GSC 2.3 Catalogue
Reference paper: Lasker et al. 2008, AJ 136,735
Original catalogue: R. Smart private communication
Columns description:
Incremental unique numeric identifier (increasing with declination).
This is the only field which was not in the original GSC2.3 catalogue, but was added for cross-match purposes.
The GSC2.3 identification is made of 10 characters, the first four representing the level-6 HTM (Hierarchical Triangular Mesh) coded in base 36 (0..9 and A..Z), and the last 6 represent a zero-filled sequence number assigned to each source upon initial detection.
J2000 right ascension with respect to the ICRS.
J2000 declination with respect to the ICRS.
Plate epoch for GSC-II objects. For Tycho-2 objects, for which RA epoch and DEC epoch are different, the RA epoch is given.
Reference error in RA*cos(DEC) at position epoch (position_epoch). These astrometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
Reference error in DEC at position epoch (position_epoch). These astrometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
Magnitude in Rf photographic band (red).
Reference error in Rf photographic band (red).
These photometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
coded emulsion / bandpass / filter:
———————————————————————-
bcode Name Emulsion/Filter
———————————————————————-
35 Fpg IIIaF+RG610 (POSS-II Red)
36 Fpg IIIaF+OG590 (SERC-ER/SR, AAO-R/GR)
———————————————————————-
Magnitude in Bj photographic band (blue).
Reference error in Bj photographic band (blue).
These photometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
coded emulsion / bandpass / filter:
———————————————————————-
bcode Name Emulsion/Filter
———————————————————————-
0 Jpg IIIaJ+GG395 (SERC-J/EJ)
18 Jpg IIIaJ+GG385 (POSS-II Blue)
———————————————————————-
Magnitude in V band.
This magnitude may include:
photographic V or V from IIaD plates,
V of Tycho-2 stars, or
Johnson V from SKY2000
Reference error in V band.
These photometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
coded emulsion / bandpass / filter:
———————————————————————-
bcode Name Emulsion/Filter
———————————————————————-
1 V IIaD+W12 (Pal Quick-V)
4 V (Johnson)
6 V495 IIaD+GG495 (Pal QV/AAO XV)
42 VT TYCHO-V
———————————————————————-
Magnitude in In photographic band.
Reference error in In photographic band.
These photometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
coded emulsion / bandpass / filter:
———————————————————————-
bcode Name Emulsion/Filter
———————————————————————-
37 Npg IVN+RG9 (POSS-II IR)
38 Npg IVN+RG715 (SERC-IR)
———————————————————————-
Magnitude in B band.
This filter may include:
B of Tycho-2 stars,
Johnson B from SKY2000, or
photographic O from pOSS-I.
Reference error in B band.
These photometric errors are not formal statistical uncertainties but raw and conservative estimates to be used for telescope operations.
coded emulsion / bandpass / filter:
———————————————————————-
bcode Name Emulsion/Filter
———————————————————————-
3 B (Johnson)
7 O 103aO+no filter (POSS-I Blue)
41 BT TYCHO-B
———————————————————————-
Image classification:
0 = ”star”, i.e. point-like object
3 = ”nonstar”, i.e. extended object
The status code is a 10-digit field encoding the properties of the catalog object.
This flag is 99999900 for a Tycho object and 88888800 for SKY2000 object.
digit
explanation
values
……..xx
Number of plates on which the object appeared
…….x..
Centroid type associated with the exported position
0 = barycenter
1 = circular gaussian
2 = elliptical gaussian
3 = FPA-applied barycenter
4 = multicircular
5 = multielliptical
6 = FPA + circular
7 = FPA + elliptical
……x…
Quality of exported J magnitude
0 = not present
1 = fit
2 = extrapolated
…..x….
Quality of exported F magnitude
0 = not present
1 = fit
2 = extrapolated
….x…..
Quality of exported V magnitude
0 = not present
1 = fit
2 = extrapolated
…x……
Classification unanimity
0 = mixed vote
1 = unanimous vote
2 = unanimous defect
..x…….
Classification voters
0 = several 15um scan
1 = one 15um scan
2 = several 25um scan
3 = one 25um scan
.x……..
Processing status
0 = complete processing on all plates
1 = object too big (2562 pix) on at least one plate
x………
Deblending
0 = single object on all plates
1 = child (deblended) object on at least one plate.
FPA = Fractional Pixel Allocation)
This flag concerns only the Tycho stars (Status=99999900).