Raw data from the Whipple 10m gamma-ray telescope, Mt Hopkins, AZ

Description This dataset provides the raw data from observations made with the Whipple 10-meter imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona between September 1994 and July 2011. The data are stored in a proprietary format, based on the CERN FZ framework, for which we have developed a pure Python reader/decoder with which you can extract the images and metadata for display or analysis. The observation logsheets which describe the data taking are also available for the majority of nights. Unfortunately a substantial fraction of the observations has been lost to the passage of time, so the dataset here is not complete. It is difficult to estimate the total quantity of data lost. The observations were generally made in 28-minute long runs with the telescope tracking a source in the sky during dark, moonless nights. These observations are organized into darkruns between the full-moon periods when no data-taking could be made, and into seasons around the Summer monsoon period in Arizona when the camera was disconnected to protect it from damage from lightning storms. The imaging camera used on the Whipple 10m telescope evolved during the time from 1994 to 2011, with this evolution being described in detail by Kildea et al., Astroparticle Physics, 28, 2, 182-195, (2007). Raw data files: raw10/dYYYYMMDD/gtNNNNNN.fz.xz Data recorded during each observation run are stored in a single data file in the Granite data format (GDF). These files contain multiple records of different types, as described in some detail in the readme page for the Python reader/decoder. The following record types are available and are supported by the reader: Run header: Nominal start time of the run, comments entered by the observer, and other miscellaneous information. 10m event: The data recorded for each event, including time, digitized image, trigger type, etc. 10m frame: Data recorded for special calibration events in early Whipple data. Phased out in GDF version 80 (starting on 1997-10-29), after which the calibration data appears in the 10m event records, flagged by a specific trigger bit. Tracking status: Target name and coordinates, and position of telescope (azimuth and elevation angles) read out periodically from the tracking computer, if available. HV status: Measured voltages and currents on each PMT, read out periodically from the high-voltage system, if available. Here the data files are grouped into tar archives for each season, e.g. raw10_1998_1999.tar, which will yield data files with the following hierarchy when unpacked: raw10/dYYYYMMDD/gtNNNNNN.fz.xz, where YYYYMMDD is the UTC date of the observations and NNNNNN is a zero-padded run number of the observation. The data files are compressed using the standard LZMA compression format, which can be read directly by the Python reader (there is no need to decompress the files manually). Users can download the full dataset (tar files) from this repository, unpack them and operate on them locally. Alternatively, the Python reader can download individual runs from the repository on-the-fly, which allows the data to be explored without downloading in advance. The raw data repository comprises: 22,805 observation runs, taken on  1,827 nights of observation, where 620,331,605 events were recorded during  24,633,108 seconds of observation (6,842.5 hours). Log sheet files: log10/dYYYYMMDD.log_10 The observations for each night are described by a plain-text (ASCII) log sheet, written by the observers that operated the telescope each night. These log sheets are also available in the repository, grouped into a tar archive, log10.tar, which unpacks into a set of files with the following hierarchy: log10/dYYYYMMDD.log_10. The logs have been anonymized to remove references to the names of the observers and support staff. The logs describe the observations made, problems encountered, weather conditions, modifications to the hardware, and give the results of a \"quicklook\" analysis of the data files (significance of any detection and rate of gamma rays detected). The logsheet archive comprises 2,582 logsheets describing the observations made on individual nights. Run database: raw10_run_summary.csv.xz Two summary databases are also available in CSV form. The file raw10_run_summary.csv.xz contains one entry for each data file in the archive, obtained by scanning the data file and processing the various records. Each record contains the following entries: filename: filename in the archive in the form raw10/dYYYYMMDD/gtNNNNNN.fz.xz (string) run_number: run number, extracted from the filename (integer) gdf_version: version number of the Granite data format (integer, between 21 and 83) nheader: number of GDF header records in the file (integer) nevent: number of GDF event records in the file (integer) nframe: number of GDF frame records in the file (integer) ntracking: number of GDF tracking records in the file (integer)...