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Do You Like JUDO?
At PLAIN/DARTS, we are continuously improving user-interface to access space science data archived at DARTS. One of the recent products is "JAXA Universe Data Oriented" — JUDO. Images taken by spacecrafts are put on the celestial sphere, so that you can freely navigate the sky to pick up and look at your favorite objects (just like Google Earth or Google Sky). Currently, we put X-ray color images taken by JAXA's Suzaku X-ray satellite. In future, we plan to add more images taken by other astronomical satellites or ground-based observatories.
We introduce new features of JUDO which we have just recently implemented:
- Automated updates connected with Suzaku database
So far, Suzaku public data-release has not been frequent. However, from October 2007, new data will be made public constantly. Now JUDO is referencing the Suzaku database at DARTS (suzaku_master) which records the dates when Suzaku data are made public (Public Dates) and other processing information. As soon as new Suzaku data are publicly released, they are added to JUDO.
- Improvement of the interface
While we now have a lot of Suzaku public data on JUDO, the new interface allows you to find your targets without pain. In the new interface, we have the "Show Information" check-box near the top, which turns on/off the target names and sequence numbers in the text box at the bottom. When this option is turned on, if you put the mouse on the target name/sequence number in the text box, a graphical marker appears in the image to tell the location of that observation sequence. Also, you may filter target names or sequence numbers by inputting any texts or numbers in the dialog box.
- Field of View (FOV) of non-public data are displayed
In the new version, we display not only the public data (shown in pink points/squares), but also FOV of non-public data (indicated by green points/squares). These data will be made public one year after the observation. Click the target name in the text box to see its Public Date and other detailed information in another window.
There are other improvements like the way images are updated when you "drag" the image by mouse. Just use and feel it, and let us know your comments or suggestions via "darts-admin AT ML.isas.jaxa.jp". We hope you enjoy JUDO even if you are not good at Judo!
X-ray color picture of the supernova remnant Cygnus-Loop taken by Suzaku X-ray satellite. X-ray wavelengths from Cygnus-Loop are rather long, so they are shown in red if displayed in pseudo-color (compare with other "blueish" images of, for example, the Galactic Center region). Since observation of Cygnus-Loop is made with multiple pointings over several days in a row, these data are made public one by one after the one-year period. You may see the public images (red) and location of the non-public data (green squares) sinultaneously.
October 2007