Using online catalogues

[wimvb]

This afternoon I had a discussion with Göran ( @gorann) about finding extended objects (ic. supernova remnants) in the online service Aladin ( https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/ ). I think that this information may be relevant to more people, so here's a short write up.

The easiest/fastest way to browse catalogues and find objects is (for me at least) to just open Aladin Lite, write an object ID into the Target box on the left, for example M51, and press enter. I then activate the SIMBAD catalogue (right hand side of the sky map), which shows a small marker around all the objects in the SIMBAD catalogue. Zooming in or out is easy with the mouse wheel. I use the bullseye tool at the left of the sky map to get more information on any object. Just click on it and move it to any marker and click again (don't move over another control, because this will inactivate the bullseye tool).

Clicking on the object name will open an information page with a summary from SIMBAD. Usually this is all I need.

On a few occasions, I can't find the information I want, and I have to go into the database VizieR ( https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR ). The link to VizieR is at the top of the Aladin page.

VizieR is a catalogue service, which provides a library of on line astronomical catalogues. Today I wanted to find information about Supernova remnants.

There are three drop down lists just over the orange/red sky map symbol. I scrolled down the one on the right and chose SuperNovae_Remnants. Then I entered the approximate RA and DEC coordinates (J2000) plus a search radius, and pressed the button "Find Catalogues". The search gave a list of 11 catalogues. The latest catalogue by Green (VII/284, from 2019) looked the most promising, so I continued with that.

Note the Search Criteria box on the left. My initial coordinates are still active.

The catalogue is activated with my initial search criteria. I just hit the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

The search gave me one single hit. I clicked on the object identifier (SNR column) to get to an information page about this supernova remnant.

This opened a new window with several interesting references, all available on line.

Edited March 6, 2022 by wimvb

[ONIKKINEN]

I like the legacy sky survey viewer: https://www.legacysurvey.org/viewer

It has many different catalogues to choose from like several optical surveys, some IR, some H-alpha, some dustmaps etc. Hunting IFN imaging targets with this is a piece of cake.