Astronomical Catalogues

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 =

Sirius

Sirius’ Cross ID, from SIMBAD

54 identifications

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

source: WDS web page

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

WDS main (sample)

WDS (neglected stars)

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

LDS 4023

A

B?

LDS 4023

LDS 4023

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

Parallaxes

Jao, W-Ch. et al. 2005 AJ. 129, 1954

# 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.

Comparison GSC 1.0 vs. CAMC (1, 2, and 3)

Taff, L. et al. 1990. ApJ 353, L45 – L48

Comparison GSC 1.0 vs. CAMC (1, 2, and 3)

Taff, L. et al. 1990. ApJ 353, L45 – L48

Comparison GSC 1.0 vs. GSC 1.2

Quick Fact Sheet on GSC 1.1 vs. GSC 2.2

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

Other recentw major astrometric catalogues

USNO-B1.0

SSS

UCAC

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 …

Hip 5164

DSS frame around Hip 5164

USNO B1.0 frame around Hip 5164

The Case of LDS 4023

The Case of LDS 4023

false detections

The case of VW Gru

VW Gru

1 Gru

VW Gru

VW Gru (image plane) + GSC 1.2

1 Gru

VW Gru

1 Gru

VW Gru (image plane) + USNO B1.0

false detections

The case of LDS 3188

A

B

N

E

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)

(astro-ph 0503512)

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.

Plate Material

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.

Sample Output

Hip 5164

DSS frame around Hip 5164

SSS(R) frame around Hip 5164

14´

SSS Detections (as shown by Aladin) around Hip 5164

Object Extraction Table of SSA

The case of M50: Comparison Between SSS and USNO B1.0

The case of M50: Comparison Between SSS and USNO B1.0

SSS chart

The case of M50: Comparison Between SSS and USNO B1.0

USNO B1.0 chart

Aladin USNO B1.0 chart

The case of M50:Missing Star in USNO B1.0?

?

The case of M50:Missing Star in USNO B1.0 but present in 2mass and GSC 2.2

GSC 2.2 data

R mag

B mag

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.

Differences Tycho2 – UCAC1

Zacharias, N. et al. 2000, AJ 120, 1148.

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.

Accessing the Major Catalogues:

Data Centers and the Virtual Observatory

Some of the Astrometric Catalogues Available at CDS

The end of ADC

http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR

Working with VizieR: 4 very easy steps

Step 1: open the page and …

click on …

Step 2: select the catalogue

click on the catalogue number

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

Step 4: output sample

CFHT VLT

HST GEMINI

NTT

QUEST

VIRTUALOBSERVATORY

NGST

OTHERS

WIYNESO

The Basic IdeaThe Basic Idea

Some Virtual Observatory Initiatives

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

Where is Astrometry?

The Next Two (Last?) Steps

Each of these missions will observe 1,000,000,000 objects !!

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

…and so I said to myself: it’s

time to put some order up

here !