ACDS V10.0 - Detailed Description of B/mk

ACDS V10.0 - Fri Jan 17 09:27:24 CET 2025

| # Detailed Description of B/mk : Catalogue of Stellar Spectral Classifications (Skiff, 2009- ) |

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.

    B/mk        Catalogue of Stellar Spectral Classifications     (Skiff, 2009-    )
    ================================================================================
    General Catalogue of Stellar Spectral Classifications
         Skiff B.A.
        <Lowell Observatory (October 2014)>
        =2014yCat....1.2023S
    ================================================================================
    ADC_Keywords: Spectral types ; MK spectral classification

    Description:
        This file contains spectral classifications for stars collected from
        the literature, serving as a continuation of the compilations produced
        by the Jascheks, by Kennedy, and by Buscombe. The source of each
        spectral type is indicated by a standard 19-digit bibcode citation.
        These papers of course should be cited in publication, not this
        compilation.

        The stars are identified either by the name used in each publication
        or by a valid SIMBAD identifier. Some effort has been made to
        determine accurate (~1" or better) coordinates for equinox J2000 (and
        epoch 2000 if possible), and these serve as a secondary identifier. To
        the extent possible with current astrometric sources, the components
        of double stars and stars with composite spectra are shown as separate
        entries.

        Magnitudes are provided as an indication of brightness, but these data
        are not necessarily accurate, as they often derive from photographic
        photometry or rough estimates.

        The file includes only spectral types determined from spectra (viz.
        line and band strengths or ratios), omitting those determined from
        photometry (e.g. DDO, Vilnius) or inferred from broadband colors or
        spectral energy distributions.

        The classifications include MK types as well as types not strictly on
        the MK system (white dwarfs, Wolf-Rayet, etc), and in addition simple
        HD-style temperature types. Luminosity classes in the early Mount
        Wilson style (e.g. 'd' for dwarf, 'g' for giant) and other similar
        schemes have been converted to modern notation. Since a citation is
        provided for each entry, the source paper should be consulted for
        details about classification schemes, spectral dispersion, and
        instrumentation used.

        System-defining primary MK standard stars are included from the last
        lists by Morgan and Keenan, and are flagged by a + sign in column 83.
        The early-type standards comprise the 1973 "dagger standards"
        (1973ARA&A..11...29M) and stars from the Morgan, Abt, and Tapscott
        atlas (1978rmsa.book.....M). Standards from Table I of the Morgan &
        Abt 'MKA' paper (1972AJ.....77...35M) not appearing in the two later
        lists are added. Keenan made continual adjustments to the standards
        lists up to the time of his death. Thus the late-type standards
        comprise those marked as high-weight standards in the 1989 Perkins
        catalogue (1989ApJS...71..245K = III/150); the revised S-type
        standards in collaboration with Boeshaar (1980ApJS...43..379K); plus
        the carbon standards and class IIIb 'clump giants' in collaboration
        with Barnbaum (1996ApJS..105..419B and 1999ApJ...518..859K). In
        addition, I have made use of the final types by Keenan up to January
        2000 shown at the Ohio State Web site
        (http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/MKCool), accessed in autumn 2003.
        Though the present file contains all the stars in these lists, only
        those marked as standards are flagged as such. Garrison's list of MK
        'anchor points' might also be consulted in this regard
        (1994mpyp.conf....3G, and
        http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~garrison/mkstds.html).

        The catalogue includes for the first time results from many
        large-scale objective-prism spectral surveys done at Case, Stockholm,
        Crimea, Abastumani, and elsewhere. The stars in these surveys were
        usually identified only on charts or by other indirect means, and have
        been overlooked heretofore because of the difficulty in recovering the
        stars. More complete results from these separate publications,
        including notes and identifications, have been made available to the
        CDS, and are kept at the Lowell Observatory ftp area
        (ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats). Not all of these stars are
        present in SIMBAD.

        As a 'living catalogue', an attempt will be made to keep up with
        current literature, and to extend the indexing of citations back in
        time.

    File Summary:

           FileName      Lrecl  Records   Explanations

    ×                   80        .   This file
    × ReadMe            80        .   This file
    × mktypes.dat      141  1058791   The catalog of MK Spectral Types
    × surveyed.txt      96      804   List of surveyed articles

    See also:
      III/18  : Stellar Spectra classified in the MK system (Jaschek+, 1963)
      III/42  : Selected MK Spectral Types (Jaschek, 1978)
      III/78  : MK Classification Catalogue Extension (Kennedy, 1983)

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

       Bytes Format Units   Label    Explanations

       1- 19  A19   ---     Bibcode  Publication Source
      22- 48  A27   ---     Name     Star name as published or valid
                                          SIMBAD name (Lortet et al.)
      50- 51  I2    h       RAh      Right Ascension (J2000) hour
      53- 54  I2    min     RAm      Right Ascension (J2000) minute
      56- 60  F5.2  s       RAs      [0/60] Right Ascension (J2000) second
          62  A1    ---     DE-      Declination sign
      63- 64  I2    deg     DEd      Declination (J2000) degree
      66- 67  I2    arcmin  DEm      Declination (J2000) minute
      69- 72  F4.1  arcsec  DEs      [0/60] Declination (J2000) second
          74  A1    ---     rc       Source of coordinates (1)
      76- 80  F5.2  mag     Mag      ? Magnitude, see passband in n_Mag
      81- 82  A2    ---     n_Mag    Color passband of magnitude (2)
          83  A1    ---    n_SpType  [+] if spectral type is an MK standard
      84-109  A26   ---     SpType   spectral type (MK, HD, or other)
     111-141  A31   ---     Remarks  Comments (3)

    Note (1): sources of astrometry are numbered as follows:
        A = USNO-A2.0  (1998USNO2.C......0M, Cat. I/252)
        B = Bordeaux meridian circle  (2001A&A...376..325R, Cat. I/272)
          + PM2000  (2006A&A...448.1235D, Cat. I/300)
        b = USNO-B1.0  (2003AJ....125..984M, Cat. I/284)
        c = AC2000  (1998AJ....115.1212U, Cat. I/275)
        C = Carlsberg CMC11  (1999yCat.1256.....C, Cat. I/256)
          + Carlsberg CMC12  (2002A&A...395..347E, Cat. I/282)
          + Carlsberg CMC14  (2005yCat.1304.....C, Cat. I/304)
          + Carlsberg CMC15  (2011yCat.1327.....C, Cat. I/327)
        D = DENIS  (1999A&A...349..236E, Cat. b/denis)
        E = Edinburgh SuperCOSMOS  (http://www-wfau.roe.ac.uk/sss/obj.html)
        F = USNO-Flagstaff transit circle  (1999AJ....118.2488S, Cat. I/263)
        G = GSC-ACT  (1999yCat.1255.....G, Cat. I/255)
        g = GSC-2.2  (2001yCat.1271.....S, Cat. I/271)
          + GSC-2.3  (2008AJ....136..735L, Cat. I/305)
        i = IRSF  (2007PASJ...59..615K, Cat. II/288)
        I = IPHAS DR2 (2014yCat.2321....0B, Cat. II/321)
        L = LSPM  (2005AJ....129.1483L, Cat. I/298)
        M = 2MASS second, all-sky, or 6x releases  (2006AJ....131.1163S,
            Cat. II/241, II/246, II/281)
        s = SkyView estimate (±2")
        S = Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR6,7,8,9 (2008ApJS..175..297A, Cat. II/282)
        T = all Hipparcos/Tycho-related catalogues, including in approximate
            order of preference:
          + Tycho-2    (2000A&A...357..367H, Cat. I/259)
          + TDSC       (2002A&A...384..180F, Cat. I/276)
          + TRC        (1998A&A...335L..65H and 1999A&AS..136..491K, Cat. I/250)
          + ACT        (1998AJ....115.2161U, Cat. I/246)
          + Hipparcos2 (2007A&A...474..653V, Cat. I/311)
          + Hipparcos  (1997HIP...C......0E, Cat. I/239/hip_main)
          + Tycho-1    (1997HIP...C......0E, Cat. I/239/tyc_main)
        U = UCAC1, UCAC2, UCAC4, or URAT1  (2000AJ....120.2131Z,
          Cat. I/268, I/289, I/322, I/329)
        u = UKIDSS DR6  (2007MNRAS.379.1599L, Cat. II/316)
          + UKIDSS DR7  (Cat. II/310)
          + UKIDSS DR8  (Cat. II/314)
          + UKIDSS DR9  (Cat. II/319)
        W = WISE  (Cutri et al 2011, Cat. II/311)
        Y = Yale SPM  (1998AJ....116.2556P, Cat. I/277)
        z = MCPS catalogue  (2002AJ....123..855Z, Cat. J/AJ/123/855)
        - = other  (copied from source paper, derived from x,y coordinates, etc.)
    Note (2):  passbands are usually standard Johnson-Cousins BVRI, or
        photographic equivalents, near-infrared J and K, Sloan-Gunn g or z.
    Note (3): comments are often greatly compressed; some common phrases are:
       brtr       = brighter
       close pair = nearly-equal pairs usually < 0".5 separation observed together
       comp       = companion or composite (clear from context)
       cpm pair   = common proper motion double star
       DIB        = diffuse interstellar band
       em         = emission
       f          = faint
       fntr       = fainter
       grp        = group
       gx         = galaxy
       ID         = identification
       interst    = interstellar
       lg pm      = large proper motion (usually > 0".15 per year)
       vlg pm     = very large proper motion (> 2" per year)
       lum        = luminosity (class)
       max        = maximum (brightness)
       met, mets  = metals, metallic lines
       min        = minimum (brightness)
       nr         = near
       opt pair   = 'optical' double star, i.e. not common proper motion
       pec        = peculiar
       prob       = probably
       sl         = slight, slightly
       spec var   = spectrum variable
       str        = strong
       uncer      = uncertain
       var        = variable
       wk         = weak
       Nrn        = northern
       Nmost      = northernmost (and similar)
       Ern        = eastern
       Srn        = southern
       Wrn        = western
       NErn       = northeastern
       NWrn       = northwestern
       SErn       = southeastern
       SWrn       = southwestern

    Acknowledgements:
        I have received much help on various aspects of preparing this
        catalogue from Larry Wasserman (Lowell Obs), Gerard Jasniewicz (CDS),
        Francois Ochsenbein (CDS), Fabienne Woelfel (CDS), Pascal Dubois (CDS),
        Jack MacConnell (STScI), Harold Corwin (IPAC), Cameron Reed (Alma College),
        Brian Mason (USNO), Ernst Paunzen (Univ Wien), Thurburn Barker (PARI),
        Chris Corbally (Vatican Obs), Richard Gray (Appalachian State Univ),
        Mati Morel, Chris Watson (AAVSO), John Greaves, Wayne Osborn,
        Erik Anderson, Bill Buscombe, Billy Bidelman, Nancy Houk, as well
        as librarians Antoinette Beiser and Lauren Amundson (Lowell Obs),
        Brenda Corbin (USNO), and Suzanne Laloe (IAP-Paris), plus numerous
        authors whose work is compiled here.

    History:
      * 19-May-2003: Prepared by Brian Skiff (Lowell Observatory) (58783 records)
      * 18-Jul-2003: Several errors corrected by the author (63865 records)
      * 31-May-2004: Updated and completed version (III/233A, 107968 records)
      * 06-Jun-2005: Updated and completed version (III/233B, 156824 records)
      * 23-Oct-2007: Updated (B/mk), now 272640 records
      * 07-Jan-2008: Updated (B/mk), now 283486 records
      * 19-Feb-2009: Updated (B/mk), now 333826 records
      * 14-Jul-2009: Updated (B/mk), now 347592 records
      * 05-Oct-2009: Updated (B/mk), now 361152 records
      * 22-Mar-2010: Updated (B/mk), now 423055 records
      * 28-Dec-2010: Updated (B/mk), now 433169 records
      * 14-Sep-2011: Updated (B/mk), now 452890 records
      * 21-Feb-2012: Updated (B/mk), now 534091 records
      * 17-Jul-2012: Updated (B/mk), now 557746 records
      * 13-Jan-2013: Updated (B/mk), now 604090 records
      * 06-May-2013: Updated (B/mk), now 636441 records
      * 03-Feb-2014: Updated (B/mk), now 657452 records
      * 04-May-2014: Updated (B/mk), now 682075 records
      * 21-Oct-2014: Updated (B/mk), now 716029 records
      * 15-Dec-2014: Updated (B/mk), now 716029 records
      * 23-Jun-2015: Updated (B/mk), now 760007 records
      * 02-feb-2016: Updated (B/mk), now 798203 records
      * 01-aug-2017: Updated (B/mk), now 861868 records
      * 18-dec-2018: Updated (B/mk), now 888588 records
      * 06-feb-2020: Updated (B/mk), now 911723 records
    ================================================================================
    (End)        Brian Skiff [Lowell Obs.], Francois Ochsenbein [CDS]    21-Oct-2014