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Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1993 13:41:50 -0400 (EDT) From: "mather@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov,301-286-8720,fax-1617" <MATHER@UIT.GSFC.NASA.GOV> Subject: COBE data sets available on line Colleagues, The following announcement was submitted by David Leisawitz to the American Astronomical Society bulletin and should appear on August 15. The first numerical forms of the COBE data products are now available, most of them by anonymous FTP, with documentation. As we do not have an email list for all interested colleagues, we ask you to forward the message to potential users. John C. Mather COBE Project Scientist COBE Data Products Available from the NSSDC The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite was developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to measure the diffuse infrared and microwave radiation from the early universe, to the limits set by our astrophysical environment. It was launched November 18, 1989 and carried three instruments, a Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) to compare the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation with a precise blackbody, a Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) to map the cosmic radiation precisely, and a Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) to search for the cosmic infrared background radiation. The cosmic microwave background spectrum was measured with a precision of 0.03%, the background was found to have intrinsic anisotropy for the first time, at a level of a part in 10^5, and absolute sky brightness maps from 1.25 microns to 240 microns have been obtained to carry out the search for the cosmic infrared background. An initial set of COBE data products is now available for analysis by guest investigators. The FIRAS data cover the Galactic plane to an absolute latitude of 15 degrees and provide spectra obtained in the 20 - 95 cm^-1 band at 0.8 cm^-1 spectral and 7 degree spatial resolution. The DIRBE data cover the Galactic plane, at 0.7 degree resolution, to 15 degrees latitude within 30 degrees Galactic longitude of the Galactic center and to 10 degrees elsewhere, in 10 photometric bands ranging in wavelength from 1.25 to 240 microns. The DMR data include all-sky maps from the first year of observations at 7 degree resolution at each of three frequencies: 31.5, 53, and 90 GHz, as well as calibrated pixel-ordered data. A second data release, in June 1994, will include all-sky DIRBE and FIRAS coverage, DIRBE polarimetry, FIRAS data from the low-frequency band, and the first two years' worth of DMR data. The remainder of the DMR data and the DIRBE data taken after the cryogen ran out will be ready for release by June 1995. To acquire the presently available COBE data and associated documentation, simply login via ftp to nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov under username "ANONYMOUS" using your e-mail address as the password. Change to directory (cd) anon_dir:[000000.cobe] and download the file called AAREADME.DOC for further instructions. The data are presented in FITS binary tables. Alternatively, the data and documentation may be obtained on tape by request to the Coordinated Request and User Support Office (CRUSO) NASA/GSFC Code 633.4 Greenbelt, MD 20771 phone: 301-286-6695 e-mail: request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov For further assistance, please contact: Dr. David Leisawitz NASA/GSFC Code 631 Greenbelt, MD 20771 phone: 301-286-0807 FAX: 301-286-4952 e-mail: leisawitz@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov Please include the following statement in your publication acknowledgments: "The COBE datasets were developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center under the guidance of the COBE Science Working Group and were provided by the NSSDC." Funding for COBE data analysis is provided by NASA through the Astrophysics Data Program. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
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