Data Columns in the MOA Time Series Data
The NASA Exoplanet Archive provides access to nine years of historical MOA photometric time series data, spanning 2006–2014. In total, there are ~2.4 million light curves across 22 target fields. A map of the observational footprint (i.e., the MOA target fields) can be accessed from the archive's MOA Mission page.
The MOA dataset consists of two components: the collection of light curves and a table containing the metadata for all the light curves. Each light curve is presented as a table in this dataset. Each row in each light curve table corresponds to a moment in time when an observation was made and the related measurements and derived values for that observation. Each row in the metadata table corresponds to a light curve. There is one row in the metadata table for each light curve in the dataset. The metadata row contains both observational information about the light curve (e.g., location on the sky) for all sources and relevant microlensing candidate selection information (e.g., the initial point-source-point-lens parameters found to fit the event) for the ~6,000 sources identified in the initial release.
The following tables define the data columns in the MOA dataset. If you have further questions about the data, please submit a Helpdesk ticket.
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Metadata ColumnsLight Curve Columns
Metadata Columns
| Database Column Name | Table Label | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| field | Field | Galactic bulge observing field number | |
| chip | Chip | Chip number | |
| subframe | Subframe | Subframe number | |
| id | ID | Target identifier | |
| tag | Tag | Target classification | |
| x | x | pix | Pixel position x coordinate |
| y | y | pix | Pixel position y coordinate |
| ra_j2000 | RA | deg | Right ascension J2000 |
| dec_j2000 | Dec | deg | Declination J2000 |
| number_of_data_points | Number of data points analyzed | Number of data points analyzed in a light curve | |
| number_of_frames_object_is_detected | Frames detected | Number of frames in which the object is detected | |
| max_significance | Max significance | Significance at maximum significant point in light curve | |
| sum_of_continuous_significance | Sum significance | Sum of significance of continuous significant points in light curve | |
| chi_squared_outside_search_window | Chi squared outside window | Chi squared outside of the search window in light curve | |
| dophot_object_reference_image_separation | DoPHOT reference separation | pix | Separation in pixels to the closest |
| dophot_id | DoPHOT ID | DoPHOT identifier | |
| dophot_type | DoPHOT type | DoPHOT type | |
| dophot_magnitude | DoPHOT magnitude | DoPHOT magnitude | |
| dophot_magnitude_error | doPHOT magnitude error | DoPHOT magnitude error | |
| pspl_t0 | t_0 (PSPL) | d | The time of minimum angular separation between lens and source in the fitted PSPL model |
| pspl_source_flux | Source flux (PSPL) | The source flux in the fitted PSPL model | |
| pspl_blending_flux | Blending flux (PSPL) | The blending flux in the fitted PSPL model | |
| pspl_t0_parabolic_error | t_0 error (PSPL) | d | Parabolic error in pspl_t0 |
| pspl_tE_parabolic_error | t_E error (PSPL) | d | Parabolic error in pspl_tE |
| pspl_u0_parabolic_error | u_0 error (PSPL) | Parabolic error in pspl_u0. | |
| pspl_u0_error_lower_limit | u_0 lower limit (PSPL) | Lower limit error in pspl_u0. | |
| pspl_u0_error_upper_limit | u_0 upper limit (PSPL) | Upper limit error in pspl_u0. | |
| pspl_source_flux_error | Source flux error (PSPL) | Error in pspl_source_flux. | |
| pspl_blending_flux_error | Blending flux error (PSPL) | Error in pspl_blending_flux. | |
| pspl_chi_squared | Chi squared (PSPL) | The chi-squared statistic of the fitted PSPL model. | |
| fspl_t0 | t_0 (FSPL) | d | The time of minimum angular separation between lens and source in the fitted FSPL model. |
| fspl_tE | t_E (FSPL) | d | The Einstein crossing time in the fitted FSPL model. |
| fspl_u0 | u_0 (FSPL) | The minimum angular separation between lens and source normalized by the angular Einstein radius in the fitted FSPL model. | |
| fspl_rho | rho (FSPL) | The angular source size normalized by the angular Einstein radius in the fitted FSPL model. | |
| fspl_source_flux | Source flux (FSPL) | The source flux in the fitted FSPL model. | |
| fspl_blending_flux | Blending flux (FSPL) | The blending flux in the fitted FSPL model. | |
| fspl_t0_parabolic_error | t_0 error (FSPL) | d | Parabolic error in fspl_t0. |
| fspl_tE_parabolic_error | t_E error (FSPL) | d | Parabolic error in fspl_tE. |
| fspl_tE_error_lower_limit | t_E lower limit (FSPL) | d | Lower limit error in fspl_tE. |
| fspl_tE_error_upper_limit | t_E upper limit (FSPL) | d | Upper limit error in fspl_tE |
| fspl_u0_parabolic_error | u_0 error (FSPL) | Parabolic error in fspl_u0. | |
| fspl_u0_error_lower_limit | u_0 lower limit (FSPL) | Lower limit error in fspl_u0. | |
| fspl_u0_error_upper_limit | u_0 upper limit (FSPL) | Upper limit error in fspl_u0. | |
| fspl_rho_parabolic_error | u_0 error (FSPL) | Parabolic error in fspl_rho. | |
| fspl_rho_error_lower_limit | u_0 lower limit (FSPL) | Lower limit error in fspl_rho. | |
| fspl_rho_error_lower_limit | u_0 upper limit (FSPL) | Upper limit error in fspl_rho. | |
| fspl_source_flux_error | Source flux error (FSPL) | Error in fspl_source_flux. | |
| fspl_blending_flux_error | Blending flux error (FSPL) | Error in fspl_blending_flux. | |
| fspl_chi_squared | Chi squared (FSPL) | The chi-squared statistic of the fitted FSPL model. | |
| separation_to_alert_position1 | Alert 1 separation | pix | Separation to alert 1 position. |
| alert_id1 | Alert 1 ID | Alert 1 identifier. | |
| alert_id1 | Alert 1 x | pix | Alert 1 x pixel position. |
| alert_y1 | Alert 1 y | pix | Alert 1 y pixel position. |
| separation_to_alert_position2 | Alert 2 separation | pix | Separation to alert 2 position. |
| alert_id2 | Alert 2 ID | Alert 2 identifier. | |
| alert_x2 | Alert 2 x | pix | Alert 2 x pixel position. |
| alert_y2 | Alert 2 y | pix | Alert 2 y pixel position. |
Light Curve Columns
| Database Column Name | Table Label | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| hjd | HJD | d | Heliocentric Julian Date of observational epoch |
| cor_flux | Cor flux | ct | Detrended flux |
| flux | Flux | ct | Number of counts measured for observational epoch; for a MOA magnitude of 20, this is 691.8; for magnitude of 20 for chip2; and for all other chips it's 1,445 |
| flux_err | Flux error | Uncertainty in measured flux for observational epoch | |
| obsid | Observation ID | Run number, i.e., B# | |
| jd | JD | Julian Date of observational epoch | |
| fwhm | Full-width half-maximum (FWHM) | Seeing estimated from the full-width half-maximum (FWHM) in arcseconds | |
| sky | Sky raw | ct | Sky level in counts on raw images |
| airmass | Airmass | Airmass of observational epoch | |
| nstar | Nstar | Number of resolved bright stars by "probe" (it is small if there are problems on the image) | |
| scale | Image scale | Numerical factor used to scale image relative to the reference image | |
| exptime | Exposure time | s | Exposure time of the observational epoch in seconds |
| skydiff | Sky difference | ct | Sky level in counts on the difference image (a residual of the Difference Imaging Analysis) |
| chisq | Chi-squared (χ2) | Chi square of PSF fitting on the difference images. Two parameters are used in PSF fitting (χ2/dof is (/npix-2)) | |
| npix | Npix | Number of pixels used in PSF fitting | |
| airmass1 | Cor airmass | Airmass calculated in the de-trending code | |
| ang1 | Cor angle | rad | Angle relative to zenith calculated in the de-trending code |
| included | Included | Data included in fitting processes. Some data are excluded due to bad-quality flags. |
Last updated: 28 November 2023
