notes_for_fetchsdss.txt

NOTES TOWARDS A SCRIPT FOR FETCHING SDSS IMAGES:

Usage:
$ fetchsdss "object_name" filters
$ fetchsdss "coordinates" filters

[filters = g, ugr, griz, etc.; this will be passed unmodified to later stages]
possible options for, e.g., other Data Products
   -- default will be fpC (Corrected imaging frame) and bestTsField
   -- options to specify other Data Products?

[X]1. lookup coords with SIMBAD, convert to decimal degrees
   -- steal this code from telarchive

[X]2. query CAS server ("Imaging Query") for CSV list; check for non-detection
http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/search/IQS.asp
   OR: query footprint server -- what telarchive does; should return short 
   HTML table of run/rerun/camcol/field info

   Check output messageString from foot-print archive:
   "Data: nnn nnn nnn nnn" = data found; extract

   Output Format --> CSV [?]
   Imaging --> BEST Imaging
   Filter --> as appropriate [could be left as-is]
   Position Constraints --> Proximity
   text field --> "ra,dec,sep\n<ra_deg>,<dec_deg>,1.0\n"

other settings should be unspecified or else set to defaults


[X]3. submit to DAS server and wait for full reply
http://das.sdss.org/DR3-cgi-bin/DAS

Convert CSV output from CAS server to text-field input in web page (rather 
than trying to save and fetch files)


CONSTRUCTION NOTES:

[X]1. Get coordinate lookup working, output sample "RA,Dec,1.0" string
   Test this string manually with the CAS web page

[X]2. CAS-query code: generate HTTP string
   Query actual CAS server with good coords
   Query actual CAS server with non-detected coords -- handle non-detection