Table Description:
This table is available for ADQL queries and through the TAP endpoint.
Resource Description:
For a list of all services and tables belonging to this table's resource, see Information on resource 'HDAP -- Heidelberg Digitized Astronomical Plates'
This table has an associated publication. If you use data from it, it may be appropriate to reference http://www.lsw.uni-heidelberg.de/projects/scanproject either in addition to or instead of the service reference.
To cite the table as such, we suggest the following BibTeX entry:
@MISC{vo:lsw_plates, year=2007, title={{HDAP} -- Heidelberg Digitized Astronomical Plates}, author={Mandel, H. and Birkle, K. and Demleitner, M. and Landessternwarte Heidelberg}, url={http://dc.zah.uni-heidelberg.de/tableinfo/lsw.plates}, howpublished={{VO} resource provided by the {GAVO} Data Center}, doi = {10.21938/haTEMZmoaCTEK6XZvGU.fQ} }
The scanning of the plate archive at Landessternwarte Heidelberg was initiated by Holger Mandel and Kurt Birkle in 2006 and was funded by the Klaus-Tschira-Foundation. Almost all usable direct plates in the archives are now scanned, and the funded phase of the project is over. Only minor additions are expected any more.
The plate archive consists of plates from many different sources. The following table gives an overview of the instruments at which the plates were taken:
plate letter | name | eff. focal length [mm] | aperture ratio | scale [as/mm] | plate size | latitude | longitude | height |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | Calar Alto Schmidt telescope | 2400 | f/3 | 86 | 24x24cm | 37.22417 N | +2.5375 W | 2168 m |
B | Königstuhl Bruce telescope | 2000 | f/5 | 103 | 24x30cm or 30x30cm | 49.39861 N | -8.72083 E | 560 m |
C | 1.23m in Casseg. focus with corrector | 9857 | f/8 | 20.9 | 24x24cm | 37.22361 N | +2.5461 W | 2138 m |
D | 72cm Walz- Reflektor | 2815 | f/3.9 | 73.3 | 13x18cm or 9x12cm | 49.39861 N | -8.72083 E | 560 m |
E | 2.2m in Cassegrain focus with corrector | 17037 | f/7.744 | 12.1 | 20x25cm (8x10in) or 24x24 cm | 37.22361 N | +2.5461 W | 2138 m |
F | 3.5m in primary focus with 3-lens corrector | 13761 | f/3.93 | 15 | 20x25cm (8x10in) | 37.22361 N | +2.5461 W | 2138 m |
F | 3.5m in primary focus with 2-lens corrector | 12195 | f/3.48 | 16.9 | 12.5x20 (5x8in) | 37.22361 N | +2.5461 W | 2138 m |
H | 2.2m MPG ESO/La Silla | 17679 | f/8 | 12 | 20x25cm | -29.257225 S | +70.734595 W | 2335 m |
G | Wolf's Doppel- astrograph (15cm) on Königstuhl (7/1897-1909) | 900mm | f/6 | 230 | 13x18cm or 9x12cm | +49.39861 N | -8.72083 E | 560m |
G | Wolf's Doppel- astrograph (15cm) in Märzgasse (1887-7/1897) | 900mm | f/6 | 230 | 13x18cm or 9x12cm | +49.60988 N | -8.69387 E | 110m |
Unfortunately, instrument data on the 2.2m MPG telescope on La Silla are lost. If anyone can help out, please contact gavo@ari.uni-heidelberg.de.
The Observation logs of the more ancient observations are available from UB Heidelberg.
The project was discussed on a poster shown at the 2007 meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft in Würzburg.
A slightly more technical article appeared in the proceedings of the 2014 Astroplate conference.
This is what the photographic plates these scans were prepared from look like --
The archive of plates from Wolf's eight-inch telescope --
The Bruce archive -- the rack's bend indicates the plates are kept beneath an observatory dome --
The scanner used by this project (Heidelberg Nexscan F4100; the resolution is 100 pixels per millimeter at 200 pixels per millimeter optical scanner resolution) --
Sorted by DB column index. [Sort alphabetically]
Name | Table Head | Description | Unit | UCD |
---|---|---|---|---|
accref | Product key | Access key for the data | N/A | meta.ref.url |
owner | Owner | Owner of the data | N/A | N/A |
embargo | Embargo ends | Date the data will become/became public | yr | N/A |
mime | Type | MIME type of the file served | N/A | meta.code.mime |
accsize | File size | Size of the data in bytes | byte | VOX:Image_FileSize |
centerAlpha | Ctr. RA | Approximate center of image, RA | deg | pos.eq.ra |
centerDelta | Ctr. Dec | Approximate center of image, Dec | deg | pos.eq.dec |
imageTitle | Title | Synthetic name of the image | N/A | meta.title |
instId | Instrument | Identifier of the originating instrument | N/A | meta.id;instr |
dateObs | Obs. date | Epoch at midpoint of observation | d | time;obs.exposure |
nAxes | #axes | Number of axes in data | N/A | pos.wcs.naxes |
pixelSize | Axes Lengths | Number of pixels along each of the axes | pixel | pos.wcs.naxis |
pixelScale | Scales | The pixel scale on each image axis | deg/pixel | pos.wcs.scale |
refFrame | Ref. Frame | Coordinate system reference frame | N/A | pos.frame |
wcs_equinox | Equinox | Equinox of the given coordinates | yr | time.equinox |
wcs_projection | Proj. | FITS WCS projection type | N/A | pos.wcs.ctype |
wcs_refPixel | Ref. pixel | WCS reference pixel | pixel | pos.wcs.crpix |
wcs_refValues | Ref. values | World coordinates at WCS reference pixel | deg | pos.wcs.crval |
wcs_cdmatrix | CD matrix | FITS WCS CDij matrix | deg/pixel | pos.wcs.cdmatrix |
bandpassId | Bandpass | Freeform name of the bandpass used | N/A | instr.bandpass |
bandpassUnit | Bandpass unit | Unit of bandpass specifications (always m). | N/A | N/A |
bandpassRefval | Band Ref. | Characteristic quantity for the bandpass of the image | m | instr.bandpass;stat.median |
bandpassHi | Band upper | Upper limit of the bandpass (in BandPass_Unit units) | m | instr.bandpass;stat.max |
bandpassLo | Band lower | Lower limit of the bandpass (in BandPass_Unit units) | m | instr.bandpass;stat.min |
pixflags | P. Flags | Flags specifying the processing done (C-original; F-resampled; Z-fluxes valid; X-not resampled; V-for display only | N/A | meta.code |
coverage | Coverage | Field covered by the image | deg | N/A |
exposure | Exp. time | Effective exposure time | s | time.duration;obs.exposure |
airmass | Airmass | Airmass at mean epoch | N/A | obs.airMass |
object | Targ. Obj. | Special object on plate | N/A | meta.id |
emulsion | Emulsion | Emulsion of the original plate | N/A | instr.plate.emulsion |
filter | Filter | Filter description | N/A | meta.id;instr.filter;meta.main |
observer | Observer | Observer | N/A | obs.observer |
startTime | Start | UT at start of exposure | d | time.start;obs |
endTime | End | UT at end of exposure | d | time.end;obs |
plateID | Plate | Plate name as specified in observation catalogue | N/A | N/A |
pub_did | Pub. DID | Dataset identifier assigned by the publisher. | N/A | meta.ref.url |
Columns that are parts of indices are marked like this.
The following services may use the data contained in this table:
VO nerds may sometimes need VOResource XML for this table.