The PS1 object identifiers (objID in the database tables) are computed from the object positions.  We do not recommend trying to extract the positions directly from the objID because subsequent calibrations have significantly improved the positional accuracy of the RA and Dec columns. However, the objID is the primary key in most PS1 tables, and it is useful to know how the objID is related to position.  Partitioning the table by objID approximately divides the table into declination strips.

How the object identifier is computed from RA and Dec

TheobjID index is derived from right ascension and declination.While it is possible to calculate the RA and Dec from theobjID, it is not recommended to do this, because the objIDis based on the astrometric solutions from individual exposures andstacksas they are ingested during an early phase of the PS1 data processing. Consequently the positions derived from the objID have not been calibrated against 2MASS or Gaia.It is recommended to useraMean, decMeanfromObjectThin. Included below is the C code for the translation between R.A. and Dec., for users interested in the relationship.

uint64_t CreatePSPSObjectID(double ra, double dec)
{
double zh = 0.0083333;
double zid = (dec + 90.) / zh; // 0 - 180*60*2 = 21600 < 15 bits
int izone = (int) floor(zid);
double zresid = zid - ((float) izone); // 0.0 - 1.0
uint64 t part1, part2, part3;
part1 = (uint64 t)( izone * 10000000000000LL);
part2 = ((uint64 t)(ra * 1000000.)) * 10000 ; // 0 - 360*1e6 = 3.6e8 (< 29 bits)
part3 = (int) (zresid * 10000.0) ; // 0 - 10000 (1 bit == 30/10000 arcsec) (< 14 bits)
return part1 + part2 + part3;
}

The figure below (adapted from a similar figure from Heather Flewelling) shows an example of computing the objID from specific RA and Dec values.