ACDS V10.0 - Detailed Description of VIII/15

ACDS V10.0 - Tue May 19 22:26:58 CEST 2026

| # Detailed Description of VIII/15 : Parkes Radio Sources Catalogue (PKSCAT90) (Wright+ 1990) |

Note : this is the description file of the original catalog. This HTML page corresponds well to the original description, but some minor changes in the format may have been introduced in the FITS output files in order to allow for arithmetic operations on quantities such as coordinates and times. h:m:s and d:m:s units are normally converted into degrees, and YYYY-MM-DD into julian days.
Similarly, some slight changes may have been introduced in the units; the value given in the HTML files supersedes the value indicated in the ReadMe file for this catalogue.

    VIII/15         Parkes Radio Sources Catalogue (PKSCAT90)  (Wright+ 1990)
    ================================================================================
    Parkes Radio Sources Catalogue, Version 1.01
        Wright A.E. and Otrupcek R.
       <Australia Telescope National Facility, Parkes (1990)>
       =1990PKS...C......0W
    ================================================================================
    ADC_Keywords: Radio sources

    Description:
        PKSCAT90 consists of radio and optical data for 8264 radio sources.
        It covers essentially all the sky south of declination +27 degrees but
        largely excludes the Galactic Plane and the Magellanic Cloud regions.
        The latter zones have been the subject of other, specialist surveys.
        A few data errors in Version 1.00 have been corrected in the present
        edition. This version of the Parkes Radio source Catalogue entitled
        "PKSCAT90 Version 1.01" is intended for use on IBM PC-type machines.

    Note by A. Wright:
        Users should note that PKSCAT90 was produced at a time when relational
        databases were in their infancy. In the future we anticipate making
        the individual data sources available separately --- through such
        search systems as SIMBAD --- rather than in an "omnibus" catalogue
        like PKSCAT90. For both the Northern and Southern hemisphere, superior
        and deeper finding surveys now exist: the 87GB Catalog in the North,
        (Condon et al., catalog VIII/14) and the PMN catalogues (Griffith
        and Wright, catalog VIII/38) in the South.

    File Summary:

           FileName      Lrecl  Records   Explanations

    ×                   80        .   This file
    × ReadMe            80        .   This file
    × pkscat90.dat     210     8264   The Catalogue
    × refs.dat          99      152   References

    Byte-by-byte Description of file:  pkscat90.dat

       Bytes Format  Units   Label    Explanations

       1- 10  A10    ---     Bname    B1950 source name
      11- 17  A7     ---     Alias    Alias/other catalogue names
      18- 19  I2     h       RA1950h  Right Ascension B1950.0 (hours)
      21- 22  I2     min     RA1950m  Right Ascension B1950.0 (minutes)
      24- 27  F4.1   s       RA1950s  Right Ascension B1950.0 (seconds)
          28  A1     ---     DE1950-  Declination B1950.0 (sign)
      29- 30  I2     deg     DE1950d  Declination B1950.0 (degrees)
      32- 33  I2     arcmin  DE1950m  Declination B1950.0 (minutes)
      35- 36  I2     arcsec  DE1950s  Declination B1950.0 (seconds)
      37- 40  A4     ---     Ident    Source identification (1)
      41- 45  F5.2   mag     Mag      ? Magnitude
                                       (the format is either F4.1 or F4.2)
      46- 50  F5.3   ---     z        ? Redshift (reference in r_z)
      51- 58  F8.3   Jy      S80      ? Flux density at 80MHz
      59- 66  F8.3   Jy      S178     ? Flux density at 178MHz
      67- 74  F8.3   Jy      S408     ? Flux density at 408MHz
      75- 82  F8.3   Jy      S635     ? Flux density at 635MHz
      83- 90  F8.3   Jy      S1410    ? Flux density at 1410MHz (21cm)
      91- 98  F8.3   Jy      S2700    ? Flux density at 2700MHz (11cm)
      99-106  F8.3   Jy      S5000    ? Flux density at 5000MHz (6cm)
     107-114  F8.3   Jy      S8400    ? Flux density at 8400MHz
     115-122  F8.3   Jy      S22000   ? Flux density at 22000MHz
     123-124  I2     h       RAh      Right Ascension J2000 (hours)
     126-127  I2     min     RAm      Right Ascension J2000 (minutes)
     129-135  F7.4   s       RAs      Right Ascension J2000 (seconds)
         136  A1     ---     DE-      Declination J2000 (sign)
     137-138  I2     deg     DEd      Declination J2000 (degrees)
     140-141  I2     arcmin  DEm      Declination J2000 (minutes)
     143-148  F6.3   arcsec  DEs      Declination J2000 (seconds)
     149-159  A11    ---     Jname    J2000 Name
     161-165  F5.2   arcsec  errPos   ? positional accuracy in arcsec.
                                        (to be read as "better than")
     166-185  A20    ---     r_Ident  Comma-separated references for Identification
                                        (see file refs.dat)
     186-205  A20    ---     r_z      Comma-separated references for z
                                        (see file refs.dat)
     206-210  A5     "YY.MM" SpDate   Year.Month for which an optical spectrum was
                                        obtained, but from which a definite redshift
                                        could not be determined

    Note (1):
        Beginning with this version of the catalogue, new identification and
        field classification codes have been used, mainly for the unidentified
        or "blank-field" sources. The following table lists both the new and
        the old codes.
       -------------------------------------------------------------------
        Code  Description                                        Old Code
       -------------------------------------------------------------------
        ===>  Identified sources:
        BLC   BL Lacertae object                                   BLC
        D     Diffuse galaxy, bright galaxies in clusters          D
        DB    Double galaxy                                        DB
        E     Elliptical Galaxy                                    E
        G     Galaxy too faint to classify                         G
        HII   HII region                                           HII
        IRR   Irregular object                                     IRR
        N     N galaxy, bright cored galaxy                        N
        PN    Planetary Nebular                                    PN
        Q     Quasi-stellar object or Quasar (confirmed)           Q
        QC    Quasar with a continuous optical spectrum            QC
        S     Spiral galaxy                                        S
        SB    Barred Spiral galaxy                                 SB
        Sc    Spiral galaxy (type C)                               SC
        SNR   SuperNova Remnant                                    SNR
        S0    Spiral galaxy with ellipticity of zero               S0
               (nearly circular)
        *     Stellar object of neutral colour                     IIIS
               in good positional agreement with
               the radio source
        ===>  Unidentified Sources
        Xg    one or more galaxies in the area                     II
               covered by the position error of the source
               but no identification claimed
        Xs    blank field: one or more stars of normal colour      III
               in the error box
        Xsa   blank field: obscured by absorption                  IIIA
        X     blank field: no absorption apparent                  IIIB
        Xs+   blank field: crowded star field                      IIIC
        Xa    blank field: heavily obscured.                       IV
       -------------------------------------------------------------------
       NOTE: a ? following any code specifies that that property is uncertain
       -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Byte-by-byte Description of file:  refs.dat

       Bytes Format Units   Label     Explanations

       1-  6  A6    ---     Ref       Reference Code
       9- 27  A19   ---     BibCode   19-digit reference code, as used in
                                        ADS, CDS and NED
      29- 99  A71   ---     Authors   List of authors

    History:

         The original  Parkes radio  catalogue was compiled from
      major radio  surveys with  the  Parkes  radiotelescope  at
      frequencies of  408 MHz  and 2700 MHz. This work spanned a
      period of  nearly 20   years and was undertaken largely by
      John Bolton  and  his  colleagues.  Since  then,  improved
      positions, optical identifications and redshifts have been
      obtained  for  many  of  the  sources  in  the  Catalogue.
      Furthermore, flux  densities at  several frequencies  have
      supplemented the original surveys so that the measurements
      now cover  the frequency  range 80  - 22,000  MHz. However
      coverage at the highest frequencies is still sparse.

         Important  contributions   to  the  usefulness  of  the
      catalogue have  been radio  data from the Molonglo 408 MHz
      survey and the 80 MHz Culgoora measurements of Slee et al.
      PKSCAT90 should  thus be regarded as a compendium of radio
      and optical  data about southern radiosources. However, at
      the moment,  it contains  only sources originally found in
      the Parkes  2700 MHz  Survey (see  e.g. Part 14, Bolton et
      al, 1979,  Aust  J  Phys,  Astrophys  Suppl,  No.  46  and
      references therein)

         The original radio survey data of the Catalogue and the
      optical identifications have been published in a series of
      papers in  the Australian  Journal of  Physics (see  above
      reference). The  associated optical spectral data on which
      redshifts were  obtained   has also been published, mainly
      in Astrophysical  Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal
      Astronomical Society.

         About  the  completeness  levels  of  the  Catalogue in
      various  parts  of the sky:  users  should note  that  the
      sky  zone  between   -4  and   +4  degrees  has  been  the
      subject of a re-survey and is now complete to 0.25 Jy.

    About PKSCAT90:

      The PKSCAT90 database is made available for astronomical
      research purposes at a cost of $40.00 to cover the cost of
      floppy disks, packing and postage. However we request that
      users acknowledge their use of the catalogue data in
      publications as:

      Parkes Catalogue, 1990, Australia Telescope National Facility

    The New Version Of The Catalogue:

      This catalogue  differs in  several important  ways  from  the
      older (VAX/VMS  only) version  (which we  shall  refer  to  as
      "PKSCAT85") in that:

        1. It  has a  different  and  more  compact  structure  than
        PKSCAT85 and thus takes up less disc space.

        2. It  contains J2000 (FK5) positions and names. This is the
        IAU-preferred  system.  Generally  the  B1950  data  is  for
        convenience only  and is  given to  a limited precision of 1
        arcsec.

        3. Improved  positions for  many sources have been included.
        Following the  J2000 position  is an explicit upper limit to
        the positional accuracy in arcsecs.

        5. The  new catalogue  contains 8400MHz  fluxes from  recent
        Parkes measurements of around 1100 of the stronger sources.

        6. References to identifications and redshifts are available
        for some  sources in  the catalogue.  The codes placed after
        the J2000  position can  be used  to refer  to sources  in a
        table at the end of this information.

    Nomenclature Notes:

      In the past, Parkes source names have been given in a format
      similar to:

           1934-638

      Unfortunately this is inconsistent with the IAU
      recommendations as to nomenclature (see e.g. Dickel et al,
      1987, A & A Suppl. 68, 75-80
      or http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/iau-spec.html)
      since:

        (i) it  doesn't specify  the Equinox and Equator (e.g. B1950
        or J2000) of the position from which the name is derived and
        (ii) decimal  fractions of  degrees are not permitted in the
        "declination-part" of the name

      However, because they are so widely used, we have kept the
      existing nomenclature for all "1950-type" names, but include a
      B in front of them.

      The J2000 names are given as:

           J1229+0203

      where the letter signifies J2000 equinox and equator (FK5-type
      position), the next 4 digits are the hours and minutes of
      right ascension and the sign and final digits are the degrees
      and minutes of declination.

      Thus, the source 3C273 in the new system will be referred to
      as:

      PKSB1226+023 or PKSJ1229+0203 if the observatory designation
      is important or, more informally,  B1226+023 or J1229+0203

      The latter style of naming has been adopted for the catalogue
      software.

    For the Future:

      In the future, the catalogue will be expanded to include extra
      information from: new radio surveys, new identifications, many
      more references, improved positions and variability of fluxes.

      Furthermore we propose to extend the coverage of the Catalogue
      northward of  +27 degrees  declination  using  data  from  the
      northern surveys  so as  eventually  to  produce  an  all-sky,
      "Master" radio catalogue.

      Most  importantly,   we  would   very  much  like  to  receive
      references  to   pre-print  and  published  information  which
      supersedes or  augments data  in the present catalogue. Please
      assist by sending such material to:

              Alan Wright & Robina Otrupcek, PKSCAT Project
                               ATNF, Parkes
                               P.O. Box 276
                                  PARKES
                                 NSW 2870
                                Australia

      Alternatively we can be contacted by E-MAIL on:

                       PKSCAT@ATPARKES.RP.CSIRO.AU

      Next, in addition to the IBM/ PC version, a mainframe
      version of PKSCAT90 is now available in VAX/VMS format
      together with suitable interrogation  and report
      generating programs. We are also preparing an Apple
      Macintosh version of PKSCAT90 for those users who have
      access to the FileMaker database program. Distribution is
      planned for later this year. The handling and postage
      prices will be the same as for the PC version.

      Finally, we are preparing a Radio Atlas of the southern
      sky using data from the PKSCAT90 database. This will be in
      a similar format to the optical, "Norton's" star atlas and
      should be available by 1 August 1990.

                Alan Wright & Robina Otrupcek   10 May 1990

    Modifications of the data files:
      * June 1993, corrections from H. Andernach (hja@vilspa.esa.es)
          a) The source B0000-177 is NOT 3C465 (but source B2335+267)
          b) The last source B0420-086 is misplaced
        In references:
          BE66b  is AuJP 19, 275 (not p. 27)
          W67  is MN 135, p. 339 (not p. 24)
      * 10-May-1996: Alan Wright [Parkes], Francois Ochsenbein [CDS]:
        Documentation rewritten.
      * 10-Jul-1999: catalogue reformatted at CDS to allow an automatic
        recognition of all numeric fields (magnitude, redshift, flux densities)
        References were also reformatted, and the bibcodes were added.
      * 17-Jul-1999: The source B1246-410 was wrongly associated to NGC4296,
        corrected to NGC4696 (H. Andernach heinz@astro.ugto.mx)
      * 06-Feb-2004: 'a' and 'b' suffixes were added (in order of increasing
        right ascension) in the JName column to distinguish the cases having
        name collisions. The modification concerns the sources
        J0013+2045, J0302-3415 and J1643-4029 [Francois Ochsenbein, CDS]
      * 03-Sep-2015: positions of 2 sources corrected [Francois Ochsenbein, CDS]
        -- B1829-718=J1835-7150 originally at 18 27 36.9 -36 04 38 (B1950)
                               corrected into 18 29 42.5 -71 52 23
        -- B2105-489=J2108-4846 originally at 21 05 37.5 -40 58 33 (B1950)
                               corrected into 21 05 37.5 -48 58 33
        and fixed references cbs66 (was mbs6), sbb76 (was sb76); added wp85
      * 02-Oct-2015: position of 1 source corrected [Stephen Drake, HEASARC]
        -- B2105-489=J2108-4846 originally at 21 05 37.5 -48 58 33 (B1950)
                               corrected into 21 05 24.7, -48 58 32
    ================================================================================
    (End)              Alan Wright [Parkes], Francois Ochsenbein [CDS]   10-May-1996