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Dolensky, M. & Doug, D. 2003, in ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 314 Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XIII, eds. F. Ochsenbein, M. Allen, & D. Egret (San Francisco: ASP), 338

Survey among Spectral Data Providers and Consumers

M. Dolensky
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany

D. Tody
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801-0387

Abstract:

The IVOA Data Access Layer (DAL) working group is defining a Simple Spectral Access (SSA) protocol for accessing 1D spectra and SEDs. To help plan this effort a survey was conducted to provide use-cases to guide the design. This poster summarizes the results from the point of view of both the data provider and the data consumer.

The survey shows that a wide variety of spectroscopic data is readily available on-line. Data structures and qualitative aspects, however, vary substantially. A preliminary analysis shows that the definition of a common format for spectra is a big challenge. Therefore, the first step is to concentrate on the access protocol and then to work on the formal representation in a standard format based on a spectral data model.

1. Introduction

The survey consists of two parts. The first concerns spectral data providers, and the second software tools which might use the SSA protocol to remotely access spectra. Such software tools are referred to as data consumers in this paper. Below is a summary of the information gathered from ESA IDC & XMM archives, ESO/ST-ECF, HEASARC, Hyperleda, INTA/LAEFF, NAOJ/SMOKA, NCSA, NOAO and CFLIB project, OHP and SDSS.

This survey did not aim to be complete, rather the goal was to obtain a large enough sample to capture the major aspects to help design the SSA protocol and spectral data model.

2. Data Provider

2.1 Spectral Data Collections

The following spectral data collections were examined:

2.2 Characteristics of Data

The characteristics of spectral data present in the above collections may be summarized as follows:

Columns/data items:

2.3 Current Storage Format

Currently there is no widely used spectral data format, and each data collection tends to store spectra in a unique format. The range of formats used include the following:

2.4 Is the Data Available Online?

Yes, data are generally on-line, but proprietary periods and restricted access depending on nationality may apply.

3. Data Consumers

3.1 Applications, Packages

Information about the following tools was collected: aXe, MIDAS-MOS, NOAO IRAF-Specplot, Pleinpot, Specview, ISO Survey Products Display Tool. Some tools dealing with SEDs are: NED on-line service, AVO Prototype SED utility.

3.2 Software Capabilities

The spectral analysis tools examined by the survey include the following capabilities:

3.3 Desired Characteristics of Input Data

Respondents were asked to comment on the desired characteristics of spectral data to be read by an analysis tool. The following items were mentioned:

3.4 Desired Input Data Formats

FITS (images, tables), XML, and plain ASCII are all supported by various tools. Some tools (e.g., Specview) support multiple input formats. It is fairly easy to deal with multiple input formats so long as they implement a similar data model. For quicklook purposes also graphic formats are used, like the ISO IDC poststamp service.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to all who contributed to the survey. Special thanks to Ivo Busko, Mike Fitzpatrick, Satoshi Honda, Stephen Kent, Tom McGlynn, Pedro Osuna Alcalaya, Benoit Pirenne, Ray Plante, Phillipe Prugniel, Enrique Solano, Alex Szalay, Francisco Valdes and Andreas Wicenec.


© Copyright 2004 Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, California 94112, USA
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