• Q&A: Transfering file to the phase3ftp
  
  1. FileZilla: unknown certificate error
     
• Q&A: Handling of SDPs
  
  1. Renaming downloaded Phase 3 products to their original file names  
• Q&A: Conversion of data to the SDP standard
  
  1. Migrating catalogues from ASCII to FITS format
  2. Converting a spectrum to the Phase 3 required binary table format
     
  3. Header examples
• Q&A: Instrument specific keyword value hints
  1. Preparing APEX 1-D spectra compliant to the Phase3 standard
     
  2. Specification of keywords for data originating from non-ESO telescopes
  3. Computing MJD-END for SOFI spectra
  4. Possible algorithm for ABMAGSAT computation 
  5. What is the correct EFFRON for median-combined SOFI images?
     
  6. Additional OBSTECH values  
• Q&A: Archive services
  1. How to search and retrieve ESO data

Q: In trying to upload my files I encountered an error message, how can I proceed?

The error is caused by FileZilla not trusting the OS certificate stack. In order to proceed, you have to confirm explicitly that the server can be trusted. Having verified that the server’s fingerprint and the certificate fingerprint displayed in the figure are identical, please accept the server certificate by checking the two options as shown in the figure below.

Q:  How can I rename the P3 products from their ADP names to the original file names?

A: In the case of files downloaded via the Request Handler, the correspondence between file-id and original file-name is mapped in the README file associated to each data request. The renaming commands can be extracted directly from the README file using the following shall command:

awk '/\- ADP/{ print "mv "$2, $3}' README_123456.txt

In some cases it can happen that during the downloading the ':' of the file name is replaced by a '_', if so, please use this other command line:

awk '/\- ADP/{ print "mv "$2, $3}' README_123456.txt | awk '{gsub(/\:/, "_", $2)}1'

Q: How to convert an ascii file (table) to a fits file?

A: You can perform the following steps:

1. Create a comma separated ascii table. For example if the table (cat1.txt) has n columns separated by white spaces:
   

   awk '{print $1,","$2,","$3,","$...,","$n-1,","$n}' cat1.txt > cat2.txt
   

2. Convert the new table (cat2.txt) into a fits file using the stilts tool:
   

   stilts tcopy cat2.txt cat.fits ifmt=csv ofmt=fits-basic
   

   
   Usage:
   

   stilts <stilts-flags> tcopy ifmt=<in-format> ofmt=<out-format> [in=]<table> [out=]<out-table>
   

3.  Add the missing header keywords according to the ESO Science Data Products Standard.
   

The STIL Tool Set can be downloaded from:

http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/stilts/#install

For more information please check the following documentation:

http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/stilts/
http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/stilts/sun256/tcopy.html

Q: How can I convert my spectrum to the binary table format required by the Phase 3 Standard?

A: You can use the following Python script (requirements: Python-2.7 or greater, astropy library) but please make sure to modify it by providing the correct values for the required FITS header keywords to be added to the file. To help the users the script already includes the commands to add all the Phase 3 mandatory keywords but when the value must be inserted by the user, the line is commented. Please provide the correct value and de-comment the line in order to generate a Phase 3 complaint file.

• In case the original spectrum is an image with the wavelength in the WCS, use this script. You can give it a try by using this input file. The script should output the following converted spectrum.

Q: Do you have examples of FITS headers compliant with the SDP standard?

A: A list of header examples per PRODCATG is in preparation.

Q: Could you please provide some information regarding the format of APEX 1-D spectra?

A: The format defined in the Phase 3 SDPS for 1-D spectral products applies also in the case of APEX reduced spectra, with few modifications:

1. The following keyword defined as mandatory for spectral products do not apply in the case of APEX spectra: OBID1.

2. While the keyword FEBE1 indicating the Frontend-backend combination becomes mandatory in this case.

Example of the values of some specific keywords:

Primary header

ORIGIN  = 'APEX'             / Facility
TELSCOP = 'APEX-12m'         / Telescope name
INSTRUME= 'APEXHET'          / Instrument name
FEBE1   = 'HET230-XFFTS2'    / Frontend-backend combination
OBSTECH = 'SPECTRUM'         / Technique of observation
PRODCATG= 'SCIENCE.SPECTRUM' / Data product category

Extension header

EXTNAME = 'SPECTRUM'           / FITS Extension name
TTYPE1  = 'FREQ    '           / Label for field 1
TUTYP1  = 'Spectrum.Data.SpectralAxis.Value'
TUNIT1  = 'GHz     '           / Physical unit of field 1
TUCD1   = 'em.freq '           / UCD of field 1
TDMIN1  =              229.011 / Start in spectral coord.
TDMAX1  =             233.000  / Stop in spectral coord.
TTYPE2  = 'FLUX    '           / Label for field 2
TUTYP2  = 'Spectrum.Data.FluxAxis.Value'
TUNIT2  = 'mJy     '           / Physical unit of field 2
TUCD2   = 'phot.flux.density;em.freq' / UCD of field 2
TTYPE3  = 'ERR     '           / Label for field 3
TUTYP3  = 'Spectrum.Data.FluxAxis.Accuracy.StatError'
TUNIT3  = 'mJy     '           / Physical unit of field 3
TUCD3   = 'stat.error;phot.flux.density;em.freq' / UCD of field 3

Please also note that the values of the following keywords need to be provided in nm:

WAVELMIN=        1291867.18750 / [nm] Minimum wavelength

It corresponds to the value of TDMIN1 converted from GHz to nm (conversion factor: 299792458)

WAVELMAX=        1309075.80566 / [nm] Maximum wavelength

It corresponds to the value of TDMAX1 converted from GHz to nm (conversion factor: 299792458)

SPEC_BIN=        111.744273793 / [nm] Wavelength bin size
SPEC_VAL=        1300471.49658 / [nm] Mean Wavelength
SPEC_BW =        17208.6181641 / [nm] Bandpass Width Wmax – Wmin

The following link may be useful to reconstruct the provenance information, it provides the mapping between the original file name to the archive id, and calculating the exposure time:
http://archive.eso.org/wdb/wdb/eso/apex_origfile/form

Q: What shall I do in the case of GTC data?

A: The origin keywords shall be set as follows:

ORIGIN = 'GRANTECAN' 
TELESCOP = 'GTC' 
INSTRUME = 'CANARICAM' or 'OSIRIS'

In addition to the above keywords, the use of GTCPRGID and GTCOBID (to be adopted from the original data) is recommended.

Q: Possible algorithm for ABMAGSAT computation

In the case of the VIMOS imaging pipeline, an adaptation of the method used by the PESSTO survey (A&A, 2015, 579, pg. 25) is the following:

ABMAGSAT = zeropoint -2.5*log10(((pi/4.*ln(2)))*(satlev-mean_sky)*(psf_fwhm/pixel_scale)^2)/EFF_EXPT)

where the parameters are those written to the following keywords:

satlev = HIERARCH ESO QC SATURATION
zeropoint = HIERARCH ESO QC MAGZPT
mean_sky = HIERARCH ESO QC MEAN_SKY
pdf_fwhm = PSF_FWHM
pixel_scale = HIERARCH ESO QC WCS_SCALE
EFF_EXPT = the effective exposure time (= CASUEXPT)

Q: How to compute the MJD-END of a SOFI spectrum?

The end time of a Phase 3 SOFI 1d spectrum product (MJD-END) must be computed using the following formula:

MJD-END = MJD-OBS of the last raw observation + NDIT * ( DIT + 1.8) / 86400

where the 1.8 seconds accounts for the necessary overheads, and 86400 scales back from seconds to days.

Q: What is the correct EFFRON for median-combined SOFI images?

Example: There are 7 raw images, each resulting from averaging together 5 detector integrations (NDIT = 5). A science product is generated by reducing and median-combining those 7 raw images.

In this case:

EFFRON = 12 * sqrt(PI/2) / sqrt( 7 * 5)

where PI is 3.14159, and 12 is the detector readout noise of SOFI in electrons.

Q: May you please clarify what the OBSTECH keyword values are? 

A: We support the OBSTECH keywords listed in the table below, in addition to those defined by the SDP standard document.

Q: How to search and retrieve ESO data?

A: Please have a look at the ESO data page.