• • note: If no VEL is given, the value set by the "Configure" will be used; if VEL is given, then whatever was specified by Configure will be overriden.

• • note: If VELDEF is not given, the value set by the "Configure" will be used: the configure takes precedence; if VELDEF is given, then whatever was specified by Configure will be overriden. If VELDEF is not given, you can change the veldef later using the Configure statement. If it is given in the catalog, that value sticks with the source.

• The Coordinate rates DRA, DHA, DAZ, DLON have no cosine factors applied, i.e., they are strictly rates in the RA, AZ, etc coordinates.

Note: The full pathname must be given, and the file must have world read permission.

Note that the full path name of the file must be given, and the file must have world read permission.

Note that the full path name of the file must be given, and the file must have world read permission.

• Catalog Examples

• SPHERICAL format Examples

• Standard Catalogs

• Ephemeris Tables for moving objects

• EPHEMERIS format : Tables for moving objects

Catalogs are ascii files. Comments are introduced by the hash symbol, "#". Catalogs consist of statements of the form, "KEYWORD = VALUE", and tabular data preceded by a header. There may be only one "Keyword=value" statement per line. Keyword values persist until re-set, or until the end of the catalog. Keywords are case-insensitive. Values must not contain any embedded blanks.

• Catalogs are ascii files.
• Comments are introduced by the hash symbol, "#".
• Catalogs consist of statements of the form, "KEYWORD = VALUE", and tabular data preceded by a header.
• There may be only one "Keyword=value" statement per line.
• Keyword values persist until re-set, or until the end of the catalog.
• Keywords are case-insensitive.
• Values must not contain any embedded blanks (except source names in NNTLE and CONIC formats).

Catalog Keywords :

Catalog Keywords :

• VEL or VELOCITY - radial velocity in km/sec. (the default is zero)

• VEL or VELOCITY - radial velocity in km/sec. (DEFAULT: no change to previous setting.)

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. DEFAULT: if this keyword is not given, no change is made to the velocity definition or reference frame that was previously set.

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. DEFAULT: if this keyword is not given, no change is made to the velocity definition or reference frame that was previously set.

• RESTFREQ - The rest frequency, in MHz.

• RESTFREQ - The rest frequency, in MHz. (DEFAULT: no change to previous setting.)

Additional keywords used by Ephemeris format:

• DATE -- UTC date, either "2005-06-23" or "2005-Jun-23" forms work.
• UTC -- UTC time in the form "hh:mm:ss"
• coordinate rate keywords: DRA, DHA, DDEC, DAZ, DEL, DLON, DLAT, given in arcseconds per hour.
• radial velocity rate DVEL, in km/sec/hour.

Additional keywords used by NNTLE and CONIC formats:

• FILE
• USERADVEL

Catalog Examples

Catalog Examples : SPHERICAL format.

The first non-comment line in catalog must contain:

The first non-comment line must contain:

• FILE [optional] -- This may refer to a file or a URL containing 2-line elements. In this case, one gives only the name of the object; the elements are retrieved from the file or URL.

• FILE [optional] -- This may refer to a file or a URL containing 2-line element sets. In this case, one gives only the name of the object; the elements are retrieved from the file or URL.

#--------------------------------------------------------------------

#--------------------------------------------------------------------

#------------------------------------------------------

For example of this format:

#-------------------------------------------------------

Example of this format:

#-----------------------------------------------------

#------------------------------------------------

#-------------------------------------------------------

The CONIC format is used for solar system objects whose elements are given in "ephem" format.

The CONIC format is used for solar system objects whose elements are given in "xephem" format.

• FILE [optional] -- This may refer to a file or a URL containing 2-line elements. In this case, one gives only the name of the object; the elements are retrieved from the file or URL.

• FILE [optional] -- This may refer to a file or a URL containing orbital elements in xephem form. In this case, one gives only the name of the object; the elements are retrieved from the file or URL.

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- FrankGhigo - 02 Sep 2005

-- FrankGhigo - 06 Oct 2005

These names may be given to any Scan Type function ("Track", "RaLongMap", etc etc). No catalog needs to be invoked for the system to understand the planet names.

Keyword values persist until re-set, or until the end of the catalog. Keywords are case-insensitive. Values must not contain any embedded blanks, except for source names.

Keyword values persist until re-set, or until the end of the catalog. Keywords are case-insensitive. Values must not contain any embedded blanks.

• NAME - The source name is any string up to 32 characters long. The name as given in the catalog does not have to be surrounded by quotes unless it contains embedded blanks, but when giving the name to one of the Scan Type Functions (Track, Nod, etc) the name must be in quotes.

• NAME - The source name is any string up to 32 characters long. The name as given in the catalog does not have to be surrounded by quotes unless it contains embedded blanks, but when giving the name to one of the Scan Type Functions (Track, Nod, etc) the name must be in quotes. Names with embedded blanks are allowed only in the "NNTLE" and "CONIC" formats.

• • coordinates may be given in sexagesimal (hh:mm:ss.ss or dd:mm:ss.ss) or as a decimal number.
  • sexagesimal for RA or HA are in hours:minutes:seconds of time.
  • sexagesimal for all other coordinates are in degrees:minutes:seconds of arc.
  • coordinates given as decimal numbers (i.e., no colons) for RA or HA are in hours, and for all other coordinates are in degrees of arc.

• • Angle formats may be either in sexegesimal with colons (e.g. dd:mm:ss.ss) or in decimal.
  • RA and HA are in hours, all other angles are in degrees.

• One can get source coordinates (not available until the next release) as follows:

• One can get source coordinates as follows:

• The ephemeris table may contain data for a longer period of time than required by a particular scan. The observing system must select the portion of the table needed for the current scan start time and duration.

• The ephemeris table may contain data for a longer period of time than required by a particular scan. The observing system selects the portion of the table needed for the current scan start time and duration.

[F. Ghigo, August 9, 2005]

[F. Ghigo, August 2005; revised October 2005]

And in addition, major solar system bodies may be referred to by name ("Moon", "Mars", etc).

And in addition, major solar system bodies may be referred to by name ("Sun", "Moon", "Mercury", "Venus", "Mars", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune", "Pluto"). These names are case-insensitive.

Keyword values persist until re-set, or until the end of the catalog. Keywords are case-insensitive. Values must not contain any embedded blanks.

Keyword values persist until re-set, or until the end of the catalog. Keywords are case-insensitive. Values must not contain any embedded blanks, except for source names.

• NAME - The source name is any string up to 32 characters long with no embedded blanks and no quote symbols. The name as given in the catalog is not surrounded by quotes, but when giving the name to one of the Scan Type Functions (Track, Nod, etc) the name must be in quotes.

• NAME - The source name is any string up to 32 characters long. The name as given in the catalog does not have to be surrounded by quotes unless it contains embedded blanks, but when giving the name to one of the Scan Type Functions (Track, Nod, etc) the name must be in quotes.

• • coordinates may be given in sexagesimal (hh:mm:ss.ss or dd:mm:ss.ss) or as decimal degrees.

• • coordinates may be given in sexagesimal (hh:mm:ss.ss or dd:mm:ss.ss) or as a decimal number.

• • coordinates given as decimal numbers (i.e., no colons) are always interpreted as degrees of arc.

• • coordinates given as decimal numbers (i.e., no colons) for RA or HA are in hours, and for all other coordinates are in degrees of arc.

.......

http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/

http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/

Example 1 :

Example 1 : The orbital elements are given in the catalog.

Example 2:

Example 2: The orbital elements are found in a file retrieved from the web.

• Coordinate rates will be in units of arcseconds per hour. Radial velocity rates will be in km/sec/hour.

• Coordinate rates are in units of arcseconds per hour. Radial velocity rates are in km/sec/hour.

"NNTLE" stands for NASA/NORAD two-line elements. This refers to a standard NASA format for orbital elements for Earth satellites( see e.g. http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/orbit/tleformat.html or http://www.amsat.org/amsat/keps/formats.html)

An optional keyword, "USERADVEL" indicates whether radial velocity tracking is to be done.

Other keywords:

• USERADVEL [optional] -- if this is set to 1, then radial velocity tracking will be done, or if 0 or missing then it will not.
• FILE [optional] -- This may refer to a file or a URL containing 2-line elements. In this case, one gives only the name of the object; the elements are retrieved from the file or URL.

Two-Line Element format ( see e.g. http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/orbit/tleformat.html or http://www.amsat.org/amsat/keps/formats.html).

Two-Line Element format.

to use such a TLE file "as is" by using a keyword "FILE" to refer to the file, and specifying the NAME of the object.

to use such a TLE file "as is" by using a keyword "FILE" to refer to the file or to the URL containing the file, and specifying the NAME of the object.

(Another note: the generation of tracks for satellites is based on "pyephem", an implementation of xephem in Python)

As in the NNTLE format, one may refer to a file of these elements using the "FILE" keyword.

The first non-comment line of the catalog must contain:

FORMAT = CONIC

• FILE [optional] -- This may refer to a file or a URL containing 2-line elements. In this case, one gives only the name of the object; the elements are retrieved from the file or URL.
• (USERADVEL is not available for this format)

USERADVEL = 1

USERADVEL = 1 FILE = /users/fghigo/catalogs/comets/soft03comet.txt

FILE=http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/Soft03Cmt.txt name="8P/Tuttle"

• Catalog Functions
• Astrid script example
• Ephemeris Tables for moving objects
• NNTLE : tracking earth satellites
• CONIC : tracking solar system objects

• ORBIT - Orbital elements for solar system objects.

• CONIC - Orbital elements for solar system objects.

For the next release (mid-August), only the "SPHERICAL" system will be implemented. The other formats will be available in late September 2005, or so.

Catalog Keywords for SPHERICAL format:

Catalog Keywords :

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. This is not implemented in the August release. DEFAULT: if this keyword is not given, no change is made to the velocity definition or reference frame that was previously set.

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. DEFAULT: if this keyword is not given, no change is made to the velocity definition or reference frame that was previously set.

Ephemeris Tables for moving objects.

FORMAT = EPHEMERIS

This may be followed by one or more ephemeris tables, with the format:

  NAME = SOURCE_NAME
   --Optional addition header lines
  Data table

• The header lines include:

          COORDMODE (default J2000)
          VELDEF    (if none given, then do not change previously set values)
          HEAD      (default is "DATE UTC RA DEC VEL").  

• The HEAD column keywords include the coordinate names (RA, DEC, HA, AZ, EL, GLON, GLAT), coordinate rate names (DRA, DDEC, DHA, DAZ, DEL, DLON, DLAT), radial velocity and rate (VEL, DVEL).
• Coordinate rates will be in units of arcseconds per hour. Radial velocity rates will be in km/sec/hour.

• The data lines must contain at least date, time, and a pair of coordinates. Optional parameters are coordinate rates, radial velocity and rate. Like the SPHERICAL tables, user-defined parameters may be added.

• Dates/times will be required to be UTC. Dates/times may be specified in any legal python form, for example:

   a) 'CCYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss'     [ month number]
   b) 'CCYY-Mon-DD hh:mm:ss'    [month name such as Jan, Feb, etc]

• An example of a valid ephemeris file is as follows:

      #--------------------------------------------------------------------
      # Richard's sample ephemeris catalog created on 2005/06/03
      #--------------------------------------------------------------------
      #
      FORMAT = EPHEMERIS
      #
      NAME   = MyMovingObject
      COORDMODE = J2000
      VELDEF = VRAD-LSR
      2004-07-16 00:10:00  09:56:16.98  +49:16:25.5  27.234234
      2004-07-16 00:20:00  09:56:17.76  +49:16:36.2  27.456345
      2004-07-16 00:30:00  09:56:18.55  +49:16:46.9  27.568233
      2004-07-16 00:40:00  09:56:19.32  +49:16:57.6  27.623423
      2004-07-16 00:50:00  09:56:20.10  +49:17:08.3  27.723456
      #--------------------------------------------------------------------

• A more complicated example, for a comet:

      FORMAT=EPHEMERIS
      NAME=C2002T7
      COORDMODE=GAPPT
      VELDEF=VRAD-TOP
      HEAD= date utc ra dec dra ddec vel
      2004-Jun-13 16:15:00 09:46:23.35 -09:15:41.80 26.73 8.02  63.757540
      2004-Jun-13 16:20:00 09:46:23.89 -09:15:39.40 26.71 8.01  63.758070
      2004-Jun-13 16:25:00 09:46:24.44 -09:15:36.90 26.69 8.01  63.758760
      2004-Jun-13 16:30:00 09:46:24.98 -09:15:34.50 26.68 8.01  63.759620
      2004-Jun-13 16:35:00 09:46:25.52 -09:15:32.10 26.66 8.01  63.760650
      2004-Jun-13 16:40:00 09:46:26.06 -09:15:29.70 26.64 8.01  63.761850
      2004-Jun-13 16:45:00 09:46:26.60 -09:15:27.30 26.62 8.01  63.763220
      2004-Jun-13 16:50:00 09:46:27.14 -09:15:24.90 26.61 8.00  63.764740

• An example of a satellite tracking table:

      # PRN14 tracking table (angles in degrees)
      # visible 01:30 to 3:00 UT
      format=ephemeris
      name=PRN14
      coordmode=azel
      head=date     utc      az         el
      2004-05-16 01:30:06  103.1822   43.0174
      2004-05-16 01:30:14  103.2464   42.9721
      2004-05-16 01:30:22  103.3105   42.9268
      2004-05-16 01:30:30  103.3745   42.8814
      name=PRN15
      head=date     utc      az        el
      2004-05-16 01:30:06  103.1822   43.0174
      2004-05-16 01:30:14  103.2464   42.9721
      2004-05-16 01:30:22  103.3105   42.9268
      2004-05-16 01:30:30  103.3745   42.8814

• The ephemeris table may contain data for a longer period of time than required by a particular scan. The observing system must select the portion of the table needed for the current scan start time and duration.

NNTLE: using 2-line elements for tracking Earth satellites.

FORMAT = NNTLE

The remainder of the non-comment lines contain the names and data for one or more satellites in the Nasa/Norad Two-Line Element format ( see e.g. http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/orbit/tleformat.html or http://www.amsat.org/amsat/keps/formats.html).

An example of a valid file is as follows (data taken from the AMSAT url):

#--------------------------------------------------------------------
# Richard's sample nntle catalog created on 2005/06/03
#--------------------------------------------------------------------
FORMAT = NNTLE
USERADVEL = 1     # optional keyword
#
OSCAR10
1 14129U          88230.56274695 0.00000042           10000-3 0  3478
2 14129  27.2218 308.9614 6028281 329.3891   6.4794  2.05877164 10960
GPS-0008
1 14189U          88230.24001475 0.00000013                   0  5423
2 14189  63.0801 108.8864 0128028 212.9347 146.3600  2.00555575 37348
#--------------------------------------------------------------------

When implementing a NNTLE catalog, the scantype function will pass the 3 lines to a program that will calculate the primary segments for the antenna, given the scan start time and duration.
The source name is the string that appears on the first of the three lines, and that is what one would pass to the scan function.

Because it may be convenient to download a TLE file from NASA (**), we also provide an option to use such a TLE file "as is" by using a keyword "FILE" to refer to the file, and specifying the NAME of the object. For example of this format:

#-------------------------------------------------------
# NNLTE catalog referring to an unedited TLE file 
#-----------------------------------------------------
FORMAT=NNTLE
USERADVEL=0
#
FILE= /users/fghigo/tlecatalogs/goes.txt
Name = "GOES 6"
Name = "GOES 10"
Name = "GOES 11"
#-------------------------------------------------------

(**)Note: one might load a TLE catalog through the web site:
http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/

CONIC: using orbital elements for tracking Solar System objects.

As in the NNTLE format, one may refer to a file of these elements using the "FILE" keyword.

Example 1 :

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORMAT=CONIC
USERADVEL = 1
# From MPC 44030
P/2000 Y3 (Scotti),e,2.2515,354.8961,87.4248,5.012984,0.0878132,0.19478302,154.8010,08/18.0/2005,2000,g  9.0,4.0
# From MPC 44182
C/2001 B2 (NEAT),e,150.6578,145.1577,305.0143,3436,0.0000049,0.99844957,0.0000,08/31.7355/2000,2000,g  4.0,4.0
# From MPC 45961
C/2001 C1 (LINEAR),h,03/29.1087/2002,68.9555,33.6590,220.0235,1.001431,5.107184,2000,6.0,4.0
# From MPC 45334
C/2001 G1 (LONEOS),h,10/11.7349/2001,45.3242,203.8746,343.4583,1.004918,8.245451,2000,3.5,4.0
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Example 2:

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORMAT=CONIC
USERADVEL = 1
FILE = /users/fghigo/catalogs/comets/soft03comet.txt
NAME = "P/2000 Y3"
NAME= "C/2001 B2"
name = "C/2001 C1"
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are also pulsar catalogs:

• Catalog( pulsars_all) -- All 1533 pulsars in the ATNF database as of 26 Aug 2005.
• Catalog( pulsars_all_GBT ) -- All 1054 pulsars visible from Green Bank.
• Catalog( pulsars_brightest_GBT ) -- The brightest pulsars, visible from Green Bank.
• Catalog( pulsars_bright_MSPs_GBT ) -- Bright millisecond pulsars visible from Green Bank.

-- FrankGhigo - 08 Aug 2005

-- FrankGhigo - 02 Sep 2005

(Users should be warned not to trust flux densities for frequencies >> 5 GHz.)

For the pointing catalogs, users should be warned that the flux densities at higher frequencies are extrapolated from measurements at 8 GHz and below. Good flux calibrators may be found in:

• Catalog( fluxcal) -- Calibrators with well-determined flux densities.

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. This is not implemented in the August release. The default will be "VELDEF=VRAD-TOP".

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. This is not implemented in the August release. DEFAULT: if this keyword is not given, no change is made to the velocity definition or reference frame that was previously set.

Users Documentation for Astrid Source Catalogs

Users Guide for Astrid Source Catalogs

print c[ss]["location"], c[ss]["velocity"]

print ss, c[ss]["location"], c[ss]["velocity"]

[F. Ghigo, August 8, 2005]

[F. Ghigo, August 9, 2005]

The user may invoke as many catalog as he or she likes. All sources from all catalogs are available and referenced by name within the scope of the Astrid script, with the exception that for a duplicate name only the most recent will be recognized.

The user may invoke as many catalogs as he or she likes. All sources from all catalogs are available and referenced by name within the scope of the Astrid script, with the exception that for a duplicate name only the most recent will be recognized.

Several "standard" catalogs are available, and more will probably be added:

• Catalog( pointing)
• Catalog( lband_pointing)
• Catalog( cband_pointing)
• Catalog( xband_pointing)
• Catalog( kuband_pointing)
• Catalog( kband_pointing)
• Catalog( kaband_pointing)
• Catalog( qband_pointing)
• Catalog( HI_strong)

Several "standard" catalogs are available. They are all ascii files in the directory: /home/astro-util/astridcats/

The following are available at present, and more will probably be added:

• Catalog( pointing) -- Condon's master pointing catalog for the GBT.
• Catalog( lband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for 20 cm band.
• Catalog( cband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for the 6 cm band.
• Catalog( xband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for the 3.5 cm band.
• Catalog( kuband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for the 2 cm band.
• Catalog( kband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for the 1.5 cm band.
• Catalog( kaband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for the 9 mm band.
• Catalog( qband_pointing) -- Extract from pointing catalog for the 7 mm band.
• Catalog( HI_strong) -- Galaxies with strong HI lines, extract from Fisher's database.

print c["sourcename"].Location -- will appear in the Astrid monitor window.

print c["sourcename"]["Location"] -- will appear in the Astrid monitor window.

if c[s][s20] > 10 :

if c[s]["s20"] > 10 :

• Reference to coordinates works a little differently; one uses functions such as c["sourcename"].ra() or .dec() etc , for example:

• One can get source coordinates (not available until the next release) as follows:

c["sourcename"]["ra"] or c["sourcename"]["dec"], etc ,

for example:

if c[s].dec() > 22 : [coordinates always returned in degrees]

if c[s]["dec"] > 22 : [coordinates always returned in degrees]

An Example of a complete Astrid script to observe HI in a few galaxies.

#  Astrid test: Extragalactic HI
#
c = Catalog(HI_strong)

Configure("""
receiver  = 'Rcvr1_2'
obstype   = 'Spectroscopy'
backend   = 'Spectrometer'
nwin      = 1
restfreq  = 1420.405
deltafreq = 0
bandwidth = 50.0
swmode    = "tp"
swtype    = "none"
swper     = 1.0
swfreq    = 0,0
tint      = 10
vlow      = 0
vhigh     = 0
vframe    = "bary"
vdef      = "Optical"
noisecal  =  "lo"
pol       = "Linear"
nchan     = "medium"
spect.levels = 9
""")

slist = ["U8493", "N4713", "N4519"]
hoff = Offset("J2000", "00:04:00", 0, cosv=False)

for ss in slist :
  print c[ss]["location"], c[ss]["velocity"]
  Slew(ss)
  Balance()
  OnOff( ss, hoff, 120)

%META:TOPICINFO{author="FrankGhigo" date="1123518840" format="1.0" version="1.1"}% %META:TOPICPARENT{name="Main.FrankGhigo"}%

Users Documentation for Astrid Source Catalogs

One may refer to the Specification for the gory details.

• Summary
• Catalog Format
• Catalog Examples
• Usage of Catalogs in Astrid

Summary

There are four formats of catalogs:

• SPHERICAL - A fixed position in one of our standard coordinate systems, e.g., RA/DEC, AZ/EL, GLON/GLAT, etc.
• EPHEMERIS - A table of positions for moving sources (comets, asteroids, satellites, etc.)
• NNTLE - NASA/NORAD two-line element sets for earth satellites.
• ORBIT - Orbital elements for solar system objects.

And in addition, major solar system bodies may be referred to by name ("Moon", "Mars", etc).

For the next release (mid-August), only the "SPHERICAL" system will be implemented. The other formats will be available in late September 2005, or so.

To use the catalog system, the user invokes one or more catalogs in her Astrid script, and passes the name of the desired object to any of the scan functions, such as "Track", "RALongMap", etc. All sources named in all the catalogs that have been invoked are available within an Astrid script. If the same name appears in two or more catalogs, the name from the most recently invoked catalog will prevail. Name comparisons are case-insensitive, hence "b2322+16" will override "B2322+16".

Catalog Format

Catalog Keywords for SPHERICAL format:

• FORMAT - This tells the type of catalog and must be the first line in any catalog. For the SPHERICAL format, the first line would contain "FORMAT=SPHERICAL". This is the default format, hence the "FORMAT=SPHERICAL" may be omitted.

• HEAD - This gives the header for tabular data, and consists of a list of any keywords.
  • The default header is "HEAD = NAME RA DEC VELOCITY".

• NAME - The source name is any string up to 32 characters long with no embedded blanks and no quote symbols. The name as given in the catalog is not surrounded by quotes, but when giving the name to one of the Scan Type Functions (Track, Nod, etc) the name must be in quotes.

• COORDMODE - The default is J2000. The possible values are:
  • J2000
  • B1950
  • JMEAN (mean coordinate of date given by EQUINOX)
  • GAPPT (geocentric apparent coordinates of date)
  • GALACTIC
  • HADEC
  • AZEL
  • ENCODER

• EQUINOX -- used if the Coordmode is "JMEAN".

• VEL or VELOCITY - radial velocity in km/sec. (the default is zero)

• VELDEF - Velocity definition in FITS convention, e.g. "VOPT-BAR", "VRAD-LSR", etc. This is not implemented in the August release. The default will be "VELDEF=VRAD-TOP".

• RESTFREQ - The rest frequency, in MHz.

• RA, HA, DEC, AZ, EL, GLON, GLAT - A pair of coordinates must be given : RA/DEC, HA/DEC, AZ/EL, or GLON/GLAT.
  • coordinates may be given in sexagesimal (hh:mm:ss.ss or dd:mm:ss.ss) or as decimal degrees.
  • sexagesimal for RA or HA are in hours:minutes:seconds of time.
  • sexagesimal for all other coordinates are in degrees:minutes:seconds of arc.
  • coordinates given as decimal numbers (i.e., no colons) are always interpreted as degrees of arc.

Catalog Examples

1. A simple catalog.

 # My source list
 format=spherical
 coordmode=J2000
 HEAD = NAME   RA        DEC
 Object1  09:56:16.98  +49:16:25.5
 Object2  10:56:16.98  +50:16:25.5
 Object3  11:56:16.98  +51:16:25.5
 Object4  12:56:16.98  +52:16:25.5
  ... 

Because all the keyword values are the defaults, the following is equivalent:

 # My source list
 Object1  09:56:16.98  +49:16:25.5
 Object2  10:56:16.98  +50:16:25.5
 Object3  11:56:16.98  +51:16:25.5
 Object4  12:56:16.98  +52:16:25.5
  ... 

2. Another simple catalog.

 # My source list with radial velocities
 format=spherical
 coordmode = B1950
 head = name   ra        dec        velocity
 Object1  09:56:16.98  +49:16:25.5  27.23
 Object2  08:56:16.98  +48:16:25.5  28.24
 Object3  07:56:16.98  +47:16:25.5  29.25
 Object4  06:56:16.98  +45:16:25.5  30.26
  ... 

Here one may omit the "format=" and "head=" lines, but not the "coordmode=" !

3. A slightly less simple example.

 # A list of HII regions 
 coordmode=Galactic
 head= NAME  GLON       GLAT       vel     restfreq   
 G350+.07   350.107    +0.079    42.2235   9816.867
 G351+.17   351.613     0.172   -15.553    9487.824
 G352-.17   352.393    -0.176   -52.227    9173.323
 G352-.36   353.4219   -0.3690   22.335    9487.824
 ... 

Warning: setting the velocity or rest frequency in a catalog only changes the values in the LO1 manager. If either are changed by a large amount, the receiver selection or bandpass filters or the frequency spacing between spectral windows may change. Thus one should run the configuration tool. The user should be wary of how much the velocity or rest frequency can change for a particular configuration.

4. An example with user-defined keywords.

 # a list of pointing references
 format=spherical
 coordmode=j2000
 head= name    ra           dec        BMIN BMAX  S20     S6  
  0011-1434 00:11:40.40   -14:34:04.7    15  45   0.17   0.20
  0012-3321 00:12:17.96   -33:21:57.8    15 180   0.85   0.18
  0012+6551 00:12:37.80   +65:51:10.5    15 360   1.20   0.55
  0012+2702 00:12:38.14   +27:02:40.7    15 180   0.60   0.21
  0012+3353 00:12:47.3826 +33:53:38.459   0  45   0.08   0.08
  0012-3954 00:12:59.9080 -39:54:25.836   0  45   0.49   1.5 
  ... 

Usage of Catalogs within Astrid.

The user may invoke as many catalog as he or she likes. All sources from all catalogs are available and referenced by name within the scope of the Astrid script, with the exception that for a duplicate name only the most recent will be recognized.

If Sourcename is the name of a source that has been defined in a catalog, then any scan function may be run by giving it the source name, for example:

   * Track ( "sourcename", 60)
   * Nod ("sourcename", 120)
   * RALongMap("3c273", 
          Offset("J2000", 2.0, 0.0, cosv=False),
          Offset("J2000", 0.0, 0.5, cosv=False),
          Offset("J2000", 0.0, 0.1, cosv=False),
          10.0)
   and so forth. 

Several "standard" catalogs are available, and more will probably be added:

• Catalog( pointing)
• Catalog( lband_pointing)
• Catalog( cband_pointing)
• Catalog( xband_pointing)
• Catalog( kuband_pointing)
• Catalog( kband_pointing)
• Catalog( kaband_pointing)
• Catalog( qband_pointing)
• Catalog( HI_strong)

Catalog functions

Some Examples

   * One may loop over the list of sources from a catalog:

     c = Catalog( "HI_strong")
     sourcenames = c.keys()
     for s in sourcenames :
       Nod(s, 120)

    * One may load an existing catalog and append additional sources to it:

      c = Catalog(qband_pointing)
      newobj = """FORMAT=SPHERICAL
              COORDMODE=J2000
              0234+456  02:34:15.5 +45:37:33
              1254+422  12:54:33.0 +42:12:33
               0835+123  08:35:15.5 +12:20:33
              1913+234  19:13:15.5 +23:24:33
           """
      c.update(newobj)

      [this updated catalog only exists within the scope of the Astrid script.]

   * One may create a catalog entirely within Astrid by creating an empty catalog
      and adding entries to it.

       c = Catalog(None)             (creates a new empty catalog) 
       obj = """FORMAT=SPHERICAL
               COORDMODE=J2000
               0234+456  02:34:15.5 +45:37:33
               1254+422  12:54:33.0 +42:12:33
             """
       c.update(obj)

   * Printing the source coordinates in Astrid:

      print c["sourcename"].Location   -- will appear in the Astrid monitor window.


   * If there is a keyword "S20" in the catalog, one can observe sources with
      S20 > 10, for example : 

       c = Catalog( "lband_pointing")
       sourcenames = c.keys()
       for s in sourcenames :
          if c[s][s20] > 10 :
            Nod(s, 120)

   * Reference to coordinates works a little differently; one uses functions
     such as  
        c["sourcename"].ra() or .dec() etc , for example:

      c = Catalog( "lband_pointing")
       sourcenames = c.keys()
       for s in sourcenames :
          if c[s].dec() > 22 :        [coordinates always returned in degrees]
            Nod(s, 120)

-- FrankGhigo - 08 Aug 2005