Finder Chart Known Bugs and Issues

Software version released: October 2024.

This list last updated: October 2024

Table of Contents

Reporting Bugs
Suggested Browsers
Known Major Bugs
Known Minor Bugs
Idiosyncrasies

Reporting Bugs

The known bugs and issues in this version of the Finder Chart service are listed here. If you think you have found a bug, before reporting it, please check this list, and read the online help. It may be a "feature" we already know about.

If you have found a real bug then please do let us know by sending email to the Help Desk. Please include your operating system version and your browser software and version.

Suggested Browsers and Platforms

• Safari: at least version 15
• Firefox: at least version 120
• Google Chrome: at least version 120
• Edge: at least version 120
• Tablets: iPad Safari : Seems to work ok, though not on the iPhone. Cursory testing of a Droid tablet suggests it probably works ok.

Older browser versions than these may work, but we may not be able to support bug fixes for them. We make no guarantees for anything on Solaris.

Known Major Bugs

1. Inconsistent handling of color images. When you generate color images and then turn around and save the images (in png or pdf), they may not be downloaded for all the targets on which you searched.

   Workaround: None known.

   Posted: March 2018

2. Reticle doesn't appear in images in PDF or PNG

When saving images as PDF or PNG, the reticle indicating the target isn't saved.

Workaround: None known

Posted: October 2024



3. Tool sometimes grabs the wrong SEIP images

The tool sometimes grabs the short exposure SEIP images, not the long exposure ones.

Workaround: Now that you know that there is SEIP coverage, you can go to IRSA Viewer or DCE to get the SEIP images.

Posted: October 2024

Known Minor Bugs

1. Inconsistent handling of uploaded tables. Sometimes, a table that you generate may work for some things (e.g., images) and fail for others (e.g., catalogs). Sometimes this is transient network problems, and sometimes it is as simple as having a hyphen in the filename.

   Workaround: Rename the file to avoid hyphens. Run the file through the IPAC Table Validator to be sure it is 100% compliant.

   Posted: 14 December 2017



2. Batch search hiccups. Sometimes, when searching on a list of targets, the column that is added by the tool called "in_row_id" sort of "eats" the columns of the uploaded catalog. That is, suddenly the columns shift right, e.g., in_row_id is still there, but now the first column of the uploaded catalog (might be cat_num) is populated with the same column of numbers as in_row_id, the second column (might be num) has the first column (cat_num) values, the third column (ra) has the second column (num) values, etc. At a certain point, it no longer seems to render the correct images for that target.

   Workaround: Redo the search afresh as soon as you notice this happening.

   Posted: 2019



3. Changing color planes in 3-color images. It used to be the case that you could change what images were used for the different color planes in the 3-color images. This no longer works.

   Workaround: None known; it is on the list to add back in.

   Posted: 14 December 2017



4. Multiple target 1-to-1 catalog matching for SDSS doesn't work as advertised. There is not one line in the output for every line in the input; only the hits are reported. (It works properly for the rest of the catalogs, because they are here at IRSA.)

   Workaround: Write code to match the sources by ID or RA/Dec for SDSS. OR, make sure your input list of targets has an object name column called "objname"; the column will be echoed in "objname_01" in the output, and then you can match rows by object name.

   Posted: 14 December 2017

Known Idiosyncrasies

1. Regions files saved as overlays from large catalogs do not include all the sources.

   If the file has >1,000 sources, it will show catalogs hierarchically -- that is, the tool will bin up the catalogs based on HEALPix pixels, and it will show symbols with a number indicating the number of sources in that region. Then, when you zoom in, it will dynamically adapt to show you smaller and smaller cells until it shows you all the individual sources. Saving the regions file at will not save all the sources.

   Workaround: Save the catalog from the table as a regions file; that will save the entire catalog, but not any of the other overlays from the image.

   Updated: October 2024



2. When searching for a catalog via the front page, and asking it to search over very small search radii (the default), it does not look like any catalogs are returned!

   Notes: Especially if you are searching for just one source, the overlays of the catalogs will (most likely) all be right on top of the same, single source, and it will not be clear that the catalogs are overlaid at all, much less that the catalogs are different on each set of images. But, it is really overlaying the catalogs, and you can interact with them in the same way as any other catalogs returned.

   Helpful tip: If you leave the layers pop-up window open while you click on different images to select them, you can see the contents of the pop-up layers window change to reflect the layers (and options) present in that selected image.

   Posted: 9 December 2014


3. When leaving Finder Chart up overnight on my computer (or on a laptop that I pick up and carry to another network or WiFi hub), Finder Chart is sometimes left in a funny state.

   Notes: Yes, these effects have been noticed before, but nothing consistent has been reproducible, so tracking down the root cause has been challenging. You will need to restart Finder Chart from its original URL.

   Posted: 9 December 2014

4. Regions files saved as overlays from large catalogs do not include all the sources.

   If the file has >5,000 sources, it will make a heatmap plot and show only a fraction of the sources on the image, even if the image is zoomed in. Saving the regions file at that point will not save all the sources.

   Workaround: Save the catalog from the table as a regions file; that will save the entire catalog, but not any of the other overlays from the image. OR, filter down the catalog until you have <5,000 sources, and then save the overlays as a ds9 region file.

   Updated: 24 Apr 2024

5. Overlays on the 3-color images are often impossible to see.

   Notes: Change the catalogs to light-colored overlays via the 'layers' icon, and use the image toolbox to bring the stretch of 3-color frames down so the background is mostly dark (a z-scale stretch on gray images enables you to see faint objects on the salt-and-pepper background, but for the 3-color images, a color "salt-and-pepper" with colored overlays is brutal). Bring the backgrounds closer to black.

   Posted: 9 December 2014