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Funded by NASA, the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA) is a joint development between the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA) located in Waimea, Hawaii and the Michelson Science Center (MSC) located in Pasadena, California. KOA archives data taken with the High Resolution Echelle Spectrograph (HIRES) on the Keck I telescope. In August 2004 HIRES underwent a major upgrade of its CCD. The old HIRES CCD was a 2k x 2k chip with 24 micron pixels. The upgraded detector is a mosaic of three 2k x 4k CCDs with 15 micron pixels. This upgrade provides a 130% increase in detector area, longer wavelength coverage in a single spectrograph setting, and significantly improved quantum efficiency in the blue. KOA began archiving data from HIRES after the new CCD mosaic was installed. The process by which HIRES data are archived is as follows: Locate all HIRES FITS files taken in the previous 24 hour period Determine the validity and data integrity of each file Add meta-keywords to the FITS header Archive the metadata (native + meta-keywords) for each FITS header Archive each FITS file Archive ancillary data associated with each night's data Ancillary data include Keck nightly telescope/instrument/weather log information, plots of weather and image quality trends and CONCAM all-sky images and photometric data The physical location of the archive is at the MSC. Metadata is delivered via the internet, and is available via a user interface within 24 hours of observation. The FITS files themselves are sent to MSC on DVDs and/or CDs, and are available soon after acquisition. Both the data files and the metadata are subject to a proprietary period policy. During the proprietary period, program PIs will be able to access their data via a user login/password protected site. The data are released to the public upon expiration of the proprietary period. The archiving of HIRES data also allows the WMKO instrument specialists to monitor the performance of the instrument. At scheduled intervals, the CCD/instrument will be characterized by measuring the gain, read noise, throughput and other important parameters. Also, master bias and dark frames will be constructed for use by HIRES observers.

KOA NEWS April 30, 2008 HIRES data from 2001 - 2004 obtained with the pre-upgraded single CCD are now available on KOA. July 17, 2006 The Keck Observatory Archive is now open to the general public. To access the data, go to the KOA User Interface . November 11, 2005 HIRES data of GRB051111 were taken on November 11 UT, and are publicly available here. more news...