The NSO Digital Library: FTS Data Archive Now (Mostly) On-Line

The NSO Digital Library took a step forward recently with the installation of a 300-disk CD-ROM jukebox system on argo, NSO/KP's data server. While still very much in development, this system already contains 33 disks (about 23 GB) of Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) spectra obtained from 1976 through the beginning of 1994. Users can now access the system via anonymous FTP. The server address is argo.tuc.noao.edu, and the directory is ftsarc. You will see a further set of directories with names of FTSXX where XX is a two-digit number, each directory corresponds to a single CD. There is a rudimentary README file that currently only contains the first and last scan number of each directory. Don't forget to set FTP to binary mode when retrieving the data files, which are in FITS format! Also please note that FTS16 is currently removed.

Current plans for this server include (roughly in order of implementation):

1. Continued archiving of FTS spectra through the latest data.

2. The gradual addition of the NSO/Kitt Peak magnetogram and Helium 1083 nm data.

3. Addition of the raw FTS interferograms.

4. Construction of a web-based search engine to allow users to search for and retrieve data without knowing the file names.

Continued development of the digital library will eventually provide quick and easy access to the major NSO data sets without the need for a user to contact a staff member.

For further information on the argo data server, contact Frank Hill (fhill@noao.edu), Jan Schwitters (jschwitters@noao.edu), or Detrick Branston (dbranston@noao.edu).

Frank Hill