archive.stsci.edu

What is MAST?

MAST is the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, a NASA astronomical data archive focused on optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared datasets. It hosts data from more than a dozen space missions, including Hubble, Kepler, TESS, and Webb, with Roman planned for the future. Its stated goal is to maximize the scientific accessibility and impact of astronomical data.

What you can do there

• Search multiple collections in one place through the MAST Portal: images, spectra, catalogs, time series, and publication records.
• Use specialized search tools such as exo.MAST for exoplanet-related data (including transit-window data and folded light curves), z.MAST for extragalactic observations and high-level science products, and TESSCut for TESS full-frame image cutouts.
• Run SQL queries on MAST catalogs and tables with MAST CasJobs, storing output in a personal database.
• Learn programmatically through curated MAST Notebooks covering topics from astroquery to JWST and Kepler, and use TIKE, a free cloud Jupyter environment hosted alongside the archive data.

Who it is for

MAST serves researchers, students, and educators who need archival observations rather than new telescope time. If you are analyzing a known exoplanet, comparing Hubble and Webb spectra of the same target, or querying large catalogs in bulk, the multi-mission tools are the main draw. If you only need a quick image of one object, a mission-specific search form may be simpler than the full Portal.

A practical next step

Start with the MAST Portal to see which missions cover your target, then switch to a mission-specific form or exo.MAST if you need transit or instrument-level detail. For repeated or large queries, move to CasJobs or the Notebooks rather than downloading files manually. Related official resources include MAST and, for broader multi-archive discovery, IRSA.

How do I search for Hubble or JWST data on MAST?

Use the MAST Portal or the newer MAST Search form. Both let you query Hubble and JWST data; the Portal covers multiple collections at once, while MAST Search is the modernized multi-mission tool currently supporting Hubble and JWST.

Quick paths

• MAST Portal — best when you want to search across many collections at once: images, spectra, catalogs, time series, and publication records. Good for exploratory work and mixed-mission questions.
• MAST Search — the modernized multi-mission form, currently supporting Hubble and JWST. Use it when your work is specifically Hubble or JWST and you want the newer interface.
• Mission-specific search forms — if you already know the mission and instrument conventions, these match the mission's own data organization.
• MAST CasJobs — for SQL queries against MAST catalogs and tables, including long or complex queries, with output stored in a user database.

A concrete example

Suppose you want Hubble spectra of a specific target and JWST imaging of the same field. Start in the MAST Portal, resolve the target name, and filter by mission and data type. If you only need JWST, switch to MAST Search for the newer multi-mission workflow. If you need to combine results with your own tables or run selection logic across many rows, move to CasJobs.

Related tools worth knowing

• exo.MAST — search by exoplanet to find data, parameters, visualizations, and holdings from Kepler, K2, Hubble, TESS, and JWST; useful for transit-time data and folded light curves.
• TESSCut — find targets within a TESS full-frame image and generate cutouts.
• z.MAST — extragalactic observations and catalog data from high-level science products.
• MAST Notebooks — curated notebooks covering topics from astroquery to JWST to Kepler, written by the people who built the archive.
• TIKE — a free cloud-compute environment running Jupyter notebooks in your browser alongside MAST archival data, so you can analyze without downloading everything first.

Decision criterion

Choose the Portal for broad, cross-collection searching; MAST Search for a focused Hubble or JWST query in the newer interface; CasJobs when you need SQL and stored results; and exo.MAST, z.MAST, or TESSCut when your question is already framed around exoplanets, extragalactic fields, or TESS cutouts.

Next step: open the MAST Portal, enter your target, and apply mission and data-type filters. If the result set is large, switch to CasJobs to narrow it programmatically.

What is exo.MAST and how can it help with exoplanet research?

exo.MAST is a search interface within the MAST archive that organizes data around exoplanets rather than around missions, instruments or sky positions. Instead of knowing which telescope observed a target and when, you start with the planet or host star and let the tool gather the relevant holdings.

For an exoplanet researcher, that shift matters most when you are assembling a dataset for one object. A typical workflow: look up a planet, jump straight to observations taken during transit, inspect folded light curves, and pull published spectroscopy for the same system — all without re-querying each mission separately.

What it pulls together

According to the MAST page, exo.MAST lets you search by exoplanet to find data, parameters, visualizations and MAST holdings from Kepler, K2, Hubble, TESS and JWST. It also supports finding data taken during the transit, interacting with folded light curves, and viewing or downloading published spectroscopy.

Where it fits in a research workflow

• Transit and phase-curve work: if your question is "what do we already have for this planet during transit," this is the fastest entry point.
• Multi-mission systems: planets observed by more than one facility are exactly where a planet-centric index saves the most time.
• Spectroscopy follow-up: published spectra gathered in one place helps you judge whether a new observation adds anything.
• Teaching and quick checks: students can explore a known planet without learning several mission-specific forms first.

Trade-offs to keep in mind

exo.MAST is a discovery and access layer, not an analysis package. It will point you to light curves and spectra; it will not reduce the data or fit a transit model for you. For bulk programmatic work, the MAST Notebooks and MAST CasJobs paths are likely better suited, and for target-based cutouts from TESS full-frame images, TESSCut is the dedicated tool. If your interest is extragalactic rather than planetary, z.MAST is the comparable entry point.

A practical next step: pick one planet you know well, open it in exo.MAST, and compare what it returns against your own list of expected observations. That single test tells you quickly whether it belongs in your routine or only in occasional literature checks.

How can I run SQL queries on MAST catalogs using MAST CasJobs?

Use MAST CasJobs when you need to filter, join or cross-match archive catalog tables rather than click through a search form. It is the MAST tool that lets you run SQL against MAST catalogs and tables, supports long and complex queries, and lets you store query output in a personal database for later work.

MAST Home | MAST

H3 Practical workflow

1. Decide what you need first: a simple target list, a cross-match between two catalogs, or a large aggregate. CasJobs is best for the latter two.
2. Identify the relevant tables and columns in the MAST catalog schema, then write a SELECT with explicit column names rather than SELECT *.
3. Run a small test query with a TOP or row limit to check your join keys and column meanings before scaling up.
4. Save large results to your CasJobs user database instead of downloading immediately, then export only the final filtered set.

H3 When CasJobs is the right tool

A concrete example: a researcher studying a sample of galaxies wants all MAST catalog rows within a coordinate box that also have a measured redshift. Rather than downloading a whole catalog, they write a query that filters on position and redshift, stores the result in their user database, and then joins it against a second table of observation records.

H3 Practical cautions

CasJobs is a catalog and table service, not a replacement for the Portal when you need to inspect images or spectra. Query cost grows quickly with unrestricted joins, so constrain by sky region, magnitude or time where possible. Column names and table contents differ between missions, so check the schema for the specific catalog you are using.

If you are new to the archive, start with the MAST Notebooks, which include programmatic examples covering astroquery and archive access, and use TIKE if you want to run notebook analysis in the cloud alongside the archival data instead of downloading it.

What is TIKE and how does it provide cloud-based data analysis?

TIKE is a free, browser-based cloud science environment associated with MAST, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. It runs Jupyter Notebooks through JupyterLab, so you work in a familiar notebook interface without installing or managing a local Python stack. Its practical advantage is that it is hosted alongside MAST archival data: instead of downloading large datasets to your own machine and then analyzing them, you can compute close to the data, which the archive describes as significantly faster than the download-and-analyze approach.

What you can do in TIKE

• Open and run Jupyter Notebooks in your browser via JupyterLab.
• Analyze MAST-hosted astronomical data without moving it to local storage first.
• Use curated MAST Notebooks as starting points; these cover topics and missions such as astroquery, JWST, and Kepler, and are written by people who work with the archive.
• Combine TIKE with MAST search tools such as the MAST Portal, MAST Search, exo.MAST, or TESSCut when you need to identify and retrieve data before analysis.

Who it suits

TIKE is most useful if you lack local compute or storage for large datasets, want reproducible notebook workflows, or are learning to work with MAST data programmatically. A researcher analyzing a modest dataset with an existing local pipeline may still prefer their own environment, since cloud sessions can have resource and session limits and may require moving results out for long-term storage.

A concrete start: open a MAST Notebook that matches your mission or topic, run it in TIKE, then adapt it to your own target list. If you need to find data first, begin with MAST and its search tools, then move into TIKE for the analysis. For broader astronomy data beyond MAST, the Virtual Observatory integrates data from active missions and other archives worldwide.

How can I host my small mission's data at MAST?

MAST offers a dedicated path for small missions through its "Host your small mission at MAST" program, which lets you contribute mission data to the archive rather than building your own distribution infrastructure. The archive already hosts data from over a dozen missions, including Hubble, Webb, TESS, and Kepler, so the practical appeal is that your data sits alongside established collections and inherits MAST's search tools.

What hosting at MAST gives you

• A home among major missions. Your data becomes part of the same archive researchers already search for Hubble, Webb, and TESS products.
• Access to shared search infrastructure. MAST Portal searches multiple collections at once—images, spectra, catalogs, timeseries, and publication records—so your mission's data can be discoverable through tools researchers already know.
• High Level Science Products (HLSP). MAST hosts HLSP collections, which is a natural fit for small missions whose reduced or curated products are more useful than raw frames alone.
• A contribution route. The site lists "Contribute Mission Data" as a first-class path, distinct from simply searching or downloading.

How to decide whether it fits

If your team is small and your priority is scientific accessibility rather than custom infrastructure, contributing to MAST is usually the lower-effort route. If your data products need bespoke interfaces or you have archive staff, a standalone archive may serve you better.

A practical next step

Start with the "Contribute Mission Data" and "Host your small mission at MAST" links on the MAST home page, then look at how existing HLSP collections are structured—those are the closest model for a small mission's curated products. Before contacting the archive, prepare a short description of your mission, the data products you want to deposit, their formats, and roughly how much volume you expect; that makes the initial conversation concrete. You can also explore the MAST Notebooks and TIKE cloud environment to understand how researchers would actually work with data once it is hosted, which helps you judge whether your products would be usable in that setting.

For broader context on how archives fit into mission planning, the main MAST site is at MAST Home.