Start the X-Windows version of StarView by typing:
% xstarviewSome introductory messages will then appear on your screen. To see more of the text, press
. To quit, press 
.The StarView session then begins, displaying messages telling you what is happening (e.g., data dictionaries being loaded). The startup process may take a minute or two to complete.
Figure 1.1: Welcome Screen
You can scroll through the text and read any additional information below the display area using the scroll bar on the X-Windows version of StarView. On the terminal version (for VT100 or other basic terminals), use the arrow keys or page up by pressing 
-
and page down by pressing 
-
.1.2.2 Command Usage and Screen Interaction
In the X-windows version of StarView:
-
to cycle through the three screen areas (menu, work area, and command box).
to invoke the highlighted function.
key while simultaneously pressing the 
key. Other commands show accelerators such as "E+n", which means that you would press the 
(escape) key followed by 
.
The <Quick Search> screen is useful for most basic searches of the HST catalog. An extensive set of more detailed search screens is also available. To choose one of these, click on [ Other Searches ] or pull down the | Searches | menu. Consult the HST Archive Manual for more details.
Figure 1.2: Quick Search Screen
Specifying Search Criteria
There are various ways to search for observations of a particular target in the catalog. The easiest way is to enter the name (e.g., "M87") in the target field. Because observers do not necessarily use the same convention to name sources, this strategy might not return all observations of a given source. The best way to ensure that you retrieve all observations of a given stationary target is to search for observations within a given (radial) distance of your source's position by entering constraints in the "RA", "Dec", and "Search radius" fields on the <Quick Search> screen.
If you do not know the RA and Dec of your target, you can run either the
-SIMBAD or NED target name resolver from within StarView. Each resolver automatically determines the target's position using a network connection to either the
SIMBAD database in Europe or the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED) in California. It then populates the RA and Dec fields on the search screen with this
information. Click on the [Get Coordinates] button to use the SIMBAD resolver;
to use NED, pull down the |Options| menu, select User Defaults, and change the
"Coordinates lookup server" field to NED.
Since we want all observations of M87 (even when the target name is something else), we will use "Get Coordinates" to fill in the RA and Dec. Click on the [Get Coordinates] button, enter "M87" as the name, and the RA and Dec fields will be automatically filled.
To get help on the valid ranges for any field, use the field help. In xstarview, move the cursor to the field and press the right mouse button (or press the
button, often located in the bottom left corner of your keyboard).
We want public data, so now specify that we want data released prior to today's date. For example, move to the "Release date" field and enter <Sep 1 1997 for any datasets that were released before September 1, 1997. Figure 1.3 shows how the <Quick Search> screen looks at this point.
Don't use commas in a date field. StarView will interpret the comma as a list
-operator.
Figure 1.3: Quick Search Screen With Constraints Entered
Use the [Strategy] button to get help using any StarView screen, or the pull down
|Help| in the menu bar to see all the available StarView help.
Starting the Search
Click on the [Begin Search] button to search the catalog for the observations satisfying your search criteria. If none are found, a message will appear at the bottom of the screen, and you will need to enter different search constraints. If at least one observation is found, the screen will change to the <Quick Search Results> screen.
Figure 1.4: Quick Search Results Screen With Record Display
Viewing Subsequent Found Observations
If you want to scan the full list of your search results:
Another way to view your search results is to use StarView's <TableFormat> screen. Click on [View Result as Table] to see several catalog records at the same time (see Figure 1.5). Click on [View Result as Form] to return to the single-record screen format.
Use the [Preview] button to get a quick look at the data. Previewing can help you decide whether or not to retrieve a dataset. The Preview function displays compressed HST images (not suitable for science analysis), as well as FOS or GHRS spectra. Only public data are available for preview. Previews are not available in the terminal -version.
You can mark datasets for retrieval in either the table-row format display screen, in which case the highlighted record is marked, or on the <Quick Search Results> screen with the record displayed.
If you want to mark for retrieval all of the records matching your search criteria, click on the [Mark All] button. This volume of data could be very large, as it would be for the M87 search request described here. Alternatively, step through your search results records by clicking on the [Step Forward] button and click on the [Mark Dataset] button for the specific observations you desire. In this example, we mark only a few datasets for retrieval.
If you wish to include additional datasets in your request, choose the [Add Datasets by Name] command from the <Archive Retrieval> screen (or use [Add Datasets from File] if you have a list of dataset names). Then enter the rootname (no suffix) of the calibration reference file(s) or science file(s) you wish to retrieve. (See Appendix B for more on rootnames and suffixes.)
If you plan to recalibrate your data, you can also request the uncalibrated data and the appropriate calibration reference files at this time. STIS users who need target acquisition data (ACQ or ACQ/PEAK images) should request uncalibrated data, because these images are not calibrated. NICMOS users who wish to obtain individual exposures that go into processed mosaics will also have to request the uncalibrated data. NICMOS users in particular may need to take care at this point not to exceed the ST-DADS dataset limit. This limit is currently set at 600 datasets, but be aware that multiple datasets can correspond to a single observation.
after each entry. You can then choose how you would like to receive you data:
If you choose HOST delivery, your data will be sent to a subdirectory on archive.stsci.edu which will be named based on your archive username and a random number (e.g., SMITH1234) . To retrieve the data from this subdirectory, use anonymous FTP as described in "Transferring Your Data with FTP" on page 1-17.
The TAPE option is especially useful for large data requests.
At this point xstarview may want to interact with you using a special xterm -window that it will initiate. Respond to any- x-starview requests appearing in that window.
Figure 1.9: Retrieval System -Messages
Press 
.
to exit from the retrieval process and to return to the StarView screen from which you initiated the retrieval request.
You can use the request ID later to check the status of your request and also to
locate your data on the Archive host's staging disk after it has been retrieved.
Checking Request Status
To check the status of your retrieval request:
to continue with your StarView session. Figure 1.10 shows a sample retrieval status screen.
-
to exit StarView. A dialog box will appear asking you to confirm that you really want to exit. Click [OK] to exit.
Figure 1.11: Retrieving Files Using FTP
% ftp archive.stsci.edu
Connected to archive.stsci.edu.
220 archive.stsci.edu FTP server (Version 5.86) ready.
Name (archive.stsci.edu): anonymous
Password: Type your e-mail address
.
<message of the day displayed here>
.
ftp> cd tdk7992
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> binary
200 Type set to I.
ftp> prompt
Interactive mode off.
ftp> mget u*.fit
200 PORT command successful.
50 Opening BINARY mode data connection for u2900101t_c0f.fit
226 Transfer complete
.
.
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.
Don't forget to set the FTP transfer type to "binary" before transferring the files.
% telnet archive.stsci.edu
Connected to archive.stsci.edu.
Escape character is `^]`.
Login: guest
Password: archive
The X-Windows version will ask for your X display host name. You should respond with the name of your home workstation. You will then be instructed to add archive to your computer's xhost file by typing the following line in another window and pressing
to continue:
% xhost +archive.stsci.edu
You can now run the X-windows version of StarView remotely by typing
% xstarviewIf you want to reduce networking overhead, you can use the terminal version instead by typing:
% starviewThe terminal version of StarView will ask you to confirm your terminal setup. For example:
xterm 24 x 80 [Y]:If this setup is correct, press
to continue. If not, then answer "no" by pressing 
followed by 
. If you answer "no", StarView will then ask some questions about your terminal type, number of lines, and number of columns. Type a question mark (
) to get help about your options.Remember, if you have any problems or questions, contact the Archive hotseat at archive@stsci.edu.