Stars databes download?

tris_d

Stars database download?

I found "NStars", it sounds like they have what I'm after, but the site is not online as is currently undergoing major redesign. Is there any other place? I'm looking for coordinates data, size, spectrum, luminosity and such. Maybe some free Astronomy program comes with such database I could open outside the program and extract the data in .txt file?

Chronos

Try Vizier.

tris_d

Thank you. I don't see distances though, is there some particular type of database I need to look for that would contain information about the distance as well?

Chronos

The Vizier database is incomplete on many counts. Here is a catalog you may find more helpful - http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/

enosis_

Great link - thank you Chronos!

tris_d

Thank you. That looks great on the first sight, I'll just need to figure out how to make queries and see if I can get what I need, but even though it seems complicated I certainly like the various options to customize the output as that should prove useful once I figure it out.

Now, this is completely new to me, I need the data to incorporate it in my software, but I am not astronomer so I'm struggling to interpret it. Could you tell me if the light arriving from the stars in those databases is given as monochromatic, that is as being a single wavelength, perhaps some average, or is it more complicated than that?

chasrob

Nstars is nearby stars, is that what you're interested in? RECONS has an annoted list of nearby stars.

Chronos

Spectral data is usually given in a narrow band pass [a restricted range of wavelengths]. There may be some composite results, like bolometric magnitude. The band pass data will give intensity at the wavelength measured and probably the cutoffs used.

tris_d

Nearby stars for start. However that link will not open for me, looks as if the server is busy. I'll try later on.

tris_d

Thank you.

tris_d

It works now. Great.

Can someone explain a little bit more about column 9:

- V magnitude is a measure of brightness at wavelengths centered near 5500 Angstroms, similar to the the color of light to which human eyes are most sensitive; larger positive numbers are fainter stars, where each factor of 2.5 in brightness is one magnitude; under good sky conditions, the eye is sensitive to magnitudes as faint as V = 6


a.) Would this be "white light" where larger number represent darker shade of gray?

b.) V=7 is "black" to human eye, but with longer exposure appears as lighter shade of gray?

chasrob

There's also the Gliese Catalog of Nearby Stars, containing nearly 4000 stars. You can download it in txt form.