NED Search Columns

This document defines the catalog entries returned from searching the NED database. Most of the documentation below was obtained from the NED project, and the Guide to NED Search Results.

Note: if your research benefits from the use of NED, they would appreciate the following acknowledgement in your paper: This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Object Number

A sequential object number specific to this particular query.

Object Name

The name of the astronomical object.

RA

Object's Right Ascension in J2000 coordinates specified in decimal degrees.

Dec

Object's declination in J2000 coordinates specified in degrees.

Object Type

NED's "Preferred Object Type" (e.g. "G" = galaxy, "GPair" = double galaxy, "RadioS" = radio source, etc.). Note because some targets have multiple classifications, you may see entries other than those specified in the query.

Velocity

Radial velocity.

Redshift

The heliocentric redshift, if known, listed first as z, then as V = cz for V < 30,000 km/sec. A qualifier on the redshift. These are often taken from the published source (a colon ":" or a question mark "?" are common), but are sometimes added by NED to indicate a non-spectroscopic origin for the redshift -- "PHOT" for photometrically-measured redshifts, or "EST" for otherwise estimated redshifts.

Number of References

Number of literature references in NED for the object.

distance Arcmin

Distance in arcminutes from the search position or position of the named object, if applicable.

Number of Notes

Number of catalog Notes stored by NED for the object.

Number of Photometry Data Points

Number of photometric data points stored by NED for the object.

Number of Position Data Points

Number of position data points stored by NED for the object.

Number of Redshift Data Points

Number of redshift data points stored by NED for the object.

Number of Diameter Data Points

Number of diameter data points stored by NED for the object.

Number of Associations

Number of NED associations for the object.