Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How are images added to the AstroExplorer?

Images are added directly from the AAS Journals (ApJ, AJ, ApJL, ApJS, RNAAS) as content is published. We have also built a generic ingest pipeline for third party content providers to add images and their corresponding metadata in to the AstroExplorer. Please email the AstroExplorer support team for information on how you or your journal could become a third party content provider. After consulting with our staff you would fill out this  Request Deposit Access form to get started. 

Q: How often is content added?

New images are added as journal content is published, normally on a daily basis, or as regulated by our third party content providers. 

Q: What do the search bars do? 

In addition to the faceted search options, there are search bars on the AstroExplorer for discovering images based on the text related to the figures and for searching the metadata related to the journal articles themselves. The general search bars allow you to search the free text of the figure captions and titles. This search also weights the article title, article abstract, and paragraphs in the text that referred to that figure.  The "author" search bar searches the author metadata for the articles. Advanced options include search by DOI or other article identifier, Volume, provider, and specific image ID if known. 

Q: When searching for videos, how do I view the video?

Videos are available from the originally published journal article.  To view the video, click the "View Article" button on the Image Details page and navigate to the appropriate figure within the journal article.  

Q:  Where are figure sets?

Extended online only figures are available from the originally published journal article. 

Q: What should I do if I believe content has been published in violation of copyright or a license?

The Astronomy Image Explorer is dedicated to respecting appropriate copyright and license terms.  If you have a concern about a particular image or group of images, please contact us with the relevant details.

Q: Why is some of the maths not displaying correctly?

We have taken a number of approaches to how we render maths, including using MathJax. We are aware that there are a small number of TeX definitions that may cause issues. If you find one of these, please contact us with the image details so that we can work on a solution.