SANTA - The STScI Archive Name Translation Applications

This applications translates named targets into coordinates. It queries a list of back-end resolvers, until it finds a match for a target, or until all resolvers are queried. The basic call is http://mastresolver.stsci.edu/Santa-war/query?name=M51. The parameters are

name the target to resolver. There can be multiple name parameters in the same request (e.g. name=M51&name=M77), each one will be resolved independently. Note that the server has a timeout of 20 seconds. This field is required
grouped Changes the return XML and json to group items by search string. The default is false.
jsonp The name of the javascript callback to pass this json object into. If specified the outputFormat=json is assumed.
outputFormat Request the output in one of two formats, XML or JSON. XML is the default.
resolver the names of the resolver to use. The valid resolvers are Coordinates, KEPLER, K2, NED, SimbadCFA, Simbad, TIC, EXO and DADS (not case sensitive).
  • Coordinates resolves coordinates typed in many forms)
  • Kepler resolves Kepler identifiers starting with Kepler, Kplr or KIC, e.g. KPLR757076
  • K2 resolves K2 identifiers starting with EPIC, K2 or KTWO, e.g. EPIC 201124136.
  • NED resolves using the http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu object name search.
  • Simbad resolves using the http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid query by identifiers search
  • SimbadCFA uses the same query process as Simbad, but using the http://simbad.harvard.edu mission.
  • TIC resolves identifiers from the TESS Input Catalog in the form TIC 52031993.
  • EXO resolves Exoplanet identifiers, including TESS Target of Interest (TOI) identifiers.
  • DADS resolves IPPPSSOOTs, and HLA style proposalId_obsetId identifiers.
One can specify multiple resolver parameters in the same request (e.g. resolver=NED&resolver=Simbad). Each will be tried in the order specified. If not specified the default resolver order will be used. The default order is currently Coordinates , NED, SimbadCFA, Simbad, KEPLER, K2, TIC, DADS, EXO.
resolveAll If set to the value of true, the resolution of all the name resolvers will be returned rather than simply the first successfull one to find a value. The default value is false.
source An optional field to allow a system to identify itself for logging. For example, the HLA might want to set this value to HLA so all the HLA query log entries can be easily distinguished.
sourceKey An optional field to allow a system to provide additional logging information to be returned to help distinguish that applications logging.
useCache An optional parameter to disable the retrieval of coordinates from the SANTA cache. If set to false, the query will be resolved using the name resolvers and not the cached values. Note the cached values will be updated. The default value is true.
test An optional parameter that returns additional information in the status field. Setting test to true will return verbose messages from resolvers. This information is primarily intended for debugging purposes. .

The return of this service is an XML document or json document.

For non-grouped results the XML result is

            <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
            <ns2:resolvedItems xmlns:ns2="santa.stsci.edu">
                <resolvedCoordinate>
                    <cacheDate>2010-06-07T11:35:54.569-06:00</cacheDate>
                    <cached>true</cached>
                    <canonicalName>M  82</cononicalName>
                    <dec>69.68022222222223</dec>
                    <majorAxis>0.17450000000000002</majorAxis>
                    <minorAxis>0.07275000000000001</minorAxis>
                    <pm>0.0</pm>
                    <positionAngle>65.0</positionAngle>
                    <ra>148.96745833333333</ra>
                    <radius>0.08725000000000001</radius>
                    <searchRadius>-1.0</searchRadius>
                    <searchString>M82</searchString>
                    <resolver>Simbad</resolver>
                </resolvedCoordinate>
                <status/>
            </ns2:resolvedItems>
        

and the json is

{"resolvedItems":[
    {"searchString":"m82",
     "canonicalName":"MESSIER 082",
     "ra":148.96969,
     "dec":69.67938,
     "radius":0.09333333333333332,
     "searchRadius":-1.0,
     "objectType":"G",
     "resolver":"NED",
     "cached":true,
     "cacheDate":"Wed Sep 07 23:24:41 MDT 2011"}],
 "status":""}

        

For grouped results for two objects being resolved the

            <ns2:groupedResolvedItems xmlns:ns2="santa.stsci.edu">
              <resultGroup searchString="m51">
                <resolvedCoordinate>
                  <cacheDate>2011-08-29T10:12:21-04:00</cacheDate>
                  <cached>true</cached>
                  <canonicalName>MESSIER 051</canonicalName>
                  <dec>47.23056</dec>
                  <objectType>GPair</objectType>
                  <ra>202.48417</ra>
                  <radius>0.075</radius>
                  <resolver>NED</resolver>
                  <searchRadius>-1.0</searchRadius>
                  <searchString>m51</searchString>
                </resolvedCoordinate>
              </resultGroup>
              <resultGroup searchString="m82">
                <resolvedCoordinate>
                  <cacheDate>2011-08-31T14:20:36-04:00</cacheDate>
                  <cached>true</cached>
                  <canonicalName>MESSIER 082</canonicalName>
                  <dec>69.67938</dec>
                  <objectType>G</objectType>
                  <ra>148.96969</ra>
                  <radius>0.09333333333333332</radius>
                  <resolver>NED</resolver>
                  <searchRadius>-1.0</searchRadius>
                  <searchString>m82</searchString>
                </resolvedCoordinate>
              </resultGroup>
              <status/>
            </ns2:groupedResolvedItems>
        

and the equivalent json is

{"groupedResolvedItems":[
    {"searchString":"m51",
     "resolvedCoordinate":[
	 {"canonicalName":"MESSIER 051",
	  "ra":202.48417,
	  "dec":47.23056,
	  "radius":0.075,
	  "searchRadius":-1.0,
	  "objectType":"GPair",
	  "resolver":"NED",
	  "cached":true,
	  "cacheDate":"Wed Sep 07 23:24:10 MDT 2011"}
     ]},
    {"searchString":"m82",
     "resolvedCoordinate":[
	 {"canonicalName":"MESSIER 082",
	  "ra":148.96969,
	  "dec":69.67938,
	  "radius":0.09333333333333332,
	  "searchRadius":-1.0,
	  "objectType":"G",
	  "resolver":"NED",
	  "cached":true,
	  "cacheDate":"Wed Sep 07 23:24:41 MDT 2011"}]
    }],
 "status":""}
        

Each resolved coordinate, either because of multiple resolvers and/or multiple name parameters given, are returned as a resolvedCoordinate. The coordinates, ra and decl, are in J2000 and are given as degrees. The radius, are in degrees of arc. A negative search radius indicates the user did not specify a radius string in their query. The proper motion is in arcseconds per year. (all of this needs to be ensured for the different resovlers....). Note each field is optional and if no value for a field is found, that field is omitted from the return document.

Additionally all results have a status field. If blank all SANTA resolvers are operational. Any exception to this will be noted in the string within the status field.