Chandra Source Catalog Quality Assurance

The Chandra Source Catalog will be the definitive catalog of all X-ray sources detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Automated detection of data processing anomalies and assurance of data product quality is essential because of the large data volume that will be generated over a period of a few months during each catalog production run. Quality assurance analysis is performed at the completion of each stage in catalog pipeline processing, so that any issues can be identified and corrected before they can affect downstream processing. Pipeline processing errors are detected automatically, and automated comparison of key diagnostic outputs with predefined validity criteria identifies potential data quality issues. The most common data quality issues are resolved without any human intervention. Cases where interactive review may be required are identified, assessed, and bundled together for efficient analysis and repair via a web-based graphical user interface.