Herschel Science Archive (HSA) - News - Herschel

New version (v9.2) of the HSA installed

On 25 September 2019, a new version (v9.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This version is mostly dedicated to further internal handling of HSA usage statistics and to fix some minor bugs.

New version (v9.1) of the HSA installed

On 24 April 2019, a new version (v9.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This version is mostly dedicated to the internal handling of the publication statistics but it also provides some new features for the community:

• The list of publications associated to a query contains a column with the number of observations contained in the corresponding paper. This number is now a link to the list of observations.
• The Publications Search Tab contains now three different set of filters:
  • Publication Filters to search the HSA by the publications parameters like BIB code, authors, title, abstract, etc...
  • Target Filters to search the HSA by target name or coordinates
  • Observation Filters to search the HSA by observation details like proposal instrument, science area, etc...

Also the HSA Users Guide has been updated and some minor bugs corrected.

New version (v9.0.3) of the HSA installed

On 14 Nov 2018, a patch version (v9.0.3) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to fix some bugs related to UPDP/HPDP queries and retrievals.  

New version (v9.0.2) of the HSA installed

On 6 Aug 2018, a patch version (v9.0.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to fix a bug in the ingestion of the HPDPs.

New version (v9.0.1) of the HSA installed

On 19 Jun 2018, a patch version (v9.0.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to fix some minor bugs found after the release of HSA 9.0.

New version (v9.0) of the HSA installed

On 22 May 2018, a new version (v9.0) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

Version 9.0 offers two main new features:

• A new Catalogue Query Tool, which allows complex queries on the main Herschel point source and spectral line catalogues through the VO-standard TAP (Table Access Protocol).
• A new Publications tab, which integrates the former standalone "Herschel Publication Tool" into the archive user interface to facilitate its preservation in the future and which allows users to make all kind of queries on the database of refereed publications linked to Herschel observations.

Together with some other minor implementation changes, this version constitutes the 'legacy' version of the Herschel Science Archive, this is, no more development is foreseen at the user interface level, although it is expected that its contents will still continue growing with the ingestion of new UPDPs and HPDPs at least until the end of the year.

HSA 9.0 also includes the following changes:

• The 'Details' window for PACS observations now includes an 'Observation Summary' file with complete information on the observation characteristics, instrument used and processing performed. These files are also included as a separate ADP (Ancillary Data Products) data set covering all PACS observations.
• Proposal information like: title, author, science category and abstract, are now available just by clicking on the proposal name displayed in the Proposal ID column in the Results panel.
• A new column in the Results panel now provides the number of refereed publications associated to every individual observation. Clicking on this number the full details of the associated publications are displayed.
• Correction of various minor bugs.

New version (v8.2.3) of the HSA installed

On 26 February 2018, a patch version (v8.2.3) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to adapt HSA to a new Apache proxy.

New version (v8.2.2) of the HSA installed

On 29 November 2017, a patch version (v8.2.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to implement a new internal functionality.

New version (v8.2.1) of the HSA installed

On 22 September 2017, a patch version (v8.2.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to make some internal configuration modifications.

NEW VERSION (V8.2) OF THE HSA INSTALLED

On 11 August 2017, a new version (v8.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version is mainly devoted to the ingestion, visualization and retrieval of Highly Processed Data Products (HPDPs). A new tab under "Product Selection" will provide a list of the data sets available as soon as they are ingested into the HSA. Users can retrieve the files associated to individual observations from these data sets or select an entire HPDP for download. The list of HPDPs currently available is provided here.

In addition, Ancillary Data Products (ADPs) are included now as another possible option in the "Product Selection" panel for direct inspection and retrieval.  

HSA 8.2 includes also the following changes:

• Re-organization of the Observation Constraints panel with a new Object Type tab that allows queries by Science Area and Science Category
• The Proposal tab includes now the possibility to query by Co-authors and by strings contained in the proposal abstract
• Improvements in the ingestion, visualization and retrieval system of User Provided Data Products (UPDPs)
• Improvement of the accuracy of geometrical searches by upgrading the database engine
• Improvement of the Postcards visor
• A detailed, new HSA Users Guide
• More complete and user-friendly Welcome Page
• Correction of various minor bugs

New version (v8.1.1) of the HSA installed

On 3 March 2017, a patch version (v8.1.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to fix some minor issues with the display of the UPDP collection and UPDP postcards.

New version (v8.1) of the HSA installed

On 27 February 2017, a new version (v8.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version is manly devoted to solve some minor issues found in the new web based user interface developed in version 8.0 but it also includes the following new functionalities:

• A README.pdf file is now included in the tar files served by the Archive when retrieving pipeline products. It gives a general description of the directory structure provided in the tar file and information about the Herschel FITS file naming convention and their internal structure.
• The HSA also provides now a TAP (Table Access Protocol) service which allows command line access to the Archive content and the registry of Herschel catalogues (like the SPIRE Point Source Catalogue recently released) in VO.
• The search functionaliy in the User Interface excludes now by default the observations marked as "FAILED" during the Data Quality Control assessment.
• Single sign-on for all ESA Herschel services (Archive, Helpdesk...) through the ESA Cosmos Central Authentication Service (CAS)

New version (v8.0.2) of the HSA installed

On 20 January 2017, a security patch for the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed (HSA v8.0.2).

New version (v8.0.1) of the HSA installed

On 19 Jan 2017, a patch version (v8.0.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to fix some minor bugs in the new web interface of the HSA.

New version (v8.0) of the HSA installed

On 12 January 2017, a new version (v8.0) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

Version 8.0 offers a completely new web based User Interface to the HSA.

The HSA has been re-engineered to provide improved performance and better user experience.

The new web interface includes all the functionalities previously provided, plus some new ones like:

• A better separation of the different type of Herschel data products available, currently consisting of Standard Pipeline Generated (SPG) products and User Provided Data Products (UPDPs), both for making queries and in the way the results are displayed.
• Visualization of the accurate footprints projected onto the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) sky.
• A new search functionality based on associated refereed publications, providing links to the Herschel data used for these publications and to the corresponding publication registry in ADS, including the possibility to search for observations in the archive without known publications.
• On-the-fly generated basic statistics of the results obtained, presented as histograms in a dedicated window and updated interactively as you refine your query.

New version (v7.5.2) of the HSA installed

On 4 October 2016, a patch version (v7.5.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to enable again the queries by wavelength in the PACS Spectroscopy Advanced Panel that were previously disabled (see HSA 7.1.1 news) due to a problem with the corresponding FITS keyword. This problem was fixed with the last bulk reprocessing of PACS observations with HCSS 14.2.0.

Also, a wrong implementation of the logic to make queries by Spatial Sampling in the same PACS panel was fixed.

New version (v7.5.1) of the HSA installed

On 13 June 2016, a patch version (v7.5.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to fix a minor problem with the visualization of the standalone browse products associated to some PACS spectroscopic observations with VOSpec.

New version (v7.5) of the HSA installed

On 12 April 2016, a new version (v7.5) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version is mainly devoted to the Registry of Herschel products in the Virtual Observatory (VO) world, but it also includes:

• The possibility to open the Standalone Browse Products with VO tools (like Aladin, VOSpec, CASSIS...) by right-clicking on the postcard
• Further fixes affecting the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and correction of various minor bugs found in previous versions.

New version (v7.1.1) of the HSA installed

On 8 February 2016, a patch version (v7.1.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version was required to disable the HUI queries by wavelength in the PACS spectroscopy tab of the Instruments Advanced Query Panel until a minor problem in the header of the PACS spectroscopic observations is fixed with the new pipeline version 14.2.

New version (v7.1) of the HSA installed

On 9 December 2015, a new version (v7.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version mainly contains some modifications needed to prepare the Archive for the upcoming bulk reprocessing exercise with version 14.0 of the Pipeline; in addition, it also includes:

• Two new tabs in the Geometrical Search Panel for making queries by NAIF ID and by a list of NAIF IDs
• A link to Vizier from the catalogues (when available) in the User Provided Data Products overview panel
• The Search Result page has been re-organized and updated
• Some QC flags include now two new columns IMPACT and ACTION which are displayed in the QC report
• Further fixes affecting the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and correction of various minor bugs found in previous versions.

New version (v7.0) of the HSA installed

On 28 October 2015, a new version (v7.0) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version includes:

• Link to publications: The papers in the Herschel Refereed Publications Library are now linked to the observations in the archive that have been used in each of the papers. Every observation shows what papers it has been linked to. The information can be accessed from the query result page in the HSA User Interface by selecting the "DETAILS & PUBLICATIONS" button and then clicking on the tab "Publications"
• Observation details: Relevant parameters associated to every observation in the archive like e.g. band, observed lines, frequency range(s) covered... are now displayed using the option "DETAILS & PUBLICATIONS" under the tab "Details"
• Footprints for photometric observations (PACS & SPIRE) strongly improving the accuracy of geometrical searches.
• Further fixes affecting the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and correction of various minor bugs mainly affecting the Instruments Advanced Query Panel.

New version (v6.3) of the HSA installed

On 15 July 2015, a new version (v6.3) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This minor version solves a problem with the distribution of SPIRE Spectroscopy Standalone Browse Products. Also, it includes a warning about the drizzled cubes provided as Standalone Browse Products for PACS spectroscopy chop-nod line scan observations which have incorrect fluxes. This problem will be corrected in version 14.0 of the standard Herschel data processing system.

New version (v6.2.1) of the HSA installed

On 2 June 2015, a new version (v6.2.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version fixes some problems in the new Instruments Advanced Query Panel and with UPDP and Standalone Browse Products retrieval.

New version (v6.2) of the HSA installed

On 09 April 2015, a new version (v6.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version includes the modification of the HSA data model to improve the performance of the Data Processing system. Also, prepares the Archive for the upcoming bulk reprocessing exercise with version 13.0 of the Pipeline and solves some bugs found in the previous 6.1 version.

New version (v6.1) of the HSA installed

On 26 February 2015, a new version (v6.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version offers the possibility to perform more refined queries on instrument-specific observational parameters like band, wavelength, filter, map size... through the new "Instruments Advanced Query Panel". These queries are performed via four dedicated tabs, one for each sub-instrument mode: HIFI, PACS Photometry, PACS Spectroscopy, SPIRE Photometry and SPIRE Spectroscopy.

In addition, HSA 6.1 also includes a new "Pipeline Processing Query Panel" which allows queries by SPG (data processing) version, processing level reached (from 'created' to 'level3') or Quality Control status (Failed/Passed/Pending).

New version (v6.0.4) of the HSA installed

On 30 January 2015, a new version (v6.0.4) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

Renewal of the Java code certificate.

New version (v6.0.3) of the HSA installed

On 2 December 2014, a new version (v6.0.3) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version fixes a problem in the Archive Database.

New version (v6.0.2) of the HSA installed

On 2 December 2014, a new version (v6.0.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version solves a problem with the distribution of the PACS Parallel Standalone Browse Products.

New version (v6.0.1) of the HSA installed

On 24 September 2014, a new version (v6.0.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version solves a problem with the distribution of the PACS photometry Standalone Browse Products.

New version (v6.0) of the HSA installed

On 30 June 2014, a new version (v6.0) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version is mainly devoted to prepare the HSA Database for the inclusion of the new "Advanced Search Panel" per instrument in the User Interface of the next version HSA 6.1. These new panels will allow much more refined queries by the instrument parameters used to define the observations.

In addition, HSA 6.0 includes the following changes:

• PACS Photometry Standalone Browse Products with SPGv12.1 have changed to be the JScanam level2.5 maps.
• SPIRE Parallel Mode Standalone Browse Products are the level2.5 products when available.
• Further fixes affecting the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and correction of various minor bugs.

New version (v5.2.1) of the HSA installed (26 March 2014)

On 26 March 2014, a new version (v5.2.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version solves a couple of problems detected in HSA 5.2 with the distribution of standalone browse products from the postcard gallery.

New version (v5.2) of the HSA installed (17 March 2014)

On 17 March 2014, a new version (v5.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version offers the possibility to download 'Standalone Browse Products' from the HSA User Interface (standard retrieval options plus right click in the postcard) and from the postcard gallery. 'Standalone Browse Products' are not 'science ready' products. They are provided for 'quick look' purposes. At this point, level 2 and level 2.5 FITS products generated by the standard Herschel data processing pipelines are distributed as 'Standalone Browse Products'. They will evolve in the future with the objective to become simpler and easier-to-use products.

In addition, HSA 5.2 includes the following changes:

• Multi-target searches with a list of target names or coordinates
• Several improvements of the HSA User Interface: Geometrical searches with a box, improvements of help texts, more info added to the columns of the query result table...
• Further fixes affecting the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and correction of various minor bugs.

New version (v5.1.1) of the HSA installed (20 January 2014)

On 20 January 2014, a new version (v5.1.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This patch version solves a compatibility problem of Java 1.7 with webstarts and applets. No software modifications/improvements have been introduced.

New version (v5.1) of the HSA installed (10 October 2013)

On 10 October 2013, a new version (v5.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This version was mainly required to fix a problem which affected the ingestion of some UPDPs. Other minor bugs and refinements of the User Interface were are also implemented in this new version.

New version (v5.0) of the HSA installed (9 September 2013)

On 9 September 2013, a new version (v5.0) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This new version incorporates a new panel in the main search page of the HSA User Interface which provides access to User Provided Data Products (UPDPs). Opening this panel you can get a list of the data sets currently available. Users can retrieve the files associated to individual observations from these data sets or select an entire UPDP for download. It is expected that new UPDPs will be added to this list on a regular basis as they become available in the coming future.

In addition, HSA 5.0 includes the following changes:

• Several improvements of the HSA User Interface: increased stability of the instrument selection panel, renovated observations list field, improved re-sizing capabilities of windows...
• Preparation of the system for the ingestion and distribution of the new Level 3 data products to be generated with version 11 of the Herschel Science Product Generation (SPG) software
• Further fixes affecting the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and correction of various minor bugs.

New version (v4.3.1) of the HSA installed (29 July 2013)

On 29 July 2013, a new version (v4.3.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

The major change implemented in this new version of the HSA is the addition of the link to the observation postcards in the VOTable sent by the Archive through the Herschel Archive Interoperability subsystem (HAIO).

New version (v4.3) of the HSA installed (24 October 2012)

On 24 October 2012, a new version (v4.3) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This version includes two new tools for accessing Herschel data:

• Herschel Archive Interoperability subsystem (HAIO) web interface. This system allows Herschel users to have direct access to the content of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) database without invoking the HSA user interface applet.
• Herschel Postcard Gallery, which allows to perform Postcard searches simply by inserting the name of your preferred target or its coordinates.

In addition, HSA 4.3 includes the following changes:

• Improvement of the geometrical searches (in all subsystems), which now consider a better approximation to the actual field of view covered by individual observations taken in the different instrument modes.
• The postcard of every observation (a jpg file, when available) is now contained in every tar file distributed by the HSA.
• Further fixes for the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and various minor bugs.

New version (v4.2) of the HSA installed (18 June 2012)

On 18 June 2012, a new version (v4.2) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This version was required to fix several problems found during and after the release of the re-engineered Archive (HSA 4.0.1).

New version (v4.1) of the HSA installed (23 May 2012)

On 23 May 2012, a new version (v4.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

This version was required to fix a problem which affected the tar files generated by the Archive: mainly tar files of requested PACS, HIFI Point and SPIRE Spec observations were incomplete since the installation of HSA 4.0 on the 16th of May.

New version (v4.0.1) of the HSA installed (16 May 2012)

On 16 May 2012, a new version (v4.0.1) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

The Herschel Science Archive has been completely re-engineered to offer improved performance and better user experience.

The new HSA User Interface offers a more modern look and feel. It includes all the functionalities previously provided, plus many new ones like

• flexible way to handle query and results panels (one result panel per query, possibility to detach windows, details window to display metadata and postcards, re-sizable window for the postcards display, ...)
• two ways to visualise the Result Panels that can be changed by clicking on:
  • The tabular view (default)
  • The table view
• direct access to VO tools such as Aladin, Topcat or VOSpec from the top menu
• possibility to send observations metadata to VO compliant tools for catalogues and tables like Topcat
• faster response in general, with improved database performance, including geometrical searches add-on
• all or selected results can be saved as a VOTable or a CSV file
• contextual help, as well as a complete new help manual
• a Log Console to visualise queries and error messages
• possibility to configure the GUI with different colors

The new HSA contains a migration towards state of the art technology, including re-use of existing open source software libraries and databases, better client - server transport protocol to overcome firewall issues, and higher code re-usability with other Science Archive projects at ESAC.

New version (v3.8) of the HSA installed (2 March 2011)

On 2 March 2011, a new version (v3.8) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

The major changes implemented in this new version of the HSA address the interaction with the Herschel Interactive Processing Environment (HIPE). In particular, the HSA + HIPE system supports now the retrieval and reading of only selected part of an observation, e.g. the minimum set of auxiliary, calibration and Level0 products required to interactively process an observation.

Further fixes are for the interaction with the Operational Data Processing system and various minor bugs.

New version (v3.7) of the HSA installed (22 November 2010)

On 22 November 2010, a new version (v3.7) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

The major changes implemented in this new version of HSA are:

• The products generated with HCSS 5.0 and provided by the HSA are now compressed fits files (.fits.gz)
• Improvements on the information provided in the User Interface (HUI) per observation: Three new fields have been added containing information on the Pipeline version used to process the observation, the level of processing reached by the Pipeline and the final quality control status of the observation (passed/failed) after all the quality control checks have been completed.
• The HSA is already prepared to accept and distribute new level 2.5 products (produced by the combination of more than one AOR) that will be generated by the PACS and SPIRE pipelines in the near future.
• Further major fixes adressing the interaction with the Data Processing system resulting in the overall improvement of the performance of the whole system (HSA + HIPE)

New version (v3.6) of the HSA installed (7 September 2010)

On 7 September 2010, a new version (v3.6) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

The major changes of this new version are:

• Improvements on the tar file provided by the HSA with Herschel data:
  • The tar file contains now a top directory named with the request ID to the HSA
  • Under this top directory the hierarchical structure of the data has not been changed.
  • However, the xml file needed to import the data into HIPE has been done visible and it is also now immediately under the new top directory
• This new tar structure requires HIPE 4.0 or higher in order to import the tar file into HIPE
• When using HIPE version 4.1 or higher, importing the HSA tar file into HIPE does not require uncompression.
• String queries in the HSA User Interface are now case insensitive
• Further major fixes for the interaction with the Data Processing system

New version (v3.5) of the HSA installed (14 July 2010)

On 14 July 2010, a new version (v3.5) of the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) was installed.

The major improvements of this new version are:

• Queries by the proprietary status (public/proprietary) of the observations from the HUI "Main Query" panel.
• Browse Products from the Pipeline Products: Icons and Postcards are now displayed in the "Latest Result" page of the HUI (access restricted according to proprietary rights).
• A new field in the "Latest Result" page of the HUI called "Quality Report" displays the quality control report product (when available) with the quality assessment of the observation (access restricted according to proprietary rights).
• Further major fixes for the interaction with the Data Processing system and various minor bugs fixed.