Welcome to http://www.handsonuniverse.org/activities/Explorations/HOUtips/download.html

Contents:   * Search Request Queue *  Your Request is Complete *  Telescope Archives *

One of HOU's primary goals is to provide new images for participating teachers and their students. New images are taken by observatories in response to Observation Requests.  The HOU database may be searched through the Requests Queue or Images Archive.   Anyone may view and download images from HOU.  Images are in 16 bit FITS format (.fts).  Only HOU participants may request new observations. 

Select http://hou.lbl.gov/telescope/

Search Request Queue

Choose Observation Request.  http://hou.lbl.gov/queue/

1. If you know your request ID, simply enter the number and select search.
   
2. To look at a list of completed requests.
   

• Click on the completed requests link from the request queue page.
• Browse through the list to find an image of interest to you.
• You can click on more to find out about the request.
• Or you can click on the image ID to come to the download the image.
• Click on the image name to download. You should get a prompt to Save As.
• If not, or if your browser starts to open the image as characters instead of a picture, hit stop, then back. Use the right click button on  your mouse.  (PC Users).

	To search with specific criteria, select or .  Order the search by using the selections at the bottom of the page. Order by: Request ID Descending. This is so you display recent requests first.  You can specify your search further by putting in your own user id, etc.
HINT: If you put m5 in your search, you will get m5, m57, m58, etc. If you put ~m5 or ~M5, you will get only m5.	Blue Font, underlined, hyperlinked, Request ID's mean that images are in the database.  Black Font, not underlined, unlinked Request ID's  mean the requests are not complete, no  images are in the database.

 

3. Select in order to find all your own images.  Simply scroll the list to find your user name.  If the information is incomplete, or unknown, please email houstaff@hou.lbl.gov.

Email Notice: Your Request is Complete

When your observation is completed you will receive email titled such as
Your Request 24000050 for 'm3'  is complete

Your request for an observation with a Hands-On Universe telescope (Request number: 24000050) has been completed. Your request was for 'm3 '. To pick up the images, please go to: http://hou.lbl.gov/~houwww/participant/requests/checkrequest.html You can use the request number to see the results of the observation and to download the image or images. If you have any troubles relating to the download and display of these images, please send an email message to houstaff@hou.lbl.gov. Please include the request number, your name, and a description of problem that occurred. Thank You, Hands-On Universe.

To find and download your image:

• You can open the link in the email http://hou.lbl.gov/~houwww/participant/requests/checkrequest.html
• or you can simply go to the HOU Request Queue page http://hou.lbl.gov/queue/.  In either case, put in your request ID. In this case, 24000050. For your own requests you will have a different number.
• Click Submit. You will get a screen that shows your original request and the images taken to satisfy that request.
• When you click on the image ID (this is an internal image number assigned by the database), you will have the opportunity to download your image.
• You will get a box that asks you where you want to save your image and you will be able to write your own name for the image.
• Trouble Shooting: If your browser is opening the image and it looks like a string of characters instead of a picture, hit stop, then back on the browser menu bar. Then right click on the image name with your mouse  (specific to PC computers).

Where to save your images on your computer?

Suggestion:  Make a folder called requests in your images folder for HOU.

Then you can save your image inside the HOU folder, inside the images folder, and finally inside a new folder you create on your computer such as "requests" folder.

HOU-IP
    images
        requests

What to name your image?

You could just keep the name assigned by HOU or rename image in a way that makes sense to you.  Perhaps using the object name, and then some other identifier, such as the date or the initials of the observer.   If there is more than one image, you may wish to add an a, b, c etc. to the name of the image. This way you will be able to track the images in your own computer.

Telescope Archives

Go to the HOU homepage, http://hou.lbl.gov

Go to the Images section.  Browse Images by Telescope/Observatory

Many current images are being taken at the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory, especially the Yerkes 24 inch telescope.  Choose Yerkes 24 Inch, or another telescope archive.   

Select one of the choices provided to list images.

You will eventually end up on a page with pictures of the images and the option to download.

Click on the fts or fits link in the "download" column for the image you would like.

Depending on how your browser is configured, this will prompt one of three things to happen:

• A dialogue box will come up and ask you what you want to do with the file, select save file on disk and save it in the images folder on your computer.
• The file will open in a new window and look like a bunch of garbled data.  If this happens, then hit stop, then back on your browser.  Then, right click on the name of the image.  (PC specific)  You should get a dialog box that says Save As.
• Name the file, choose the folder where you want the image to be saved.  Click OK.
• Your computer may be configured to recognize fts files and use HOU-IP.  The file might open automatically in the HOU-IP software.

Search Image Database

It is important to do a couple of things to make your search productive and not frustrating.  1.  Order by Date Observed descending so that you are viewing the most recent images first. 2.  If you want to see all the images of m10, after name write ~m10.  If you just write m10 without the ~ first, you will get all m10, m100, m101, etc., any object beginning with m10.  3.  When the search results appear, note that you can reorder columns by clicking on the header for ascending order, or the footer for descending order.  4.  This search will result in images directly, rather than requests, as in the Advanced Search above.