Using VAO's Data Discovery Tool:
A step-by-step tutorial

Step-By-Step: A sample search for galaxy M83

1. Type http://www.usvao.org/tools/discover into your browser.
2. Click on Launch Discovery Tool (beta), in the upper righthand corner. A separate browser window will open.

3. Change the default "Quick Search (fast for selected collections)" to "Full Search (all known catalog and image collections) in the drop-down menu.

4. In the search box to the right, type "M83" and then hit the "Enter/Return" key.
   

   An indication that the catalogs are being retrieved is given by the round search icon in the tab at the top of the search results panel. Note that, in the top righthand corner of the search results window, the coordinate and radius appear, i.e., Messier 083 (RA: 204.25396º, Dec: -29.86542º), radius: 0.2º. Also, notice the total number of rows found in the lefthand corner, i.e., 409 Total Rows.


5. On the lefthand side, in the "categories" section, select "Images, Count 55" to narrow down results. The "409 Total Rows" will narrow down to "Displaying 55 of 409 Total Rows."

6. In the "waveband" section, select "Optical, Count 194" to further narrow down results. Results will change to "Displaying 23 of 409 Total Rows."

7. In the "publisher" section, scroll down and select "MAST", (Multi-mission Archive at Space Telescope Science Institute). Results will change to "Displaying 5 of 409 Total Rows."

8. In the search results window, scroll down and select "4 - HST PR Images 2008... Hubble Space Telescope Press Release Image Archive 2008-2010."

9. At the bottom of the search results window, click on the "Load Records into New Table."

10. A new tab will open and you will find the TIFF and JPG images of M83 from the archive.

11. To view the metadata content select either the JPG and/or TIFF image.

12. Note: If you wanted to see all the metadata, go back to step 9 and, instead of loading records, click on "Download Image Metadata."