HEASARC Queries (astroquery.heasarc
)¶
Getting started¶
This is a python interface for querying the HEASARC archive web service.
The capabilities are currently very limited … feature requests and contributions welcome!
Getting lists of available datasets¶
There are two ways to obtain a list of objects. The first is by querying around an object by name:
>>> from astroquery.heasarc import Heasarc
>>> heasarc = Heasarc()
>>> mission = 'rospublic'
>>> object_name = '3c273'
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission=mission)
>>> table[:3].pprint()
SEQ_ID INSTRUMENT EXPOSURE RA DEC NAME PUBLIC_DATE SEARCH_OFFSET_
S DEGREE DEGREE MJD
----------- ---------- -------- ------ ------ -------------------- ----------- ---------------
RH701576N00 HRI 68154 187.28 2.05 3C 273 50186 0.192 (3C273)
RP600242A01 PSPCB 24822 186.93 1.6 GIOVANELLI-HAYNES CL 50437 34.236 (3C273)
RH700234N00 HRI 17230 187.28 2.05 3C 273 50312 0.192 (3C273)
Alternatively, a query can also be conducted around a specific set of sky coordinates:
>>> from astroquery.heasarc import Heasarc
>>> from astropy.coordinates import SkyCoord
>>> heasarc = Heasarc()
>>> mission = 'rospublic'
>>> coords = SkyCoord('12h29m06.70s +02d03m08.7s', frame='icrs')
>>> table = heasarc.query_region(coords, mission=mission, radius='1 degree')
>>> table[:3].pprint()
SEQ_ID INSTRUMENT EXPOSURE RA ... NAME PUBLIC_DATE SEARCH_OFFSET_
S DEGREE ... MJD
----------- ---------- -------- ------ ... -------------------- ----------- -----------------------------------------------
RH701576N00 HRI 68154 187.28 ... 3C 273 50186 0.191 (187.27792281980047,2.0524148595265435)
RP600242A01 PSPCB 24822 186.93 ... GIOVANELLI-HAYNES CL 50437 34.237 (187.27792281980047,2.0524148595265435)
RH700234N00 HRI 17230 187.28 ... 3C 273 50312 0.191 (187.27792281980047,2.0524148595265435)
Note that the query_region()
converts
the passed coordinates to the FK5 reference frame before submitting the query.
Modifying returned table columns¶
Each table has a set of default columns that are returned when querying the
database. You can return all available columns for a given mission by specifying
the fields
parameter in either of the above queries. For exampe:
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name='3c273', mission='rospublic', fields='All')
will return all available columns from the rospublic
mission table.
Alternatively, a comma-separated list of column names can also be provided to
specify which columns will be returned:
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name='3c273', mission='rospublic', fields='EXPOSURE,RA,DEC')
>>> table[:3].pprint()
EXPOSURE RA DEC SEARCH_OFFSET_
S DEGREE DEGREE
-------- ------ ------ ---------------
68154 187.28 2.05 0.192 (3C273)
24822 186.93 1.6 34.236 (3C273)
17230 187.28 2.05 0.192 (3C273)
Note that the SEARCH_OFFSET_
column will always be included in the results.
If a column name is passed to the fields
parameter which does not exist in
the requested mission table, the query will fail. To obtain a list of available
columns for a given mission table, do the following:
>>> cols = heasarc.query_mission_cols(mission='rospublic')
>>> print(cols)
['SEQ_ID', 'INSTRUMENT', 'EXPOSURE', 'RA', 'DEC', 'NAME', 'PUBLIC_DATE',
'BII', 'CLASS', 'DEC_1950', 'DIST_DATE', 'END_DATE','FILTER', 'FITS_TYPE',
'INDEX_ID', 'LII', 'PI_FNAME', 'PI_LNAME', 'PROC_REV', 'QA_NUMBER', 'RA_1950',
'REQUESTED_EXPOSURE', 'ROR', 'SITE', 'START_DATE', 'SUBJ_CAT', 'TITLE',
'SEARCH_OFFSET_']
Additional query parameters¶
By default, the query_object()
method
returns all entries within approximately one degree of the specified object.
This can be modified by supplying the radius
parameter. This parameter
takes a distance to look for objects. The following modifies the search radius
to 120 arcmin:
>>> from astroquery.heasarc import Heasarc
>>> heasarc = Heasarc()
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', radius='120 arcmin')
radius
takes an angular distance specified as an astropy Quantity object,
or a string that can be parsed into one (e.g., ‘1 degree’ or 1*u.degree). The
following are equivalent:
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', radius='120 arcmin')
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', radius='2 degree')
>>> from astropy import units as u
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', radius=120*u.arcmin)
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', radius=2*u.degree)
As per the astroquery specifications, the query_region()
method requires the user to supply the radius parameter.
The results can also be sorted by the value in a given column using the sortvar
parameter. The following sorts the results by the value in the ‘EXPOSURE’ column.
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', sortvar='EXPOSURE')
>>> table[:3].pprint()
SEQ_ID INSTRUMENT EXPOSURE RA DEC NAME PUBLIC_DATE SEARCH_OFFSET_
S DEGREE DEGREE MJD
----------- ---------- -------- ------ ------ -------------------- ----------- ---------------
RH120001N00 HRI 0 187.27 2.05 XRT/HRI NORTH DUMMY 55844 0.495 (3C273)
RH701979N00 HRI 354 187.28 2.05 3C273 50137 0.192 (3C273)
RP141520N00 PSPCB 485 187.27 2.05 3C273 49987 0.495 (3C273)
Setting the resultmax
parameter controls the maximum number of results to be
returned. The following will store only the first 10 results:
>>> table = heasarc.query_object(object_name, mission='rospublic', resultmax=10)
All of the above parameters can be mixed and matched to refine the query results.
Getting list of available missions¶
The query_mission_list()
method will return a list of available missions
that can be queried.
>>> from astroquery.heasarc import Heasarc
>>> heasarc = Heasarc()
>>> table = heasarc.query_mission_list()
>>> table.pprint()
Archive name Table_Description
------- ---------- ----------------------------------------
HEASARC a1 HEAO 1 A1 X-Ray Source Catalog
HEASARC a1point HEAO 1 A1 Lightcurves
HEASARC a2lcpoint HEAO 1 A2 Pointed Lightcurves
HEASARC a2lcscan HEAO 1 A2 Scanned Lightcurves
HEASARC a2led HEAO 1 A2 LED Catalog
HEASARC a2pic HEAO 1 A2 Piccinotti Catalog
HEASARC a2point HEAO 1 A2 Pointing Catalog
HEASARC a2rtraw HEAO 1 A2 Raw Rates
... ... ...
HEASARC xteasscat XTE All-Sky Slew Survey Catalog
HEASARC xteindex XTE Target Index Catalog
HEASARC xtemaster XTE Master Catalog
HEASARC xtemlcat XTE Mission-Long Source Catalog
HEASARC xteslew XTE Archived Public Slew Data
HEASARC xwas XMM-Newton Wide Angle Survey
HEASARC zcat CfA Redshift Catalog (June 1995 Version)
HEASARC zwclusters Zwicky Clusters
HEASARC zzbib METADATA: Bibliography Codes
Length = 956 rows
The returned table includes both the names and a short description of each mission table.
Downloading identified datasets¶
Not implemented yet.
Reference/API¶
astroquery.heasarc Package¶
HEASARC¶
The High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) is the primary archive for NASA’s (and other space agencies’) missions.
The initial version of this was coded in a sprint at the “Python in astronomy” workshop in April 2015 by Jean-Christophe Leyder, Abigail Stevens, Antonio Martin-Carrillo and Christoph Deil.
Classes¶
HeasarcClass () |
HEASARC query class. |
Conf |
Configuration parameters for astroquery.heasarc . |