2MASS Image Services

This suite of services provides access to and information about the 2MASS Atlas and Quicklook Images. Atlas and Quicklook Images delivered by these services are in FITS format and contain full WCS information in their headers. Atlas Images contain photometric zero point information in their headers and are suitable for quantitative photometric measurements. Quicklook Images are restored from lossy-compressed versions of the Atlas Images and may be used for position measurements, finding charts and visual inspection of the near-infrared sky.

Only Atlas Images should be used for quantitative photometric measurements because of the information lost during the Quicklook compression process.

Interactive Image Service

This service enables rapid interactive viewing and retrieval of single 2MASS Image Sets (J, H and Ks) covering a specified point or object. This is useful for fast examination of individual sources and/or small fields.

Image Inventory Service

This service provides a listing of all 2MASS Images and their metadata that cover a point or region on the sky. It is useful for determining if a position is covered by more than one image, as is the case in Tile overlap regions, and for selectively finding and retrieving images that cover a broader region.

Batch Image Service

This service retrieves sets of all 2MASS Images that cover a specified large region, sets of Images that cover an input list of sky positions, or sets of Images that match an input list of image descriptors. This is useful for retrieving large numbers of images to construct large area image mosaics, and for generating finding charts for large numbers of targets.

Program Friendly Access (SIA)

Retrieve listings of 2MASS Images and their metadata that cover a point or region on the sky in program friendly VOTable format via the 2MASS Image Inventory Program Interface - an implementation of the VO SIA standard.