1. Check that your browser options are set up to allow pop up windows.
   For example, in Firefox - to allow pop up windows use the browser Options. Then select Content -> and check that the 'block pop up windows' tick box is unselected.
2. Go to the DAP Home Page
3. Enter your account details using either an OPAL or CSIRO Nexus account.

• DAP supports OPAL, NEXUS and AAF user authentication. For general use, we recommend using OPAL accounts

1. Go to the DAP Home Page
2. In this example a user wishes to return all collections for the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array project (project ID: P456). In the green search box enter 'P456' then click on 'Search'. The search will return a list of links to multiple 'collections'. The query can be refined further using the options provided in the side bar.
3. Click on a collection.
4. Two tabs will be displayed: A 'Description' tab containing metadata about the specific collection, and a 'Data' tab.
5. Click on the 'Data' tab. A list of files that make up the collection is displayed.

1. Use the above steps to bring up a collection for P456
2. Find a link near the top of the 'Data' tab after the phrase 'Copy this persistent link...'. This link provides an indefinite link for the collection.
3. Cut and paste this link into your browser. It will take you back to the same page.

• DAP also provides Digital Object identifiers (DOIs) for data collections. A DOI provides a 'data citation' that allows a user to obtain a set of data corresponding to the date and time the DOI was issued. For public data sets, the DOI is a permanent link to the data

1. Go to the DAP Home Page
2. Click on the blue tab 'Domain Search' and then select 'ATNF Pulsar Observation Search'.
3. Enter 'P456' as the project ID and click 'Search'
4. This will return a complete file listing for P456. Click 'Refine Search' if you wish to refine your query further

In this example, the user wishes to find data files in a defined radius from the centre of the globular cluster 47 Tuc.

1. Navigate to the DAP domain search form
2. In the cone search box enter:

Right Ascension: 00:24:05.35
Declination: -72:04:53.20
Search window: 2 arcmin


3. This will return a list of files that have pointings within the specified search window centred on 47 Tuc.
4. Metadata about the project ID associated with a particular file can be displayed by clicking on the project ID
5. The averaged pulse profile from a fold-mode data file can be viewed by clicking on 'view'

1. Navigate to the data tab of the collection
2. Select files to download by ticking the checkboxes to the left of the required files.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the download option. For small files, a user can download as a tar or zip file.
4. For large downloads, a user will see a different configuration at the bottom of the page. An email address is required, and the method of data access can be selected from the drop-down list.
5. For further information on downloading data from the DAP, please refer to the Access or Download Data page.

1. Navigate to TOPCAT's download page and download the full jar file for your operating system
2. You may also need to install a Java Runtime Environment (JRE)

• TOPCAT and Java are freely available. To see which version of TOPCAT you are using open TOPCAT then click on Help -> About TOPCAT

1. Open TOPCAT. You will see a window open up. In this guide this will be called the 'main window'. This window must stay open.
2. Click on the link in the top menu bar to 'VO'
3. Click on the drop down option for 'Table Access Protocol Query'
4. You can locate the appropriate TAP by entering 'CSIRO' or 'pulsar' in the Keywords textbox, and then click 'Find Services'. Then select the 'CSIRO Pulsar' TAP
5. In the 'Metadata' section, click on 'observation'
6. Click 'Examples' -> 'Basic' -> 'Full table'
7. Click 'Run Query'
8. A new TOPCAT window will open. The data can be displayed using the variety of TOPCAT tools. Hover over the icons to display the tool types.
9. To save a table to your laptop click select a table from the Table List. Then use file > save Table(s)/Session and follow the prompts to choose an output table format and location etc.

• TOPCAT reads and writes a range of table formats. See the drop down list
• To write out a VO table use the format option = 'votable-tabledata'
• To navigate to a selected location on your computer use the 'Filestore Browser'

1. Follow the steps in section 4.2 to find the table 'observation'
2. Click on VO -> TAP Query
3. Try these simple queries (click OK after each one is entered)


• Example 1: Select the top 1000 rows
  
  • SELECT TOP 1000 * FROM observation WHERE published = 1
  
  
• Example 2: Select specific metadata from published files where the first 2 characters of filenames match the string 'PM'
  
  • SELECT projid, filename, date_obs, ra_angle, dec_angle, collection_fedora_PID FROM observation WHERE filename like 'PM%' and published = 1
    
  
  

• The 'published = 1' clause should always be used for pulsar data queries
• The pulsar VO does not support TAP radius queries, so a box selection rather than a cone selection must be used

1. Follow the instructions in section 4.2 to add one or more tables to your Table List
2. Select a table from the Table List
3. Click on each of the three TOPCAT tool icons (icons 4 to 6 counted from the left-hand side)
• Icon 4 shows the table data.
• Icon 5 provides metadata that describe the table.
• Icon 6 provides metadata that describe the table columns. These include units and descriptions.

1. Follow the instructions as above and select a table from the TOPCAT Table list
2. Click on the sky plot icon (icon 11)
3. To manipulate the plot try using some of the tools shown below the plot.

1. Navigate to the online catalogue at ATNF Pulsar Catalogue home
2. Tick the checkboxes of parameters you wish to see displayed
3. Click 'TABLE' for tabular output
4. You can then copy and paste the text accordingly
5. At the bottom of the page, you can display the references in 'basic' (ASCII) or 'bbl' (LaTeX bibliographic) format
6. If you wish to see a graphical representation of the parameters, enter them in the 'Plotted Output' section at the bottom of the page, choose log or linear and click 'PLOT'
7. Plot axes can be toggled, and the plot itself can be saved to your machine

1. Navigate to the online catalogue at ATNF Pulsar Catalogue home
2. Suppose you wish to return a list of pulsars with pulse periods ranging between 2 and 6 seconds. Tick the checkboxes of parameters 'Name' and 'P0'
3. Scroll down to the 'Condition' textbox, and enter 'P0 > 2 && P0 < 6', and click 'TABLE' or 'PLOT' with 'Plotted Output' entered
4. To query catalogue history, click on the 'History' link, where all catalogue versions will be listed. Choose a version and queries can be made as required

• The full catalogue documentation is available from the Documentation link on the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue home page.

• Currently, the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue is not compatible with VO Services