This site contains information and links useful for research projects at Sonoma State University Observatory (SSUO). Details for specific research programs as well as general resource material will be accessible here. The emphasis is on optical and near-infrared projects feasible with small telescopes.
Possible research opportunities at SSUO
Some Important Research Resources
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The Astrophysics Data System (ADS)Search the astronomical literature, search an online astronomical library,search for data about specific astronomical objects, or search catalogues of astronomical data.Search the complete index of astronomy and astrophysics abstracts by author, title, keywords, or objects. This index has exact bibliographic citations plus direct links to online versions of articles when available. This abstract index currently provides the most efficient means to search the professional astronomical literature.
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The Astronomical Data Center (ADC)
This is a fundamental archive of catalogs of astronomical data. The archive may be searched, each catalog may be searched and sampled, catalog data may be plotted, and catalogs may be downloaded.[ listed resources ]
The Simbad system is a database that provides basic data, cross-identifications, and a bibliography for astronomical objects outside the solar system. Simbad may be queried by object name, by coordinates, or by other criteria. Objects in the vicinity of a specified object may be plotted on a simple map. Other systems such as the ADS, Aladin, and VizieR use Simbad to resolve object names or identifications.[ listed resources ]
This system can generate digital images useful as finding charts. Images may be printed or may be saved as GIFs. This data is generated from the digitized POSS I survey images. The default images are the Red images (E plates), but the Blue images (O plates) are also available. The default images are 14 arcminutes on a side. Standard names for astronomical objects may be entered (such as M101, NGC4861, Z Dra) or the user may enter the J2000.0 equatorial coordinates. Thjis system is maintained by the University of Strassburg.[ listed resources ]
This is an interrogation and visualization system for astronomical data. This system provides online access to an extensive collection of published catalogs and data tables. Tools allow the user to select relevant data tables and extract and format records matching specified criteria. Data may then be plotted and overlayed on a POSS image using Aladin.[ listed resources ]
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Allows for searching for variable and moving objects within five decades of archived imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS).[ listed resources ]
Precise Coordinates for Faint Stars
Currently, the most extensive source for precise coordinates for faint stars is the USNO - A2.0 catalog. This catalog contains more than 500 million stars and includes objects as faint as 20th magnitude. Coordinates are estimated to have a precission of +/- 0.25 arcseconds and magnitudes are estimated to have a precision of +/- 0.25 magnitude. Both B and R magnitudes are available. Magnitude errors could occasionally be considerably larger than the average values. The data was derived from digitized versions of the POSS photographic plates. This resource is conveniently accessed online using the VizieR data interrogation and visualization system. An object name may be specified or coordinates may be entered to specify the center for an extracted region.VizieR is an online catalog interrogation tool developed by the Stellar Data Center (CDS) at the University of Strassbourg. For any catalog in the CDS database, objects may be specified by name, or a location may be specified by coordinates. All objects within a specified distance of the specified object will be extracted from the catalog and displayed as a table. The default distance for an extraction is 10 arcminutes. This tabular data may then be visualized either as a plot of the positions, or as an overlay using the Aladin image viewer for one of the digitized sky surveys, such as the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). Using the system with the A2 catalog, precise coordinates may be obtained for any object in the A2 catalog that appears on the specified region of a POSS image.
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The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues
Precise positions, proper motions, parallaxes, and magnitudes for most stars as faint as 10th magnitude (many to 11th magnitude). Precise parallaxes for all stars within 200 to 300 light years.[ listed resources ]
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