EPOXI: Earth Observations Medium Resolution Visible CCD Raw Data

Status: Archived

This data set set contains version 1.0 of raw 750-nm filter images of Earth acquired by the Deep Impact Medium Resolution Visible CCD during the EPOCh phase of the EPOXI mission. The MRI instrument was only used during first Earth observing period on 18-19 March 2008. The observing period lasted approximately 24 hours, and one MRI image was taken simultaneously with the first north/south scan of the HRI IR spectrometer at half-hour intervals. These MRI data serve as context images for the IR spectral scans. Additional Earth observations are planned for the mission, and, if acquired, MRI images will be added to a future version of this data set.

The entire data set including catalogs, documents, indices, and supporting files can be downloaded here:

• epxear_0005.tgz(28 MB gzipped tar file)

A file of MD5 checksums for the download file is available here.

In case you're wondering... How to download large files What to do with a TGZ file What to do with a checksum

An overview of the volume contents is provided in the aareadme.txt file.

Known Problems

Before attempting to use this data, users should read the errata.txt file.

Catalog Files

Catalog files contain the overview information and parameters used in loading the PDS central catalog, specifically, or for developing other interfaces to the data outside of PDS. The information they contain, particularly in their descriptive text fields, should be clear, complete, and understandable to a research user who is not necessarily a mission or instrument specialist.

These files are located in the catalog/ directory. The directory contents are described by the catinfo.txt file.

• EPOXI mission file
• Deep Impact Flyby Spacecraft instrument host file
• Deep Impact Medium Resolution Visible CCD instrument file
• Data Set description file
• Target catalog files contain very brief definitions of the various TARGET_NAME values found in the PDS labels for the data:
  • Earth
• References file
• Personnel file

Documentation Files

The current documentation for the EPOXI and Deep Impact missions has been collected into a separate volume. The root of this volume is here. The contents are described in the aareadme file in the root of the documentation volume. However some specific documents are duplicated in this data set to assist with understanding the data and processing involved. These files are located in the document/ directory. The directory contents are described by the docinfo.txt file. Please note these documents may be older versions of those found in the EPOXI and Deep Impact documentation set.

• Software Interface Specifications document describes the contents of the PDS data sets and data products for the EPOXI archive: (PDF, PDS label).
• The EPOXI data pipeline and calibration process, including some instrument descriptions and image orientation, is described by this incomplete draft of the Deep Impact instrument calibration paper published in Review of Scientific Instruments in 2008: (PDF, PDS label).
• The Medium Resolution Visible CCD is described by this draft of the Deep Impact instruments paper published in Space Science Reviews: (PDF, PDS label).
• The EPOXI quaternion description: (ASCII, PDS label).
• Month/Day and Day-of-Year conversion calendars: (PDF, PDS label).
• The EPOXI local data dictionary: (ASCII dictionary file, ASCII dictionary index, PDS label).

• Overview of the EPOCh phase of the EPOXI mission: (PDF, PDS label).
• Description of EPOCh Earth Observations: (PDF, PDS label).
• EPOXI/EPOCh Earth Observations 2008 - Pointing and HRII, HRIV, and MRI Sequences: (PDF, PDS label).
• Image parameters extracted from the PDS labels for raw MRI Earth observations acquired during the EPOXI mission: (ASCII table, PDS label).

Data Files

The data/ are divided by date of observation, with subdirectories named by sequential day number under the data/2008 subdirectory. The data are FITS files with multiple extensions including the primary image and a pixel quality map. Each data file has a detached PDS label (*.lbl). The data format is described in the Software Interface Specifications document.

Index Files

The index/ directory contains the required PDS index of the files in the data directory, as well as the checksum file. The indxinfo.txt describes the directory contents:

• index.tab is a CSV table that identifies the location of each data file in this data set (PDS label).
• checksum.tab is a flat table of MD5 checksums for each file in this data set except for itself and its PDS label.