Searching: Many search methods are available. Most people will probably want to search by position, which is the default option. Target names can be automatically resolved into coordinates using NED or SIMBAD, or you can specify coordinates (which are echoed back to you, under the entry box, to be sure it understands you correctly). Cone searching is the only option at this time. You can also search by strings through all of the abstracts (e.g., obtaining all programs that explicitly studied planetary nebulae with Spitzer), which is a powerful way to get started in the archive. (See the section on Searching for more information.)
Hints, Tips, and Term Definitions:
An individual Spitzer observation sequence is an AOR, or Astronomical Observation Request. In certain cases (often calibration or sometimes science observations), you may also see an IER, or Instrument Engineering Request. Either one involves many individual exposures or frames.
The individual data frames that emerge, calibrated, from the Spitzer pipeline are Level 1, or Basic Calibrated Data, or BCDs.
The products that come from combining these individual data frames (such as mosaics of individual pointings) are Level 2, or post-BCD, or PBCD data.
Also available are Enhanced Products that come from combining AORs or doing post processing (such as synthetic photometry from spectra or source extraction from images). These are very powerful ways to get started on using Spitzer data in your science pretty much straightaway. Enhanced products generated by the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) are returned in a tab separately from the substantial contributed enhanced products that were delivered by the community to the SSC and IRSA (and continue to be delivered to IRSA); these contributed enhanced products can include mosaics, photometry, spectra, and data from telescopes other than Spitzer. (See the section below on searching enhanced products for more information.)
Spitzer observations can cover large areas or, by design, multiple targets. If you are interested in only portions of the larger observation, you can choose to have just individual data products returned -- e.g., just the observations that went into the portion of the sky for which you searched -- or you can return the products for the whole AOR.
You can search for observations by instrument or by wavelength.
IRAC, the Infrared Array Camera imaged at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 microns.
IRS, the Infrared Spectrograph took spectra between 5.2 and 38 microns, and imaged in two bands centered on 16 and 22 microns.
MIPS, the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer imaged at 24, 70, and 160 microns, and took spectra between 52 and 97 microns.
Search Results: The search results appear in up to five tabs: AORs, Level 1, Level 2, IRS Enhanced, and Contributed Products. Each tab provides a different look at the data retrieved by your search. (See Chapter 6 on Understanding Your Search Results for more information.)
Filtering: Filters, either imposed on your initial search or via your results page, can provide a powerful tool for weeding down search results to the observations you want. (See Chapter 6 on Understanding Your Search Results for more information.)
Visualizing: Visualization is a powerful tool for understanding exactly what each observation did and deciding what data to download. (See Chapter 8 on Visualization for more information.)
Downloading Data: Click on the checkboxes and then click "Prepare Download" to begin packaging your data for download in the background. See Chapter 9 on Downloading Data for more information.
Program Interface: You can also access the SHA from the command line. See Chapter 11 on the program interface for more information.
A set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) is available via the online help, as is a current Bugs List, and instructions on submitting information on a new bug.
2.2 Quick-Start for Expert Spitzer Users
The SHA does in fact do everything Leopard did, just differently. Some things it does much better, and there are lots more features as well. Here is a quick-start guide for Leopard experts
The SHA returns your search results in up to five tabs -- one for AORs (the most compact view of the observations, and the one most like Leopard), one for post-BCDs, one for BCDs, one for IRS Enhanced Products (meaning developed here at the SSC), and one for Contributed Enhanced Products (currently meaning [mostly] Legacy Enhanced Products) results. Not all of these are returned by default -- or even exist -- for every search; you will need to enable some of these tabs based on the search parameters. (For more, see the section on Searching below.) To the right of the search results window pane is a details pane, which is also where you can investigate coverage, individual data frames (real data, not jpegs like Leopard), and play with visualization (like Leopard's visualization features). You can also download catalogs into this window. (For more, see the section on Visualization below.)
If you have proprietary data you're trying to retrieve...
Log in first. Click on "sign in" in the upper right of the window. If you don't yet have an account, set one up and contact the helpdesk (http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/docs/spitzerhelpdesk/) with your account name and program number, and ask for that account to be tied to that program. (More information on user accounts can be found in the section on User Accounts below.)
Finding all data by program number
Search by program and enter your program number. (More information can be found on Searching below.) Continue with "Downloading data" below.
Finding data by PI
Search by Observer and enter the name. You need to enter the whole name, and when you start typing characters in the box, a drop down menu will appear with the viable choices.
Have many programs? Add a filter -- Click on "add filters" in the upper right of the "Campaign Search Results" pane. Click on "Program ID" from the first drop-down menu. Leave the operator as the default "=". Enter the program ID you want. Apply the filter and close the filters window. Just the AORs from that program will appear. (More information can be found on Searching below.) Once you find the data you want, continue with "Downloading data" below.
Finding data by campaign
Many programs in the Warm Era are time series observations, and some investigators may want all the data from a given program that have just been released. To do this: Search by campaign for the most recent campaign. Many AORs will be returned. Once the results appear, apply a filter to the results. Click on "add filters" in the upper right of the "Campaign Search Results" pane. Click on "Program ID" from the first drop-down menu. Leave the operator as the default "=". Enter the program ID you want. Apply the filter and close the filters window. Just the AORs from that campaign and that program will appear. (More information can be found on Searching below.) Continue with "Downloading data" below.
Downloading all data shown
Once the search results are returned (and filtered if applicable), click on the checkbox at the upper left of the Search Results window pane, and the individual checkboxes in each row will automatically all be checked. Then click on "Prepare Download" (immediately above the column of checkboxes). Choose which types of data you wish to download. All the data will be zipped up within the Background Monitor. If you have many zipfiles to download, a download (wget) script is also provided, which can enable automatic downloads of all the zipfiles. (More information can be found on Downloading Data below.)
Downloading just some of the data shown
Click on the checkbox on the far left of the data you want downloaded. You can do this in any of the tabs that are returned. Then click on "Prepare Download" (immediately above the column of checkboxes). Choose which types of data you wish to download. All the data will be zipped up within the Background Monitor. If you have many zipfiles to download, a download (wget) script is also provided, which can enable automatic downloads of all the zipfiles. (More information can be found on Downloading Data below.)
Where is this particular file I’ve come to know and love?
Be sure that you have clicked "include ancillary data" when you package up the data. Almost certainly the file(s) you seek are tagged as secondary (ancillary) files; just packaging up the plain Level 1/2 files will just get you the primary products. Beginning users are more likely to just want the primary products, whereas you, an expert user, may indeed want the secondary products too.
Where is Leopard's Popular Products search?
This is now folded into the "enhanced products" searches, available from the position search, or (for the IRS enhanced products) in a search exclusive to that product. You can choose to have those results returned from the main position search pane. The "Contributed enhanced product" results include a summary tab of all of the contributed enhanced products that IRSA has ingested that meet your search criteria. The IRS enhanced products search offers several options specific to that data. There is more information on the enhanced products below.
