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Summary of photographic survey plates used in construction of GSC |
This table summarizes the photographic survey plates used in the construction of GSC-1 and GSC-2. The northern sky was observed using the Palomar observatory 48" Samuel Oschin telescope, whilst the southern sky was observed using the UK Schmidt telescope at the Anglo-Australian Observatory. These photographic glass plates were then digitized by STScI and processed to create the Guide Star Catalogs. The initial set of scans only included a single plate for each region of the sky and were published as the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS-1) and processed into GSC-1 to support HST operations. After the initial release, a DSS consortium came together to both obtain additional second epoch plates, digitize at a higher resolution and process them into DSS-2/GSC-2. Whilst there are exceptions, the bulk of the sky has observations in at least 3 bandpasses (blue, red and near-IR).
Survey Name | Survey Code | Epoch of observations | Photographic Emulsion +filter | Band Name | Approximate limiting Magnitude | Declination zone / coverage | Number of plates | DSS pixel size in arcsec | GSC version | DSS version | DSS Copyright holder |
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POSS-I E | XE | 1950-58 | 20.0 | +90:-30 | 936 | 1.0/1.7" | 2 | 1 | STScI | ||
POSS-I O | XO | 1950-58 | 21.0 | +90:-30 | 936 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | STScI | ||
Pal-QV | N | 1983-85 | 19.5 | +90:+06 | 611 | 1.7" | 1+2 | 2 | STScI | ||
POSS-II J | XJ | 1987-98 | 22.5 | +90:+00 | 897 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | Caltech | ||
POSS-II F | XP | 1987-98 | 20.8 | +90:+00 | 897 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | Caltech | ||
POSS-II N | XI | 1987-02 | 19.5 | +90:+00 | 890 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | Caltech | ||
SERC-J | S | 1975-87 | 23.0 | -20:-90 | 606 | 1.7" | 1+2 | 1 | ROE | ||
SERC-EJ | S | 1979-88 | 23.0 | -00:-15 | 288 | 1.7" | 1+2 | 1 | ROE | ||
AAO-SES | XS | 1990-98 | 22.0 | -20:-90 | 606 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | AAO | ||
SERC-ER | ER | 1984-98 | 22.0 | -00:-15 | 288 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | AAO/ROE | ||
AAO-SR | GR | 1996-99 | 14.0 | Southern galactic plane | 116 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | AAO | ||
SERC-I | IS | 1990-02 | 19.5 | -00:-90 | 894 | 1.0" | 2 | 2 | AAO | ||
SERC-QV | XV | 1986-88 | 14.0 | Southern galactic plane | 94 | 1.0/1.7" | 1+2 | 1 | ROE | ||
SERC-V | XX | 1979-85 | IIIaJ | Vpg | variable | M31, LMC, SMC | 4 | 1.7" | 1+2 | 1 | STScI/ROE |
DSS Data Access
The Digitized Sky Survey images are available on-line from a number of data archives around the world as well as built-in to astronomical data viewers such as Aladin, Worldwide Telescope and Google Sky. The data may be retrieved directly from STScI/MAST using the links and/or API's described below:
Get image cutout (FITS or GIF format) | https://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form | DSS Image Access : http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_search?Parameters Required Parameter List
Optional Parameters
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Identify available plates to cutout | https://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_plate_finder | DSS Plate Finder : http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_plate_finder?Parameters Required Parameter List
Optional Parameters
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Get image cutout (color JPG) | none | DSS JPG Image Access : http://gsss.stsci.edu/webservices/dssjpg/dss.svc/GetImage?Parameters Required Parameter List
Optional Parameters
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DSS Plate Lists
A text file containing metadata about the DSS plates is available to download for researchers who require individual plate information (such as observation dates). Please be aware that we do occasionally update this file as errors are corrected.
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