SkyGate for OS/2 v2.0 Wayne L. Gary / AstroGrafx SkyData.dbf is an adaption of the SAC 6.0 database with additions from the SAO star catalog. AstroGrafx holds no copyright to this data as it has been used by permission from the Saguaro Astronomy Club of Phoenix, Arizona. This documentation is SACDOC.TXT from SAC 6.0 modified to reflect the changes made for use with SkyGate. It has been my intent to keep the SAC documentation intact as much as possible. Begin SAC documentation: SAGUARO ASTRONOMY CLUB DATABASE VERSION 6.0 dated Thursday, May 20, 1993 This compilation of data was begun in an effort to provide a comprehensive observing list for use at the telescope. This data is released for private use of anyone who wishes to use this database. Please do not sell this database in any form. The members of the Saguaro Astronomy Club (pronounced sa-war-oh) of Phoenix, Arizona have provided much of the effort to compile this database. However, it could not have been completed without the skill of a variety of people who are not SAC members. Thank you to all. The database is in dBase IV format uning production indexex. A description of the fields and what data they contain follows: Field Number: 1 Name: DNAME1 Size: 18 Usually the NGC number is in field #1, but for objects with no NGC value the alphabetical name used is listed below. These abbreviations are also used in field #2 as an other name for some objects. Abell - George Abell (planetary nebulae and galaxy clusters) ADS - Aitken Double Star catalog AM - Arp-Madore (globular clusters) Antalova - (open clusters) Ap - Apriamasvili (planetary nebulae) Arp - Halton Arp (interacting galaxies) Bark - Barkhatova (open clusters) B - Barnard (dark nebulae) Basel - (open clusters) BD - Bonner Durchmusterung (stars) Berk - Berkeley (open clusters) Be - Bernes (dark nebulae) Biur - Biurakan (open clusters) Blanco - (open clusters) Bochum - (open clusters) Ced - Cederblad (bright nebulae) Cr - Collinder (open clusters) Czernik - (open clusters) DDO - David Dunlap Observatory (dwarf galaxies) Do - Dolidze (open clusters) DoDz - Dolidze-Dzimselejsvili (open clusters) Dun - Dunlop (globular clusters) Fein - Feinstein (open clusters) Frolov - (open clusters) Gum - (bright nebulae) H - William Herschel (globular clusters) Haffner - (open clusters) Harvard - (open clusters) He - Henize (planetary nebulae) Hogg - (open clusters) HP - Haute Provence (globular clusters) Hu - Humason (planetary nebulae) IC - 1st and 2nd Index Catalogs to the NGC (All types of objects except dark nebulae) Isk - Iskudarian (open clusters) J - Jonckheere (planetary nebulae) K - Kohoutek (planetary nebulae) King - (open clusters) Kr - Krasnogorskaja (planetary nebulae) Lac - Lacaille (globular clusters) Loden - (open clusters) LDN - Lynds (dark nebulae) Lynga - (open clusters) M - Messier (all types of objects except dark nebula) MCG - Morphological Catalog of Galaxies Me - Merrill (plantary nebulae) Mrk - Markarian (open clusters and galaxies) Mel - Melotte (open clusters) M1 thru M4 - Minkowski (planetary nebulae) NGC - New General Catalog of Nebulae & Clusters of Stars. (All types of objects except dark nebulae) Pal - Palomar (globular clusters) PC - Peimbert and Costero (planetary nebulae) Pismis - (open clusters) PK - Perek & Kohoutek (planetary nebulae) RCW - Rodgers, Campbell, & Whiteoak (bright nebulae) Roslund - (open clusters) Ru - Ruprecht (open clusters) Sa - Sandqvist (dark nebulae) Sher - (open clusters) Sh - Sharpless (bright nebulae) SL - Sandqvist & Lindroos (dark nebulae) SL - Shapley & Lindsay (clusters in LMC) Steph - Stephenson (open clusters) Stock - (open clusters) Ter - Terzan (globular clusters) Tombaugh - (open clusters) Ton - Tonantzintla (globular clusters) Tr - Trumpler (open clusters) UA - Catalog of selected Non-UGC galaxies UGC - Uppsala General Catalog (galaxies) UKS - United Kingdom Schmidt (globular clusters) Upgren - (open clusters) VV - Vorontsov-Velyaminov (interacting galaxies) vdB - van den Bergh (open clusters, bright nebulae) vdBH - van den Bergh & Herbst (bright nebulae) vdB-Ha - van den Bergh-Hagen (open clusters) Vy - Vyssotsky (planetary nebulae) Waterloo - (open clusters) Westr - Westerlund (open clusters) Zw - Zwicky (galaxies) Field Number: 2 Name: DNAME2 Size: 18 Other catalog designations by which this object may be known. The same abbreviations as the DNAME1 field are used in this field. Field Number: 3 Name: DCOMMON Size: 25 Common name of object. Field Number: 5 Name: DDSPLY Size: 1 Code used to set the actual appearence of the object on the sky map. ASTER Asterism Field Number: 6 Name: DTYPE Size: 5 Type of object. The code that applies is: ASTER Asterism BRTNB Bright Nebula CL+NB Cluster with Nebulosity DRKNB Dark Nebula GALCL Galaxy cluster GALXY Galaxy GLOCL Globular Cluster GX+DN Diffuse Nebula in a Galaxy GX+GC Globular Cluster in a Galaxy G+C+N Cluster with Nebulosity in a Galaxy LMCCN Cluster with Nebulosity in the LMC LMCDN Diffuse Nebula in the LMC LMCGC Globular Cluster in the LMC LMCOC Open cluster in the LMC NONEX Nonexistent in RNGC OPNCL Open Cluster PLNNB Planetary Nebula SMCCN Cluster with Nebulosity in the SMC SMCDN Diffuse Nebula in the SMC SMCGC Globular Cluster in the SMC SMCOC Open cluster in the SMC SNREM Supernova Remnant QUASR Quasar UVSOB Unverified Southern Object #STAR # Stars (#=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) Nonexistent means Sulentic and Tifft couldn't find it on the POSS plates for inclusion in the RNGC. Field Number: 6 Name: DCON Size: 3 Constellation in which the object is found in IAU format, given in the table below. Only upper case abbreviations are used for ease of programming using case-sensitive commands. ANDROMEDA AND LACERTA LAC ANTLIA ANT LEO LEO APUS APS LEO MINOR LMI AQUARIUS AQR LEPUS LEP AQUILA AQL LIBRA LIB ARA ARA LUPUS LUP ARIES ARI LYNX LYN AURIGA AUR LYRA LYR BOOTES BOO MENSA MEN CAELUM CAE MICROSCOPIUM MIC CAMELOPARDALIS CAM MONOCEROS MON CANCER CNC MUSCA MUS CANES VENATICI CVN NORMA NOR CANIS MAJOR CMA OCTANS OCT CANIS MINOR CMI OPHIUCHUS OPH CAPRICORNUS CAP ORION ORI CARINA CAR PAVO PAV CASSIOPEIA CAS PEGASUS PEG CENTAURUS CEN PERSEUS PER CEPHEUS CEP PHOENIX PHE CETUS CET PICTOR PIC CHAMAELEON CHA PISCES PSC CIRCINUS CIR PISCES AUSTRINUS PSA COLUMBA COL PUPPIS PUP COMA BERENICES COM PYXIS PYX CORONA AUSTRALIS CRA RETICULUM RET CORONA BOREALIS CRB SAGITTA SGE CORVUS CRV SAGITTARIUS SGR CRATER CRT SCORPIUS SCO CRUX CRU SCULPTOR SCL CYGNUS CYG SCUTUM SCT DELPHINUS DEL SERPENS SER DORADO DOR SEXTANS SEX DRACO DRA TAURUS TAU EQUULEUS EQU TELESCOPIUM TEL ERIDANUS ERI TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE TRA FORNAX FOR TRIANGULUM TRI GEMINI GEM TUCANA TUC GRUS GRU URSA MAJOR UMA HERCULES HER URSA MINOR UMI HOROLOGIUM HOR VELA VEL HYDRA HYA VIRGO VIR HYDRUS HYI VOLANS VOL INDUS IND VULPECULA VUL Field Number: 7 Name: DRA Size: 10 Right Ascension of the object in equinox 2000.0 coordinates. The RA is in the form HH:MM:SS.S, such as 14:15:34.8. Fixed format. Field Number: 8 Name: DDEC Size: 9 Declination of the object in equinox 2000.0 coordinates. The DEC is in the form +/-DD:MM:SS, such as +48:10:33 or -88:04:55. Fixed format. Field Number: 9 Name: DMAG1 Size: 4 Magnitude to nearest tenth in the form XX.X, such as 12.3. There are many objects which have no published magnitude we could find, they have been assigned a magnitude of 99.9. Dark nebulae obviously have no magnitude, so we assigned them a mag of 79.9 to differentiate them from objects with no magnitude given. The reason we chose large values for objects without magnitudes is that a sort would find 0.0 or "" as a large value of brightness. Field Number: 10 Name: DMAG2 Size: 4 Save as DMAG1 but for photographic magnitude. Field Number: 11 Name: DTIRION Size 2 The charts in the Tirion Sky Atlas 2000.0 that map the area of sky in which the object is located. This is included so that a less detailed view of the area will be available to star hoppers. Field Number: 12 Name: DU2000 Size: 3 The charts in the Uranometria 2000.0 that map the area of sky in which the object is located. It is not guaranteed that all objects plotted on U2000 are contained in the database. Field Number: 13 Name: DDATA Size: 13 Size of object in minutes of arc (') or seconds of arc (''). Seconds of arc is marked with two single quotes so as to free the double quote symbol for use as a delimiter. Field Number: 14 Name: DDESCR Size: 50 Visual description of the object. Most of these are from the NGC, some are from prominent amateurs. Back issues of Deep Sky Magazine, Astronomy magazine, Sky and Telescope magazine and Burnham's Celestial Handbook are used as a source of some of these descriptions. The descriptions use the abbreviations from the NGC and Burnham's. They are given below: ! remarkable object !! very remarkable object am among n north att attached N nucleus bet between neb nebula, nebulosity B bright P w paired with b brighter p pretty (before F,B,L or S) C compressed p preceding c considerably P poor Cl cluster R round D double Ri rich def defined r not well resolved, mottled deg degrees rr partially resolved diam diameter rrr well resolved dif diffuse S small E elongated s suddenly e extremely s south er easily resolved sc scattered F faint susp suspected f following st star or stellar g gradually v very iF irregular figure var variable inv involved nf north following irr irregular np north preceding L large sf south following l little sp south preceding mag magnitude 11m 11th magnitude M middle 8... 8th magnitude and fainter m much 9...13 9th to 13th magnitude If you have never dealt with the NGC abbreviations before, perhaps a few examples will help. NGC# Description Decoded descriptions 214 pF, pS, lE, gvlbM pretty faint, pretty small, little elongated gradually very little brighter in the middle 708 vF, vS, R very faint, very small, round 891 B, vL, vmE bright, very large, very much elongated 7009 !, vB, S remarkable object, very bright, small 7089 !! B, vL, mbM extremely remarkable object, bright, very rrr, stars mags large, much brighter middle, resolved, 13..... stars 13th magnitude and dimmer 2099 ! B, vRi, mC remarkable object, bright, very rich, much compressed 6643 pB,pL,E50,2 st p pretty bright, pretty large, elongated in position angle 50 degrees, two stars preceding HINTS ON USING THE SAC DATABASE The problem which gave us the most trouble is choosing what to put into the DNAME1 and DNAME2 columns. We tried to set up a hierarcy that would introduce some consistency in the data. Here is some general info on how to navigate around the database. 1) If there is an NGC or IC number, that is in the DNAME1 column. 2) The Messier number is in the DNAME2 column. Now the fun starts. 3) If it is a non-NGC object and is a planetary nebula, then it has a PK number with any other designation in the DNAME2 column. 4) If it is a non-NGC object and is a Bright Nebula then it probably has a Sharpless (Sh) or Cederblad (Ced) number in the DNAME1 column and the DNAME2 column for cross references. 5) If it is a non-NGC object and is a Galaxy then it probably has a UGC (Uppsala Galaxy Catalog) number. Some have a proper name and the UGC or other reference in the DNAME2 column. 6) All Quasars start with a 3C designation for the 3rd Cambridge Catalog. 7) All Galaxy Clusters start with an Abell designation. 8) Open clusters that are non-NGC objects have several common and lots of uncommon designations. Many are Collinder (Cr), Stock, Melotte (Mel) or Trumpler (Tr) objects. 9) Dark Nebulae have had several designation systems over the years. Barnard (B) numbers are used first and are cross referenced to Lynds (LDN) numbers. Obviously, if you do find the object you are looking to find, try both the DNAME1 and DNAME2 columns before giving up. If you know the constellation, sort by constellation and just look in that area. This a problem if the constellation is Virgo, Ursa Major or Cygnus. CONTRIBUTORS A. J. Crayon and Dan Ward did error correction and wrote the install and observing list programs included with this disk set. SACREP is a simple, easy to use database manager, and is thereby limited in it's flexibility - but it seems to suit the needs of a large percentage of the earlier SAC database users. SACREP and documentation are included in the SAC60F.ZIP file. Bill Anderson provided the precessed coordinates for many objects. He used the program from Astronomy magazine, Aug. 84, pp 74-77. Jeffrey Weintraub entered much of the data from Sky Catalog Vol 2. Brian Skiff provided us with error checking data and taught us how to use a variety of sources to do this project with as few errors as possible. Jim Lucyk provided a wealth of data on objects included on the Uranometria 2000.0 charts and his cross reference index is the basis of much of the info on references to books and magazines. Alister Ling provided information on planetary nebulae and did error checking. Gene Lucas provided data for error checking. Steve Stanford wrote the program which determined the Tirion and U2000 chart numbers. Dr. Harold Corwin was nice enough to allow us to use his list of errors in the NGC. Otherwise, we would have carried forth several errors that have not been corrected for 100 years. Dr. Jack Marling and Steve Gottlieb provided much data on planetary nebulae from a wide variety of professional sources. Steve Coe wrote the file you are reading and checked and entered data for the Non NGC objects. Paul Maxson checked and entered data for NGC 1 to 1000. Alan Gore checked and entered data for NGC 1001 to 2000. Dean Corn checked and entered data for NGC 2001 to 3000. Bob Dahl checked and entered data for NGC 3001 to 4000. Paul Dickson checked and entered data for NGC 4001 to 5000. Mike Willmoth, Jean Goddin and Mike Janes checked and entered data for NGC 5001 to 6000. Jim Knott checked and entered data for NGC 6001 to 7000. John and Tom McGrath checked and entered data for NGC 7001 to 7840. FINAL NOTES We realize that such an undertaking could not possibly be completed without some errors or typos creeping into the database. We would like you to get in contact with us if you find any of three types of problems. One, just plain errors, either typos or problems we did not know about. Two, places in the database where we have no data in that field and you know what should go there. Three, ideas on how better to arrange the data or programs you have written to manipulate the data. It is hoped that over a period of time we can hunt down mistakes and make the database as error free as possible. Thank you for any help you can render in attaining that goal. Steve Coe 6652 W. Mescal St. Glendale, Az. 85302 Ph. (602) 878-1873 A. J. Crayon 13819 N. 37th Ave. Phoenix, Az. 85023 Ph. (602) 938-3277 End SAC documentation: