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1995-05-06
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Archive-name: space/data
Last-modified: $Date: 95/05/01 22:20:09 $
Compilation copyright (c) 1994 by Jonathan P. Leech. This document may
be redistributed in its complete and unmodified form. Other use requires
written permission of the author.
ONLINE AND OTHER SOURCES OF IMAGES, DATA, ETC.
INTRODUCTION
A wide variety of images, data, catalogs, information releases, and
other material dealing with space and astronomy may be found on the net.
The sources with the broadest selection of material are the NASA Ames
SPACE archive and the National Space Science Data Center (described
below).
A few sites offer direct dialup access or remote login access, while
others offer file transfer over the Internet (referred to as 'anonymous
FTP'). Sites not connected to the Internet cannot use FTP directly, but
there are a few automated FTP servers which operate via email. Send mail
containing only the word HELP to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com,
bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu, or ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk, and the servers will
send you instructions on how to make requests.
Shorthand for a specific file or directory at an anonymous FTP site is
ftp://sitename/pathname[/]
(e.g. ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Index). The format has
been changed to valid URLs for users of the World Wide Web. If you are
using a normal FTP client, you will connect to the sitename part of the
URL (explorer.arc.nasa.gov, in this case) and get the file specified by
the pathname (/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Index). If a '/' terminates the URL, it
indicates a directory containing multiple files.
WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW)
WWW is a global hypermedia network carried on the Internet and
incorporating popular protocols including FTP, WAIS, gopher, archie,
NNTP (netnews), etc. The Web is growing at an explosive pace, and huge
amounts of space-related information are already online. This FAQ is
evolving towards a fully hyperlinked Web document (a plain text version
will continue to be posted to the net, of course). The primary change at
present is the use of Web URLs (Universal Resource Locators) to specify
files available by FTP (discussed above), sites accessible by telnet
(URLs of the form telnet://sitename), and Web hypertext documents
(http://site/page).
If you are not familiar with the Web, you should probably begin by
obtaining a Web browser (typically NCSA Mosaic for X, Mac, and PC) and
exploring. The newsgroup 'comp.infosystems.www.announce' is also
available.
The NASA Web home page is at
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/NASA_homepage.html
Other space-related material may be found on the Web starting with the
overview page at
http://info.cern.ch/Space/Overview.html
There is also a pointer in the "information by subject" page under
"Space Science."
VIEWING IMAGES
Don't ask for images to be posted to the space/astro newsgroups. They're
clumsy to access, wasteful of net resources, and inappropriate in
discussion groups. Retrieve images on your own using FTP or Web clients.
The possible combinations of image formats and machines is forebodingly
large, and I won't attempt to cover common formats (GIF, etc.) here. To
read PDS and VICAR (and many other) formats on Unix systems running X,
use XV 3.00, available in
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/xv-3.00.tar.Z
The FAQ for the Usenet group alt.binaries.pictures discusses image
formats and how to get image viewing software. A copy of this document
is available from the Usenet FAQ archives in
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.binaries.pictures
ONLINE ARCHIVES
CENTER FOR ADVANCED SPACE STUDIES
CASS offers online searching of planetary science databases, including
bibliographies, images, meeting abstracts, and other categories.
Internet users can access CASS via
http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/CASS_home.html
telnet://cass.jsc.nasa.gov (login "cass", password "online")
This system is primarily for professionals in planetary science. Note
that CASS includes and replaces the online service formerly offered by
the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Contact leung@lpi.jsc.nasa.gov.
DEFENSE METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE PROGRAM (DMSP)
DMSP is a two satellite constellation of near-polar orbiting, sun
synchronous satellites monitoring meteorological, oceanographic and
solar-terrestrial physics environments. DMSP sample data and information
may be accessed on-line via:
ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/DMSP/
http://web.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/dmsp.html
gopher://gopher.ngdc.noaa.gov
Contact Greg Deuel (dmsp@mail.ngdc.noaa.gov).
INFRARED PROCESSING & ANALYSIS CENTER
Caltech's IPAC provides access to an easy-to-use interface for making
queries of many astronomical catalogs, especially those from the
Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission. You can also query the
Bright Star catalog, SAO star catalog, a number of extragalactic
(galaxy/quasar) catalogs, etc. Results can be saved to flat ASCII tables
or FITS files and copied to your computer via FTP. Using the interface
requires a machine running X Windows. You can get to IPAC via
http://xcatscan.ipac.caltech.edu
telnet://xcatscan.ipac.caltech.edu
Log in as "xcatscan" (no password needed).
Contact Joe Mazzarella (mazz@ipac.caltech.edu).
NASA AMES
Extensive archives are maintained at NASA Ames and are available via
anonymous FTP or an email server. These archives include many images and
a wide variety of documents including this FAQ list, NASA press
releases, shuttle launch advisories, and mission status reports. Please
note that these are NOT maintained on an official basis.
A listing of files available in the archive is in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/Index
An email server for the SPACE archive is temporarily out of service due
to the archive moving to its new home, explorer. Instructions for
accessing the email server will be returned to the FAQ when the server
is running again.
Magellan, Voyager, and Viking CD-ROMs are online in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/cdrom/
Tens of thousands of images are available.
The GIF directory contains images in GIF format. The VICAR directory
contains Magellan images in VICAR format (these are also available in
the GIF directory). A PC program capable of displaying these files is
found in the IMDISP directory (see the item "VIEWING IMAGES" below).
The NASA media guide describes the various NASA centers and how to
contact their public affairs officers; this may be useful when pursuing
specific information. It's in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MISC/media.guide
Contact Peter Yee (yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov).
NASA ASTROPHYSICS DATA SYSTEM
The ADS is a distributed data retrieval system which is easy to use and
provides uniform access to ground-based and space-based astronomy data
from NASA data centers across the country. It currently has over 140
data catalogs of radio, infrared, optical, UV, and X-ray data which can
be queried by position or any other parameter in the catalog. The ADS
also provides tools to manipulate and plot tabular results. In addition,
ADS has a Beta version of an Abstracts Service which allows users to
query over 125,000 abstracts of astronomy papers since 1975 by authors,
keywords, title words, or abstract text words.
ADS use requires direct Internet access. For more info and to sign up to
become a user, email ads@cuads.coloradu.edu. The User's Guide and
"QuickStart" Guide (PostScript files) are in
ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/ads/ADS_User_Guide
Contact Carolyn Stern Grant (stern@cfa.harvard.edu).
NASA DIRECTORY OF WAIS SERVERS
A WAIS database describing servers of interest to the space community is
described by the source file:
(:source
:version 3
:ip-name "ndadsb.gsfc.nasa.gov"
:tcp-port 210
:database-name "NASA-directory-of-servers"
:cost 0.00
:cost-unit :free
:maintainer "stelar-info@Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov"
:description "Server created with WAIS release 8 b5.1 on May 5 14:05:34 1993 by warnock@Hypatia
Maintainers of WAIS databases of interest to the NASA community can
register their databases with the NASA-directory-of-servers by sending
the source file to stelar-info@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov. Contact Archie
Warnock (warnock@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov).
NASA JET PROPULSION LAB (MISSION INFORMATION AND IMAGES)
ftp://ftp.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Operated by the JPL Public Information Office, containing news releases,
status reports, fact sheets, images, and other data on JPL missions. May
also be reached by modem at (818)-354-1333 (no parity, 8 data bits, 1
stop bit).
Contact newsdesk@jpl.nasa.gov or phone (818)-354-5011.
NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (MANNED SPACE IMAGES)
JSC's digital image collection, containing thousands of images and
descriptions covering the manned space program from Mercury to the
present.
ftp://images.jsc.nasa.gov
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/html/home.htm
Contact Kevin Marsh (kmarsh@ja6.jsc.nasa.gov).
NASA LANGLEY (TECHNICAL REPORTS)
ftp://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/pub/techreports/larc/92/
offers technical reports. Start with files README and abstracts.92. Most
files are compressed PostScript. The reports are also in a WAIS database
with the following description:
(:source
:version 3
:ip-name "techreports.larc.nasa.gov"
:tcp-port 210
:database-name "nasa-larc-abs"
:cost 0.00
:cost-unit :free
:maintainer "M.L.Nelson@LaRC.NASA.GOV"
:description "NASA Langley Research Center Technical Reports
Contact tr-admin@techreports.larc.nasa.gov.
NASA SPACELINK
SpaceLink is an online service located at Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Alabama. The system is specifically designed for
teachers. The data base is arranged to provide easy access to current
and historical information on NASA aeronautics, space research, and
technology transfer information. Also included are suggested classroom
activities that incorporate information on NASA projects to teach a
number of scientific principles. Unlike bulletin board systems, NASA
Spacelink does not provide for interaction between callers. However it
does allow teachers and other callers to leave questions and comments
for NASA which may be answered by regular mail. Messages are answered
electronically, even to acknowledge requests which will be fulfilled by
mail. Messages are generally handled the next working day except during
missions when turnaround times increase. The mail system is closed-loop
between the user and NASA.
SpaceLink also offers downloadable shareware and public domain programs
useful for science educators as well as space graphics and GIF images
from NASA's planetary probes and the Hubble Telescope.
You can access SpaceLink via
telnet://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
ftp://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
Or you can dial in at (205)-895-0028 (300/1200/2400/9600(V.32) baud, 8
bits, no parity, 1 stop bit).
Most of this information is also available from the Ames server in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/SPACELINK
NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER (NSSDC)
The National Space Science Data Center is the official clearinghouse for
NASA data. The data catalog is available online:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
telnet://nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (login as "NODIS")
Datasets are made available via anonymous FTP once you select the
desired datasets from the online catalog. For non-Internet users, data
may be ordered on CD-ROM and in other formats. Among the many types of
data available are Voyager, Magellan, and other planetary images, Earth
observation data, and star catalogs. For costs and service policy,
contact:
National Space Science Data Center
Request Coordination Office
Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 633
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Telephone: (301) 286-6695
Email: request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE
STEIS contains a large amount of information about the Hubble Space
Telescope, such as status reports and newsletters, in addition to
material oriented towards HST observers and proposers. To get started,
ftp://stsci.edu/README
Contact Pete Reppert (reppert@stsci.edu) or Chris O'Dea (odea@stsci.edu).
STARCAT
The Space Telescope European Coordination Facility, at ESO/Garching
provides on-line access to a huge astronomical database, featuring
- Observation log files of several satellites/telescopes
(IUE,IRAS,HST,NTT...).
- Spectra and images (IUE, HST).
- Most of the astronomical catalogues (SAO, HR, NGC, PPM, IRAS,
Veron, GSC and many others, more than 50) in a very convenient
way (give center+radius+kind of objects, and you get the
corresponding files!).
Access at
telnet://stesis.hq.eso.org (or STESIS on DECnet).
Log in as "starcat" (no password). Files created can be retrieved via
FTP. Contact: Benoit Pirenne (bpirenne@eso.org) (phone +49 89 320 06
433) at ST-ECF
ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES
The full SAO stellar database is probably not available online yet. It
may be ordered on magnetic tape from the NSSDC. A subset containing
position and magnitude only is available by FTP (see "Astronomy
Programs" below).
ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/astro/
contains a large collection of astronomical programs for many types of
computers, databases of stars and deep sky objects, and general
astronomy information. This site is mainly for European users, but
overseas connections are possible.
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MISC/galaxy.dat
is a database of 8,436 galaxies including name, RA, declination,
magnitude, and radial velocity, supplied by Wayne Hayes
(wayne@csri.utoronto.ca).
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/
contains constellation boundary data (files constell.*) in a form
suitable for the construction of star charts and atlases.
ftp://iris1.ucis.dal.ca/pub/gif/
contains a number of GIFs from Voyager, Hubble, and other sources (most
of this data is also in pub/SPACE/GIF on the Ames server). Please
restrict access to 5pm - 8am Atlantic time.
ftp://pomona.claremont.edu/astro/catalog/yale_bsc/
contains the Yale Bright Star catalog. Web users, note that this is a
VMS site and Mosaic does not get along with their server, so this URL is
a placeholder - run FTP manually. Contact James Dishaw
(jdishaw@pomona.claremont.edu).
The Hubble Guide Star catalog is available on CD-ROM for the Mac and PC
for $49.95 US (catalog #ST101).
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
390 Ashton Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone: (415) 337-2624 9 AM - 3 PM Pacific Time
FAX: (415) 337-5205
For German (and possibly other European) readers, Jost Jahn
(j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de) has a mail service to distribute astronomical
data to interested amateurs at cost. About 30-40 catalogs are available
for DM 6..8/disk. Several floppy disk formats are available. He also has
a FAX service with current news on the observable sky. Email him if
interested in these services, or write:
Jost Jahn
Neustaedter Strasse 11
W-3123 Bodenteich
GERMANY
Phone: FRG-5824-3197
FAX: (49)-581-14824
ASTRONOMY PROGRAMS
A more complete list is posted monthly to sci.astro and available in
ftp://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/faq/astroftp.txt
This list is maintained by the SEDS chapter at U. Arizona
(astroftp@seds.lpl.arizona.edu).
Some astronomy-related programs and databases archived from
Usenet source groups:
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume8/phoon.Z
Moon phase and date routines
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume8/moon.Z
Another moon phase program
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume15/moontool.Z
Show moon phase picture on Suns
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume12/starcharts/
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume13/starchart/
Starchart program & Yale star data
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume11/starchart
Starchart program, version 3.2
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume12/starchart2
Starchart program, update to version 3.2.1
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume16/sao/
Reduced SAO catalog
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume11/n3emo-orbit
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume14/n3emo-orbit
Orbit: track earth satellites
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume13/jupmoons
Plotter for Jupiter's major moons [in perl]
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume13/lunisolar
Lunisolar (not sure what this does)
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume18/planet
Planet generation simulator
Xephem is an interactive astronomical ephemeris program for X11R4/Motif
1.1 (or later) X Windows systems. It computes lots of information about
the planets and any solar system objects for which orbital elements are
available. A sample database of some 16000+ objects is included in the
release kit. It's in
ftp://iraf.noao.edu/contrib/xephem/xephem_2.6/
Contact Elwood Downey (ecdowney@noao.edu). Ephem is the forefather of
xephem designed for simple 24x80 character displays, in
ftp://iraf.noao.edu/contrib/xephem/ephem/ephem_4.28.tar.Z
Xsat 1.2.6, an X based satellite tracking program, and Xsky 2.1.6, a
computerized sky atlas for the X Window System, are available from
ftp://arizona.edu/software/unix/xsat/readme.dist
ftp://arizona.edu/software/unix/xsky/xsky-216.tarz
(This is a VMS FTP site; some Web browsers, such as Mosaic 2.4, may have
trouble with these URLs). Contact Terry R. Friedrichsen
(terry@venus.sunquest.com).
The "Variable Stars Analysis Software Archive" is in
ftp://ftpastro.vuw.ac.nz/astrophys/
This is intended for specialists in this field, and they would
appreciate people from outside New Zealand confining their FTP access to
the astrophys directory, as they pay a significant amount for Internet
access. Contributions are encouraged. Contact the archive administrator,
Timothy Banks (astrophys-archive@kauri.vuw.ac.nz). For further details
on the archive see _The Observatory_, 112, 16, 1992.
The "IDL Astronomy Users Library" is in
ftp://idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov/README
This is a central repository for general purpose astronomy procedures
written in IDL, a commercial image processing, plotting, and programming
language. Contact Wayne Landsman (landsman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov).
Daniel Roth (roth@ph-cip.uni-koeln.de) offers an astronomy software
service for PC and Atari users in Europe. He has a large library
available on disk and a CD-ROM with the entire library. A catalog is
available; contact him for ordering details.
ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS
The most recent orbital elements from the NASA Prediction Bulletins are
carried on the Celestial BBS, (205)-409-9280. Documentation and tracking
software are also available on this system. The Celestial BBS may be
accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data bits, 1
stop bit, no parity.
Orbital element sets are FTPable from the following directories:
ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/ NASA,TVRO,Shuttle
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/astro/dbases/sat-elem/
NASA,TVRO,Molczan,CelBBS,Shuttle
ftp://kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/space/ NASA,Molczan,Thomson
SPACE DIGEST ARCHIVES
Copies of back issues of Space Digest are archived on
LISTSERV@UGA.BITNET. Send mail containing the message "INDEX SPACE" to
get an index of files; send it the message "GET filename filetype" to
get a particular file.
GEOSPHERE PROJECT (FULL EARTH IMAGE)
Tom van Sant's GeoSphere Project has produced a very nice composite
image of the entire Earth (without clouds, so all the surface is
visible) by assembling thousands of Landsat images. This image is not in
the public domain; any digital copies made available by anonymous FTP
are illegal.
GeoSphere offers the image in a variety of printed forms (posters, mugs,
globes, etc.). Contact them at (800)-845-1522 for a catalog. They may be
willing to license the digital database for specific uses, contact them
for details.
LANDSAT AND NASA PHOTOS
You can get black-and-white 1:1M prints, negatives, or positives for
$10, $18, $12 respectively for any Landsat data more than 2 years old
from EDC, (Eros (Earth Resources Orbiting Satellite) Data Center). Call
them at (605)-594-6511. You get 80 meter resolution from the MSS
scanner, 135x180 kilometers on a picture 135x180 mm in size. I think you
have to select one band from (green, red, near IR, second near IR), but
I'm not sure. Digitial data is also available at higher prices.
Transparencies of all NASA photos available to the public can be
borrowed from the NASA photo archive; you can have copies or prints
made.
NASA Audio-Visual Facility
918 North Rengstorff Ave
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415)-604-6270
PLANETARY MAPS
Phil Stooke (stooke@sscl.uwo.ca) maintains a list of maps of all mapped
solid bodies except Earth, including sources, ordering information, and
references, which is posted to sci.astro periodically and may also be
found in
ftp://phobos.sscl.uwo.ca/pub/Space/planmap.txt
along with related images and files. He has offered to answer questions
by email.
COMETARY ORBIT DATA
The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and the Minor Planet
Center announce the sixth edition of the Catalogue of Cometary Orbits in
IAU Circular 4935. The catalogue contains 1292 entries which represent
all known comets through November 1989 and is 96 pages long.
Non-subscribers to the Circulars may purchase the catalogue for $15.00
while the cost to subscribers is $7.50. The basic catalogue in ASCII
along with a program to extract specific orbits and calculate
ephemerides is available on MS-DOS 5.25-inch 2S2D diskette at a cost of
$75.00 (the program requires an 8087 math coprocessor). The catalogue
alone is also available by e-mail for $37.50 or on magnetic tape for
$300.00.
Except for the printed version of the catalogue, the various magnetic
media or e-mail forms of the catalogue do not specifically meantion
non-subscribers. It is possible that these forms of the catalogue may
not be available to non-subscribers or that their prices may be more
expensive than those given. Mail requests for specific information and
orders to:
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
NEXT: FAQ #4/13 - Performing calculations and interpreting data formats