pub/zdbase                                          19-Dec-2007

This directory contains IDL databases of familiar astronomical catalogs stored
as compressed tar files.   Most of the databases obtained from  the Centre de
Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS).   The IUE, EUVE, and HST_CATALOG
catalogs  were obtained from their respective anonymous FTP sites.  The IDL
databases  do not include all the information that is available in the original
catalogs, and neither the CDS nor the original authors are responsible for the 
processing of the catalogs into IDL databases.    For information on  obtaining
astronomical catalogs directly from the CDS, visit their Web page at
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/CDS.html

These databases are IEEE formatted and can be used on any machine.    However,
the speed can be improved on little endian machines  (e.g.
Linux, Windows and Mac Intel machines) by converting to the host data
format.     The procedure DBSUNTOHOST can be used to convert the data files to
the internal host format. 

The software to manipulate these databases is located in 
pub/pro/database.    Some procedures in pub/pro/misc are
also needed.   The environment variable ZDBASE must be set to point
to the directory containing the IDL databases; for example

    setenv ZDBASE  pub/zdbase

The tar files in this directory must be first uncompressed and restored,
for example

    gunzip dbname.tar
    tar -xvf dbname.tar

The following catalogs are currently available

CASTELLI           Castelli & Kurucz model atmospheres (2004)
EUVE               Second Extreme Ultraviolet Explore (EUVE) Catalog (1996) 
HIC                Hipparcos Input Catalog (1989) 
HIPPARCOS          Hipparcos Output Catalog (1997)
HIPP_NEW           Revised Hipparcos Catalog (van Leeuwen 2007) 
HST_CATALOG        Catalog of HST observations (through 1-Jul-2004)
IRAS_PSC           IRAS Point Source Catalog (1991)
IUE                IUE Merged Log 
NGC2000            NGC 2000 (1988)
NEARBYGAL          Catalogue of Nearby Galaxies (Tully 1988)
PPM                Position and Proper Motion (PPM) catalog
PRIN_GAL           Catalog of Principal Galaxies (1989)
RC3                3rd Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies (1993)
REDSHIFT           CFA Redshift Catalog (1995)
QUASAR_AGN         Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei 10th ed.(Veron-Cetty 2001)
WDWARF             White Dwarf Catalog (4th edition McCook & Sion 1998)
YALE_BS            Yale Bright Star Catlg (Preliminary 5th Edition 1991)


19-Dec-2007: Added revised Hipparcos catalog as published by van Leeuwen
             (2007, A&A, 474, 653).

Removed obsolete catalogs ABELL, QUASARS, GLIESE

01-Feb-2005: HST_CATALOG updated through 1-Jul-2004