---
name: "mArchiveList"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "montage"
version: "6.1+dfsg-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mArchiveList"
---

# mArchiveList(1)

Retrieve a list of archive images from the IRSA server

## NAME

mArchiveList - Retrieve a list of archive images from the IRSA server

## SYNOPSIS

mArchiveList survey band object\|location width height outfile

## DESCRIPTION

Given a location on the sky, archive name, and size in degrees, contact the IRSA server to retrieve a list of archive images.  The list contains enough information to support mArchiveGet downloads.

## ARGUMENTS

- survey

  Can be one of:

  2MASS DSS SDSS DPOSS

- band

  Case insensitive - can be one of:

  (2MASS) j, h, k (SDSS) u, g, r, i, z (DPOSS) f, j, n (DSS) DSS1, DSS1R, DSS1B, DSS2, DSS2B, DSS2R, DSS2IR

- object\|location

  Object name or coordinate string to be resolved by NED (if string includes spaces, must be surrounded by double quotes)

- width

  Width of area of interest, in degrees

- height

  Height of area of interest, in degrees

- outfile

  Path to output table

## RESULT

**\[struct stat="OK", count=***num-images***\]**

**outfile** *is an ASCII table of image metadata for the region and survey of interest.  The last column in the table is a URL that* **mArchiveGet** *can use to retrieve the image.*

## MESSAGES

- *OK*

  *\[struct stat="OK", count=num-files\]*

- *ERROR*

  *Can't open output file outfile*

- *ERROR*

  *Error message from IRSA's ImgList service*

- *ERROR*

  *Couldn't find host hostname*

- *ERROR*

  *Couldn't create socket()*

- *ERROR*

  *hostname: connect failed*

## EXAMPLES

*To retrieve metadata and file handles for 2MASS J-band images, covering a half-degree by half-degree area around m31:*

- *mArchiveList 2mass j m31 0.5 0.5 2mass\_m31\_j.tbl*

  *\[struct stat="OK", count=18\]*

*Output file:* **2mass\_m31\_j.tbl***.*

*To retrieve GPFS file handles for SDSS u-band images:*

- *mArchiveList -s gpfs sdss u m101 0.2 0.2 sdss\_m101\_u.tbl*

  *\[struct stat="OK", count=16\]*

*Output file:* **sdss\_m101\_u.tbl***.*

## BUGS

*The drizzle algorithm has been implemented but has not been tested* *in this release.*

*If a header template contains carriage returns (i.e., created/modified* *on a Windows machine), the cfitsio library will be unable to read it* *properly, resulting in the error: \[struct stat="ERROR", status=207,* *msg="illegal character in keyword"\]*

*It is best for the background correction algorithms if the area* *described in the header template completely encloses all of the input* *images in their entirety. If parts of input images are "chopped off"* *by the header template, the background correction will be affected. We* *recommend you use an expanded header for the reprojection and* *background modeling steps, returning to the originally desired header* *size for the final coaddition. The default background matching assumes* *that there are no non-linear background variations in the individual* *images (and therefore in the overlap differences). If there is any* *uncertainty in this regard, it is safer to turn on the "level only"* *background matching (the "-l" flag in mBgModel.*

## COPYRIGHT

*2001-2015 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California*

*If your research uses Montage, please include the following* *acknowledgement: "This research made use of Montage. It is funded by* *the National Science Foundation under Grant Number ACI-1440620, and* *was previously funded by the National Aeronautics and Space* *Administration's Earth Science Technology Office, Computation* *Technologies Project, under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-626* *between NASA and the California Institute of Technology."*

*The Montage distribution includes an adaptation of the MOPEX algorithm* *developed at the Spitzer Science Center.*