One

or more object names can be entered into the 'Object Search' box. Press 'tab', 'return', or 'comma' on your keyboard to finish entering the object name (clicking off the text box will also work). The form will attempt to resolve the object name into a coordinate

using the MAST name

resolving service.

This service looks up the object's name using

Simbad, NED, and several databases

internal to MAST.

• Upon a successful resolve, the object name will be surrounded by a green color, a check mark is added in front of the name, and the resolved coordinate will appear to the right of the object name in parenthesis. The coordinate shown will be used as the center of the cone search for that object.

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• If the object name can not be resolved, the target will be surrounded by a yellow color and an exclamation point is added in front of the name.

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• The 'X' mark right next to each entry can used to remove an object.

Coordinates

One or more coordinates can be entered into the 'Object Search' box. Coordinates can be entered in sexagesimal notation (Right Ascension in hours; HH MM SS.ss or HH:MM:SS.ss, Declination in degrees; DD MM SS.ss or DD:MM:SS

.ss) or in decimal notation (Right Ascension and Declination both in degrees; DDD.dd). Press 'tab', 'return', or 'comma' on your keyboard to finish entering the coordinate (clicking off the text box will also work).

A file can be uploaded into the form that contains a list of object names to resolve into coordinates, coordinate pairs of Right Ascension and Declination, or Dataset IDs. The file must be in comma-separated value (CSV) format, and the top row must contain a header with column names. The header row does not need any special character in the front: the first row is always read in as the header row. The header row is case-insensitive.

• If the file contains object names, coordinates, and dataset IDs, the search form will use the dataset IDs and return those exact matches in the search results.  
• If the file contains object names and coordinates, the search form will use the coordinates to perform cone searches, and it will not attempt to resolve any object names.  
• If the file contains only object names, the search form will attempt to resolve them into coordinates.

The number of object names that were successfully and unsuccessfully resolved is reported, and clicking on the number of unsuccessful name resolves will display an overlay with more information and line numbers to provide further information.

The columns in the uploaded file are included in the search results table on the far right, with labels of 'User File <col>'.  For example, if the uploaded file contained rows labeled 'target', 'ra', 'dec', 'dataset_id' they are included in the search results table as 'User File target', 'User File ra', 'User File dec', and 'User File dataset_id'.

Regardless of how

a position on the sky is specified (through

an object name

resolved into coordinates, or directly using Right Ascension and Declination) the size of the

search radius is defined using the 'Search Radius' component. The radius may be defined in either arcseconds or arcminutes.  The default size is 3 arcminutes in the form and a maximum radius of 30 arcminutes is allowed.

If a list is uploaded to the search form, this cone search radius is applied to every object name or coordinate in that list.