Welcome to Argus Help! Getting Started Search by: Object Name or Coordinates Coordinate System Observation Date Principal Investigator Name Proposal Number Observation ID Subject Category Observation Status Generic Search Tips Output Format Version History Argus Development Team Mythology Getting Started Argus is an interactive World-Wide Web service provided by the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC). It's actually a specialized interface to Browse, the HEASARC's database interface for the Web. Argus can be used to track the status of proposals from acceptance through observation and eventual archival of the data. Argus can also be used to discover whether your favorite object has been or will be observed by several current or recent high energy observatories. The supported missions can be searched separately or in combination. It is possible to search all the missions by one or more of the following fields: Object Name or Coordinates Observation Date Principal Investigator Name Proposal Number Observation ID Subject Category Observation Status Note: Some missions may not support all types of searches. Also, the mission names link to documentation of the respective database tables that Argus queries. Search by Object Name or Coordinates This field accepts the name of an astronomical object or a pair of sky coordinates in the specified coordinate system. Browse will parse the string entered and determine if it is a valid coordinate string or a possible object name string. If it is an object name, then the name is resolved by the astronomical name resolvers, SIMBAD and NED. However, if the object name includes a wildcard (*) or the name is surrounded by double-quotes, then the name will not be resolved and the mission database table(s) will be searched by the literal target name of the observation. With either method of name searching, searching by object name is not case sensitive. Valid Examples: cyg x-1 CYGNUS or CyGnUs Invalid Examples: 12345 12, 34 If the entered value is a pair of coordinates: All leading and trailing spaces are removed, and multiple spaces trimmed to a single space. Coordinate pairs are separated by a comma (,), a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-). Coordinates that contain a single number which contains a decimal point is taken in decimal degrees, otherwise the number is considered a part of the sexagesimal format. Sexagesimal format assumes right ascension in hours/minutes/seconds and declination in degrees/minutes/seconds. It is optional to enter values for seconds in the formats mentioned. So it is okay to enter hours/minutes for right ascension or degrees/minutes for declination. The minutes can be entered as decimal numbers. Sexagesimal units can also be specified explicitly. Since it can be ambiguous as to whether the right ascension coordinate is given in hours or degrees, it is considered invalid to enter integer values for coordinates such as "12, 34", unless units are explicitly specified by the user. If a decimal degrees are desired, the user can include a decimal point: e.g., "12., 34." to indicate that the value is in decimal degrees. Examples of possible input formats: Object name: Cyg X-1 Object name: NGC 5195 Note: Object names are resolved by name resolvers and should conform to IAU-assigned abbreviations and standard astronomical nomenclature. Equatorial (decimal degrees): 101.295, -16.699 Equatorial (sexagesimal): 6 45 10.8, -16 41 58 (RA in hours) Equatorial (sexagesimal): 6 45.18, -16 42.0 (RA in hours) Equatorial (sexagesimal): 6h45m10.8s, -16d41m58s (explicit sexagesimal units) Equatorial (sexagesimal): 6H45'10.8", -16D41'58" (case insensitive) Equatorial (sexagesimal): 6:45:10.8, -16:41:58 (colon separators) Equatorial (sexagesimal): 6h 45m 10.8s, -16d 41m 58s (spaces are allowed after the sexagesimal units) Equatorial (sexagesimal, RA in degrees): 101d17m42.0s, -16d41m58s Equatorial (sexagesimal, RA in degrees): 101d17:42.0, -16:41:58 Equatorial (sexagesimal, RA in degrees): 101°17'42.0" -16°41'58" Galactic (decimal degrees): 227.218, -8.876 Galactic (sexagesimal): 227d13m04.8s, -08d52m33.9s Galactic (sexagesimal): 227°13'04.8", -08°52'33.9" Galactic (sexagesimal): 227:13:04.8, -08:52:33.9 Galactic (sexagesimal, longitude in hours): 15h08m52.32s, -08d52m33.9s As shown above, many of the above formats may be used in any coordinate system; however, the units of the longitude coordinate may depend upon the coordinate system if the syntax does not explicitly identify the units. Equatorial coordinates given in non-explicit sexagesimal formats assume hours of right ascension. If Galactic coordinates are expressed in any sexagesimal format that does not explicitly specify that the longitude is in hours, the longitude is assumed to be in degrees. All coordinates in any coordinate system given in decimal format are assumed to be degrees. Coordinate System Argus supports Equatorial (J2000 or B1950) and Galactic coordinate systems. The default coordinate system is J2000. If the user enters an object name, the returned observations are displayed in the the coordinate system selected. If the input is a pair of coordinates, both the input coordinates and the returned observations are in the coordinate system selected. Search by Observation Date Observations can be searched by the date on which the target was observed. The general format for the observation date is YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss, where the hh:mm:ss is optional. Modified Julian Date (MJD) is also accepted. Multiple dates are allowed. Separate each date with a semicolon. Ranges can be specified using the '..' syntax shown below. If a range is not given, the range is assumed to be +/- 1 day around the date given. The range operator can also be negated with an exclamation point ('!..') as shown below. Examples of date/time inputs: 2001-01-20 06:00:00 2001-01-20 51929 2001-01-20 .. 2001-02-15 2004-01-01 !.. 2004-12-31 1992-12-31; 48980.5; 1995-01-15 12:00:00; 1997-03-20 .. 2000-10-18 Search by Principal Investigator Name The user can search Principal Investigator (PI) names by last name only, last name and first name, or first initial and last name. Following are a few examples of valid PI name searches: Example PI name: John Doe That name can be entered in the following ways: Last name only, no first initial or first name Example: Doe First initial followed by a period and zero or more spaces followed by last name Example: J.Doe Last name followed by zero or more spaces followed by a comma followed by zero or more spaces followed by first name. Example: Doe, John Wildcards (*) are also acceptable. Example: D* That will return all proposals for which the PI's last name starts with a "D." Search by Proposal Number Each accepted proposal is given a unique proposal number that is specific to the mission for which the proposal was intended. If a user knows this unique number assigned to his proposal number, then this is a convenient way to search for proposal and observation information. Search by Observation ID Each observation by a mission is given a unique observation identifier. If a user knows this "Observation ID", then this can be a useful way to search for more information about that observation. For some missions (such as RXTE), the Observation ID is a character string; consequently, the user may use wildcards (*) when searching by Observation ID. Search by Subject Category Argus supports searching the mission catalogs by subject category. Missions categorize each accepted proposal either by the type of object the proposal intends to observe or by the scientific application of the proposal. The user may select one or more of these categories from the multiple selection box. Unfortunately, there is little commonality among the categories that the various missions use, so the user will need to specify mission-specific categories. If the user has selected multiple missions to search, then the mission-specific categories selected will only apply to that mission for which the the category belongs. Search by Observation Status Argus also supports searching the mission catalogs by observation status. Most (but not all) missions support the following common observation statuses: accepted: the proposal has been accepted by the mission for observation, but no such observation has been made or scheduled; scheduled: an observation for the accepted proposal has been scheduled for a future date, but not yet observed; observed: the observation has been made, but the data from the observation have not yet been processed by the mission; processed: the observation data have been processed and delivered to the Principal Investigator, but are not yet available in the public archive; and archived: the proprietary period for the observation data has expired and the data is publicly available in the mission's data archive Generic Search Tips Since Argus is a specialized front-end to Browse, Argus supports the same syntax for parameter searches as Browse. You may wish to refer to the Browse Help for Parameter Searches for more detailed information on specifying search criteria. To summarize: String matches are always case insensitive. A range of values can be specified using the range operator '..'. For example, specify an observation date "2002-01-01 .. 2002-01-31" to find all observations that took place in January, 2002. In any entry box multiple search criteria can be specified if the query terms/constraints are separated with semicolons (;). Boolean comparison operators can precede most values. The following operators can be used: '=', '<','>','<=', and '>='. Any of these operators can be negated by prefixing it with '!'. Example: '!='. Output Format Argus supports all of the output formats that Browse supports. The user can choose to display the results of his queries in HTML tables (the default), plain text tables (displays faster and can be imported more easily into other programs), FITS tables (can be analyzed using standard FITS tools like HEAsoft), astrores XML format (contains both the data and the metadata, useful for reading by other applications), and other formats. Argus Version History Argus Version 4.0.1: February 2006, developed by Ed Sabol Argus support for the INTEGRAL mission was improved. INTEGRAL can now be searched by observation ID and status. Argus Version 4.0: August 2005, developed by Ed Sabol Argus was completely re-designed and re-implemented as a specialized front-end to Browse, giving the Argus user access to all the features that Browse users also have and resulting in a better overall user experience. Support for the Chandra, XMM-Newton, and INTEGRAL missions was added. Many improvements were made to the Argus front-end user interface. Argus Version 3.5.5: January 2003, changes made by Ed Sabol Various HTML changes for Section 508 compliance. Argus Version 3.5.4: September 2002, changes made by Ed Sabol Internal changes invisible to the user needed for the HEASARC's new Web server cluster. Argus Version 3.5.3: December 2000, changes made by Ed Sabol Incorporated new front-page interface designed by Karen Smale. Searching for a PI name with a single quote in it (e.g., O'BRIEN) now works. Argus Version 3.5.2: December 1999, changes made by Saima Zobair Fixed text display of PI, abstract and target information. Argus Version 3.5.1: September 1999, changes made by Saima Zobair Fixed problems after perl-500502 was released so that taint checking had to be done more carefully. Argus Version 3.5: September 1998, changes made by Saima Zobair Added Data Products Layer to Argus, data products are currently available for ASCA, ROSAT and XTE missions. Removed calls to database to get subject category information; the information is stored in an associative array. Added seq_id and time_requested parameters to ROSAT search display. Rewrote argus.pl which reads from a separate HTML file to display Argus's first page. Rewrote post_argus_links.pl; also rewrote routines used to parse target info; moved routines that display results to another file. Improved error checking for proposal number searches. Removed file hexte_defaults.pl from cgi area and added a file hexte_defaults.html; argus-footer.html is used by all Argus HTMLs to add footer. Standardized method of adding version history comments to Perl scripts. Argus Version 3.4.2: July 1998, changes made by Saima Zobair Rewrote code used to display results so that the pages are much smaller. Added client-side menubar. Other minor tweaks in display. Argus Version 3.4.1: March 1998, changes made by Saima Zobair Modified HEXTE defaults page. Argus Version 3.4: December 1997, changes made by Saima Zobair Argus now uses the Sybase database. Argus Version 3.3.1: September 1997, changes made by Saima Zobair Modified XTE parameter display names. Added error message display if database is down. Modified routine which untaints form variables. Argus Version 3.3: May 1997, changes made by Saima Zobair Now runs in secure tainted mode. Code uses a new set of routines for resolving object names and coordinates. These routines are the same as those used by W3Browse. This change completely eliminates the use of tlib routines. Argus Version 3.2: March 1997, changes made by Saima Zobair Added ASCA search. First page no longer queries the database. Re-wrote and modularized code. Argus Version 3.0: September 1996, changes made by Saima Zobair Added ROSAT search. Fixed target and all displays. Improved text format. Argus Version 2.2: July 1996, changes made by Saima Zobair Added search by Proposal Number. Argus Version 2.1.1: July 1996, changes made by Ed Sabol Added conversion of MJD fields to YYYY-MM-DD ISO standard for display. Argus Version 2.1: June 1996, changes made by Ed Sabol Fixed ecliptic coordinate searching. Changed "Page Author" string. Fixed display of right ascension values. Argus Version 2.0: May 1996, changes made by Almaz Tekle Added search by Target/Coordinates. Added "no resolver" searching. Return observations by accepted, observed, processed, and archived. Added Online help. Added text for Hexte default configurations. Argus Version 1.1: January 1996, changes made by Almaz Tekle Added tables to Argus. Fixed PI name searching. Added PI info, Abstract info and Target info. Argus Version 1.0: December 1995, developed by Almaz Tekle Initial version. Argus Development Team Argus Web Development: Ed Sabol Almaz Tekle (former team member, initial developer) Saima Zobair (former team member) Argus Database Development: Ed Sabol Saima Zobair (former team member) Sue Humphrey (former team member) Argus Documentation: Ed Sabol Saima Zobair (former team member) Almaz Tekle (former team member, initial developer) Argus Web Design: Ed Sabol Karen Smale Mythology Argus is named after a creature in Greek mythology. Known as "The All-Seeing," early accounts say Argus had four eyes, while later stories claimed a hundred. He was in a number of adventures: he killed a bull ravaging Arcadia; he killed a satyr for stealing cattle; he killed Echidna, a female monster that was half nymph, half speckled snake; and he avenged the death of Apis. One of his most famous adventures can be read in the paragraphs below. This information service is named after Argus because it too "sees" all aspects of an observation, from its acceptance as a proposal to its final resting place in the public archive. The Story of Zeus and Io and the Slaying of Argus Excerpts from "Zeus Lovers" in J.M. Hunt's Greek Mythology: Zeus fell in love with Io and seduced her. To try to keep Hera from noticing, he covered the world with a thick blanket of clouds. This back-fired, arousing Hera's suspicions. She came down from Mount Olympus and began dispersing the clouds. Zeus did some quick thinking and changed Io's form from being a lovely maiden. So as the clouds dispersed Hera found Zeus standing next to a white heifer. He then swore that he had never seen the cow before, it had just sprang right out of the earth. Seeing right through this, Hera complimented the cow and asked to have it as a present. As turning such a reasonable request down would have given the whole thing away, Zeus presented her with the cow. She sent the cow away and arranged for Argus Panoptes to watch over it. Since Argus had a hundred eyes and could have some of them sleep while others were awake, he made a fine watchman. Desperate, Zeus sent Hermes to fetch Io. Disguised as a shepherd, Hermes had to employ all his skill as a musician and storyteller to gain Argus' confidence and lull him to sleep. Once asleep, Hermes killed Argus. As a memorial, Hera took his eyes and set them into the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. Page Author: Argus Development Team HEASARC Home | Observatories | Archive | Calibration | Software | Tools | Students/Teachers/Public Last modified: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 22:46:17 EST Browse interfaces: Main | Index | Batch | Correlation |

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