NAME

osofindfast -- Find OSO8 raw rate files for a given sky position

USAGE

         osofindfast -e equinox -r ra -d dec -c -o root 

DESCRIPTION

For a given input sky position, this script finds the appropriate OSO8 raw rate file which include data for that input position. The filenames of the selected OSO8 raw rate data are listed in output files. The script is intended to work only for the OSO raw rate data files as stored in the HEASARC archive. Each file in the OSO8 rate archive contains data for one day observation, obtained with the Cosmic X-ray Spectroscopy experiments (A, B and C detectors).

To determine the appropriate OSO8 raw data file, this script tests if the input position is within the FOV of any of the detectors (A, B or C) by computing the angle between the spin axis and that position. The spin axis values for which there is a difference of >= 1 degree within each observing day are read from a file (oso8spin.txt), distributed with this script. The output files of this script list the filenames of the OSO8 raw rate data that contain the input sky position. Since the A, B and C detectors viewed at any time different parts of the sky, there is an output file for each detector. These are named

      {root}_a  for detector A
      {root}_b  for detector B
      {root}_c  for detector C

where root is an input parameter. If requested there is also an output file for each detector listing the filenames of the OSO8 orbit data . These are named

      {root}_orb_a  for detector A
      {root}_orb_b  for detector B
      {root}_orb_c  for detector C

where root is an input parameter.

These output files are the input to 'osorat' which extract a background subtracted and collimator corrected lightcurve. The OSO8 raw rate data file are located in the HEASARC OSO8 FTP area in the /oso8/data/gcxse/osorates directory. The sky position should be entered as right ascention and declination in decimal degrees, together with the corresponding equinox.

FLAGS

-h

Prints this help file

The following flags require arguments

-e

equinox [input any year i.e. 1950]

-r

source R.A. [decimal degrees]

-d

source Dec. [decimal degrees]

-o

root of the output filename

-c

require output orbit file lists ? [y/n]

EXAMPLES

Find all the OSO8 raw rates data file for HD 193793 (coordinates R.A.(1950)=304.6946, Dec (1950)= 43.6953) and list the filenames in the outfiles with root name HD193793. Also list the orbit files in outfiles with root name HD193793.

       > osofindfast -e 1950 -r 304.6946 -d 43.6953  -o HD193793 -c y

CATEGORY