Guidelines for Contributing High-Level Science Products to the
Multimission Archive at STScI
June 2005
The Multimission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST) welcomes the
contribution of high-level science products (HLSP) from the astronomical
community. The purpose of this document is to establish the guidelines
and policies for the contribution of HLSP to MAST. Note that
contributions of HSLP are now a requirement for the HST Treasury
and Legacy programs. The guidelines for archiving non-reduced data from
entire missions is a
separate document. If you wish to contribute HLSP or have any questions
concerning these guidelines please send mail to
archive@stsci.edu.
MAST encourages and welcomes HLSP including any of the following examples:
Products from any of the MAST-supported missions (e.g. HST, FUSE,
GALEX, IUE, EUVE etc.).
Ground-based observations closely related to any of the MAST
missions.
Output produced from theoretical models, provided that they are
closely related to the MAST data and are not generally available
through another permanent archive.
Object catalogs and lists of identified spectral lines
Literature, including paper preprints and reprints and analysis products
several steps removed from the HLSP are not considered HLSP and are
inappropriate for this site.
HLSP should contain a short "README" file explaining how a given HLSP
was created, including details on the data reduction and pipeline
processing version. It may in addition contain the following types of
files and products:
Plots relevant to the HLSP and quicklook/preview images in common
display formats such as PostScript, GIF, JPEG, PNG and PDF.
Thoroughly tested and well-documented specialized analysis
software relevant to the HLSP, Java applets, and other image
display software.
We may need to work with you to modify the format of some figures, so
please hang onto your plot-generating scripts!
It is important that contributors designate a contact person who will be
available to answer technical questions from users regarding details of
the actual observations, the processing techniques, or scientific
quality issues that MAST may not be in a position to answer. From
experience, we expect that such queries will be infrequent.
File Formats, Keywords, and Naming Conventions
We recommend the following standard formats:
FITS for images and spectra; FITS ASCII tables are also useful for
catalogs having a large number of columns
plain text ASCII (catalogs, some software, README files)
PDF (plots, and large README files)
Any common image format (e.g. GIF, JPEG, PNG) for preview, color
and annotated images (MPEG is also allowed)
File formats specific to particular software such as Microsoft, Tex,
LaTex, and IDL save-set formats are discouraged.
We also ask that these requirements be followed:
file names all be lower case.
filenames include a version number if there will be more than one
version of the HLSP submitted.
filenames start with h_ so that they can be easily distinguished
as an HLSP
filenames need to be unique within MAST. MAST will ensure this,
but submittors may need to add some project identifier in the
filename to ensure this uniqueness.
the total length of the filename should not exceed 39 characters.
FITS files should contain the keyword FILENAME with an accurate
self-referencing entry.
FITS files should contain RA and Dec keywords as well as the RADECSYS
and EPOCH keyword. For images, the coordinates should designate the
center of the field. For pointed spectra, the coordinates should be
of the object.
FITS headers should include WCS keywords.
for data products created from MAST data, provide a list of the
individual datasets used in creating the file. This "list" may
already be coded as part of the processing information in the FITS
header and that is adequate. An alternative is to provide a separate
file that contains the information. These lists will be used to "map"
HLSP to the individual datasets used to create them.
Since MAST is eventually going to make your HLSP available to the IVOA
(International Virtual Observatory Alliance), you might consider
enhanceing the information content in the header of your datafiles. You
can scan through a list of optional header keywords for images and some examples from current HLSP headers.
The respective information on
spectra is also available.
All FITS format files must be verified before inclusion in the MAST
archive. We suggest FITS verification be done early in the production of the
HLSP, to avoid delays in archiving the product(s). MAST recommends that using the
FITSVERIFY validator available from HEASARC.
You can also verify your FITS files online at
http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_verify.html.
Instructions for reading and writing FITS files can be found within the
standard data reduction packages such as IRAF and STSDAS, and within the
CFITSIO package distributed by HEASARC at
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/fitsio/fitsio.html.
Delivery of Files to STScI
Data may be delivered electronically or on hard media such as DVD, CD or
tape, whatever is most convenient for you.
Some additional information may be useful at the time of initial contact:
Name of a Contact Investigator for the program, along with contact
information including email address and telephone number
Program of origin, e.g., HST/Treasury for HST Treasury program
data, or HST/GO for HST Guest Observer data; Contribution from an
ADP, LTSA or AISRP programs.
The program number, if there is any, e.g., HST proposal ID or ADP
number
The primary target of the observations, e.g. "Hubble Deep Field"
or "NGC1068"
A list of the missions from which the HLSP are derived, e.g., HST,
IUE, and GALEX
References of up to three papers closely related to the
contributed HLSP, excluding authors, in standard format, e.g.,
2001, ApJ, 551, 23
Web Support
MAST will point to any websites the project or contributors set up. If
you wish to contribute a set of web pages, but have no place to host
them, MAST may be able to host them for you. If no web site is
available, MAST will maintain a page that will include basic information
on the HLSP set.
Even if you are planning your own web site, we will want to archive the
data at MAST where we can provide a long-term home for it. We also would
like you to consider having your web site point to the data here rather
than to a local copy. That ensures that the same data gets delivered
from both sites and allows us to easily and consistently track use of
the products from the Treasury programs. We can also more easily
integrate these valuable products with our other search interfaces. We
are starting to make the HLSP available to the Virtual Observatory, and
that process is also easier if we archive the data here.
High-Level Science Products