HST Post-Observation Processes and Products

Session 41 - Visible & UV Telescopes.
Display session, Thursday, January 08
Exhibit Hall,

[41.10] HST Post-Observation Processes and Products

D. A. Swade (CSC/STScI)

HST users rely on a complex set of data processing, calibration, and archiving systems to rapidly deliver data products. This paper provides an overview of the systems that cover data receipt through data distribution at STScI.

OPUS is responsible for data receipt, telemetry conversion, data evaluation, FITS formatting, calibration, and data quality checking. OPUS generates data files used in astronomical research and telescope engineering analysis, and queues the data for archiving. For HST, OPUS currently processes about 250 observations in over 4 GB of data per day. The OPUS blackboard system architecture operates on a number of different operating system platforms and is adaptable to many large processing tasks.

OMS applications use the OPUS system architecture to process HST engineering data into observation logs for distribution with the science data and files for engineering trending analysis. Observation logs contain jitter and guide star information as well as flags that indicate observational error conditions. As of January 1998 the OMS system will also incorporate processing of astrometry data.

CDBS delivers calibration reference files and tables to OPUS and DADS. The CDBS database controls calibration reference file selection as a function of instrument and mode.

The HST archive system, DADS, populates the archive catalog from ingested header keyword values, writes all data to optical disk, and generates paper products. DADS also distributes archive data on retrieval requests. An OPUS based on-the-fly calibration system is currently being developed for HST science data retrievals from STScI.

StarView is the user interface to the Hubble data archive. It provides a view into the archive catalog and is the mechanism used to make data retrieval requests.

This combination of systems provides an integrated process that assures timely and accurate distribution of HST data as well as universal archival access to a wealth of science information.

If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to www.stsci.edu/opus. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the the Web space for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back button on your browser.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: swade@stsci.edu

Program listing for Thursday