A USER'S GUIDE TO UVCS/SOHO
Section 3
GETTING INVOLVED
We welcome correspondence concerning the possibility that data from the
UVCS/SOHO instrument might be useful in a wide range of research programs.
The following outline summarizes the general stages in either planning
new observations, or in using UVCS data.
CONTACTING US
-
If you are interested in using UVCS/SOHO data, feel free to contact
Leonard Strachan or any UVCS
Scientist
to discuss the best way(s) to proceed.
-
UVCS is a complex spectroscopic instrument, and there are
subtle techniques involved in analyzing the data.
Therefore, we enourage you
to enter into collaborations with the scientists already involved in UVCS
operations and data analysis.
DO THE OBSERVATIONS EXIST?
-
UVCS has been gathering scientific data since April 1996, so
it is possible that the observational data of interest
already exist.
-
Data-sets more than one year old, as well as the software required to
process them, are publically available to all,
and are housed at the
SOHO Archive.
-
Catalogs listing the pertinent parameters of each day's observations
are available immediately, either at the SOHO Archive,
or in an abbreviated form on the UVCS Home Page (see
Observations,
Planned and Completed).
-
Data-sets less than one year old are available via collaboration with the
relevant Lead Observing Scientist.
OBSERVE WITH UVCS
-
If the data-set you require does not yet exist, you can collaborate with
UVCS/SOHO Scientists in designing and executing new observations.
-
Depending on the level of interest, interested researchers may choose
to collaborate with other observers (and thus participate remotely),
or become a UVCS Lead Observer, and observe at the SOHO
Experimenters' Operations Facility (EOF) at GSFC.
-
Preliminary ``quick-look'' data are available in the EOF at the time
of the observations, but the final data (processed
for optimal telemetry) are delivered 4-6 weeks later, on CD-ROM,
to the UVCS Data Reduction and Analysis Facility
(DRAF) at SAO.
ANALYSIS OF DATA
UVCS/SOHO data is processed in three major steps:
-
Spectral Data Files
are read by the UVCS
Display
and Analysis Software
(DAS)
package, and can be calibrated in wavelength and intensity,
in addition to being
corrected for image distortion, detector flat-field, and dark counts.
-
Processed Spectral Data Files are then
corrected
to separate instrumental from astronomical sources.
In intensity, disk-scattered stray light and interplanetary emission
are removed.
In wavelength, instrumental broadening, point spread functions, and
intrinsic quantization errors are removed.
-
Science Data Files are then analyzed by comparing with results
of theoretical
radiative-transfer codes.
This ``empirical modeling''
provides densities, abundances, and
velocity distribution parameters.
Continual support from the UVCS team will be provided in the form of
publically-available
software packages
for all three steps,
as well as online
Self-Guided Tutorials.
UVCS AND SOHO MEETINGS
In addition to presenting results at general meetings (e.g.,
AAS,
AGU),
we encourage all users of UVCS/SOHO data to participate in the
SOHO Workshops and the UVCS Science Meetings.
Several of these meetings were held in the New England area:
-
1-4 June 1998 :
6th SOHO Workshop
(Boston, MA),
``Structure and Dynamics of the Interior of the Sun and Sun-like Stars''
-
24-26 September 1998 :
UVCS Science Meeting
(Northeast
Harbor, ME)
-
28 September - 1 October 1998 :
7th SOHO Workshop
(Northeast Harbor, ME),
``Coronal Holes and Solar Wind Acceleration''
(See also the listing of
SOHO Meetings
and Events on the SOHO WWW Page.)
GO BACK to the User's Guide
Section 2
GO BACK to the
UVCS/SOHO
Home Page.