Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!ox.com!emv From: leech@vivaldi.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) Newsgroups: comp.archives Subject: [astro...] FTP sites for astro data/images (was Re: Yale Bright Star Catalog @ ftp site) Message-ID: <1991Feb18.165927.20492@ox.com> Date: 18 Feb 91 16:59:27 GMT References: <468.27bb1cad@stat.appstate.edu> <1603@borg.cs.unc.edu> Sender: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) Reply-To: leech@vivaldi.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) Followup-To: sci.astro Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Lines: 120 Approved: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) X-Original-Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space Archive-name: ftp/database/astro-ftp-sites/1991-02-15 Original-posting-by: leech@vivaldi.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) Original-subject: FTP sites for astro data/images (was Re: Yale Bright Star Catalog @ ftp site) Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) Since the topic of online databases/images has come up several times in the last few days, I'm posting a portion of the sci.space FAQ additions which I've been working on. These are currently under review by a number of people; the full FAQ will be showing up on the net in a week or two. The Yale catalog is at MIT - see item (1d). For more esoteric needs, try the NSSDC (1c). There are hundreds of astronomical datasets described under the 'ADC' menu entry there (including the Yale catalog). Please note these datasets are not online. You must file a request after which the data is put online temporarily for FTP. Jon __@/ 1) Online archives of space-related information 1a) NASA Ames archives The most extensive archives are maintained at NASA Ames and are available via anonymous FTP or email. These archives include images and a wide variety of documents including NASA press releases, shuttle launch advisories, and mission status reports. FTP users should connect to ames.arc.nasa.gov (128.102.18.3) and look in pub/SPACE. pub/SPACE/Index contains a listing of files available in the archive (the index is about 200K by itself). To access the archives by email, send a letter to archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov (or ames!archive-server). In the subject of your letter (or in the body), use commands like: send SPACE Index send SPACE SHUTTLE/ss01.23.91. The capitalization of the subdirectory names is important. All are in caps. The following is a list of the subdirectories that are currently available: APOLLO GIOTTO MANIFEST PRESS.KIT ULYSSES ASTRO HEADLINE.NEWS MARS.ROVER PRESS.RELEASE VICAR BBXRT HST MCSR PROGRAMS VOYAGER COBE HUT MISC RADIO WEATHER CONTRACT IMDISP NTE SHUTTLE WUPPE CRAF OSR SPACE.CLASSROOM FRR PAYLOAD.STATUS SPACELINK GALILEO LAUNCH.ADVISORY PEGASUS GIF MAGELLAN PIONEER UIT The GIF directory contains images in GIF format. A few have been uuencoded so that they be mailed, but unfortunately the majority will not survive mailing. This will be rectified in the future. The VICAR directory has two Magellan images in VICAR format. A PC program capable of displaying these files is found in the IMDISP directory, although it is still a binary file (ZIP format) and so it is not suitable for mailing at this time. 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 MISC/media.guide. Any problems with the archive server should be reported to Peter Yee (yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov). 1c) NSSDC online catalog The National Space Science Data Center is the official clearinghouse for NASA data. The data catalog (*not* the data itself) is available online. Internet users can telnet to nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.10.4) and log in as 'NODIS'. You can also dial in via 301-286-9000 (300, 1200, or 2400 baud, 8 bits, no parity, one stop). At the "Enter Number:" prompt, enter MD and carriage return. When the system responds "Call Complete," enter a few more carriage returns to get the "Username:" The system is menu-driven; topics available as of 2/7/91 are: 1 - Master Directory - NASA & Global Change 2 - Personnel Information Management System 3 - Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS Data 4 - Interplanetary Medium Data (OMN 5 - Request data and/or information from NSSDC 6 - Geophysical Models 7 - CANOPUS Newsletter 8 - International Ultraviolet Explorer Data Request 9 - CZCS Browse and Order Utility 10 - Astronomical Data Center (ADC) Data can be ordered from the NSSDC on CD-ROM and other formats. Among the many types of data available are Voyager and other planetary images, Earth observation data, and star catalogs. Viewers for Macintosh and IBM systems are also available. As an example of the cost, an 8 CD set of Voyager images is $75. Nssdca is also an anonymous FTP site, but no comprehensive list of what's there is available at present. 1d) Astronomical databases (various sources) mandarin.mit.edu (18.82.0.21) has the following data available via anonymous FTP in /astro: StarChart v3.2, orbital elements for comets and asteroids, the Yale Bright Star catalog, and the Saguaro Astronomy Club Database. Get astro/README. The ames archives (ames.arc.nasa.gov in pub/SPACE/) contain a database of 8,436 galaxies including name, RA, declination, magnitude, and radial velocity in MISC/galaxy.dat. This was supplied by Wayne Hayes (wayne@csri.utoronto.ca). iris1.ucis.dal.ca (129.173.18.107) has a number of GIFs from Voyager, Hubble, and other sources available by anonymous FTP in pub/gif (most of this data is also in SPACE/GIF on the Ames server). Please restrict access to 5pm - 8am Atlantic time. [Edited slightly for comp.archives. --Ed.]