LEDAS News:
Search 3,000 catalogues
using ViZieR gateway
The catalogue server ViZieR hosted by the Centre de Donnees
astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) holds approximately 3,300 catalogues
and datasets from the astronomical literature. LEDAS now provides a
local web search interface for the ViZieR catalogues, which allows them
to be queried in a very similar form to the existing LEDAS services
ARNIE and BLASTA.
The catalogues may be searched in circular or rectangular
regions, and the output equinox (B1950, J2000) is selectable. The output
may be requested in HTML or delimited ASCII table format. Text and Postscript
files (paper tables, figures) associated with an individual catalogue
can also be downloaded directly from the search interface.
The ViZieR Gateway is available at:-
http://ledas-svc.star.le.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vizier/vizier_gateway.cgi
SIMBAD Bibliography search
online
A literature search facility is now available at LEDAS.
A web form allows the bibliographic database held at SIMBAD to be searched
by author name or keyword in a given range of years. The references
returned are automatically linked to the ADS Abstract Server at Nottingham
University for easy retrieval of full paper texts.
http://ledas-svc.star.le.ac.uk/cgi-bin/simbad/bibsearch.cgi
BLASTA service enchancements (2MASS,
GSC-ACT):
The LEDAS service BLASTA (Browser for Large Astronomical
Archives) provides, for very large datasets, a faster and more efficient
search facility than existing BROWSE-based services. Two new catalogues
have recently been have been added to BLASTA:-
The BLASTA service is available at http://ledas-svc.star.le.ac.uk/blasta/blasta.php
W3PIMMS updated:
The X-ray mission simulator software WebPIMMS (formerly
W3PIMMS) has been upgraded to the latest version v3.2c, incorporating
new source models and the latest effective area values for the XMM instruments.
http://ledas-www.star.le.ac.uk/pimms/w3p/w3pimms.html
New HEASARC software available for download:
The latest version of the HEASARC X-ray data analysis
software suite HEASoft is now available for download from LEDAS. HEASoft
consists of the merger of the FTOOLS and XANADU software packages, integrated
so that they share common libraries for improved compatibility. The
current version is HEASoft v5.1, comprising FTOOLS5.1/fv3.1, Ximage
4.0. Xronos 5.18, Xspec 11.1.0 and Xstar 2.1d.
The HEASoft package may be downloaded as a whole or as
individual tools, in source code or precompiled binary format.
http://ledas-www.star.le.ac.uk/lheasoft/
Chandra:
LEDAS hosts a daily-updated mirror of the Chandra Science
website, giving access to program news, guidance for data reduction
and proposal generation, and analysis software.
The Chandra Data Archive mirror at LEDAS provides rapid
and convenient access to high-level public data products for the UK
astronomical community. The archive contains almost 800 observations
so far, and data archive updates take place every two weeks.
Hubble Deep Field datasets
mirrored
The Chandra observations of the Hubble Deep Fields North
and South are available for public download from LEDAS. The data are
available for download as individual observations or packaged together
as tar files of Level 1 or Level 2 calibrated products for the whole
survey region. Note that the data volumes of the combined datasets are
very large (up to 2GB).
More information: Chandra Data Archive 'What's New' page:
http://ledas-cxc.star.le.ac.uk/cda/whatsnew.html
CALDB calibration data mirrored
LEDAS now mirrors the most up-to-date public version of
the Chandra CALDB, the system which provides access to Chandra calibration
files (e.g. PSF's, FEF's, quantum efficiencies, grating efficiences,
HRMA axial effective areas, vignetting functions). The Chandra CALDB
is in a continuing state of development as the Chandra instrument calibrations
are progressively refined. Chandra users are strongly
encouraged by CXC to use the latest available CALDB files for their
data reduction.
http://ledas-cxc.star.le.ac.uk/caldb/
CIAO data reduction software updated
The CIAO software suite for Chandra data reduction has
been updated to the latest version v2.2. Note that this software requires
at least CALDB v2.3, and preferably the most recent version (CALDB v2.9).
http://ledas-cxc.star.le.ac.uk/ciao/download_ciao_reg.html
New ARNIE database tables
Several new tables have been added to the ARNIE database
browser system, including XMM target listings current to the beginning
of AO-2. For more information, see:-
http://ledas-www.star.le.ac.uk/info/dbupdate.html
This newsletter was prepared by the LEDAS site admin team.
If you have any questions about LEDAS, or find any problems using our
online services, contact us at <ledas-help@star.le.ac.uk>.
Suggestions are
welcomed for improvements to the LEDAS service.
