Catalogs and Atlases of galaxies on the Internet

[madbadgalaxyman]

This is a repeat of my previous post, but with the addition of LEDA, and the Aladin version of DSS, and also the Online version of the Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies.
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Online Catalogs & Atlases of galaxies :

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The homepage of the NED extragalactic database is ::
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/
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The Hyperleda (LEDA) database of galaxies, is very competitive with NED when it comes to general usefulness as a comprehensive online galaxy catalog containing extensive data on hundreds of thousands of galaxies : :
http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr/search.html
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The SIMBAD database of galaxies is here ::
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/
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A critically important source of information for the nearby galaxies (those within 11 Megaparsecs) is the Updated Nearby Galaxy Catalog:

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/neargalcat.html

and also

http://www.sao.ru/lv/lvgdb/pview.php

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A quick reference for reliable NGC/IC object data is The NGC/IC Project:
http://www.ngcicproject.org/
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A comprehensive Online Catalog of the distances of various galaxies is The Extragalactic Distance Database by R.B. Tully ::
http://edd.ifa.hawaii.edu/dfirst.php
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A very comprehensive source of high quality images for hundreds of the brightest galaxies (together with important and very accurate data) is the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey ::
http://cgs.obs.carnegiescience.edu/CGS/Home.html
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Another absolutely essential online collection of images of the members of the bright galaxy population is the Online version of the de Vaucouleurs Atlas of Galaxies:
http://bama.ua.edu/~rbuta/devatlas/imagedatabase.html (http://bama.ua.edu/%7Erbuta/devatlas/imagedatabase.html)
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The Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies was the best and most comprehensive collection of "pre-CCD era" galaxy photographs. Many of these galaxy images are still competitive with CCD images. Excellent quality reproductions of these galaxy images, together with expert commentary by the great galaxy classifier Alan Sandage, can be found at :
http://new.astronote.org/bbs/board.php?bo_table=messier

[ Just click on the appropriate NGC or IC range, to find an image and also commentary about the galaxy that you are interested in. ]
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The quickest and the most efficient (and often the best quality) version of the Digitized Sky Survey(s) that were done with the big Schmidt Cameras, is Aladin Preview. You have a choice of various wavelengths and various Schmidt surveys and of various scans of the plates, and it is very quick and easy to call up an image of the object of interest. The available option of displaying a color-composite DSS image of an object is not at all colour accurate, but the co-added color image is often more contrasty and sharp : :
http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/alapre.pl
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There are also gigantic numbers of specialized catalogs and atlases of galaxies......so if you do need to know about them, just ask the Very Bad Galaxy Man! Also, I can "de-jargonize" and interpret the column headings, which often utilize some weird symbols.

Cheers,
Robert
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[astroron]

Thanks Robert. :thanx:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

Corker Robert! Very extensive lists there.

Thought I'd add one to the lot. List of visible Arp Peculiar Galaxies: Sure part of other catalogs, but a list of an interesting subgroup. These include the Antennae Galaxy and M51.

http://arpgalaxy.com/rsaarp.html

[Amaranthus]

Then there's Cartes du Ciel software, of course, from which you can make your own maps (including down to 18th mag if req for a specific section of sky)

[madbadgalaxyman]

G'day Barry,

I don't use the software you mentioned, but I may give it a try.

For charting the sky, with the very most extensive databases of plottable deep sky objects, my own preference is for either:

Guide Version 9.0
- The Ultimate in data richness
- less user-friendly
- the sky plots are less pretty and tidy.
- Not too expensive.
http://www.projectpluto.com/

OR

MegaStar5 Sky Atlas
- Somewhat Less data
- easier to use.
- sky displays are more sophisticated
- more expensive
- somewhat out of date, as it has not been fully updated for a while.
http://www.willbell.com/software/megastar/index.htm

Cheers,
Robert

P.S.
There is one other product competing with the abovementioned two programs, for the wallet of the really really serious deep sky observer, and that is called TheSkyX Professional Edition ( http://www.bisque.com/sc/pages/TheSkyX-Professional-Edition.aspx (http://www.bisque.com/sc/pages/TheSkyX-Professional-Edition.aspx))
, but I warn you in advance that if you want every last galaxy and deep sky object plotted, then Guide and MegaStar are more appropriate.
TheSkyX is a slick product, and considerably expensive.

[Amaranthus]

Cartes du Ciel is free and cross-platform, which are nice bonuses. I also use it as an excellent planetarium, including driving (and creating sync points) for EQMOD. Overall an excellent tool: http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start

[mithrandir]

Robert, I have CdC, Astroplanner, Guide9, TheSky6, Starry Night 6 and 7, C2A, Halo Northern Sky and Stellarium.

Most of the time I uses CdC because it is the easiest to add extra catalogs, and Patrick is usually very quick to fix any bugs. (Except the 64 bit Windows build which needs a bug in the compiler fixed.)

I have either downloaded or generated CdC catalogs (I might have missed a couple) from UCAC2/3/4, NOMAD, G2V, GCVS, Extended Hipparcos, Tycho2, Sydney Southern Star Catalog, Abell and Zwicky Catalogs, Globular Clusters in the Milky Way, WDS, Hickson, van deb Bergh, Extended Objects in Magellanic Clouds, Catalogue of HII Regions, Satellite Galaxies of the MW and M31, Uppsala General Catalog of Galaxies, Strasbourg-ESO Catalog of Galactic PN, MASH Catalogues of Planetary Nebulae, Ha Emission Regions in Southern Milky Way, Hierarchical Structures in the LMC and SMC, Third+Fourth Cambridge Survey, Lynd's Catalogue of Bright Nebulae, Updated Nearby Galaxy Catalog, 1SXPS Swift X-ray Telescope Point Source Catalogue, Survey of Southern HII Regions (Gum), Catalog of 706 Pulsars - Taylor 1995.

Apart from UCAC3/4 and NOMAD most of the data came from Simbad.

[madbadgalaxyman]

Thanks for that info, Mithrandir,

It would seem that wizards, aside from their spell-casting ability, also have a comprehensive knowledge of charting software.

"In secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars."

[xelasnave]

This will take me ages but thank you Robert. Why could we just have been happy with the milky way being the entire universe.. Just one is huge study material. Wonderful however. I once wished I could travel the lenght of the Universe clearly that may not happen for a while yet but when I go I will have a reasonable map. Thanks again Robert