CDA - Home

The Chandra Data Archive (CDA) plays a central role in the operation of the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) by providing support to the astronomical community in accessing Chandra data. The CDA offers access to digital archives through powerful query engines, including VO-compliant interfaces and also serves as a permanent storage repository of contributed data products by authors who have processed images or other pertinent and valuable datasets that are essential to their publications.

Access the Chandra Data Archive

• ChaSeR: Search & Retrieval interface for scientists, allowing specification of detailed selection criteria. Chandra Fast Image is a simplified quick search tool for Chandra X-ray images and other data for the general public.
• FTP: Direct FTP access to the primary and secondary data products for all observations that are publicly released.
• Footprint Service: A search by position or object name overlays the footprints of Chandra Observations on Digital Sky Survey images, allowing further selection and retrieval of observations.
• Chandra MOCs: Multi-Order Coverage maps (MOCs) for public Chandra observations, that can be used to visualize and analyze the global Chandra footprint.
• Chandra Source Catalog: The most comprehensive catalog of sources detected in public Chandra Observations. The catalog can be accessed through CSCview.
• CIAO Tools: There are command-line scripts for finding and downloading publicly-available Chandra data from the Archive. Please note that proprietary data can only be accessed using ChaSeR.
  • find_chandra_obsid: The tool will find publicly available Chandra data that covers a circular region of sky (a point search can be used by setting the search radius to 0).
  • download_chandra_obsid: The tool will download public data by ObsId from the Chandra archive.
• SDSS Cross-Match Catalog: A cross-matching service linking Chandra and SDSS sources.
• Bibliography Search: Simultaneous browsing of the archive and the literature with a large repertoire of selection criteria.
• Processing Status: Information on the processing status of Chandra observations.
• Special Requests: Requests for services not available through standard interfaces such as requesting a custom dataset identifier; requesting a custom database query; and many others.