Hubble Source Catalog: One-Stop Shopping for Astronomers

[bystander]

Hubble Source Catalog: One-Stop Shopping for Astronomers

Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Johns Hopkins University, both in Baltimore, Maryland, have created a new master catalog of astronomical objects called the Hubble Source Catalog. The catalog provides one-stop shopping for measurements of objects observed with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble has amassed a rich legacy of images and other scientific data over its 25 years of exploring the universe. All of the images are stored in the computer-based Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), which astronomers use for their research. The archive is bursting with more than a million images, which contain roughly 100 million small sources ranging from distant galaxies to compact star clusters to individual stars. For astronomers, however, a major challenge is the difficulty involved with sifting through the archival gold mine to collect the data they want to analyze. The Hubble Source Catalog now allows astronomers to readily perform a computer search for characteristics of these sources.

The Hubble Source Catalog is a database from which astronomers can obtain the Hubble measurements of specific astronomical objects they want to investigate. A query to this database can take just seconds or minutes, while previously it might have required a few months of hard work by searching separate files throughout the archive. This capability promises to open the door to exciting new areas of research with Hubble that otherwise might have been too cumbersome to tackle. ...

Users can access the Hubble Source Catalog primarily through the MAST Discovery Portal, which has been enhanced to support the Hubble Source Catalog project. More details are available at MAST HSC Access Details.

[starsurfer]

I imagine geckzilla will be thrilled!

[geckzilla]

I only have a vague idea about how to use the source catalog. I'm going to watch a Hubble Hangout today though and they may give me some ideas. If not, at least I'll have a better idea of how it's used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuhfO7aNv6M