VI/90 Wide-Field Plate Database (Tsvetkov+ 1997)
Wide-Field Plate Database
Tsvetkov M.K., Stavrev K.Y., Tsvetkova K.P., Mutafov A.S., Semkov E.H.
<Institute of Astronomy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1997)>
ADC_Keywords: Atlases ; Plate data ; Observatory log ; Photographic catalog
Description:
The Wide-Field Plate Database (WFPDB) contains the descriptive
information for the astronomical wide-field (~>1deg.) photographic
observations stored in numerous archives all over the world. When
finished it will provide an on-line access to the information for
about 2 million observations from nearly 300 archives, obtained since
the end of last century. Presently the WFPDB includes data for about
330 000 observations from 57 plate catalogues. About 120 000
observations more from 32 plate catalogs are in preparation to be
included in the database. The WFPDB provides for each observation
information for the corresponding archive, the parameters of the
observational instrument, the observation parameters (position on sky,
observation time, object name, method, exposure time, emulsion type,
filter type, spectral band, plate size), as well as data on the plate
quality, comments, and observers. Data on the plate availability and
digitization will be supplemented in the WFPDB in the future.
File Summary:
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Filename Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
maindata 104 323635 Main data file
archives 212 294 List of plate archives
quality 80 51549 Plate quality data
notes 80 53217 Notes
observer 57 35993 Observers' names
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Byte-per-byte description of file: archives
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Bytes Format Unit Label Explanation
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1- 3 A3 --- IDobs *WFPDB observatory identifier
4- 6 I3 cm IDins *Instrument aperture
7 A1 --- IDsuf1 *[A-Z ] Suffix to the instrument identifier
9- 25 A17 --- LOCs Location of the plate archive, town (site)
27- 40 A14 --- LOCc Location of the plate archive, country
42- 64 A23 --- OBSn Observatory, name
66- 83 A18 --- OBSs Observatory, site
85- 95 A11 --- OBSc Observatory, country
97- 99 I3 --- MNo ? Marsden's number
101 A1 --- TZ- Time zone, sign
102-103 I2 h TZ ? Time zone
105 A1 --- LON- ? Observatory longitude, sign
106-108 I3 deg LONd ? Observatory longitude, deg
110-113 F4.1 arcmin LONm ? Observatory longitude, arcmin
115 A1 --- LAT- ? Observatory latitude, sign
116-117 I2 deg LATd ? Observatory latitude, deg
119-122 F4.1 arcmin LATm ? Observatory latitude, arcmin
124-127 I4 m ALT ? Observatory altitude
129-130 I2 --- MULT ? Multiplicity of telescope cameras
131 A1 --- --- [x] Sign 'x'
132-135 F4.2 m APR ? Clear aperture of the telescope
137-140 F4.2 m MD ? Diameter of telescope mirror
142-146 F5.2 m FL ? Focal length of the telescope
148-151 I4 arcsec/mm SCL ? Plate scale
153-155 A3 --- ITYPE *Instrument type
157-161 F5.1 deg FIELD ? Field angular dimension
163-166 I4 yr YEAR1 ? Year of beginning of telescope operation
168-171 I4 yr YEAR2 ? Year of end of telescope operation
173 A1 --- PF [F ] Indication 'F' for 'film'
175-180 I6 --- NPd ? Number of direct plates
181 A1 --- NPUNd [: ] Uncertainty of the number of plates
183-184 A2 --- CFORMd *Plate catalog form (direct plates)
186-190 I5 --- NPs ?Number of objective prism plates
191 A1 --- NPUNs [: ] Uncertainty of the number of plates
193-194 A2 --- CFORMs *Plate catalog form (obj. prism plates)
196-197 A2 --- QUAL *[ABD ] Code for quality of the plate archive
199-212 A14 --- ANAME Astronomer in charge
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Note on IDobs, IDins, IDsuf1:
Fields from byte 1 to byte 7, taken together, constitute the WFPDB
instrument identifier.
Note on ITYPE:
Ast - astrograph, Cam - camera, FEC - fish eye camera, Men - meniscus,
RCr - Ritchey-Chretien, Rfl - reflector, Rfr - refractor, Sch - Schmidt
Note on CFORMd, CFORMs:
C - computer-readable form, T - printed table form, TC - computer-readable
form in preparation
Note on QUAL:
A - very good, B - good, D - distributed
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Byte-per-byte description of file: maindata
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Bytes Format Unit Label Explanation
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1- 3 A3 --- IDobs *WFPDB observatory identifier
4- 6 I3 cm IDins *Instrument aperture
7 A1 --- IDsuf1 *[A-Z] Suffix to the instrument identifier
8- 13 I6 --- IDno *Original plate number
14 A1 --- IDsuf2 *[A-Z] Suffix to the original plate number
15- 16 I2 h RAh ? Right ascension (hours) (J2000.0)
17- 18 I2 min RAm ? Right ascension (minutes)
19- 20 I2 s RAs ? Right ascension (seconds)
21 A1 --- DE- ? Declination sign (J2000.0)
22- 23 I2 deg DEd ? Declination, degrees
24- 25 I2 arcmin DEm ? Declination, arcminutes
26- 27 I2 arcsec DEs ? Declination, arcseconds
28 A1 --- CCOD [EMU] Code for Error, Missing data, or
Uncertainty of coordinates
29- 32 I4 yr DATEy ? Date of observation, year (UT)
33- 34 I2 month DATEm ? Date of observation, month
35- 36 I2 d DATEd ? Date of observation, day
37- 38 I2 h UTh ? Observation time (hour) (UT)
39- 40 I2 min UTm ? Observation time (min)
41- 42 I2 s UTs ? Observation time (sec)
43 A1 --- TCOD [EMU] Code for Error, Missing data, or
Uncertainty of observation time
44- 63 A20 --- OBJNAM Object or field designation
64- 65 A2 --- OBJTYP *Object type code
66- 67 I2 --- METHOD *? Method of observation code
68- 69 I2 --- MULTEX ? Multiplicity of exposure
70- 75 F6.1 min EXP *? Exposure time
76- 86 A11 --- EMULS Emulsion type
87- 93 A7 --- FILT Filter type
94- 95 A2 --- SPEC Spectral band
96- 97 I2 cm DIMx ? X dimension of plate
98- 99 I2 cm DIMy ? Y dimension of plate
100 I1 --- PQUAL [0,1] Pointer to file 'quality'
101 I1 --- PNOT [0,1] Pointer to file 'notes'
102 I1 --- POBS [0,1] Pointer to file 'observer'
103 I1 --- PAVA *[0,9] Pointer to file 'availability'
104 I1 --- PDIG *[0,1] Pointer to file 'digitisation'
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Note on IDobs, IDins, IDsuf1, IDno, IDsuf2:
Fields from byte 1 to byte 14, taken together, constitute the WFPDB plate
identifier. Fields from byte 1 to byte 7 constitute the WFPDB instrument
identifier.
Note on OBJTYP: Object type in WFPDB is coded as follows:
A1 - planet
A2 - moon
A3 - sun
A4 - asteroid
A5 - comet
S1 - star
S2 - double star
S3 - variable star
S4 - star cluster
S5 - HII region
S6 - nebula
S7 - planetary nebula
S8 - supernova
S9 - fundamental star
SR - reference star around a radio source
G1 - galaxy
G2 - QSO
G3 - group of galaxies
G4 - cluster of galaxies
G5 - supercluster
G6 - void
F - field
Remark: Object type for most of the observations is not yet available in
the WFPDB.
Note on METHOD: Method of observation in WFPDB is coded as follows:
1 - direct photograph
2 - direct photograph, multiexposure
3 - stellar tracks
4 - objective prism
5 - objective prism, multiexposure
6 - Metcalf's method
7 - proper motions
8 - no guiding
9 - out of focus
10 - test plate
11 - Hartmann test
12 - with mask
14 - sub-beam (Pickering) prism
24 - objective grating
Note on EXP:
For multiexposures with different duration of the separate exposures
the 2nd, 3rd, ... exposures are given in file 'notes', if available
in the original plate catalogs.
Note on PAVA, PDIG:
Files 'availability' and 'digitisation' are not available.
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Byte-per-byte description of file: quality
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Bytes Format Unit Label Explanation
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1- 3 A3 --- IDobs *WFPDB observatory identifier
4- 6 I3 cm IDins *Instrument aperture
7 A1 --- IDsuf1 *[A-Z] Suffix to the instrument identifier
8- 13 I6 --- IDno *Original plate number
14 A1 --- IDsuf2 *[A-Z] Suffix to the original plate number
15 A1 --- CONT Continuation sign (1, 2, ...) or blank
16- 80 A65 --- QTEXT Text of quality information
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Note on IDobs, IDins, IDsuf1, IDno, IDsuf2:
See notes to description of file 'maindata'.
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Byte-per-byte description of file: notes
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Bytes Format Unit Label Explanation
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1- 3 A3 --- IDobs *WFPDB observatory identifier
4- 6 I3 cm IDins *Instrument aperture
7 A1 --- IDsuf1 *[A-Z] Suffix to the instrument identifier
8- 13 I6 --- IDno *Original plate number
14 A1 --- IDsuf2 *[A-Z] Suffix to the original plate number
15 A1 --- CONT Continuation sign (1, 2, ...) or blank
16- 80 A65 --- NTEXT Text of note
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Note on IDobs, IDins, IDsuf1, IDno, IDsuf2:
See notes to the description of file 'maindata'.
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Byte-per-byte description of file: observer
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Bytes Format Unit Label Explanation
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1- 3 A3 --- IDobs *WFPDB observatory identifier
4- 6 I3 cm IDins *Instrument aperture
7 A1 --- IDsuf1 *[A-Z] Suffix to the instrument identifier
8- 13 I6 --- IDno *Original plate number
14 A1 --- IDsuf2 *[A-Z] Suffix to the original plate number
15 A1 --- CONT Continuation sign (1, 2, ...) or blank
16- 57 A42 --- OBSNAM Observer's name(s)
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Note on IDobs, IDins, IDsuf1, IDno, IDsuf2:
See notes to the description of file 'maindata'.
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Author's address:
Dr. Milcho Tsvetkov E-mail, Internet:
Project Manager
Wide-Field Plates Database
(End) 15-May-1997