The Multimission Archive at STScI (MAST) Newsletter disseminates
information to users of the HST, IUE, Copernicus, EUVE, HUT, UIT,
WUPPE and VLA-FIRST data archives supported by the MAST.
Inquiries should be sent to archive@stsci.edu.
We have expanded on the available catalogs by including a cluster of
galaxies and a star catalog. The Abell catalog of rich clusters of
galaxies (Abell, Corwin & Olowin, 1989, ApJS, 70, 1), which includes
5,250 sources, can now be cross-correlated with HST and other MAST
archives. The cluster selection can be done in terms of redshift,
richness, magnitude of the tenth brightest cluster member, and
Galactic coordinates. Since cluster of galaxies can cover a
relatively large area of the sky, the search radius for Abell Clusters
has been set to be the selected radius plus the projected radius of
the cluster (evaluated for all clusters with redshift information by
assuming a physical radius of 1.5/(Ho/100) Mpc; the projected size is
then independent of the value of the Hubble constant Ho). The
Hipparcos catalog (1997, ESA SP-1200), which includes 118,218 stars
brighter than 14th magnitude, is also available for cross-correlation.
In this case, stars can be selected on the basis of magnitude, B-V
color, parallax, spectral type, and coordinates, and then
cross-correlated with the MAST archives to look for objects with the
relevant data. Users will be surprised at the number of bright stars
with HST data!
All archival researchers are invited to use this new service and let
us know how we can improve it. As usual, all comments and inquiries
should be directed to archive@stsci.edu.
MAST is grateful for the support and cooperation of the
Astrophysics
Data Facility at NASA GSFC and to each of the Astro mission projects
for their help in the transition of these datasets to MAST.
Since the DSS web service opened in May 1995, usage has steadily
increased to the current level of one to two thousand accesses per
day. The jukebox we originally started with was reliable, and in the
early days, fast enough, but as the usage level climbed above about a
thousand accesses per day, we started seeing limitations in its
capacity to handle the load.
The new jukebox is much faster than the older one, and since
installation, we have already seen a dramatic difference in
improvement. The older jukebox will get a tuneup, and will work
alongside the new one. (The DSS is growing, and we will need the
slots!)
Even with the new hardware, heavy users are reminded that they can
purchase their own copy of the 10x-compressed First Generation DSS, or
the more economical 100x-compressed version, RealSky, from the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific. For more information about
purchasing a copy of the DSS or RealSky, visit the following ASP web
pages:
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