How to get data from TESS ?

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 06/20/2024 - 16:03

Hi All.

In the past was quite simple via MAST portal to dowload TESS FITS file with the observation ( appeared a folder with compressed data, and, more, appeared a windows with a simple way to test various periods, now ewerything is disappeared...)

Is there an easy way to download the file that can be read with the VStar plugin?

Thanks

Franco

TESS Light Curve Data from the MAST Portal

Franco,

Yes, there do appear to be changes. I've had only a brief look, but the following seems to apply.

In the search box of the MAST Portal, enter the target ID followed by a comma and a space, then the search radius. For the latter I use r=4s (this is the same as it has been - no changes here).

In the navigation pane on the left, under Mission select HLSP.

Products with Provenance Name QLP or TESS-SPOC seem to contain easily downloadable light curve data. Just click the disk drive icon to the left in the main panel. A zipped folder downloads. Unzip it, then drill down until you come to the .fits files. The light curve filenames end in _lc.fits.

In VStar, the TESS-SPOC light curve files open with the plugin New Star from Kepler/TESS FITS File v2.4... The QLP light curve files open with the plugin New Star from QLP FITS File v0.4...

There may (or not) be other possibilities. My use of the MAST Portal has been restricted to the downloading of the files mentioned above.

Roy