Program Interface: Downloading Images

IRSA offers several program interfaces for images. A brief description of each is provided below, along with links to detailed instructions and examples.

Simple Image Access (SIA)

SIA is a VO-compliant method of searching IRSA's holdings for images that satisfy a variety of possible query constraints (e.g. position, wave band). IRSA has a few SIA services, but new users are encouraged to use the first in the list below.

• IRSA Image Server SIA v2 (Preferred)
• Spitzer Heritage Archive API
• 2MASS Image Services API

For searches in Python, the pyvo package may be used with the SIA services. Example notebooks are listed below.

• Searching 2MASS Allsky Atlas Images
• Searching AllWISE Atlas Images
• Searching COSMOS Images
• Searching Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products

Additional Program-Friendly Image Services

In addition to the VO-compliant services listed above, IRSA also offers additional APIs for searching images. If possible, users are encouraged to use VO-compliant protocols.

• Image and Spectrum Server (Atlas) API: Search for images based on the dataset and spatial constraints.
• Cutouts API: Retrieve subsets of original images housed by IRSA, based upon the dataset, seearch position, and size of requested image.
• Finder Chart API: The functionality of IRSA's Finder Chart tool available from the command line.