timestamp) is related to the time of the data archival, it does not denote the time of observation as it is the case for raw data.

Bibliographic reference to the primary scientific publication associated to the data product describing content, coverage, process of creation and scientific quality, when defined (in the REFERENC FITS keyword of the product).

In the HTML query result page, the records representing catalog products provide, via the Catalog Interface field, a link that brings the user to the ESO Catalog Facility service, and precisely to the query interface related to the selected catalog. If instead the record is not for a catalog, the Catalog Interface field displays a null value.

The identification number of the submission batch this product belongs to (Phase 3 process).

The reduction software system, including its version number, utilised to generate this product.

The creation date of the FITS file containing the scientific data of this product.
Corresponding FITS keyword: DATE

The date when the batch this product belongs to was submitted through the Phase 3 process.

The date this product version has been declared obsolete.

The date this product version has been deprecated (e.g. because the product is somehow corrupted).

The reason why this product version has been deprecated.

The title of the data collection.

The type of the data collection, one of:

• SURVEY: if the data product was delivered to ESO as part of a ESO Public Survey project;
• LARGE: if the data product has been generated and certified by the PI of an ESO Large observing Programme
• NORMAL: if the data product has been generated and certified by the PI of an ESO Normal observing Programme
• STREAM: if the data product has been certified by ESO, as part of the ESO data operations flow.
• OTHER

A flag describing the status of the scientific files originating this product. It can assume one of the following values:

• up-do-date: if all the generating science files are “current”
• obsolete: if at least one of the generating science files is no more “current”, that is, if the intervening file has being deprecated of declared obsolete.

Note: The fact that the provenance of a product could be non-current does not necessarily mean that the product at hand is of a bad quality.

You can upload a file containing a list (one per line) of raw file identifiers or names, as for example:

HARPS.2005-10-23T02:40:03.799 # identifier
HARPS.2004-11-01T03:55:15.207.fits # name

For each raw file the query interface will match (with other constraints you might specify on other input fields) any science data product that directly originated from the provided raw file. The figure here below shows the query result page for the provided HARPS example (note: the interface in output always shows the identifier, not the input filename).

Figure 1	Example of query by Raw Data Identifiers
Information about the input raw file id is shown in the "Uploaded file input value" column, while the rest of the table shows metadata and links related to the corresponding science data product.

The VOTable format is a Virtual Observatory XML standard for tabular data. More about the VOTable description is available at http://www.ivoa.net/Documents/latest/VOT.html.
The VOTable format allows you to easily load into any VO-enabled application the results of your search among ESO's collection of advanced data products. You can also easily convert the VOTable results of your query into any kind of file format (e.g. ascii, CSV) using e.g. the tcopy command-line tool of the STIL Tool Set (STILTS).