|
Description
This catalog contains plate-center and observational data for all plates of the National Geographic Society and Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) and its Whiteoak Extension. The POSS proper consists of photographic reproductions of red-sensitive (Kodak 103a-E) and blue-sensitive (Kodak 103a-O) plates taken of 937 different fields with the 48-inch Palomar Schmidt telescope, covering the entire sky above -33 degrees declination. This southern limit was extended to about -45 degrees by J.B. Whiteoak using the same instrument for a series of 100 photographs that have come to be known as the Whiteoak Extension; thus, the survey as a whole includes 1037 fields. This version of the catalogue consists of plate information reproduced from the Catalogue of Plates and plate information on the Whiteoak Extension derived from file headers of the SAOPSS II tape (Lund and Dixon 1973). The fields of the catalog are POSS number, modified Luyten-Palomar (MLP) number, equatorial coordinates of the plate center (B1950), limits of the right ascension on the plate in radians, galactic coordinate of the plate center, number of SAO stars on the plate, observing dates and times, the hour angles for the observations, length of exposure, and seeing rating. The following basic quantities were taken directly from the Catalogue of Plates: POSS number, exposure dates and times, hour angles, seeing ratings, and coordinates in sexagesimal units. The following derived quantities were calculated at the ADC: MLP number, equatorial coordinates in radians, right ascension limits, galactic coordinates, and number of SAO stars.
|
