ALADIN

NAME

aladin − interactive software sky atlas

SYNOPSIS

aladin [options...] [filenames...]
aladin −hipsgen|−mocgen [−h] [options...]
aladin −help|−version

DESCRIPTION

aladin is an interactive sky atlas for viewing astronomical images in the online Virtual Observatory (VO) developed by the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS). It is possible to superimpose entries from astronomical catalogues or databases with remotely accessed data fetched on demand.

Aladin can also open and save to a large number of astronomical image formats (FITS, HEALPix, JPEG/GIF/PNG/...); and table formats (FITS, VO-Table, CSV/TSV, S-extractor, IPAC-TBL, Skycat, ASCII, ...).

This manual describes only the command line parameters of aladin. The possibilities of the graphical user interface can be discovered with the Help menu once the program is started.

OPTIONS

−help

show top-level help

−version

display the Aladin release number

−local

skip internet connectivity tests (off-line usage)

−screen=full|cinema|preview|frame

start in full-screen, cinema, preview, or other visual modes.

−script=cmd1;cmd2;...

script commands passed on the command-line

−nogui

script-mode. Does not use graphical user interface. Equivalent to -noplugin -nohub

−[no]hub

disable/enable starting the internal SAMP communcations hub for sharing data with other astronomical applications

−[no]plugin

disable/enable plugin support

Debugging Options
−[no]beta

disable/enable features that currently in beta-test

−[no]proto

disable/enable prototype feature. Useful for testing or when performing demonstrations

	−trace		debugging trace mode
	−debug		debugging extra verbose mode

HiPS command parameters
The −hipsgen command allows a script-/command-line based Hierarchical Progressive Surveys (HiPS) generation. The options can be given on the command line, or in a config file (param=configfile). Additional parameters may be retrieved with the command aladin −hipsgen −h.
in=dir|file

Source image directory (FITS or JPEG|PNG +hhh or HiPS) or unique image or HEALPix map file (required parameter)

out=dir

HiPS target directory (default $PWD+"HiPS")

obs_title=name

Name of the survey (by default, input directory name)

creator_did=id

HiPS identifier (syntax: [ivo://]AUTHORITY/internalID)

hips_creator=name

Name of the person or institute who builds the HiPS

hips_status=private|public clonable|clonableOnce|unclonable

HiPS status (default: public clonableOnce)

hdu=n1,n2-n3,...|all

List of HDU numbers (0 is the primary HDU - default is 0)

blank=nn

Specifical BLANK value

skyval=key|auto|%info|%min %max

FITS key to use for removing a sky background, or auto detection or percents of pixel histogram kept (central ex 99, or min max ex 0.3 99.7)

color=jpeg|png

The source images are colored images (jpg or png) and the tiles will be produced in jpeg (resp. png)

shape=ellipse|rectangle

Shape of the observations

border=...

Margins (in pixels) to ignore in the original observations (N W S E or constant)

fov=true|x1,y1..

Observed regions by files.fov or global polygon (in FITS convention).

pilot=nnn

Pilot test limited to the nnn first original images.

verbose=n

Debug information from -1 (nothing) to 4 (a lot)

	−live		incremental HiPS (keep weight associated to each HiPS pixel)
	−f		clear previous computations
	−n		Just print process information, but do not execute it.

MOC command parameters
The −mocgen command generates the MOC (Multi Object Coverage Map) corresponding to a collection of images or WCS headers. A MOC is a a coverage map based on HEALPix sky tesselation.

The supported formats are: FITS files, MEF files, jpeg or png files (WCS header in the comment segment), .hhh file (FITS header files without pixels) and .txt simple ASCII file (FITS header as keyword = value basic ASCII lines).

−v

Verbose mode

−strict

Scan pixel values instead of using WCS image coverage

blank=value

Alternate BLANK value (−strict only)

order=nn

MOC resolution (default 10 => 3.345’)

mocfmt=fits|json

MOC output format (default FITS)

previous=moc.fits

Previous MOC (if additions)

hdu=n1,n2-n3|all

List of concerned FITS extensions

	−r		Recursive directory scanning
	−o		Output MOC updated continuously rather than generated at the end

in=fileOrDir

Directory of images/headers collection

out=outMoc.fits

Output MOC file

−d

Debug trace

DATA FORMATS

Aladin is able to process the following file formats:

	images		FITS (gzipped,RICE,MEF,...), HEALPix maps, JPEG,GIF,PNG
	tables		FITS, XML/VOTable, CSV, TSV, S-extractor, IPAC-TBL, Skycat or ASCII tables

graphics

Aladin or IDL or DS9 regions, MOCs

directories

HiPS (Hierarchical Progressive Surveys)

Aladin backups

Files with "*.aj" extension

Aladin scripts

Files with "*.ajs" extension

AUTHORS

Aladin was written by Pierre Fernique (Aladin Desktop core base & documentations), Thomas Boch (many advanced Aladin Desktop features), Anaïs Oberto (RGB support, HiPS prototypes), François Bonnarel (Image calibration), and Chaitra (TAP,SIAv2 implementation).

COPYRIGHT

Aladin is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 3 of the License.

If the Aladin Sky Atlas was helpful for your research work, the following citation would be appreciated: This research has made use of "Aladin sky atlas" developed at CDS, Strasbourg Observatory, France. 2000A&AS..143...33B and 2014ASPC..485..277B.

HOMEPAGE

http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/

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