Astrobrowse Search Help

HEASARC Astrobrowse Search Help

The search form allows you to preselect the resources you want to query. Note: this is NOT where you enter the name of a specific target or coordinates - the next form asks for that information. For example, if you want to query data in catalogs containing AGN data, you might enter AGN in the Additional keywords input box. The search terms will be looked for in the descriptions of the databases. To show you what these keywords are going to be searched against, here is one of the database description files that would be matched for the term AGN in this example. The entire file is searched for matching keywords.

%ActionName         cadc_veron96
%Description        Veron96
%Owner              HEASARC'CADC
%DistribDomain      SSDS
%DistribDomain      SSDS.astronomy
%VersionNumber      0  1998/08/14 14:48:40
%Url                http://cadcwww.dao.nrc.ca/cadcbin/wdb/astrocat/qso96/query?n
ame=&vmag=&dec=$1&radio=&simbad=simbad&tab_z=on&ra=$2&tab_name=on&n_vmag=&max_ro
ws_returned=100&tab_vmag=on&tab_dec=on&umb=&bmv=&l_z=&tab_radio=on&box=$3&tab_ra
=on&tab_umb=on&z=&tab_bmv=on
%Url.Method         POST
%Param.DataType     $1= Coo(J2000,DE)
%Param.DataType     $2= Coo(J2000,RA)
%Param.DataType     $3= Angle(DMS)
%Param.Value        $3= 00 10 00
%VerboseDescr       This database is the 7th edition of the Catalog of Quasars a
nd Active Galactic Nuclei by Veron-Cetty and Veron, and is an update of the codev
ious versions, containing data culled from 1662 references (+176 more than the 6
th edition published in 1993).  Keywords: quasar, QSO, AGN, Active Galactic Nucl
ei, BL Lac.
%Institute          CADC
%Email              cadc@dao.nrc.ca
%Doc.User           http://cadcwww.dao.nrc.ca/astrocat/veron96_help.html
%ApplicationField   Astrobrowse\nInstitute  = CADC\nLocation   = Victoria, BC\nD
EFAULT    = No\nDataSource = Derived\nDataAvailable = Catalog\nBandpass   = Radi
o\nBandpass   = Optical

Other searches you might try are :

search for databases from a specific satellite or observatory: eg, ROSAT.

search for databases returning images: select Image in the Data Available menu

search for a class of objects: eg, quasar*

Search operators:

The search terms selected in the Bandpass, etc. menus are OR-ed within columns and AND-ed between columns. For example, if you simply selected Radio and X-ray in the Bandpass column, the resulting query would be Radio or Microwave. If you selected Radio and Survey, since they are in different columns, the resulting query would be Radio and Survey. If you want to change the way this works, you can always enter the keywords in the Additional keywords box instead of selecting from the menus.
You can use and, or, and not operators with the Additional keywords input box: eg, Radio and VLA.
In the Additional keywords input box, if you enter words separated by spaces (instead of by and or or or not), and is the default operator.
Keywords are assumed to be entire words. Unfortunately, if you enter cepheid, the databases returned will not include those that would have matched cepheids. To get around this, the truncation wildcard * is encouraged. In this case, entering cepheid* would produce the desired results.
Keywords can be grouped using parentheses: variab* not (CV or cataclysmic)
The search engine used is SWISH-e 1.1

Some potential search keywords:

AAT
abell
absorption
AMASE
APS
Argus
ARNIE
ASCA
asteroid*
astrometric
auriga
AXAF
baade*
BATSE
BBXRT
BeppoSAX
binar*
bl_lac
Bonner
Burbidge
burst*
CADC
calibrat*
CAMC
cataclysmic
catalog*
CDS
CFHT
CGRO
circumstellar
cluster*
COBE
COMPTEL
Copernicus
DSS
Durchmusterung
dwar*
eclips*
EGRET
Einstein
elliptical
emission
ESO
EUVE
EXOSAT
extragalactic
FIRST
galax*
galactic
gamma
globular*
Ginga
GSC
Hipparc
os HST
imag*
interact*
interstellar
IRAS
IUE
JCMT
Kennicut
Landolt
LMC
LMXB
Lowell
lyra*
magellanic
magnetic
markarian
maser*
messier
metallicit*
motion*
multiple_stars
nebula*
nova*
NRAO
NTT
occult*
open_cluster*
orion
parallax*
period*
planetary
polar*
POSS
proper_motions
proper
positional_data
pulsar*
PSPC
QSO
quasar*
radial
redshift
remnant*
ROE
ROSAT
rotation*
RXTE
SAO
Sandage
SAX
SIMBAD
SMC
SNR
spectr*
spiral*
Southern
starburst
stellar
stragglers
STSCI
supernova*
star*
Tully
Tycho
Uhuru
USNO
UV
variab*
velocit*
Veron*
visual*
Vizier
VLA
VLBA
white_dwarf
XTE
ZCAT
Zwicky