  The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is a multi-epochal robotic survey of the
northern sky that acquires data for the scientific study of transient and
variable astrophysical phenomena. The camera and telescope provide for
wide-field imaging in optical bands. In the five years of operation since first
light on December 13, 2008, images taken with Mould-R and SDSS-g' camera
filters have been routinely acquired on a nightly basis (weather permitting),
and two different H-alpha filters were installed in May 2011 (656 nm and 663
nm). The PTF image-processing and data-archival program at the Infrared
Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) is tailored to receive and reduce the
data, and, from it, generate and preserve astrometrically and photometrically
calibrated images, extracted source catalogs, and coadded reference images.
Relational databases have been deployed to track these products in operations
and the data archive. The fully automated system has benefited by lessons
learned from past IPAC projects and comprises advantageous features that are
potentially incorporable into other ground-based observatories. Both
off-the-shelf and in-house software have been utilized for economy and rapid
development. The PTF data archive is curated by the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science
Archive (IRSA). A state-of-the-art custom web interface has been deployed for
downloading the raw images, processed images, and source catalogs from IRSA.
Access to PTF data products is currently limited to an initial public data
release (M81, M44, M42, SDSS Stripe 82, and the Kepler Survey Field). It is the
intent of the PTF collaboration to release the full PTF data archive when
sufficient funding becomes available.
