The Data Handbook contains documentation on the data format, data processing, and data access developed by the Roman Science Operations Center (SOC) at STScI. Information related to the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) spectroscopic mode and high-level microlensing exoplanet science will be maintained by the Roman Science Support Center at IPAC. 

Data Handbook Table of Contents 

Below is a list of the articles in the Data Handbook that are currently published in RDox. 

• WFI Data Levels and Products
  • Introduction to ASDF
  • Associations
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Data Releases
  • Prompt Products
  • How Program Designs in APT Impact Data Processing
  • Skymap Tessellation
• Roman WFI Data Pipelines
  • Exposure Level Pipeline
  • Mosaic Level Pipeline
  • Wide Field Spectroscopy Pipelines
    • Science Data Pipelines
    • Calibration Data Pipeline
  • Galactic Bulge Survey Pipelines
    • MSOS Photometry Pipelines
    • MSOS Event Pipelines
    • MSOS Detection Efficiency Pipeline
• Accessing WFI Data
  • CRDS for Reference Files
  • The Roman Archive in MAST
    • Cloud Access
    • CaSSI
• Roman Research Nexus
  • Benchmarking Examples and Estimated Costs on the Roman Research Nexus
• Coronagraph Instrument Data
  • Coronagraph Data Format and Access
  • Community Team and Resources

Overview

This handbook provides detailed information on the retrieval, format, calibration, and use of the imaging data from the Roman Space Telescope Wide Field Instrument (WFI). Additional information on the design and performance of the WFI, including topics related to anomalies and calibration effects, may be found in the WFI Instrumentation User Guides.

Information related specifically to the WFI spectroscopic mode (e.g., wavelength/flux calibration, 1-D extraction) or high-level microlensing exoplanet science will be maintained by the Science Support Center at IPAC. 

Where to Start

For new Roman users unfamiliar with WFI data, we strongly recommend beginning with the article WFI Data Format, which contains information on the Advanced Scientific Data Format (ASDF) and available WFI data products. There are key differences between ASDF and other, potentially more familiar data formats (e.g., Flexible Image Transport System; FITS), which users should be aware of to ensure the best experience when using WFI data. 

Once users are familiar with WFI data formats, they are encouraged to proceed to the documentation on Accessing WFI Data, which includes information on how to best retrieve WFI data for analysis, as well as other advanced topics. In addition to the science data products, this section of the handbook includes information on how to access calibration reference files via the Calibration Reference Data System (CRDS) as well as engineering telemetry data in the Calibrated Engineering Database.

Finally, for users with questions about the science data pipelines, please refer to the section on the Roman WFI Data Pipelines. This section contains detailed information on how the data are processed and tutorials on how to run the imaging data pipelines. Please also consult the The Wide Field Instrument for more information on the properties of the WFI detectors.

The Data Documentation Ecosystem 

The software and resources described in RDox often have additional documentation users might find useful. These typically fall into several categories:

1. User guides presented here in this Data Handbook,
2. the external webpages and code repositories where the data or software are available, and
3. documentation written by the owners of the service and developers of the software.

Each of these forms of documentation provide insight into Roman data. The user guides in this Data Handbook are helpful for getting started with Roman data and utilizing it for science projects, the code repositories are helpful for anyone who needs to view the code or basic examples, and the developer documentation has the most up-to-date explanation of installation instructions and specifics about all the available parameters and other code details. 

The Table of Roman Data Resources provides short descriptions and relevant links where available. 

Table of Roman Data Resources

Data Resource	Description	Roman User Guides	Website or Code Repository	Developer Documentation
Roman STScI Data Pipelines	Main data reduction and calibration software pipeline developed by the Roman Science Operation Center for the WFI imaging data	Roman WFI Data Pipelines	romancal on GitHub	Roman Space Telescope Calibration Pipeline on Readthedocs
Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST)	Archive containing all available Roman data, both for the WFI and the Coronograph	The Roman Archive in MAST	Roman Overview and select Ground-Test data in MAST Roman access for MAST in development	Not Applicable
Calibration Reference Data System (CRDS)	System containing all the reference files that work with the STScI Roman Pipelines - version controlled	CRDS for Reference Files	Roman CRDS Website	Roman CRDS Users Guide
Roman Science Platform	Cloud-based environment to facilitate access and analysis of Roman data	Not yet released in RDox	In development	In development

For additional questions not answered in this article, please contact the Roman Help Desk.