AIPS HELP file for GSTAR in 31DEC24
As of Thu Apr 18 11:56:40 2024
GSTAR: Task reads a Guide Star (UK) table and create an ST tab.
INPUTS
INNAME Image name(name).
INCLASS Image name(class).
INSEQ 0.0 9999.0 Image name(seq. #). 0=>high
INDISK Disk drive #. 0=>any
INVERS Guide star (UK) table number
OUTVERS 0.0 46655.0 STar file version number.
FACTOR 0.0 24 Star Type: 1=Plus, etc
DETIME Output Star Coordinate epoch
1: 1900; 2: 1950; 3: 2000
4: Galactic; 5: OHLSSON Gal.
6: VAN TULDER Galactic
7: Super Galactic
HELP SECTION
GSTAR
Type: Task
Use: GSTAR reads a Guide Star Table (currently type UK) and
creates an ST table. The ST table contains the J2000
positions of the Stars from the Guide Star Cataloge.
Plot programs can then use this file to plot marks showing
the locations of stars in images.
Adverbs:
INNAME......Image name (name). Standard defaults.
INCLASS.....Image name (class). Standard defaults.
INSEQ.......Image name (seq. #). 0 => highest.
INDISK......Disk unit #. 0 => any.
INVERS......Guide star ("UK") table number
OUTVERS.....Version number of ST (star position) file to be
created. 0 => highest+1.
INFILE......Name of file containing star positions; name
should be of the form:
myarea:filename.ext
FACTOR......Index to the type of mark plotted to indicate the Stars
location. Allowed Values are 1-24. 0 -> 1 a "plus"
symbol. See explain for full list.
DETIME......Epoch of RA+DEC coordinates or index to Galactic
or super galactic coordinates. <1 => J2000
1: 1900; 2: 1950; 3: 2000; 4: Galactic
5: Old Galactic (Ohlsson)
6: Old Galactic (Van Tulder)
7: Super Galactic (Revised)
EXPLAIN SECTION
GSTAR: Task to read a Guide Star (UK) table and create an ST
(star position) extension table.
Related Tasks: IMLOD, TACOP, TABED, CNTR, PCNTR, GREYS, STARS,
STRAN
Documentor: Glen Langston (NRAO)
PURPOSE
GSTAR creates an ST table from an Guide Star Table. The
Guide Star tables are provided by NASA on CDROM and contain the
coordinates of nearly all stars brighter than 15 magnitude. At
this faint level, there are several stars in every few square
arc minute field. The Purpose of GSTAR is to translate the
FITS Guide Star table into a table usable by AIPS for plotting
and for coordiante transformations (AIPS task STRAN).
See help information on STARS for an explanation of the AIPS
ST table format.
COMMENTS
The Guide Star Fits tables should be read into AIPS using the
task IMLOD. The UK table should then be copied to the image
requiring star marks. Next, because of the great number of
stars in the tables (Millions and Millions) the task TABED
should be used to select only the stars in the region desired.
(The magnitude of the stars required can also be selected with
TABED.)
The Input Guide Star Table (UK) contains 9 columns
1. The Guide Star ID number. (A star can be listed twice
in the Guide Star Table)
2. Right Ascension (J2000 in degrees, range 0-360)
3. Declination (J2000 +/-degrees)
4. Position Error (arc seconds)
5. Magnitude
6. Magnitude Error
7. Band code for the Magnitude estimate
8. Class of the Guide Star identification.
9. ID of the Plate from which the star was identified.
The Output ST table has 7 Columns
1. Right Ascension or Longitude of the star
Coordinate system depends on ADVERB DETIME (below)
2. Declination or Latitude of the star
(degrees, range -90 to 90)
3,4 Star Size X,Y (degrees)
(roughly size of star on Palomar Sky Survey degrees)
5. Star Position Angle = Star Magnitude/1000
(range (6 to 15)/1000)
6. Star type index = Value of ADVERB FACTOR (below)
7. Star Label = 'S' and Star number in UK table
FACTOR: Selects the type of Star mark for plots.
There are currently 24 different types of star marks.
1: Plus sign (default) 12: Five pointed star
2: Cross (X) 13: Star of David
3: Circle 14: Seven-pointed star
4: Box 15: Eight-pointed star
5: Triangle 16: Nine-pointed star
6: Diamond 17: Ten-pointed star
7: Pentagon 18: 11-pointed star
8: Hexagon 19: 12-pointed star
9: Septagon 20: 13-pointed star
10: Octagon 21: 14-pointed star
11: Nine-gon 22: Plus with gap
23: Vertical line
24: Cross (X) with gap
The Box (type=4) is different from the diamond in that the
star size is the half height and width of the box dimensions.
The Box and the Null (<0) are labeled at RA and Dec plus Delta
RA and Delta Dec. The other marks are labeled at the right
edge of the of the Rotated RA axis.
DETIME: The Guide Star Cataloge star positions are in J 2000
Coordinates. The output Star file can have star positions in
one of seven coordinate systems. The coordiantes are
Epoch Coordinate system Euler angles in 1950
----- -------------------------- -----------------------
1 Equatorial 1900 89.679 +0.278 90.320
2 Equatorial 1950 0.0 0.0 0.0
3 Equatorial 2000 90.320 -0.278 89.679
4 Galactic 33.0 -62.6 -77.75
5 Old Galactic (Ohlsson) -0.056 -62.273 -79.386
6 Old Galactic (Van Tulder) -0.061 -62.772 -78.388
7 Super Galactic (Revised) 116.868 +74.355 +193.189
You can view the contents of the UK and ST tables with PRTAB.