RA/DEC in Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata

[Anders Conrad]

Hi everyone, we are running a proof-of-concept test of Dataverse as a data repository for astrophysical datasets, based on data from the NASA Kepler/K2 mission. I wonder if anyone on this list has some knowledge about the astrophysics metadata supported by Dataverse and would be able to help with clarifying our issue:

Each of our datasets relates to one star that is identified by name (in astroObject), but also by its celestial coordinates, RA and DEC. These would, in our use case, also serve as essential data for discovery.

We are a little puzzled that these important fields don’t seem to be included in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata. When trying to import a FITS file into Dataverse, RA and DEC are put in paranthesis in the string coverage.Spatial field, as in the example
                         {
                            "typeName": "coverage.Spatial",
                            "multiple": true,
                            "typeClass": "primitive",
                            "value": ["(291.22395900000004 36.88712)"]
                        }

This is, although better than nothing, far from ideal and not what you would normally describe as "Sky Coverage" in astronomy. Also you would probably want to add information on the coordinate system being used, the units, as well as which epoch the coordinates refer to.

Does anyone on the list know considerations behind not including these fields? Would there be any likelihood that they could be included in some future version?

Thank you!
Anders Conrad (The Royal Libray) and Rasmus Handberg (Aarhus University)

[Philip Durbin]

Hi! Thanks for your interest in Dataverse! It sounds like you've discovered the feature where metadata from a FITS file is automatically* put into dataset fields.

The appendix of the User Guide describes the supported metadata schemas. Here is what it has to say about astrophysics:

"Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata : These metadata elements can be mapped/exported to the International Virtual Observatory Alliance’s (IVOA) VOResource Schema format and is based on Virtual Observatory (VO) Discovery and Provenance Metadata (see .tsv version)."

That's from http://guides.dataverse.org/en/4.5.1/user/appendix.html

It sounds like also discovered a bug in Dataverse. :( To capture it, can you please open an issue at https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues ?

Thanks!

Phil

* http://guides.dataverse.org/en/4.5.1/user/dataset-management.html#astronomy-fits

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Philip Durbin
Software Developer for http://dataverse.org
http://www.iq.harvard.edu/people/philip-durbin

[julian...@g.harvard.edu]

Hi Anders,

I created a github issue to track our work on the issues you've raised regarding astronomy metadata fields in Dataverse: https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues/3526

Thanks again for bring this issue to our attention.

On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 9:07:10 AM UTC-5, Philip Durbin wrote:

Hi! Thanks for your interest in Dataverse! It sounds like you've discovered the feature where metadata from a FITS file is automatically* put into dataset fields.

The appendix of the User Guide describes the supported metadata schemas. Here is what it has to say about astrophysics:

"Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata : These metadata elements can be mapped/exported to the International Virtual Observatory Alliance’s (IVOA) VOResource Schema format and is based on Virtual Observatory (VO) Discovery and Provenance Metadata (see .tsv version)."

That's from http://guides.dataverse.org/en/4.5.1/user/appendix.html

It sounds like also discovered a bug in Dataverse. :( To capture it, can you please open an issue at https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues ?

Thanks!

Phil

* http://guides.dataverse.org/en/4.5.1/user/dataset-management.html#astronomy-fits

On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 2:55 AM, Anders Conrad <a...@kb.dk> wrote:

Hi everyone, we are running a proof-of-concept test of Dataverse as a data repository for astrophysical datasets, based on data from the NASA Kepler/K2 mission. I wonder if anyone on this list has some knowledge about the astrophysics metadata supported by Dataverse and would be able to help with clarifying our issue:

Each of our datasets relates to one star that is identified by name (in astroObject), but also by its celestial coordinates, RA and DEC. These would, in our use case, also serve as essential data for discovery.

We are a little puzzled that these important fields don’t seem to be included in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata. When trying to import a FITS file into Dataverse, RA and DEC are put in paranthesis in the string coverage.Spatial field, as in the example
                         {
                            "typeName": "coverage.Spatial",
                            "multiple": true,
                            "typeClass": "primitive",
                            "value": ["(291.22395900000004 36.88712)"]
                        }

This is, although better than nothing, far from ideal and not what you would normally describe as "Sky Coverage" in astronomy. Also you would probably want to add information on the coordinate system being used, the units, as well as which epoch the coordinates refer to.

Does anyone on the list know considerations behind not including these fields? Would there be any likelihood that they could be included in some future version?

Thank you!
Anders Conrad (The Royal Libray) and Rasmus Handberg (Aarhus University)

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[Anders Conrad]

Hi again, and thank you to Philip and Julian for your replies.

I checked the IVOA specification, and I can see your point, Philip, although I myself don't have the level of astrophsyical knowledge to evaluate the details. The question may end up being whether the IVOA specification offers sufficient support for our use case. We will discuss this further!

Meanwhile I will move my attention to the Github issue, opened by Julian.

Thank you!
Anders