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Spectral Classes of Like Stars Search Output Columns


This document defines the catalog entries describing the TORS_SPCLASS Data Archive.

Mark
Clicking on entries in this column will mark the entry for retrieval. To mark all entries, click one of the buttons labelled 'Mark All','Mark public', or 'Mark Proprietary'. (Unmarking all entries can be done the same way using the appropriate button.) For missions with proprietary data, the mark button element will have a yellow background and a '@' symbol to indicate data sets not yet public.

To Retrieve:
Click the button labelled 'Submit marked data for retrieval from STDADS'. This will send all the marked data set names to the data retrieval page. Follow the directions on the displayed pages.

To Coplot:
After selecting up to 15 observations to be plotted, click on the "Plot marked spectra" button to coplot the selected observations.

The spectra that you selected will be automatically scaled to the full range of wavelengths and nearly the full range of fluxes (i.e., y axis plot scale runs from 0 (or .25 * the minimum flux for spectra with negative fluxes) to the 10th highest flux). Each spectrum is automatically assigned a color, up to a maximum of 15.

For plotting Kepler light curves, y-axis scaling is slightly different. Plots scale simply from the minimum to the maximum flux. It is also recommended that only Kepler light curves from the same target be co-plotted due to the differences in flux values.

The spectra are labelled by their dataset names, with a summary of the datasets plotted given below the plot. After inspecting the plot, you may wish to change the selection of datasets which are displayed. Use your browser "Back" button to do this.

Plot range
Adjust the minimum and maximum wavelengths (in Angstroms) and minimum and maximum fluxes (in erg /cm2/sec/A) to select the spectral region of interest and to exclude noisy data. Note Kepler light curves are in units of time and uncalibrated fluxes.

Plot dimensions
Adjust the X size and Y size in pixels to create the size of plot desired. The maximum dimensions are 850 by 640 pixels.

Redraw plot
Use this button to replot the spectra when you have changed the plot range or plot dimensions.

Column Information

Mission Object Name
The name of the astronomical object as given in the mission catalog. Various designations were used by the different missions. All stored object names are upper case.
Examples: M81, NGC 3031, SN 1993J

MAST spectype
spectral class used by MAST for further processing. In general, the order of preference for source of spectral classes was Skiff (latest publication), SIMBAD, and Sky2000, unless otherwise noted.

Bibcode
Bibcode extracted from the Skiff catalog. Note the bibcode refers to the Skiff spectral classification and not necessarily the observation or the spectral type assigned by MAST.

Mission
Name of mission/instrument
Examples: GHRS, STIS, IUE, HUT

Data ID
Observation Identifier
Examples: Z3280105T, O48Z30010, SWP02456, LWR00501

Comment
Explanatory comments regarding the data sets. The contents will vary with mission. Currently the field describes the gratings used by GHRS spectra.

TT
Encoded spectral type TT specified as an integer (e.g., TT=12 for A stars). See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Range: 0 and 10 to 56 (see table ?)

tt
Encoded spectral subtype specified as an integer. See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Range: 0 for unknown, 10 to 20 for normal stars, 10-12 for novae, and 10-16 for supernovae (see table ?)

LL
Luminosity class specified as an integer from 10 to 35. See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Example: 0 and 10 to 35 (see table ?)

P1
First encoded global peculiarity. Also indicates composites stars (p1=1). See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Range: 0 to 9, 0 = unknown

P2
Second encoded global peculiarity (must have a different value from P1). See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Range: 0 to 9, 0 = unknown

P3
third encoded peculiarity, specific to a particular type or group of spectral types. Note for composites, P3 and P4 specify the TT value of the secondary star (e.g., for an A secondary (TT=12), P3=1 and P4 = 2). See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Range: 0 to 9, 0 = unknown

P4
fourth encoded peculiarity, specific to a particular type or group of spectral types. Note for composites, P3 and P4 specify the TT value of the secondary star (e.g., for an A secondary (TT=12), P3=1 and P4 = 2). See the Spectral Classification Tables.
Range: 0 to 9, 0 = unknown

RA (J2000)
Right Ascension in J2000 as provided by mission observing catalog.

Dec (J2000)
Declination in J2000 as provided by mission observing catalog.

Detail Flag
Flags special cases needing further explanation.
d=0 normal, d=1 a classification in which a decimal subtype was truncated to an integer value, d=2 a ambiguous classification such as kA3, d=3 an unparsed classification

Catalog Selection Flag
Flags cross correlation criateria. Values from 9 to 19 refer to Skiff ctalog correlations, 20-29 are for Sky_2000 and 30 is a Simbad-related flag.
9 = Skiff table correlation using another tors entry with same object_id 10 = Skiff table correlation using target name/aliases, < 5 arcsec separation, and latest publication date 11 = Skiff table correlation using another tors entry with same object_id 12 = Skiff table correlation using Simbad target name/aliases, < 5 arcsec separation, and latest publication date 13 = Skiff table correlation using another tors entry with same object_id 14 = Skiff table correlation using < 5 arcsec separation, and latest publication date 16 = Skiff table correlation using target name/aliases, and latest publication date 17 = Skiff table correlation using another tors entry with same object_id 20 = Sky2000 table correlation using < 5 arcsec separation and HD target name 24 = Sky2000 table correlation using < 5 arcsec separation (excludes target name correlations) 30 = Simbad spectral type used

Skiff Target
Target name from Skiff table (if found)

skiff spectype
Skiff-assigned spectral class

SIMBAD Name
The name of the astronomical object as returned by SIMBAD.

simbad spectype
Simbad-assigned spectral class if found

Sky2000 spectype
Sky2000-assigned spectral class if known

Sky2000 spectype source
Sky2000-assigned spectral class

MAST comment
MAST comment field currently used to describe cases where a Skiff spectral class was replaced with one from another source.

comment
comment regarding assignment of spectral class usually referring to cross-correlation criteria.

unparsed text
Part of string from original spectral classification that was ignored or unable to be parsed in the encoding process.
Mixed-case string

V mag
V magnitude

NED Name
The name of the astronomical object as returned by NED.

Bandpass
Bandpass

Pub. Year
Year of paper in which spectral classification was first published (from Skiff's catalog)
2001