Astronomical Catalogues
The science and art of collecting and disseminating
data
Carlos E. LopezUniversidad Nac. de San Juan, Argentina
and Yale Southern Observatory
past future
visual visual + telescope photographic CCD
1609 1887 1990
Detectors Used in the Construction of Astrometric
Catalogues
What is Astrometry?
Astrometry is that part of astronomy dealing with the positions, motions and trigonometric distances of celestial objects.
What is an Astrometric Survey?
An astrometric survey can be defined as a search oriented to finding those celestial objects meeting a given accuracy in their absolute or relative positions, motions or trigonometric distances.
Some of these surveys have been conducted with ground-based meridian circles, astrolabes or astrographic telescopes. Others have used or will use space-based instrumets.
In general, the final product of a Survey is a Catalogue.
Astrometry’s Major Landmarks129 BC: Hipparchus publishes the first catalogue
1718: Halley* introduces the concept of proper motions
1802: Herschel notes the relative orbital motion of Castor
1838: Bessel determines the trigonometric parallax of 61 Cyg
1989: ESA launches the Hipparcos satellite
* There is some evidence indicating that it was actually Nicholas of Cusa (circa 1400) who first mentioned the proper motion of stars
1887: The photographic plate is adopted as a detector
1609: Galileo starts to use the telescope in astronomical research
Dictionary
ASTRONOMICAL DATA:
- is the alphanumeric code that describes a
parameter or a property of a given celestial
object
CATALOG / CATALOGUE:
- is a list of items, usually in a systematic order
and with a description of each.
Recycling and Evolution of the Astronomical Data
Observation of the Celestial Object
•Coordinates•Proper Motions•Multiplicity•Parallaxes•Identification
•Spectral Band•Magnitude•Spectral Type•Variability•Identification
General Catalogue
Distribution and UseDetection of ErrorsComparison of Data
Crossed Identification
New Technologies New Technologies
Type Description
Observational Catalogue (OC)
Reports original observations made by the author and collaborators (i.e. Bonner Durchmusterung and the HD)
Compilation
Catalogue
(CC)
Bibliographic
(BCC)
The data is taken from the literature and put together following a given order. There is almost no analysis of the data
Critical(CCC)
The input data is taken from the literature. The author makes a very careful evaluation of the data (i.e. Yale Parallax Catalogue, General Catalogue of Variable Stars and the SAOC)
General(GCC)
The data is taken from the literature. The author makes a careful evaluation of the data. Almost ALL the available data is included (i.e. Yale Bright Star Catalogue)
Two Main Different Types of Catalogues
•709 plates taken with the 8-inch Draper
telescope from Cambridge (Mass.)
•1409 plates taken with a similar telescope
from Arequipa (Perú).
•242093 stellar spectrum (artound 220000
stars) where clasified by Annie J. Cannon
between 1911 and 1915.
Example of OC Type:The Henry Draper Catalogue
Declination Zone Catalogue / Observatory
+90 a +85 Yale
+85 a +80 AGK2 – Greenwich AC
+80 a +60 AGK2 – AGK1
+60 a +50 Yale
+50 a +30 AGK2 – AGK1
+30 a -30 Yale
-30 a -40 CPC
-40 a -52 Cape Astrographic
-52 a -64 CPC
-64 a -90 Me3 – Me4
Example of CCC Type:
El Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Catalogue (SAO)
The Next Three Problems
order the Catalogue
designate each object
designate the combination: Catalogue + Object
Once the type of catalogue to compile has been decided, we still have to:
Increasing Right Ascension for a given equinox
Increasing Right Ascension for a given equinox in declination bands
Discovery date
Discovery date in a given spectral band
Opposition date for a given year (Solar System)
Possible Ways of Ordering the Data
Name ExampleProper Name Sirius
Constellation Pav
Coordinates 1235+38 / J104842.81+011158.2
Number System BD -16 1594, HD 48915
Number / Name following a temporal scheme R And, V431 Sco
Physical Characteristic ADS 5423 / LDS 5759
Instrument Used in the Observation 4U 129
Spectral Band Sco X-1
Nature of the Object PSR 0011-07
Observatory LH
Region of the Sky SA 16-106
Number / Name within a main object NGC 125-7
Discoverer’s Name Romano’s variables, Markarian’s galaxies or Luyten’s Double Stars
Possible Ways to Designate an Object
HR 2491 =
HD 48915 =
BD -16 1591 =
SAO 151881 =
PPM 217626 =
GSC 5949 2777 =
HIP 32349 =
Crossed Identification
2MASS 06450887-1642566
FK4 257 =
from: http://www.iee.org/Publish/Support/INSPEC/Document/Astron/index.cfm
Combination Catalogue + Object
1850: visual pair is discovered1900: wide common proper motion companion is found1975: B component is found to be spectroscopy binary1985: C component is split by speckle interferometry1990: additional speckle C component is resolved at a
similar separation1995: planet is found orbiting the A component1998: second planet is found2005: primary of B is resolved by long-baseline
interferometry
Modifications in the designations of Objects(as time goes by and technology changes)
Hartkopf, W., and Mason, B. 2004. RevMexAA (SC) 21, 83-90
There is a first reference to 1 and 2 Sgr in the Almagest
1650 The duplicity of Mizar is annouced by Riccioli
By the end of the XVII century the duplicity of Cen and Cru is
announced
1667 Montanari points out the changes in brightness of Algol
1779 Mayer publishes the first catalogue of double stars (80
entries)
1802 W. Herschel admits that the changes in Castor may be the
consequence of an orbital motion
1827 Struve introduces the and parameters. Catalogue with
3134 pairs
1837 first photographic observation of Mizar
Double Stars
1900 A new catalogue with 15,000 stars is published
1919 First interferometric observations by K. Schwarzschild
1921 Hertzsprung starts observations using photographic plates
1970 Speckle interferometry observations
1980 CHARA (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy) is
formed
2002 The Tycho Double Stars Catalogue is announced by
Fabricius et al.
Double Stars
The Washington Double Stars Catalogue (WDS) in numbers
Total 99798 systems
WDS Catalog (~12.5Mb)
00-06 hour section (~2.6Mb)
06-12 hour section (~3.6Mb)
12-18 hour section (~2.3Mb)
18-24 hour section (~4.0Mb)
Format of the current WDS
Notes file for the WDS (~1.0Mb)
References and discoverer codes (~0.7Mb)
List Set I: Northern List (Dec > +20, num = 3072) Equatorial List (-20 < Dec < +20, num = 2331) Southern List (Dec < -20, num = 1039)
List Set II: Northern List (Dec > +20, num = 1860) Equatorial List (-20 < Dec < +20, num = 2710) Southern List (Dec < -20, num = 2062)
List Set III: Northern List (Dec > +20, num = 21,061) Equatorial List (-20 < Dec < +20, num = 11,491) Southern List (Dec < -20, num = 13,216)
The “Neglected stars”
Total 58842 systems
The case of LDS 11 = WDS 00181-5330
WDS values: = 45º; = 19.0” (1960)
Values from USNO SA2.0: = 75º; = 19.0” (1996)
N
E
Identification of LDS systems in 2MASS and SSS(R)(sample table)
Lopez, C., 2005 RevMexAA (SC) (in press)
1718: Halley announces the proper motion of the stars
1775: Mayer publishes the first proper motions catalogue (998 stars)
1783: Herschel suggests the idea of solar motion
1887: the Astrographic Catalogue is started
1916: Barnard discovers his famous star
1926: Schlesinger starts the Yale Zones
1947: Wright starts the NPM
1950: Luyten starts to survey both hemispheres for high proper
motion stars.
1960: Giclas starts his surveys
1965: Brower, Schill and Cesco start the SPM (YSO)
1989: ESA launches the Hipparcos satallite
2000: Monet announces the USNO B
Proper Motions
1580: First attempt by Tycho Brahe
1781: “…the displacement due to the parallax must be less than 1 arcsec” said James Bradley when he attempted to determine the Dra parallax
1837: Parallax of Vega determined by Struve
1838: Parallax of 61 Cyg determined by Bessel
1890: Publication of parallaxes for 30 stars with errors in the order of +/-0.05 arcsec.
1903: Systematic observations with photographic plates started by Schlesinger
1924: First edition of the YPC (~1680 star)
1935: Second edition of the YPC (~4100 stars)
Parallaxes
1952: Third edition of the YPC (~5800 stars)1981: First parallaxes determined with CCD1995: Fourth edition of the YPC (~8100) star1997: Hipparcos results 2001: Henry et al. results from CTIOPI (CTIO Parallax
Investigation) many nearby stars, one of them as close as
5.5 pc.2002: Scholz et al. present new nearby stars with d<25 pc.2003: Teegarden et al. dicovery of a star between 2.7 and 3.6
pc (using SkyMorph!!)2003: Phan-Bao et al. present new stars within 25 pc (DENIS’
mining)2005: Jao et al. present new results from the CTIOPI program
Parallaxes
# stars << 106 # stars >> 106
1990before after
Number of entries in most of the astrometic catalogues
The MEGA Catalogues
Over the past 15 years four catalogues -with well over a million entries each- have been published. They are called MEGA Catalogues:
Guide Star Catalogue (GSC)Guide Star Catalogue (GSC) USNO (A and B series)USNO (A and B series) SuperCosmos Sky Survey (SSS)SuperCosmos Sky Survey (SSS) UCACUCAC
Astrometric
2MASS2MASS DENISDENIS SDSSSDSS
Non-Astrometric
Guide Star Catalogue (GSC): the Pioneer
Lasker, B. et al. 1990. AJ 99, 2019
The GSC was constructed as support for the HST
Over 19 million objects in the 6th to 15th mag. range Astrometry is available at the epochs of the individual
plates used in the GSC (no proper motions) Reference stars were selected from AGK3, SAOC, and
CPC Extensive analysis against the Carlsberg Automatic
Meridian Circle data showed that GSC absolute positional errors from plate center to edge vary from 0.5" to 1.1" in the north and from 1.0" to 1.6" in the south.
Different improvements have yielded the following realeses:
GSC I (1.0, 1.1, and 1.2)
GSC II (2.0, 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3)
Schmidt Plates in GSC I
SurveySurvey Code
EpochEmulsion/
FilterBand Depth Dec.Zones No.Plates pixels Notes
Palomar QV N 1983-85 IIaD+W12 V 19.5 +90:+06 613 1.7"
SERC J S 1975-87 IIIaJ+GG395 Bj 23.0 -20:-90 606 1.7" -
SERC EJ S 1979-88 IIIaJ+GG395 Bj 23.0 -00:-15 288 1.7" -
SERC-QV XV 1986-88 IIaD+GG495 V 14.0S. Galactic
Plane94 1"&1.7" -
SERC-V & PAL-V1/5
XX 1979-85 IIIa-J+GG495 V Selected objects
5 1.7" -
Schmidt Plates in GSC II
SurveySurve
y Code
Epoch Emulsion/FilterBan
dDepth Dec.Zones
No.Plates
pixels Notes
POSS-II J XJ 1987-98 IIIaJ+GG395 Bj 22.5 +90:+00 897 1" -
POSS-II R XP 1987-98 IIIaF+RG610 R 20.8 +90:+00 897 1" -
SERC J S 1975-87 IIIaJ+GG395 Bj 23.0 -20:-90 606 1.7" -
SERC EJ S 1979-88 IIIaJ+GG395 Bj 23.0 -00:-15 288 1.7" -
SERC ER ER 1984-98 IIIaF+OG590 R 22.0 -00:-15 288 1" -
AAO SES XS 1990-98 IIIaF+OG590 R 22.0 -20:-90 606 1" -
AAO-SR GR 1996-99 IIIaF+OG590 R 20.0S. Galactic
Plane118 1" -
SERC-QV XV 1986-88 IIaD+GG495 V 14.0S. Galactic
Plane94 1"&1.7" -
POSS-I E XE 1950-58 103aE R 20.0 +90:-30 935 1"&1.7"Not available until GSC 2.3
POSS-I O XO 1950-58 103aO B 21.0 +90:-30 935 1"Not available until GSC 2.3
POSS-II N XI 1987-98 IV-N+RG9 I 19.5 +90:+00 897 1"Not available until GSC 2.3
SERC I IS 1990-98 IV-N+RG715 I 19.5 -00:-90 894 1"Not available until GSC 2.3
Palomar QV N 1983-85 IIaD+W12 V 19.5 +90:+06 613 1.7"Not available until GSC 2.3
GSPC I is an all-sky set of photoelectrically determined BV sequences in the magnitude range from 9 to 15, generally near the centers of the fields of the GSC-I plates.
Lasker, B., Sturch, C., Lopez, C. et all. 1988, ApJS, 68, 1.
GSPC II is generally an extension of GSPC I sequences to V=19 in (B), V and R passbands based on CCD photometry. Its purpose is the calibration of the GSC-II.
Bucciarelli, et al. A&A 368, pp 335-346, 2001
The USNO-B1: summary
Monet, D.; Levine, S.; Canzian, B. et al. 2003 AJ 125, 948
Number of sources: 1,045,913,669
Number of observations: 3,643,201,733
Number of plates: 7,435
Completeness down to V= 21
0.2 arcsec accuracy at J2000
0.3 mag accuracy in up to 5 colors
yes, but …
The case of LDS 3188
pm according to USNO
actual pm
USNO detection
USNO B1.0 got the wrong sign!!!!
1952.706
1988.842
Source ComponentpmRA(mas)
pmDE(mas)
USNO B1.0AB
-244-144
238 410
SSS(R)AB
82 86
-212-220
WDS(Luyten)
A+B 57 -201
The case of LDS 3188(comparison of proper motion)
The SuperCosmos Sky Survey (SSS) andThe SuperCosmos Science Archive (SSA)
• The database contains over 1 billion multi-colour, multi-epoch sources and covers the southern celestial hemisphere (d < +3.0) in three passbands (BRI), with one colour (R) represented at two epochs.
• All SSA global astrometry is tied to the Hipparcos-Tycho reference frame via the Tycho-2 and ACT catalogues.
• Astrometry is globally good between 0.2 and 0.3 arcsec.
• New proper motions (with respect to the ones in SSS) have been computed using all available positions. Up to four different epochs have been used.
• The SSS and SSA are based on the same underlying data with the main differences arising in the construction of the SSA merged source table.
The SuperCosmos Sky Survey: Proper Motion Comparison with the SPM
10.0<V<14.0 14.0<V<16.0
Hambly, N. C. et al. 2001. MNRAS 326, 1315.
UCAC project goals densification of the reference frame beyond Hipparcos/Tycho improve accuracy of positions of faint end Tycho-2 stars improve link between Hipparcos and the International Celestial Reference Frame
Applications astrometric calibration of other telescopes better reference for minor planet observations in general allow high precision observations of NEO (Near Earth Orbit) minor planets allow exact placement of fiber optics for spectrographic surveys accurate astrometry for narrow field imaging, particularly for big telescopes allow uncompromized Schmidt plate reductions high accuracy proper motions for galactic studies major contribution for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) input catalog
The UCAC Project
The UCAC2
Positions and proper motions for over 48 million sources (mostly stars).
Precision on the positions is 15-70 mas (depending on magnitude).
Proper motions are derived by using over 140 ground- and space-based catalogues. With errors about 1-3 mas yr-1 for stars to 12th mag., and about 4-7 mas yr-1 for fainter stars to 16th mag.
Current epoch positions are obtained from observations with the USNO 8-inch Twin Astrograph equipped with a 4k CCD.
The catalogue covers from -90º up to +48º (to +52º in some areas) and supersedes UCAC1 released in 2001.
NOMAD NOMAD (Naval Observatory Merged Astrometric (Naval Observatory Merged Astrometric
Database)Database)
Astrometric and photometric data for over 1 billion stars.Astrometric and photometric data for over 1 billion stars. Source catalogues (for astrometry and optical photometry): Source catalogues (for astrometry and optical photometry):
Hipparcos, Tycho-2, UCAC2, and USNO-B.Hipparcos, Tycho-2, UCAC2, and USNO-B. Photometry supplemented by 2MASS.Photometry supplemented by 2MASS. NOMAD is not a compiled catalogue; that is, if a given star is NOMAD is not a compiled catalogue; that is, if a given star is
presented in more than one of the above mentioned presented in more than one of the above mentioned catalogues, only one catalogue entry is chosen.catalogues, only one catalogue entry is chosen.
All source catalogues astrometric data are on the ICRF.All source catalogues astrometric data are on the ICRF. 100 GB of data.100 GB of data.
Zacharias, N., et al. 2004b. AAS 205, 4815.
Step 3: 1) coord. or object
name. One may also submit a List of Targets.
2) Select (deselect) on the type of data (one may select All Cols)
3) Select the size and shape of the search
4) Select the output format
5) Select the number of lines of your output file
Year Catalogue # of Objects
360 BC Chinese ¿?
260 BC Aristillus & Timocharis ¿850?
129 BC Hipparchus 850 (1,080?)
150 DC Ptolemy’s Almagest 1,080
1277 Alfonsine Tables ¿?
1534 Ulugh-Beg 1,018
1594 Rothman & Wilhelm 1,004
Summary of the Most Important Astrometric Catalogues
Year Catalogue # of Objects
1601 Tycho Brahe 1,005
1661 Hevelius 1,563
1725 Flamsteed 3,310
1751 Lacaile 9,766
1760 Lalande 50,000
1792 Piazzi 7,646
1847 British Assoc. 47,390
Summary of the Most Important Astrometric Catalogues
Year Catalogue # of Objects
1850 Durchmusterung 300,000
1887 Astrographic Catalogue 4,000,000
1910 PGC 30,000
1926 Yale Zones ~150,000
1937 General Catalogue 33,000
1950 N30 5,000
1966 SAOC 257,997
Summary of the Most Important Astrometric Catalogues
Year Catalogue # of Objects
1984 FK5 1,535
1990 GSC 1.0 20,000,000
1992 4 Millions 4,000,000
1993 PPM 350,000
1996 USNO A1.0 488,000,000
1997 Hipparcos 118,218
1997 Tycho – 1 1,058,332
Summary of the Most Important Astrometric Catalogues
Year Catalogue # of Objects
1998 USNO A2.0 500,000,000
1998 AC2000 4,000,000
2000 GSC II 1,000,000,000
2000 Tycho – 2 2,500,000
2001 SPM 30,000,000
2002 UCAC 40,000,000
2003 USNO B1.0 1,000,000,000
Summary of the Most Important Astrometric Catalogues
Recycling and Evolution of the Astronomical Data
Observation of the
Celestial Object
•Coordinates•Proper Motions•Multiplicity•Parallaxes•Identification
•Spectral Band•Magnitude•Spectral Type•Variability•Identification
General Catalogue
Distribution and UseDetection of ErrorsComparison of Data
Crossed Identification
New Technologies New Technologies