Data Set Overview
  =================
    This data set includes infrared images of small solar system
    bodies observed with the Spirit III instrument on the Midcourse
    Space Experiment (MSX).  The data are reported in Kraemer et al.
    (2005).  The images are in six bands as follows:
 
    Band:  Ctrl. Wavelength:  50% peak int.:   Array Size:   NER*:
    FOV**:
                (microns)       (microns)
 
    A          8.28            6.8  - 10.8      8 x 192     3.0E-11
    1.06
    B1         4.29            4.22 -  4.36     2 x 76      1.0E-09
    1.4
    B2         4.35            4.24 -  4.45     2 x 76      9.0E-10
    1.4
    C         12.13           11.1  - 13.2      4 x 192     2.0E-10
    1.17
    D         14.65           13.5  - 15.9      4 x 192     1.0E-10
    1.13
    E         21.34           18.2  - 25.1      2 x 192     3.0E-10
    1.26
 
    * Noise Equivalent Radiance in W/cm^2/sr
    ** Effective FOV (x 1.0E-08 sr)
 
    The detector pixels are square with a scale of 18.3 arcsec/pixel.
 
    The bodies were detected at such a low signal to noise in bands B1
    and B2 that the images in those bands were not analyzed in Kraemer
    et al. (2005), but the B band data are included in this data set
    because they provide upper limits on the emission at 4 microns
    from the target objects.  In this data set, B1 image filenames
    start with the letter F, B2 image filenames with a G, and
    filenames starting with B contain coadded B1 and B2.  Image
    filenames for bands A, C, D, and E start with those letters
    respectively.  Images are arranged in subdirectory by target.
 
    The instrumental response functions for each band are included in
    the subdirectory 'response'.
 
    The targets included are comets Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp, Tabur,
    126P/IRAS 1, 22P/Kopff 1, 46P/Wirtanen 1, 125P/Spacewatch 1, and
    55P/Tempel-Tuttle 1; transition objects 3200 Phaethon and 4015
    Wilson-Harrington; and asteroids 4179 Toutatis and 4197 (1982 TA).
    (The authors define a transition object as one that has both
    asteroidal and cometary properties.) The observations were made
    during April 1996 through February 1997.
 
    Scan procedures were as follows.  Fifteen 3.5 degree long raster
    legs were executed on each source at a rate of 0.05 degrees per
    second.  This scan rate produced a sample rate of about 7 samples
    per dwell time on a detector.  The scan was oriented to be
    parallel to the projection of the orbit of the comet on the sky.
    Each scan leg was offset in the cross-scan direction by about 100
    arcseconds.  Thus, the total area covered was 3.5 degrees in-scan
    and about 1.4 degrees cross-scan.  A dark offset was measured
    every other scan, or about every 2.4 minutes.
 
    An additional radiance correction related to the temperature of
    the focal plane array was discovered and discussed in detail in
    section 4.3 of Price et al. 2004 (AJ 128, 889). The value of this
    correction factor is listed in the History section of the FITS
    header in each of the data files.
 
    For further information about the observations, see
 
    Kraemer, K.E., C.M. Lisse, S.D. Price, D. Mizuno, R.G. Walker,
    T.L. Farnham, and T. Makinen. MSX observations of small solar
    system bodies. Submitted to Astron. J., 2005.  [KRAEMERETAL2005]

Confidence Level Overview
  =========================
    An estimate of the Celestial North Clock Angle (angle of celestial
    north from   vertical in the images) has been added to the image
    labels for the convenience of the user.  This is an approximate
    value.