Volume 7, Issue 4
October 1998
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INTRODUCTION
Have you looked at the ADC's home page lately? It's sporting a new look with
links to newly reorganized pages. Prominent on the new home page is a
collection of featured links. These are shortcuts to services we'd like to
bring to our users' attention. The web site changes are described in this
issue.
Since the last issue, there have been noteworthy updates to the ADC Viewer
suite of data browsing and visualization tools as well as additions to our
collection of quick reference pages. These updates are discussed in articles
below.
Our apologies to any of you who might have been inconvenienced by the service
disruptions in the August and September time frames due to year 2000
compatibility testing. If you are curious about what was tested, and what
were the results of the tests, read the article entitled "Results of ADC's
Year 2000 Time Shift Tests" in this issue.
The ADC is again planning to have an exhibit at the Winter meeting of the AAS.
Stop by the Astrophysics Data Facility booth in the Austin Convention Center
during the meeting and chat with the staff. We'll be demonstrating our
services, distributing CD-ROMs, and, with luck, we'll have a new ADF
educational poster to give away.
- James E. Gass (Raytheon ITSS), Editor
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ADC Viewer Suite Update
Vincent E. Kargatis (Raytheon ITSS)
The ADC offers a suite of tools that allows the user to move from browsing ADC
catalogs and journal tables to acquiring data on specific objects in one
continuous sequence. The ADC Viewer can select and browse most holdings in
the ADC, in which the user can cull, sort, and save their desired tables.
CatsEye plots columns from Viewer tables, allowing data visualization. From
CatsEye, selected catalog objects can be passed to IMPReSS, which plots
available observation "footprints" on the sky and links directly to the
archived data.
The suite has undergone a number of improvements since the last newsletter.
The Viewer has had an extensive internal software rewrite, which has extended
capabilities, stability, and error handling:
- Home page is cleaner, easier to use
- Catalog and file names displayed at top of pages
- Users are given a workspace in which they can save tables and view,
download, or delete any saved table
- Users can stop display of tables safely, so one can move on
without waiting for long tables to finish displaying
- Downloaded files now have explanatory headers attached
CatsEye improvements:
- Automatically accesses user's workspace for tables to plot
- Now links to NED as well as IMPReSS for each selected point
- Plot size selection now available
IMPReSS:
- HST WF and PC observing logs have been added to the database
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New Look for the ADC Home Page
James E. Gass (Raytheon ITSS)
Until recently, ADC users had to navigate several links into the ADC website
before encountering information and links about some of our more valuable
services, such as CatsEye, and our mirror of CDS' VizieR service, and our
quick reference pages. The ADC home page has been redesigned to include a
place to highlight such services. As part of the redesign, we have replaced
the old "Data Collections" page with our new "Science Data" page. The "Science
Data" page includes the links to the various lists of available data and the
author index menu bar, while retaining the data search form. These changes
should save users steps in locating ADC Data.
Access to useful information about the ADC and its services is now provided
through the new "How to Info" and "About the ADC" pages. Please note that as
of the publication of this newsletter, some of the "How to" pages are still
under construction.
The links from the list on the left side of the home page are repeated as a
menu bar at the top of the newer web pages. Eventually, most of the existing
pages will have the same menu bar added. We hope that you will find the
revised pages much easier to navigate.
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ADC Quick Reference Pages: an update
Janet L. Weiland (Raytheon ITSS)
In July, we introduced a new user service in the form of 'Quick Reference
Pages' (QRPs). These pages constitute a list of suggested ADC datasets and/or
external web links relating to a select set of astronomical or ADC-related
topics. The QRPs serve as a useful starting point for locating data, rather
than acting as a comprehensive list of data sources.
The number of QRPs has grown from the initial set of three topics to
now include nine:
1) Solar System
2) Basic Stellar Data
3) Variable Stars
4) Interstellar Medium within our Galaxy
5) Basic Data on Galaxies
6) Quasars & AGN
7) Groups & Cluster of galaxies
8) Units and Constants
9) Common Catalog Names
We will continue to keep the current pages up-to-date as ADC holdings
increase, and expect to add new topics as well.
A top-level description of the QRPs is located at
http://adc.astro.umd.edu/adc/top_refpage.html. This top-level page lists the
currently available QRPs, and users can link from there to whichever topic
interests them. The QRP top-level page is now also a featured link from the
ADC home page.
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Results of ADC's Year 2000 Time Shift Tests
James E. Gass (Raytheon ITSS)
As part of NASA's efforts to ensure that its operations and services will not
be disrupted due to Year 2000 software problems, the ADC staff conducted time
shift tests of its data server computers during the latter half of August and
early September. During these tests, Internet access to the ADC's services
was intentionally blocked. We regret any inconveniences that this may have
caused.
For these tests, the computer systems' clocks were set forward to just before
January 1, 2000, and again to various dates in year 2000. The ADC staff
exercised the Center's data access services and many of the software tools
used to maintain its operations. No problems occurred from the system date
moving beyond the 20th century.
As you know, computer software, from firmware to operating systems to
applications, may fail to operate properly in the year 2000 if its developers
built in assumptions that all years begin with "19". As an archive of
astronomical data - most of it in table form - the ADC has data sets that
contain dates in a wide variety of formats and in several calendar systems. It
is important to note that such data, even if it includes year fields that are
only two digits wide, does not constitute a Year 2000 problem. Problems
might result from misinterpretation of these values however.
The ADC's data sets were compiled individually by their authors as part of
their research work. In all cases users of these data sets should review the
documentation to make certain that they understand how to correctly interpret
the data values, be they dates, coordinates, physical parameters, notes, or
whatever.
The astronomical community is addressing the year 2000 limitations of the FITS
standard. See the draft revised FITS standard for details on how the new
standard addresses this shortcoming of the existing standard. (See
http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/ .)
At the time of the writing of this article, no further Year 2000 tests have
been scheduled for ADC's systems and services. Should additional tests that
would disrupt user services become necessary, we will again post advance
notice on our home page.
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Newly Acquired and Updated Catalogs/Journal Tables
Gail L. Schneider (Raytheon ITSS)
The following catalogs and journal tables are currently available from the
ADC.
We would like to thank CDS, AAS, Dr. Heinz Andernach at the Universidad de
Guanajuato and individual authors for making many of the listed catalogs and
journal tables available for our archival.
See http://adc.astro.umd.edu/adc/acq_new_updated.html#new_list for a hypertext version
of this article containing direct links to each catalog and journal
table listed.
NEW CATALOGS AND JOURNAL TABLES
ID# Abbreviated Title (First Author, Year)
I. Astrometric and Positional Data
1087B HS Catalogue, 2nd Edition (Luyten 1979)
1251 VLBI International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) (Ma+, 1997)
II. Photometric Data
2212A A Finding List of Faint UV-Bright Stars (Lanning+, 1998)
III. Spectroscopic Data
3205 H-alpha Stars in Northern Milky Way (Kohoutek+ 1997)
VII. Non-Stellar and Extended Objects
7034C ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO(B) Atlas (Lauberts 1982)
7210 A Catalogue of Galactic Supernova Remnants (Green 1996)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
J/A+A/320/776 Tidal radii of 7 globular clusters (Lehmann+ 1997)
J/A+A/334/863 II Peg radial velocities (Berdyugina+ 1998)
J/A+A/334/987 6 blue objects spectral data (Venn+ 1998)
J/A+A/335/183 Pleiades low-mass stars rotational velocities (Queloz+ 1998)
J/A+A/335/565 Be stars variability (Hubert+ 1998)
J/A+A/335/647 Limb-darkening coefficients for ubvyUBVRIJHK (Claret 1998)
J/A+A/335/823 Evolution models of elliptical galaxies. III. (Tantalo+ 1998)
J/A+A/335/912 Seyferts in galaxy pairs and groups (Kelm+ 1998)
J/A+A/335/973 84 UMa ubvy photometry (Wade+ 1998)
J/A+A/336/263 Radial velocities of HR 4049 (Bakker+ 1998)
J/A+A/336/339 VLA observations of ultracompact HII regions (Molinari+ 1998)
J/A+A/336/667 PN abundances in five galaxies (Stasinska+ 1998)
J/A+A/336/920 HD 163151: a new W UMa type system (Rodriguez+ 1998)
J/A+A/336/953 Bp-Ap stars HR-diagram from Hipparcos data (Gomez+ 1998)
J/A+A/337/183 V1046 Ori uvby photometry and radial velocities (Bolton+ 1998)
J/A+A/337/403 Low-mass stars evolutionary models (Baraffe+ 1998)
J/A+A/337/779 V810 Cen Geneva photometry (Kienzle+ 1998)
Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series
J/A+AS/98/393 1Jy BL Lac Objects: Observational Data (Stickel+ 1993)
J/A+AS/120/107 1989-1994 CCD observations of Triton (Veiga+ 1996)
J/A+AS/123/473 Late-type star spectra (Montes+ 1997)
J/A+AS/125/229 A standard stellar library (Lejeune+ 1997)
J/A+AS/125/459 Nearby clusters of galaxies properties. III. (Trevese+ 1997)
J/A+AS/128/573 ubvy{Delta}a photometry of Renson stars (Maitzen+ 1998)
J/A+AS/130/65 A standard stellar library. II. (Lejeune+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/1 BVI photometry of 5 CVn cloud galaxies (Karachentsev+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/11 Flux density monitoring (Reich+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/73 Catalogue of HI maps of galaxies. I. (Martin 1998)
J/A+AS/131/77 Catalogue of HI maps of galaxies. II. (Martin 1998)
J/A+AS/131/105 NGC 6221 ionized gas kinematics (Vega Beltran+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/115 BV light curves of AU Ser (Li+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/119 Spectroscopy of irregular variables (Cieslinski+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/137 Einstein A-Coefficients in SiC2 transitions (Chandra+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/141 Stark broadening of O VII and Mg XI (Dimitrijevic+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/143 Stark broadening of Sc X & XI, Ti XI & XII (Dimitrijevic+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/153 IRON Project XXXI. Fe XII electron excitation (Binello+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/197 F, G and K stars BVRI photometry (Metanomski+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/209 Giants JHK(L') photometry (Alonso+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/221 Abell 3733 heliocentric radial velocities (Solanes+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/239 NGC 1750 & NGC 1758 BVR photometry (Galadi-Enriquez+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/287 Kinematical data on early-type galaxies. IV. (Simien+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/291 1995-1997 CCD positions of Triton (Veiga+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/295 Spectral survey of Case emission-line galaxies (Ugryumov+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/303 GHz-Peaked-Spectrum radio sources (Stanghellini+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/317 NGC 7331 HII regions catalogue (Petit 1998)
J/A+AS/131/319 HII regions catalogue (Petit+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/321 Long-term monitoring of active stars. VIII. (Cutispoto 1998)
J/A+AS/131/395 Eclipsing binaries light curves models (Claret 1998)
J/A+AS/131/401 Southern peculiar early-type stars polarimetry (Yudin+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/431 Accurate wavelengths in the Sun spectrum (Allende Prieto+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/479 Spectroscopy of MWC 297 (Andrillat+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/499 IRON Project XXIX. Boron isoelectronic sequence (Galavis+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/395 Eclipsing binaries light curves models (Claret 1998)
J/A+AS/131/239 NGC 1750 + NGC 1758 BVR photometry (Galadi-Enriquez+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/89 NGC 1750 + NGC 1758 proper motions (Tian+ 1998)
Astronomical Journal
J/AJ/101/1408 Massive stars in Cyg OB2. (Massey+ 1991)
J/AJ/108/2338 Photographic astrometry. VIII. (Heintz 1994)
J/AJ/109/2376 Case blue/emission-line galaxies (Salzer+ 1995)
J/AJ/113/806 M-Subdwarfs (Gizis 1997)
J/AJ/114/122 Spectroscopy of edge-on spirals (Giovanelli+ 1997)
J/AJ/114/326 MACHO Variables V. (Alcock+ 1997)
J/AJ/115/130 NGC 925 & NGC 1637 supergiants VRI CCD photometry (Sohn+ 1998)
J/AJ/115/168 Kinematics of red giant and RR Lyrae stars (Chiba+ 1998)
J/AJ/115/635 Cepheid radial velocities (Metzger+ 1998)
J/AJ/115/1016 M 31B eclipsing binaries and Cepheids (Kaluzny+ 1998)
J/AJ/116/1 The Southern Sky Redshift Survey (da Costa+ 1998)
J/AJ/116/180 UIT Observations of the Magellanic Clouds (Parker+ 1998)
Astrophysical Journal
J/ApJ/405/94 Far-infrared emission from 5 galaxy clusters (Wise+ 1993)
J/ApJ/440/28 Brightest Cluster Galaxies velocities (Postman+ 1995)
J/ApJ/470/724 Abell 576 galaxies magnitude and velocities (Mohr+ 1996)
J/ApJ/471/694 Abell 2390 Gunn photometry and equivalent widths (Abraham+ 1996)
J/ApJ/476/311 2MASS M-dwarf discoveries (Kirkpatrick+ 1997)
J/ApJ/481/95 Radio identification of EGRET sources (Mattox+ 1997)
J/ApJ/483/745 NGC 4478 globular clusters (Neilsen+ 1997)
J/ApJ/491/93 JHK photometry of gamma-ray bursts (Larson+ 1997)
J/ApJ/496/39 Properties of poor groups of galaxies. I. (Zabludoff+ 1998)
J/ApJ/497/736 The young cluster IC 348. (Herbig, 1998)
J/ApJ/497/188 A103, A118 and A114 morphological studies (Couch+ 1998)
J/ApJ/497/330 Candidate main-sequence stars (Mannings+, 1998)
Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
J/ApJS/95/163 Ultraviolet P Cygni profiles (Snow+, 1994)
J/ApJS/100/105 Stellar velocity dispersions. II. (McElroy 1995)
J/ApJS/103/331 mJy radio sources at 1.4 GHz (Lu+ 1996)
J/ApJS/107/521 Galaxies redshifts, 210catalogs/2/2212A/
J/PASP/110/779 Accurate Positions for MCG Galaxies (Corwin+ 1998)
J/PASP/110/863 A Stellar Spectral Flux Library: 1150 - 25000 A (Pickles 1998)
EXTERNAL DATA SET LINKS
Photometric Data External Databases
E/II/2 General Catalogue of Photometric Data (Mermilliod+ 1998)
E/II/3 Photometric Systems (Mermilliod+ 1998)
E/II/4 Photometry of T Tauri Stars (Herbst+ 1994)
Combined and Derived Data External Databases
E/V/2 Extra-solar Planets Catalog (Schneider+ 1998)
Nonstellar and Extended Objects External Databases
E/VII/4 MOST supernova remnant catalogue (MSC) (Whiteoak+ 1996)
Radio Sources External Databases
E/VIII/5 The Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (1998)
E/VIII/6 Double Radio source Associated with Galactic Nucleus (Leahy+ 1998)
UPDATED CATALOGS AND JOURNAL TABLES
Standard documentation has been added to the following catalog:
III. Spectroscopic Data
3112 Spectral Classes in Kapteyn areas 2-43 (Bartaya, 1983)
Additional data files added:
II. Photometric Data
2179 Southern Spectrophotometric Standards. I + II (Hamuy+ 1992,94)
III. Spectroscopic Data
3195 Atlas Optical Spectral Classification OB Stars (Walborn+ 1990)
VII. Non-Stellar and Extended Objects
7199 Surface Photometries of the Milky Way (Schlosser+ 1997)
Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series
J/A+AS/123/473 Late-type star spectra (Montes+ 1997)
J/A+AS/130/251 Star Formation in Early-type galaxies (Longhetti+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/395 Eclipsing binaries light curves models (Claret 1998)
Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
J/ApJS/95/163 Ultraviolet P Cygni profiles (Snow+, 1994)
Corrections added:
I. Astrometric and Positional Data
1061B AGK3 Catalogue (Dieckvoss, Heckmann 1975)
1141 Yale Zone Catalogues Integrated (Yale Univ 1939-1983; ADC 1989)
II. Photometric Data
2134 Magnetic Field Measurements (Didelon 1983)
2155 Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (Fracassini+ 1988)
Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series
J/A+AS/125/459 Nearby clusters of galaxies properties. III. (Trevese+ 1997)
J/A+AS/130/333 2112 new 21-cm line measurements (Theureau+ 1998)
J/A+AS/131/239 NGC 1750 & NGC 1758 BVR photometry (Galadi-Enriquez+ 1998)
Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
J/ApJS/95/401 Clusters of galaxies position angles (Plionis 1994)
J/ApJS/102/75 ROSAT Observations of the Pleiades (Micela+ 1996)
Data files reformatted:
III. Spectroscopic Data
3059 Catalogue and Bibliography of Mn-Hg Stars (Schneider 1981)
ReadMe revisited:
I. Astrometric and Positional Data
1143 Fourth Fundamental Cat and Suppl (FK4, FK4S; Fricke, Kopff 1963)
IV. Cross Identifications
4017A HD,HDE,DM Identifications in Open Clusters (Mermilliod 1986)
VIII. Radio Sources
8007A Hat Creek High-Latitude H I Survey (Heiles+ 1974-1976)
8008A Parkes High-Latitude H I Survey (Cleary+ 1979)
8030 5C14/5C15/5C16 Radio Survey at 408 and 1407 MHz (Benn+ 1991)
Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series
J/A+AS/98/393 The complete sample of 1 Jy BL Lac Objects. II. (Stickel 1993)
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