Data Release 4 Index: Best Combined Maps 1-6 Data Release 4 Info Page
Survival Probability Tables Additional Data Directory Info Contact
Best Skymap Plots and Data Combining Maps 1 to 6
| Energy | Rainbow Color Map | Blue Gradient Color Map | Data .txt files (to download the data directly use this link: comb-map1to6) |
|
0.71 keV |
 |
 |
Differential Flux (comb-map1to6-0.71-flux.txt) |
|
1.11 keV |
 |
 |
Differential Flux (comb-map1to6-1.11-flux.txt) |
|
1.74 keV |
 |
 |
Differential Flux (comb-map1to6-1.74-flux.txt) |
|
2.73 keV |
 |
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Differential Flux (comb-map1to6-2.73-flux.txt) Signal/Noise (comb-map1to6-2.73-fsnr.txt) Variance (comb-map1to6-2.73-fvar.txt) |
|
4.29 keV |
 |
 |
Differential Flux (comb-map1to6-4.29-flux.txt |
Welcome to IBEX Data Release 4
Maps, Ascii Text Data Files, Papers and Other Information Based on Three Years of Operation.
IBEX Data Release 4
This fourth data release contains data used in the publication of McComas et al., 2012, "The First Three Years of IBEX Observations and Our Evolving Heliosphere". IBEX results, together with in situ observations from the Voyager-1 and -2 spacecraft currently in the inner heliosheath, other supporting observations from several spacecraft, and a broad theory and modeling effort are producing a revolutionary new understanding of the outer heliosphere and its interactions with the local interstellar medium. In this release, we provide new ENA observations from IBEX, covering its first, second and third years of science operations. For questions about this or any other release, please email [email protected].
Individual data directories and related skymaps by type may be accessed by selecting the IBEX instrument of interest in the buttons above and then selecting one of the particular type of skymaps in the table (and referred to in the paper). Each page will allow you to explore all the skymap images or subsets by energy type or flux.
To download the data release as a tar file or to go to a table of plots and data selections per instrument, click on one of the links below. To learn more about the structure and content of the files contained in the various released directories, a detailed description follows.
- IBEX Data Release 4 archive download .tgz file (300+Mb)
- IBEX Hi Data and Plots
- IBEX Lo Data and Plots
Data Directory Structure and Naming Conventions
Within the data directories there are subdirectories associated with each type of skymap. The following keywords or phrases embedded into the subdirectory names indicate the processing options used to create the skymaps.
- cg - Compton-Getting
- tabular - Survival Probabilities
- noSP - no Survival Probabilities
- ram - Ram direction
- antiram - Antiram direction
- mapx - x identifies a particular set of orbits spanning 6 months.
- yearx - x identifies a particular set of orbits spanning one year.
The 6-months and annual allsky maps are representative of the following IBEX orbits and dates:
| Year | Skymap # | Start-End of Orbits or Arcs | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Map1 | 11-34 | 12/25/2008 – 06/26/2009 |
| 1 | Map2 | 35-58 | 06/26/2009 – 12/26/2009 |
| 2 | Map3 | 59-82 | 12/26/2009 – 06/26/2010 |
| 2 | Map4 | 83-106 | 06/26/2010 – 12/26/2010 |
| 3 | Map5 | 107-130a | 12/26/2010 – 06/25/2011 |
| 3 | Map6 | 130b-150a | 06/25/2011 – 12/24/2011 |
Within each subdirectory there are a number of files associated with each sensor energy range that were used to create the skymap. File names that end with .txt (except -desc.txt) contain ASCII representations of particular data products. The data product with the file name "hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-ener.txt", for instance, identifies a flux (at 1 AU or at 100 AU if survival probabilities were applied) related file produced from the Hi instrument direct events (hide), triple (trp) coincidence types, energy sensor (2), with a type of 'energy' output data (ener), and that it is ASCII text data (.txt). The skymap plots with the .png suffix, accessible through the links in the "Plots" table below, are based on various calculations using these data products.
The -desc.txt files contain summary descriptions of the types and names of data files used to produce the plot files. Here is a listing of hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-desc.txt to illustrate:
Flux transported from 1 AU to 1.0 AU
| Data Type | Sample Filename |
|---|---|
| HS Flux | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-flux |
| HS Signal/Noise | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-fsnr |
| HS energies | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-ener |
| Samples per Pixel | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-numb |
| Total Exposure | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-fexp |
| Total Counts Data | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-cnts |
| Raw Orbit Data | hv60.hide-trp-flux100-hi-2-fraw |
Pixel Size: 6.000 x 6.000 degrees
| Constructed from file(s): |
|---|
| o0011-hv60.hide-trp-flux1au-hi-2.txt |
| o0012-hv60.hide-trp-flux1au-hi-2.txt |
| o0013-hv60.hide-trp-flux1au-hi-2.txt |
| . . . |
| o0034-hv60.hide-trp-flux1au-hi-2.txt |
With additional parameters:
data spread 6 spin-ward 7 sun-ward degrees
with range 7 spin-ward 7 sun-ward degrees
variance weighting disabled
exposure weighting enabled
nearest neighbor disabled
Normal de-ram corrections
Longitude-aligned orbit frames
Sun-ward range decreases towards NEP
Additional supporting files:
o0011-hv60.hide-trp-fvar1au-hi-2.txt
o0012-hv60.hide-trp-fvar1au-hi-2.txt
o0013-hv60.hide-trp-fvar1au-hi-2.txt
. . .
o0034-hv60.hide-trp-fvar1au-hi-2.txt
o0011-hv60.hide-trp-fexp1au-hi-2.txt
o0012-hv60.hide-trp-fexp1au-hi-2.txt
o0013-hv60.hide-trp-fexp1au-hi-2.txt
. . .
o0034-hv60.hide-trp-fexp1au-hi-2.txt
o0011-hv60.hide-trp-cnts1au-hi-2.txt
o0012-hv60.hide-trp-cnts1au-hi-2.txt
o0013-hv60.hide-trp-cnts1au-hi-2.txt
. . .
o0034-hv60.hide-trp-cnts1au-hi-2.txt
plot_title: 60d: hv60 hide trp
ener_title: ~0.71 keV
NOTE: Intermediate files, such as those listed as 'Constructed from" or "Additional supporting", are not provided as part of the Data Release.
Mono-Energetic Global Flux Maps
Some of the directories also contain a set of variable energy maps interpolated/extrapolated to a fixed energy.
The energy chosen is that of the center of the ESA channel in the s/c frame. These file names are similar to the
variable energy file names. E.g. hv60.hide-trp-mono_80-1.11-flux, is the hv60 cull, the hide data type (direct events from Hi),
coincidence type trp (triples), extrapolated to energy 1.11 keV (ESA channel 3).
There are fewer members to this family of products:
- flux: the flux estimate
- fvar: the variance (sigma squared) of the estimate
- fsnr: the signal-to-noise (flux/sigma) of the estimate
- desc: processing options
- parm-0: which contains the average spectral slope.
File Headers
Each individual data product file features a header describing the processing options used to create it. Here is the header from one such file. In the data file, the comment header would be followed by an array of numbers formatted per line based on the numbers 30x60 (30 rows by 60 columns) in the first line. Row 1 corresponds to the South Ecliptic Pole, while row 30 corresponds to the North Ecliptic Pole. The columns start at ecliptic longitude 0 and step through to ecliptic longitude 360; the values of the first and last columns in each map are identical. The layout of the columns corresponds to Solar Ecliptic East Longitude, right to left as seen outward by IBEX. The data value units are provided in either the "desc=" or "title=" entries.
# 27:30x60:-5.0x-5.0:7x6:0:7
#
# Sat Sep 1 19:53:41 2012
#
# flux_translate
#
# -s matrix
#
# -0 dec (addresses incr. downwards)
# -1 ra (addresses incr. left->right)
#
# h_min=0.000000 h_max=559.000000 h_title='Total Counts'
# min_0=-90 max_0=90 num_0=30 title_0='Dec (deg)'
# min_1=0 max_1=360 num_1=60 title_1='R.A. (deg)'
# desc="'flux (ENAs / cm^2 s sr keV)'"
# skyframe=ECLIPJ2000 posframe=J2000
#
# chat=0 smearspread='0/0/0' calc='0/0/0'
# frame_epoch=914629271.873 resp_class=hi_triple zaxis_ra_deg=+274.476346 zaxis_dec_deg=-22.782473
# ram_ra_deg=+187.1048 ram_dec_deg=-3.4879 mtype_list='05,0A,0E' energy_list='12'
# rate_factor='1000' bg_rate=0.05870 bg_rvar=.0000012100 e_nominal='0.71'
# g_factor='0.000406114' inv_method='it3ptfive,20,0.5,f,h,1.5625' meth_opts='20,0.500000,f,h,1.562500'
Calculation Notes
Spectral figures in the paper were derived from maps at different energies.
Combined maps were calculated as:
(example of combining the first three maps)
;Weights (exposure times)
wt1=tau1/(tau1+tau2+tau3)
wt2=tau2/(tau1+tau2+tau3)
wt3=tau3/(tau1+tau2+tau3)
;Combined fluxes, Variances, signal-to-noise
flux=flux1*wt1 + flux2*wt2 + flux3*wt3
var=var1*(wt1)^2 + var2*(wt2)^2 + var3*(wt3)^2
snr=flux/( sqrt(var) )
Survival Probability Tables
|
Each data directory related to survival probability has information about a different aspect of the transport through the heliosphere:
For this release, the survival probabilities are only applied to the IBEX-HI data stream. Note that the energy loss is negligible, and the deflection angles in the inertial system are always smaller than 0.6 degrees or so. Each directory has contains correction factors for data in the spacecraft frame (scf) and the inertial frame (1AU). The inertial frame (1AU) survival probabilities are used for the CG corrected data. The spacecraft frame factors are used for uncorrected data. The spacecraft frame files have the energy/direction shifts caused by the Earth/Spacecraft motion. This has a small effect on the survival probabilities (simply due to the energy shifts), but the deflection angles and energy shifts caused by this motion can be significant. The deflection and energy shift files are not applied by the IBEX pipeline software. In theory, these could be applied to the CG corrected data after the fact. However, it is important to note that the spacecraft frame correction factors for energy and angle contain elements of the CG correction and can yield confusing results when applied to the pipeline results. The data layout per frame consists of the following. For the spacecraft frame, there is a column for each ESA step, and a row for each angle bin (1 degree bins). Each number gives the probability at that angle and ESA for survival. The probability per angle is interpolated to the center of any particular angular bin being evaluated. In the inertial frame, the columns are the energies rather than ESA steps. These are applied to the IBEX images that are given on the variable energy grid. For each image pixel, we take the energy and angle and use a 2D interpolation to get the survival probability. |
Release Detailed Description
IBEX orbits and dates used to construct 6-months and annual allsky maps:
| Year | Skymap # | Start-End of Orbits or Arcs | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Map1 | 11-34 | 12/25/2008 – 06/26/2009 |
| 1 | Map2 | 35-58 | 06/26/2009 – 12/26/2009 |
| 2 | Map3 | 59-82 | 12/26/2009 – 06/26/2010 |
| 2 | Map4 | 83-106 | 06/26/2010 – 12/26/2010 |
| 3 | Map5 | 107-130a | 12/26/2010 – 06/25/2011 |
| 3 | Map6 | 130b-150a | 06/25/2011 – 12/24/2011 |
############################################################################
This dataset includes the following IBEX products:
1. 6-month Maps in the SC frame
2. 6-month Maps in the HS Frame
3. 6-month Maps in the SC frame with Survival Probability
4. 6-month Maps in the HS Frame with Survival Probability
5. RAM Yearly Maps in the SC frame without Survival Probability
6. Anti-RAM Yearly Maps in the SC frame without Survival Probability
7. RAM Yearly Maps in the HS frame without Survival Probability
8. Anti-RAM Yearly Maps in the HS frame without Survival Probability
9. RAM Yearly Maps in the SC frame with Survival Probability
10. Anti-RAM Yearly Maps in the SC frame with Survival Probability
11. RAM Yearly Maps in the HS frame with Survival Probability
12. Anti-RAM Yearly Maps in the HS frame with Survival Probability
13. IBEX-Lo, Ram and Antiram, SC frame (orbits 11 through 150q),
without Survival probability, Signal-to-Noise mask threshold=3
14. Survival Probabilities for IBEX-Lo and IBEX-Hi (maps only).
############################################################################
Spectral figures in the paper were derived from maps at different energies.
Combined maps were calculated as:
(example of combining the first three maps)
;Weights (exposure times)
wt1=tau1/(tau1+tau2+tau3)
wt2=tau2/(tau1+tau2+tau3)
wt3=tau3/(tau1+tau2+tau3)
;Combined fluxes, Variances, signal-to-noise
flux=flux1*wt1 + flux2*wt2 + flux3*wt3
var=var1*(wt1)^2 + var2*(wt2)^2 + var3*(wt3)^2
snr=flux/( sqrt(var) )
############################################################################
Orbit culls and other data related to this release are locked on the isoc.
############################################################################
Contact
Email: [email protected]