******************** AGILE Public Data Release Note v6.0 ******************* User's README AGILE Data Center (ADC), November 9, 2011 The proprietary period for 19 AGILE Cycle-3 Observation Blocks (OBs), from OB 8600 to OB 10400 (from 2009-11-30 to 2010-10-15), has currently expired, and the data are now public and available from the ASDC Multimission Archive webpage http://www.asdc.asi.it/mmia/ for the AGILE Mission. AGILE Cycle-3 data were obtained with AGILE observing a large portion of the sky in spinning mode, and they have been processed with the latest available software and calibrations optimized for the new observing mode. Delivered Cycle-3 spinning data (file type: STD1) were processed with the OB pipeline software version 5_21_18_19. The new public AGILE archive now contains both Cycle-3 spinning, and Cycle-1 and Cycle-2 pointing data. POINTING: OB 4900 รท 8400 During the previous Cycle-1 and Cycle-2 AGILE was operated in "pointing observing mode", characterized by long observations called Observation Blocks, typically of 2-4 weeks duration, following a predefined Baseline Pointing Plan. The public archive for Cycle-1 and Cycle-2 OBs remains unchanged with respect to AGILE Public Data Release v5.0, and Cycle-1 and Cycle-2 pointing data are those reprocessed with the OB pipeline software version 5_19_18_17. SPINNING: SPINNING: OB >= 8600 On November 4, 2009, toward the end of Cycle2, AGILE scientific operations were reconfigured following a malfunction of the rotation wheel occurred in mid October, 2009. The satellite is currently operating in a spinning observing mode, i.e. with the solar panels pointing at the Sun and the instrument axis sweeping the sky with an angular speed of ~ 0.8 degree/sec. The instrument and all the detectors are operating nominally producing data with quality equivalent to that obtained when operating in pointing mode. IMPORTANT: To avoid spurious artefacts, the spinning dataset (file type: STD1) must be analysed in a similar way to the "non-cleaned" pointing data (file type: STD0P) according to the following recommendations on parameter values when generating maps: fovrad=50 albrad=90 phasecode=2 See explanation for the new file naming convention in the Data Retrieval section below. ******************************************************************************************************************************* ****** Delivered Data ****** ******************************************************************************************************************************* The AGILE observing mode was "spinning" for all Cycle-3 OBs. AGILE Cycle-3 spinning observations were structured as a series of 22 OBs with a "dummy" pointing direction, each corresponding to a unique identifing number and lasting ~15 days, except for the first four OBs (OB 8600 - OB 8900) of variable duration. The set of GRID data which become public today corresponds to the first 19 Cycle-3 observations. The last three Cycle-3 OB (10500, 10600, 10700), will be released at the end of their proprietary period on December 16, 2011. Delivered Cycle-3 OBs are listed below: # | OB # | OB Name | RA_PNT | DEC_PNT | RA_SUN | DEC_SUN | OB start date | OB end date | Mean OB Exp. | Notes | ----+-------+-----------+--------+---------+--------+---------+---------------------+---------------------+--------------+----------+ 1 | 8600 | Dummy 1_1 | - | - | 259 | -20.33 | 2009-11-30 12:00:00 | 2009-12-20 12:00:00 | 14782732 | spinning | 2 | 8700 | Dummy 1_2 | - | - | 283.8 | -21.31 | 2009-12-20 12:00:00 | 2010-01-15 12:00:00 | 17876769 | spinning | 3 | 8800 | Dummy 1_3 | - | - | 309.2 | -16.14 | 2010-01-15 12:00:00 | 2010-02-05 12:00:00 | 13806594 | spinning | 4 | 8900 | Dummy 1_4 | - | - | 341.6 | -4.574 | 2010-02-05 12:00:00 | 2010-02-28 12:00:00 | 15618616 | spinning | 5 | 9000 | Dummy 2_1 | - | - | 348.2 | -1.802 | 2010-02-28 12:00:00 | 2010-03-15 12:00:00 | 11062229 | spinning | 6 | 9100 | Dummy 2_2 | - | - | 2 | 3.405 | 2010-03-15 12:00:00 | 2010-03-31 12:00:00 | 12567574 | spinning | 7 | 9200 | Dummy 2_3 | - | - | 15.43 | 9.475 | 2010-03-31 12:00:00 | 2010-04-15 12:00:00 | 10529106 | spinning | 8 | 9300 | Dummy 2_4 | - | - | 29.92 | 15.6 | 2010-04-15 12:00:00 | 2010-04-30 12:00:00 | 9780278 | spinning | 9 | 9400 | Dummy 3_1 | - | - | 43.56 | 19.48 | 2010-04-30 12:00:00 | 2010-05-15 12:00:00 | 12120621 | spinning | 10 | 9500 | Dummy 3_2 | - | - | 57.83 | 23.39 | 2010-05-15 12:00:00 | 2010-05-30 12:00:00 | 11419530 | spinning | 11 | 9600 | Dummy 3_3 | - | - | 73.48 | 25.76 | 2010-05-30 12:00:00 | 2010-06-15 12:00:00 | 11518075 | spinning | 12 | 9700 | Dummy 3_4 | - | - | 90.15 | 26.25 | 2010-06-15 12:00:00 | 2010-06-30 12:00:00 | 11668613 | spinning | 13 | 9800 | Dummy 4_1 | - | - | 114.1 | 25.71 | 2010-06-30 12:00:00 | 2010-07-15 12:00:00 | 12309031 | spinning | 14 | 9900 | Dummy 4_2 | - | - | 121.3 | 22.98 | 2010-07-15 12:00:00 | 2010-07-31 12:00:00 | 12991280 | spinning | 15 | 10000 | Dummy 4_3 | - | - | 136.4 | 19.02 | 2010-07-31 12:00:00 | 2010-08-15 12:00:00 | 12198474 | spinning | 16 | 10100 | Dummy 4_4 | - | - | 151.4 | 14.38 | 2010-08-15 12:00:00 | 2010-08-31 12:00:00 | 13453435 | spinning | 17 | 10200 | Dummy 5_1 | - | - | 165.9 | 8.307 | 2010-08-31 12:00:00 | 2010-09-15 12:00:00 | 12249951 | spinning | 18 | 10300 | Dummy 5_2 | - | - | 180 | 2.478 | 2010-09-15 12:00:00 | 2010-09-30 12:00:00 | 12251493 | spinning | 19 | 10400 | Dummy 5_3 | - | - | 193.9 | -1.843 | 2010-09-30 12:00:00 | 2010-10-15 12:00:00 | 12457466 | spinning | The celestial coordinates of the mean pointing direction (RA_PNT, DEC_PNT) are not valorized in spinning mode. We provide instead the mean Sun position (RA_SUN, DEC_SUN), determining the forbidden region during each OB due to solar panel constraints (~ 60 degrees around the Sun and anti-Sun positions). Note that the allowed istantaneous pointing directions lie on a great circle orthogonal to the Sun direction, whose orientation changes with time, so that the whole sky is accessible during a six months period. ******************************************************************************************************************************* ****** Data Retrieval ****** ******************************************************************************************************************************* The query for the AGILE Mission data in the ASDC Multi Mission Interactive Archive http://www.asdc.asi.it/mmia/ produces an interactive table showing OBs selected according to the chosen "Search Type" option: - search by coordinates: the provided source position lies outside the forbidden regions around the sun/anti-sun positions - search by time: the observation lies in the specified time-range - search by parameter: the observation has the selected parameters (OB number values) A query with "Search Type" by "Time", with default Start Date and End Date values results in a complete table of all public AGILE OB available to date. The Mean OB Exposure column (in cm2 s) in the interactive table corresponds to the effective area associated to the FM filtered events. The "Public access" link makes it possible to download the following files for each OB: *** SPINNING data files *** - the spacecraft auxiliary (LOG) files (ag-_STD1.LOG.gz) needed for the data analysis and covering approximately one-day of observation within each OB, are grouped under the directory STD1_LOG: * STD1_LOG ag-_STD1.LOG.gz ag-_STD1.LOG.gz ..... ag-_STD1.LOG.gz and a single general LOG index file with suffix: ag-STD1_LOG-.index WARNING: LOG files have a very accurate time resolution of 100 msec and need several GB of available disk space. - two event files including all gamma-ray events in the GRID Field of View (FoV) using two AGILE event filters: the standard OB event file ag-_STD1_FM.EVT and its index file with suffix: .index the additional OB event file ag-_ST1_FT3AB.EVT and its index file with suffix: .index WARNING: data analysis with event files obtained with FT3AB filter may be more efficient in detecting sources with a soft energy spectrum, but there may be noisy residual artifacts at the border of the Field of View (off-axis angle> 40 deg). - three Aitoff maps, count, exposure and diffuse background, centered on the Galactic Center: ag-_STD1_FM.COUNTS ag-_STD1_FM.EXP ag-_STD1_FM.GAS These maps were automatically generated with the FM filter with the following parameters: mdim=360.0 index=-2.1 roll_tol=360.0 mres=0.3 fovrad=50 earth_tol=5.0 lonpole=180 fovradmin=0.0 keepmono=NO emin=100 albrad=90 phasecode=2 emax=50000 y_tol=0.5 projection=AIT timestep=160 build=0 step=3 To produce your own maps and run likelihood tasks please download and install the public AGILE software available at: http://agile.asdc.asi.it/public/ and follow the User Manual included. - a GIF file showing the images of both the OB (FM) exposure and count maps. For illustrative purpose only, the count map image includes automatic candidate detections in the FoV obtained with XIMAGE software. *** POINTING cleaned data files *** - the spacecraft cleaned auxiliary (LOG) files (ag-_STD0P_GO.LOG.gz) needed for the data analysis and covering approximately one-day of observation within each OB, are grouped under the directory STD0P_GO_LOG: * STD0P_GO_LOG ag-_STD0P_GO.LOG.gz ag-_STD0P_GO.LOG.gz ..... ..... ag-_STD0P_GO.LOG.gz and a single general LOG index file with suffix: ag-STD0P_GO_LOG-.index WARNING: LOG files have a very accurate time resolution of 100 msec and need several GB of available disk space. - two cleaned event files including all gamma-ray events in the GRID Field of View (FoV) using AGILE event filters: the standard OB event file ag-_STD0P_GO_FM.EVT and its index file with suffix: .index the additional OB event file ag-_STD0P_GO_FT3AB.EVT and its index file with suffix: .index WARNING: data analysis with event files obtained with FT3AB filter may be more efficient in detecting sources with a soft energy spectrum, but there may be noisy residual artifacts at the border of the Field of View (off-axis angle> 40 deg). - three maps, count, exposure and diffuse background, centered on the mean OB pointing position: ag-_STD0P_GO_FM.COUNTS ag-_STD0P_GO_FM.EXP ag-_STD0P_GO_FM.GAS These maps were automatically generated with the FM filter with the following parameters: mdim=120.0 index=-2.1 earth_tol=3.0 mres=0.25 fovrad=70 keepmono=NO lonpole=180 albrad=80 phasecode=18 emin=100 y_tol=0.5 projection=ARC emax=50000 roll_tol=360.0 step=4 To produce your own maps and run likelihood tasks please download and install the public AGILE software available at: http://agile.asdc.asi.it/public/ and follow the Software User Manual included. - a GIF file showing the images of both the OB (FM) exposure and count maps. For illustrative purpose only, the count map image includes automatic candidate detections in the FoV obtained with XIMAGE software. *** POINTING non-cleaned data files *** - the spacecraft auxiliary (LOG) files (ag-_STD0P.LOG.gz) needed for the data analysis and covering approximately one-day of observation within each OB, are grouped under the directory STD0P_LOG: * STD0P_LOG ag-_STD0P.LOG.gz ag-_STD0P.LOG.gz ..... ..... ag-_STD0P.LOG.gz and a single general LOG index file with suffix: ag-STD0P_LOG-.index - two event files including all gamma-ray events in the GRID Field of View (FoV) using AGILE event filters: the standard OB event file ag-_STD0P_FM.EVT and its index file with suffix: .index the additional OB event file ag-_STD0P_FT3AB.EVT and its index file with suffix: .index NOTE: if you choose to download data files with the default option "Automatically unpack the data using a Java applet" then each file name in the corresponding .index file must be changed removing the .gz suffix before running map generator tasks. ******************************************************************************************************************* ***** On-line Analysis Interactive Tool ***** ******************************************************************************************************************* A new beta version of the ASDC interactive tool allows Web users to preview the AGILE public data fields and to perform an interactive preliminary analysis around a chosen sky position. The tool is in a verification phase. Please send your feedback at the AGILE helpdesk. WARNING: use only as a preview of the AGILE gamma-ray field. To perform your own scientific analysis, please download data and use the official public AGILE software. To access the preview tool click on "On-line Analysis" in the query output table, under the "GRID Interactive Archive" column. The interactive ASDC tool uses the XIMAGE software package for multi-mission X-ray astronomy (v4.5.1), adapted to gamma-ray image display and data analysis. ******************************************************************************************************************************* *** Note on AGILE Filters *** ******************************************************************************************************************************* The standard AGILE event filter is the FM filter, optimized up to 60 deg off-axis. The AGILE Team recommmends the use of v3.0 EVT files produced with the FM filter for gamma-ray source standard likelihood analysis. EVT files produced with the FT3AB filter are also published, but they are delivered with a warning. WARNING: data analysis with event files obtained with FT3AB filter may be more efficient in detecting sources with a soft energy spectrum, but there may be noisy residual artifacts at the border of the Field of View (off-axis angle> 40 deg). Each filter is associated with its own calibration and diffuse model files. Be careful always to use the calibration and diffuse model files appropriate to the chosen EVT filter type. Calibration and diffuse model files are delivered with the public software release under the directory $ADC/scientific analysis/data. * FM filter: if you use the FM-filtered event file with suffix: _FM you should always use as an input to scientific software tasks: - effective area files of type *FM*.sar.gz - energy dispersion files of type *FM*.edp.gz - point spread funcion files of type *FM*.psd.gz - flux correction files of type *FM*.expcorr.gz - diffuse model files of type *FM*.conv.sky.gz * FT3AB filter: if you use the FT3AB-filtered event file with suffix: _FT3AB you should always use as an input to scientific software tasks: - effective area files of type *FT3AB*.sar.gz - energy dispersion files of type *FT3AB*.edp.gz - point spread funcion files of type *FT3AB*.psd.gz - flux correction files of type *FT3AB*.expcorr.gz - diffuse model files of type *FT3AB*.conv.sky.gz For further details please follow the instructions given in the Software User Manual. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy!