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USNO-A2.0 Catalog for Windows OS?

Started by AXAF , Apr 03 2011 08:11 PM
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3 replies to this topic

#1 AXAF

AXAF

    Apollo

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Posted 03 April 2011 - 08:11 PM

Hi,

I'd like to use the US Naval Observatory's star catalog, USNO-A2.0, with Maxim DL. As far as I can tell, the files which represent the catalog only seem to be compatible for use with Linux/Unix operating systems. Is there a version of the catalog which is suitable for installation on a Windows OS platform?

I realize that I there are web-based interfaces available for looking up a star's coordinates based on this catalog. I just figured that I might as well get my money's worth out of my investment in Maxim DL.

Thanks in advance.

Gary

#2 kw6562

kw6562

    Authoritative Ignoramus

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Posted 04 April 2011 - 05:07 AM

Hi Gary - I downloaded the entire catalog a couple of years ago for use with Cartes du Ciel and it works fine. Big though - it took me several days. I just put each *.cat file in the directory that CdC wanted and had no problems. I'm using XP. They don't mind redistribution so I could burn some CDs and send them to you, then if others want them they would be available. --Keith

#3 Sharkman

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Posted 04 April 2011 - 08:16 AM

AFAIK, there is only one "official" version of the A2.0 catalog.

Regarding MaxIm DL, are you talking about the catalog used for the observatory control, etc? Or for PinPoint astrometry? For the former, I thought MaxIm only supported the GSC catalog. For the latter, A2.0 is considered obsolete now. If you're going to bother downloading and installing a large catalog, UCAC3 is a much better choice.

Of course, if you happen to have A2.0 laying around on CDs (as I do), then it might be a reasonable upgrade / alternative to GSC for general pointing; it's just not accurate enough for MPC reports, etc.

You can download UCAC3 over anonymous FTP from cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr. Look in pub/cats/cats.pdf for an index of where each catalog is located (be sure to decompress the files after downloading). Bill Gray at Project Pluto used to have a set of A2.0 CDs floating around that you could copy for free if you would agree to send them on to the next person who asks. You could contact him to see if he's still doing that.

#4 JoseBorrero

JoseBorrero

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Posted 14 April 2013 - 05:43 PM

I'm in :grin: I'm looking for catalogs to use with maxim and pinpoint.
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