[SOLVED] astroquery: vizier.query_region over a large area failing

astroquery: vizier.query_region over a large area failing

I try to make relatively large queries on the 2MASS catalogue with astroquery.vizier.VizierClass.query_region().

While it works for small areas, it fails for large area. Here is the code I use:

from astroquery.vizier import Vizier
import astropy.units as u
import astropy.coordinates as coord

twomass_query=Vizier(columns=["Jmag","Hmag","Kmag","e_Jmag","e_Hmag","e_Kmag","Qflg"],
                     catalog=["II/246/out"])
twomass_query.ROW_LIMIT = -1
twomass_query.TIMEOUT = 3600
table=twomass_query.query_region(
    coord.SkyCoord(ra=159.5, dec=-64.6, unit=(u.deg, u.deg), frame='icrs'),
    width=[10*u.deg,10*u.deg],
    return_type='asu-binfits')

I receive a long error meesage ending with:

ConnectionError: ('Connection aborted.', BadStatusLine("''",))

The syntax is correct since requesting a smaller box with e.g.

width=[3*u.deg,3*u.deg]

works fine.

I also tried to switch to another ViZieR server (vizier.cfa.harvard.edu) to rule out a pb on the server side but to my surprise it gave me a different error ending with:

ChunkedEncodingError: ('Connection broken: IncompleteRead(0 bytes read)', IncompleteRead(0 bytes read))

Solution

I am now almost sure it is a bug of the VizieR server. I cannot execute the request on the Vizier webpage, it also returns an error or an empty table. The problem seems to be the requested output format (return_type='asu-binfits'). If I request a Votable then it works on the Vizier webpage, and with astroquery as well.

I have written to the CDS Helpdesk to notify the problem.

Hopefully they can fix it soon, as binary FITS tables are much faster to request (download) than ASCII votables! I suspect there is a way to request binary Votable? what is the corresponding return_type?