[vsnet-chat 4591] Image Information Search Service

[Seiichi Yoshida <comet@aerith.net>]

MISAO Project Announce Mail (July 7, 2001)

Hello. I am Seiichi Yoshida working on the MISAO project.

Now 45090 images have been offered to the MISAO Project, examined by
the PIXY System, and registered to the database.

The MISAO Project database has been hidden. However, some people
proposed us that it will be useful if people can search and know where
in the sky is covered, what magnitude the sky is covered down to, by
the MISAO Project images.

So I set up the web service to search among the image information
database and open it to the public today.

The URL of the Image Information Search Service is as follows.

  http://vsnet.aerith.net/misao/service/info_search.html 

Akimasa Nakamura, Hideo Fukushima, KenIchi Kadota, Ken'ichi Torii,
Kenji Kawakami, Kyoto University Team, Masayuki Suzuki, Nobuo Ohkura,
Seiichiro Kiyota, Toshikazu Muramatsu and  Yusuke Ezaki (in
alphabetical order) kindly permit us and their images can be searched
by the service.

The search service returns such information as the image file name,
the image observer's name, the date and time of exposure, the image
size, R.A. and Decl. of the center, field of view, limiting magnitude,
and so on.

Unfortunately, the images themselves cannot be downloaded via the
service. When you need the images, please make a contact to the image
observer if the observer's mail address is available, or to the MISAO
Project staff (comet@aerith.net). 

The coverage map, which shows what magnitude the sky is covered by the
MISAO Project images down to, is also available at the Image
Information Search Service page. The current coverage ratio and number
of images are as follows.

  Coverage north of Decl. -40 deg
  -----------------------------------
  down to  8 mag  76.4%  45037 images
  down to 10 mag  31.3%  44392 images
  down to 12 mag  23.1%  43854 images
  down to 14 mag  17.4%  27953 images
  down to 16 mag   6.0%   9223 images
  down to 18 mag   0.2%    576 images

Two methods of search are supported in the service: query by R.A. and
Decl., and query by orbital elements and date period.

For example, let's search images for Nova Sco 2001 discovered last
month. Look up the position of the nova in IAUC 7647, and input

    R.A. : 17 57 06.98
    Decl.:-32 23 05.0

in the query form. Then set the magnitude to retrieve images covering
10 mag or fainter. Finally, push the Search button and the information
of three images are output as follows.

Date                Image                                 Observer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1998 June 20.66016  19980620/105mm/1810-3400-01.fts       KenIchi Kadota
2000 Feb. 24.84247  20000224/530mm/1800-3200-none-01.mtf  KenIchi Kadota
2000 Feb. 24.84301  20000224/530mm/1800-3200-none-02.mtf  KenIchi Kadota

Although about 50 thousand images are registered in the database, the
search finished in 3 seconds. But the time can be changed by the
condition of the Internet and the server machine.

IAUC 7647 reports that no star brighter than 14 mag was found on the
 Kadota's images on 2000 Feb. 24. After this, we can research the past
 images on the MISAO Project images, as Kadota did for the nova.

Next, let's search images of Comet C/1999 H1 ( Lee ), 6 mag bright
comet in 1999. Please see the Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Catalog web
page:

  http://vsnet.aerith.net/comet/catalog/1999H1/1999H1.html

and input the orbital elements in the query form. Then set the date to
retrieve images between 1999 Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, and set the magnitude 
to retrieve images covering 13 mag or fainter. Finally, push the
Search button and we can see 91 images taken by KenIchi Kadota and
Masayuki Suzuki exist in the database.

Because the search area size becomes wider in case of the query by
orbital elements, it takes some time. In the case of this example, it
took 45 seconds. 

In the results of the Image Information Search Service, the (x,y)
position where the target object locates on the image is also output. 
So we can see the image and check whether the object is found or not
at the position immediately. 

All of the images registered in the database have been examined by the
PIXY System. Therefore, the position and magnitude of all stars on the
images have been measured in principle. When you need the position or
magnitude of stars, not the images themselves, please make a contact
to the MISAO Project staff (comet@aerith.net). 

We are very glad if the MISAO Project images and data can help you.

P.S.
The past MISAO project announce mails are available at:
  http://vsnet.aerith.net/misao/

--
Seiichi Yoshida
comet@aerith.net
http://vsnet.aerith.net/

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