                      SkyGate for OS/2 v2.0
                    Wayne L. Gary / AstroGrafx

SkyData.dbf is an adaption of the SAC 6.0 database with additions from the
SAO star catalog.  AstroGrafx holds no copyright to this data as it has been
used by permission from the Saguaro Astronomy Club of Phoenix, Arizona.  This
documentation is SACDOC.TXT from SAC 6.0 modified to reflect the changes made
for use with SkyGate.  It has been my intent to keep the SAC documentation
intact as much as possible.


Begin SAC documentation:

             SAGUARO ASTRONOMY CLUB DATABASE VERSION 6.0
                   dated  Thursday, May 20, 1993

This compilation of data was begun in an effort to provide a comprehensive
observing list for use at the telescope.  This data is released for private
use of anyone who wishes to use this database.  Please do not sell this
database in any form.

The members of the Saguaro Astronomy Club (pronounced sa-war-oh) of Phoenix,
Arizona have provided much of the effort to compile this database. However, it
could not have been completed without the skill of a variety of people who are
not SAC members.  Thank you to all.

The database is in dBase IV format uning production indexex.

A description of the fields and what data they contain follows:

Field Number: 1      Name: DNAME1        Size: 18
Usually the NGC number is in field #1, but for objects with no NGC value
the alphabetical name used is listed below.  These abbreviations are also
used in field #2 as an other name for some objects.

Abell - George Abell (planetary nebulae and galaxy clusters)
ADS - Aitken Double Star catalog
AM - Arp-Madore (globular clusters)
Antalova - (open clusters)
Ap - Apriamasvili (planetary nebulae)
Arp - Halton Arp (interacting galaxies)
Bark - Barkhatova (open clusters)
B - Barnard (dark nebulae)
Basel - (open clusters)
BD - Bonner Durchmusterung (stars)
Berk - Berkeley (open clusters)
Be - Bernes (dark nebulae)
Biur - Biurakan (open clusters)
Blanco - (open clusters)
Bochum - (open clusters)
Ced - Cederblad (bright nebulae)
Cr - Collinder (open clusters)
Czernik - (open clusters)
DDO - David Dunlap Observatory (dwarf galaxies)
Do - Dolidze (open clusters)
DoDz - Dolidze-Dzimselejsvili (open clusters)
Dun - Dunlop (globular clusters)
Fein - Feinstein (open clusters)
Frolov - (open clusters)
Gum - (bright nebulae)
H - William Herschel (globular clusters)
Haffner - (open clusters)
Harvard - (open clusters)
He - Henize (planetary nebulae)
Hogg - (open clusters)
HP - Haute Provence (globular clusters)
Hu - Humason (planetary nebulae)
IC - 1st and 2nd Index Catalogs to the NGC
     (All types of objects except dark nebulae)
Isk - Iskudarian (open clusters)
J - Jonckheere (planetary nebulae)


K - Kohoutek (planetary nebulae)
King - (open clusters)
Kr - Krasnogorskaja (planetary nebulae)
Lac - Lacaille (globular clusters)
Loden - (open clusters)
LDN - Lynds (dark nebulae)
Lynga - (open clusters)
M - Messier (all types of objects except dark nebula)
MCG - Morphological Catalog of Galaxies
Me - Merrill (plantary nebulae)
Mrk - Markarian (open clusters and galaxies)
Mel - Melotte (open clusters)
M1 thru M4 - Minkowski (planetary nebulae)
NGC - New General Catalog of Nebulae & Clusters of Stars.
      (All types of objects except dark nebulae)
Pal - Palomar (globular clusters)
PC - Peimbert and Costero (planetary nebulae)
Pismis - (open clusters)
PK - Perek & Kohoutek (planetary nebulae)
RCW - Rodgers, Campbell, & Whiteoak (bright nebulae)
Roslund - (open clusters)
Ru - Ruprecht (open clusters)
Sa - Sandqvist (dark nebulae)
Sher - (open clusters)
Sh - Sharpless (bright nebulae)
SL - Sandqvist & Lindroos (dark nebulae)
SL - Shapley & Lindsay (clusters in LMC)
Steph - Stephenson (open clusters)
Stock - (open clusters)
Ter - Terzan (globular clusters)
Tombaugh - (open clusters)
Ton - Tonantzintla (globular clusters)
Tr - Trumpler (open clusters)
UA - Catalog of selected Non-UGC galaxies
UGC - Uppsala General Catalog (galaxies)
UKS - United Kingdom Schmidt (globular clusters)
Upgren - (open clusters)
VV - Vorontsov-Velyaminov (interacting galaxies)
vdB - van den Bergh (open clusters, bright nebulae)
vdBH - van den Bergh & Herbst (bright nebulae)
vdB-Ha - van den Bergh-Hagen (open clusters)
Vy - Vyssotsky (planetary nebulae)
Waterloo - (open clusters)
Westr - Westerlund (open clusters)
Zw - Zwicky (galaxies)

Field Number: 2      Name: DNAME2        Size: 18
Other catalog designations by which this object may be known.
The same abbreviations as the DNAME1 field are used in this field.



Field Number: 3      Name: DCOMMON       Size: 25
Common name of object.


Field Number: 5      Name: DDSPLY        Size: 1
Code used to set the actual appearence of the object on the sky map.

       ASTER  Asterism


Field Number: 6      Name: DTYPE         Size: 5
Type of object.  The code that applies is:

       ASTER  Asterism
       BRTNB  Bright Nebula
       CL+NB  Cluster with Nebulosity
       DRKNB  Dark Nebula
       GALCL  Galaxy cluster
       GALXY  Galaxy
       GLOCL  Globular Cluster
       GX+DN  Diffuse Nebula in a Galaxy
       GX+GC  Globular Cluster in a Galaxy
       G+C+N  Cluster with Nebulosity in a Galaxy
       LMCCN  Cluster with Nebulosity in the LMC
       LMCDN  Diffuse Nebula in the LMC
       LMCGC  Globular Cluster in the LMC
       LMCOC  Open cluster in the LMC
       NONEX  Nonexistent in RNGC
       OPNCL  Open Cluster
       PLNNB  Planetary Nebula
       SMCCN  Cluster with Nebulosity in the SMC
       SMCDN  Diffuse Nebula in the SMC
       SMCGC  Globular Cluster in the SMC
       SMCOC  Open cluster in the SMC
       SNREM  Supernova Remnant
       QUASR  Quasar
       UVSOB  Unverified Southern Object
       #STAR  # Stars (#=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.)

Nonexistent means Sulentic and Tifft couldn't find it on the POSS
plates for inclusion in the RNGC.


Field Number: 6      Name: DCON          Size: 3
Constellation in which the object is found in IAU format, given in
the table below.  Only upper case abbreviations are used for ease of
programming using case-sensitive commands.

ANDROMEDA           AND                 LACERTA             LAC
ANTLIA              ANT                 LEO                 LEO
APUS                APS                 LEO MINOR           LMI
AQUARIUS            AQR                 LEPUS               LEP
AQUILA              AQL                 LIBRA               LIB
ARA                 ARA                 LUPUS               LUP
ARIES               ARI                 LYNX                LYN
AURIGA              AUR                 LYRA                LYR
BOOTES              BOO                 MENSA               MEN
CAELUM              CAE                 MICROSCOPIUM        MIC
CAMELOPARDALIS      CAM                 MONOCEROS           MON
CANCER              CNC                 MUSCA               MUS
CANES VENATICI      CVN                 NORMA               NOR
CANIS MAJOR         CMA                 OCTANS              OCT
CANIS MINOR         CMI                 OPHIUCHUS           OPH
CAPRICORNUS         CAP                 ORION               ORI
CARINA              CAR                 PAVO                PAV
CASSIOPEIA          CAS                 PEGASUS             PEG
CENTAURUS           CEN                 PERSEUS             PER
CEPHEUS             CEP                 PHOENIX             PHE
CETUS               CET                 PICTOR              PIC
CHAMAELEON          CHA                 PISCES              PSC
CIRCINUS            CIR                 PISCES AUSTRINUS    PSA
COLUMBA             COL                 PUPPIS              PUP
COMA BERENICES      COM                 PYXIS               PYX
CORONA AUSTRALIS    CRA                 RETICULUM           RET
CORONA BOREALIS     CRB                 SAGITTA             SGE
CORVUS              CRV                 SAGITTARIUS         SGR
CRATER              CRT                 SCORPIUS            SCO
CRUX                CRU                 SCULPTOR            SCL
CYGNUS              CYG                 SCUTUM              SCT
DELPHINUS           DEL                 SERPENS             SER
DORADO              DOR                 SEXTANS             SEX
DRACO               DRA                 TAURUS              TAU
EQUULEUS            EQU                 TELESCOPIUM         TEL
ERIDANUS            ERI                 TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE TRA
FORNAX              FOR                 TRIANGULUM          TRI
GEMINI              GEM                 TUCANA              TUC
GRUS                GRU                 URSA MAJOR          UMA
HERCULES            HER                 URSA MINOR          UMI
HOROLOGIUM          HOR                 VELA                VEL
HYDRA               HYA                 VIRGO               VIR
HYDRUS              HYI                 VOLANS              VOL
INDUS               IND                 VULPECULA           VUL


Field Number: 7      Name: DRA           Size: 10
Right Ascension of the object in equinox 2000.0 coordinates.  The RA is
in the form  HH:MM:SS.S, such as 14:15:34.8.  Fixed format.


Field Number: 8      Name: DDEC          Size: 9
Declination of the object in equinox 2000.0 coordinates.  The DEC is in
the form  +/-DD:MM:SS, such as +48:10:33 or -88:04:55.  Fixed format.


Field Number: 9      Name: DMAG1        Size: 4
Magnitude to nearest tenth in the form XX.X, such as 12.3.  There are
many objects which have no published magnitude we could find, they have
been assigned a magnitude of 99.9.  Dark nebulae obviously have no
magnitude, so we assigned them a mag of 79.9 to differentiate them from
objects with no magnitude given.  The reason we chose large values for
objects without magnitudes is that a sort would find 0.0 or "" as a
large value of brightness.

Field Number: 10     Name: DMAG2        Size: 4
Save as DMAG1 but for photographic magnitude.

Field Number: 11     Name: DTIRION      Size  2
The charts in the Tirion Sky Atlas 2000.0 that map the area of sky in which
the object is located.  This is included so that a less detailed view of the
area will be available to star hoppers.

Field Number: 12     Name: DU2000       Size: 3
The charts in the Uranometria 2000.0 that map the area of sky in which
the object is located.  It is not guaranteed that all objects plotted on
U2000 are contained in the database.

Field Number: 13     Name: DDATA        Size: 13
Size of object in minutes of arc (') or seconds of arc (''). Seconds of arc is
marked with two single quotes so as to free the double quote symbol for use as
a delimiter.

Field Number: 14     Name: DDESCR       Size: 50
Visual description of the object.  Most of these are from the NGC, some
are from prominent amateurs.  Back issues of Deep Sky Magazine, Astronomy
magazine, Sky and Telescope magazine and Burnham's Celestial Handbook are
used as a source of some of these descriptions.  The descriptions use the
abbreviations from the NGC and Burnham's.  They are given below:

!    remarkable object                 !!   very remarkable object
am   among                             n    north
att  attached                          N    nucleus
bet  between                           neb  nebula, nebulosity
B    bright                            P w  paired with
b    brighter                          p    pretty (before F,B,L or S)
C    compressed                        p    preceding
c    considerably                      P    poor
Cl   cluster                           R    round
D    double                            Ri   rich
def  defined                           r    not well resolved, mottled
deg  degrees                           rr   partially resolved
diam diameter                          rrr  well resolved
dif  diffuse                           S    small
E    elongated                         s    suddenly
e    extremely                         s    south
er   easily resolved                   sc   scattered
F    faint                             susp suspected
f    following                         st   star or stellar
g    gradually                         v    very
iF   irregular figure                  var  variable
inv  involved                          nf   north following
irr  irregular                         np   north preceding
L    large                             sf   south following
l    little                            sp   south preceding
mag  magnitude                         11m  11th magnitude
M    middle                            8... 8th magnitude and fainter
m    much                              9...13  9th to 13th magnitude

If you have never dealt with the NGC abbreviations before, perhaps
a few examples will help.

NGC#     Description            Decoded descriptions

214   pF, pS, lE, gvlbM   pretty faint, pretty small, little elongated
                          gradually very little brighter in the middle

708   vF, vS, R           very faint, very small, round

891   B, vL, vmE          bright, very large, very much elongated

7009  !, vB, S            remarkable object, very bright, small

7089  !! B, vL, mbM       extremely remarkable object, bright, very
      rrr, stars mags     large, much brighter middle, resolved,
      13.....             stars 13th magnitude and dimmer

2099  !  B, vRi, mC       remarkable object, bright, very rich,
                          much compressed

6643  pB,pL,E50,2 st p    pretty bright, pretty large,
                          elongated in position angle 50 degrees,
                          two stars preceding



HINTS ON USING THE SAC DATABASE

The problem which gave us the most trouble is choosing what to put into the
DNAME1 and DNAME2 columns.  We tried to set up a hierarcy that would introduce
some consistency in the data.  Here is some general info on how to navigate
around the database.

1)  If there is an NGC or IC number, that is in the DNAME1 column.

2)  The Messier number is in the DNAME2 column.

Now the fun starts.

3)  If it is a non-NGC object and is a planetary nebula, then it has a
PK number with any other designation in the DNAME2 column.

4)  If it is a non-NGC object and is a Bright Nebula then it probably has a
Sharpless (Sh) or Cederblad (Ced) number in the DNAME1 column and the DNAME2
column for cross references.

5)  If it is a non-NGC object and is a Galaxy then it probably has a
UGC (Uppsala Galaxy Catalog) number.  Some have a proper name and the
UGC or other reference in the DNAME2 column.

6)  All Quasars start with a 3C designation for the 3rd Cambridge Catalog.

7)  All Galaxy Clusters start with an Abell designation.

8)  Open clusters that are non-NGC objects have several common and lots of
uncommon designations.  Many are Collinder (Cr), Stock, Melotte (Mel) or
Trumpler (Tr) objects.

9)  Dark Nebulae have had several designation systems over the years.
Barnard (B) numbers are used first and are cross referenced to Lynds (LDN)
numbers.

Obviously, if you do find the object you are looking to find, try both the
DNAME1 and DNAME2 columns before giving up.  If you know the constellation,
sort by constellation and just look in that area.  This a problem if the
constellation is Virgo, Ursa Major or Cygnus.




                        CONTRIBUTORS

A. J. Crayon and Dan Ward did error correction and wrote the
install and observing list programs included with this disk set.
SACREP is a simple, easy to use database manager, and is thereby
limited in it's flexibility - but it seems to suit the needs of a
large percentage of the earlier SAC database users.
SACREP and documentation are included in the SAC60F.ZIP file.

Bill Anderson provided the precessed coordinates for many objects.
He used the program from Astronomy magazine, Aug. 84, pp 74-77.

Jeffrey Weintraub entered much of the data from Sky Catalog Vol 2.

Brian Skiff provided us with error checking data and taught us how
to use a variety of sources to do this project with as few errors
as possible.

Jim Lucyk provided a wealth of data on objects included on the
Uranometria 2000.0 charts and his cross reference index is the
basis of much of the info on references to books and magazines.

Alister Ling provided information on planetary nebulae and did
error checking.

Gene Lucas provided data for error checking.

Steve Stanford wrote the program which determined the Tirion and
U2000 chart numbers.

Dr. Harold Corwin was nice enough to allow us to use his list of
errors in the NGC.  Otherwise, we would have carried forth several
errors that have not been corrected for 100 years.

Dr. Jack Marling and Steve Gottlieb provided much data on
planetary nebulae from a wide variety of professional sources.

Steve Coe wrote the file you are reading and checked and entered
data for the Non NGC objects.

Paul Maxson checked and entered data for NGC 1 to 1000.

Alan Gore checked and entered data for NGC 1001 to 2000.

Dean Corn checked and entered data for NGC 2001 to 3000.

Bob Dahl checked and entered data for NGC 3001 to 4000.

Paul Dickson checked and entered data for NGC 4001 to 5000.

Mike Willmoth, Jean Goddin and Mike Janes checked and entered data
for NGC 5001 to 6000.

Jim Knott checked and entered data for NGC 6001 to 7000.

John and Tom McGrath checked and entered data for NGC 7001 to 7840.


                         FINAL NOTES

We realize that such an undertaking could not possibly be
completed without some errors or typos creeping into the database.
We would like you to get in contact with us if you find any of
three types of problems. One, just plain errors, either typos or
problems we did not know about. Two, places in the database where
we have no data in that field and you know what should go there.
Three, ideas on how better to arrange the data or programs you
have written to manipulate the data.  It is hoped that over a
period of time we can hunt down mistakes and make the database as
error free as possible.  Thank you for any help you can render in
attaining that goal.


Steve Coe
6652 W. Mescal St.
Glendale, Az.  85302
Ph. (602) 878-1873

A. J. Crayon
13819 N. 37th Ave.
Phoenix, Az.  85023
Ph. (602) 938-3277

End SAC documentation:
