space faq data sources archive name space data last modified date online and other sources of images data etc introduction a wide variety of images data catalogs information releases and other material dealing with space and astronomy may be found on the net a few sites offer direct dialup access or remote login access while the remainder support some form of file transfer many sites are listed as providing anonymous ftp this refers to the file transfer protocol on the internet sites not connected to the internet cannot use ftp directly but there are a few automated ftp servers which operates via email send mail containing only the word help to ftpmail decwrl dec com or bitftp pucc princeton edu and the servers will send you instructions on how to make requests the sources with the broadest selection of material are the nasa ames space archive and the national space science data center don t even ask for images to be posted to the net the data volume is huge and nobody wants to spend the time on it viewing images the possible combinations of image formats and machines is forebodingly large and i won t attempt to cover common formats gif etc here to read pds and vicar and many other formats on unix systems running x use xv available by anonymous ftp from export lcs mit edu in contrib xv tar z and the other standard x ftp sites the faq for the usenet group alt binaries pictures discusses image formats and how to get image viewing software a copy of this document is available by anonymous ftp from the usenet faq archives at pit manager mit edu in directory pub usenet alt binaries pictures online archives nasa ames extensive archives are maintained at nasa ames and are available via anonymous ftp or an email server these archives include many images and a wide variety of documents including this faq list nasa press releases shuttle launch advisories and mission status reports please note that these are not maintained on an official basis ftp users should connect to ames arc nasa gov and look in pub space pub space index contains a listing of files available in the archive the index is about k by itself to access the archives by email send a letter to archive server ames arc nasa gov or ames archive server in the subject of your letter or in the body use commands like send space index send space shuttle ss the capitalization of the subdirectory names is important all are in caps only text files are handled by the email server at present use one of the ftp email servers described in the introduction to this section for images or programs the magellan venus and voyager jupiter saturn and uranus cd rom image disks have been put online in the cdrom and cdrom directories the disks will be rotated on a weekly basis thousands of images are available in these collections the gif directory contains images in gif format the vicar directory contains magellan images in vicar format these are also available in the gif directory a pc program capable of displaying these files is found in the imdisp directory see the item viewing images below the nasa media guide describes the various nasa centers and how to contact their public affairs officers this may be useful when pursuing specific information it s in misc media guide any problems with the archive server should be reported to peter yee yee ames arc nasa gov nasa astrophysics data system the ads is a distributed data retrieval system which is easy to use and provides uniform access to ground based and space based astronomy data from nasa data centers across the country it currently has over data catalogs of radio infrared optical uv and x ray data which can be queried by position or any other parameter in the catalog the ads also provides tools to manipulate and plot tabular results in addition ads has a beta version of an abstracts service which allows users to query over abstracts of astronomy papers since by authors keywords title words or abstract text words ads use requires direct internet access for more info and to sign up to become a user email ads cuads coloradu edu the user s guide and quickstart guide are available by anonymous ftp to sao ftp harvard edu in directory pub ads ads user guide postscript files contact carolyn stern grant stern cfa harvard edu nasa jet propulsion lab mission information and images pubinfo jpl nasa gov is an anonymous ftp site operated by the jpl public information office containing news releases status reports fact sheets images and other data on jpl missions it may also be reached by modem at no parity data bits stop bit contact newsdesk jplpost jpl nasa gov or phone nasa langley technical reports techreports larc nasa gov is an anonymous ftp site offering technical reports to get started cd to directory pub techreports larc and retrieve files readme and abstracts most files are compressed postscript the reports are also in a wais database with the following description source version ip name techreports larc nasa gov tcp port database name nasa larc abs cost cost unit free maintainer m l nelson larc nasa gov description nasa langley research center technical reports contact tr admin techreports larc nasa gov nasa spacelink spacelink is an online service located at marshall space flight center in huntsville alabama the system is specifically designed for teachers the data base is arranged to provide easy access to current and historical information on nasa aeronautics space research and technology transfer information also included are suggested classroom activities that incorporate information on nasa projects to teach a number of scientific principles unlike bulletin board systems nasa spacelink does not provide for interaction between callers however it does allow teachers and other callers to leave questions and comments for nasa which may be answered by regular mail messages are answered electronically even to acknowledge requests which will be fulfilled by mail messages are generally handled the next working day except during missions when turnaround times increase the mail system is closed loop between the user and nasa spacelink also offers downloadable shareware and public domain programs useful for science educators as well as space graphics and gif images from nasa s planetary probes and the hubble telescope you can dial in at v baud bits no parity stop bit or telnet to spacelink msfc nasa gov also known as xsl msfc nasa gov if you re on the internet anonymous ftp capability password guest is now available most of this information is also available from the ames server in directory spacelink national space science data center nssdc the national space science data center is the official clearinghouse for nasa data the data catalog not the data itself is available online internet users can telnet to nssdca gsfc nasa gov and log in as nodis no password you can also get the catalog by sending email to request nssdc gsfc nasa gov you can also dial in at or baud bits no parity one stop at the enter number prompt enter md and carriage return when the system responds call complete enter a few more carriage returns to get the username and log in as nodis no password the system is menu driven topics available as of are master directory nasa global change personnel information management system nimbus grid toms data interplanetary medium data omni request data and or information from nssdc geophysical models canopus newsletter international ultraviolet explorer data request czcs browse and order utility astronomical data center adc step bulletin board service standards and technology information system planetary science magellan project information other online data services at nssdc cd roms available at nssdc for users with internet access datasets are made available via anonymous ftp once you select the desired datasets from the online catalog for other users data may be ordered on cd rom and in other formats among the many types of data available are voyager magellan and other planetary images earth observation data and star catalogs viewers for macintosh and ibm systems are also available as an example of the cost an cd set of voyager images is data may ordered online by email or by physical mail the postal address is national space science data center request coordination office goddard space flight center code greenbelt md telephone email address request nssdca gsfc nasa gov space telescope science institute electronic information service stsci edu has a large amount of information about the hubble space telescope available by anonymous ftp such as status reports and newsletters in addition to material oriented towards hst observers and proposers get the top level readme file to begin with contact pete reppert reppert stsci edu or chris o dea odea stsci edu starcat the space telescope european coordination facility at eso garching provides on line access to a huge astronomical database featuring observation log files of several satellites telescopes iue iras hst ntt spectra and images iue hst most of the astronomical catalogues sao hr ngc ppm iras veron gsc and many others more than in a very convenient way give center radius kind of objects and you get the corresponding files log on as starcat no password on node stesis hq eso org or on stesis decnet the files created can be retreived by ftp contact benoit pirenne bpirenne eso org phone at st ecf astronomical databases the full sao stellar database is not available online probably due to the mb size it may be ordered on magnetic tape from the nssdc a subset containing position and magnitude only is available by ftp see astronomy programs below nic funet fi has a large collection of astronomical programs for many types of computers databases of stars and deep sky objects and general astronomy information in directory pub astro this site is mainly for european users but overseas connections are possible the ames archives contain a database of galaxies including name ra declination magnitude and radial velocity in misc galaxy dat supplied by wayne hayes wayne csri utoronto ca iris ucis dal ca has a number of gifs from voyager hubble and other sources available by anonymous ftp in pub gif most of this data is also in space gif on the ames server please restrict access to pm am atlantic time pomona claremont edu has the yale bright star catalog for anonymous ftp in directory yale bsc contact james dishaw jdishaw hmcvax claremont edu the hubble guide star catalog is available on cd rom for the mac and pc for us catalog st astronomical society of the pacific ashton ave san francisco ca phone am pm pacific time fax for german and possibly other european readers jost jahn has a service to distribute astronomical data to interested amateurs at cost about catalogs are available for dm disk several floppy disk formats are available because of the expense of receiving email on his system he asks that you contact him by physical mail jost jahn neustaedter strasse w bodenteich germany phone frg astronomy programs various astronomy related programs and databases posted to the net in the past are archived for anonymous ftp at multiple sites including ftp uu net also see the astro ftp list posted to sci astro monthly which is more complete than this list astonomical space related sources of interest in comp sources unix volume phoon moon phase and date routines volume starchart starchart program yale star data volume moontool shows moon phase picture on suns volume sao reduced sao catalog astonomical space related sources of interest in comp sources misc volume moon another moon phase program volume starchart starchart program version volume n emo orbit orbit track earth satellites volume starchart starchart program update to version volume jupmoons plotter for jupiter s major moons in perl volume lunisolar lunisolar not sure what this does volume ephem astronomical ephemeris v volume n emo orbit patch to orbit volume planet planet generation simulator elwood downey e downey tasha cca cr rockwell com the author of ephem has offered to mail copies to people who can t find it on one of the archives xsat an x window system based satellite tracking program is available by anonymous ftp from export lcs mit edu in contrib xsat tar z contact dave curry davy ecn purdue edu for more information xsky a computerized sky atlas for the x window system is available for anonymous ftp on arizona edu in the directory software unix xsky as xsky tarz contact terry r friedrichsen terry venus sunquest com for more information the variable stars analysis software archive is available via anonymous ftp from kauri vuw ac nz in directory pub astrophys this is intended for specialists in this field and they would appreciate people from outside new zealand confining their ftp access to the astrophys directory as they pay a significant amount for internet access contents are relatively sparse at present due to the youth of the archive contributions are encouraged contact the archive administrator timothy banks bankst kauri vuw ac nz for more information the idl astronomy users library is available by anonymous ftp from idlastro gsfc nasa gov this is a central repository for general purpose astronomy procedures written in idl a commercial image processing plotting and programming language contact wayne landsman landsman stars gsfc nasa gov for more information orbital element sets the most recent orbital elements from the nasa prediction bulletins are carried on the celestial bbs documentation and tracking software are also available on this system the celestial bbs may be accessed hours day at or baud using data bits stop bit no parity orbital element sets are available via anonymous ftp from the following sites archive afit af mil nasa tvro shuttle directory pub space ftp funet fi nasa tvro molczan celbbs directory pub astro pc satel shuttle kilroy jpl nasa gov nasa molczan directory pub space space digest archives copies of back issues of space digest are archived on listserv uga bitnet send mail containing the message index space to get an index of files send it the message get filename filetype to get a particular file landsat and nasa photos you can get black and white m prints negatives or positives for respectively for any landsat data more than years old from edc eros earth resources orbiting satellite data center call them at you get meter resolution from the mss scanner x kilometers on a picture x mm in size i think you have to select one band from green red near ir second near ir but i m not sure digitial data is also available at higher prices transparencies of all nasa photos available to the public can be borrowed from the nasa photo archive you can have copies or prints made nasa audio visual facility north rengstorff ave mountain view ca planetary maps the usgs address for maps of the planets is u s geological survey distribution branch box federal center bldg denver co maps cost to per sheet a few come in sets of or sheets the best global maps of mars based on viking images are scale in sheets these maps are i sheets only relief albedo names i i sheets relief names i sheets relief topographic contours i a b c sheets geology there are many other maps as well sheets at scale in relief albedo geology photomosaic forms not all sheets available in all formats sheets at scale as photomosaics of the whole planet about sheets of interesting sites at scale in photomosaic format and lots of special sheets then there are maps of mercury venus the moon the four galilean satellites six moons of saturn and five of uranus phil stooke stooke vaxr sscl uwo ca the author of this item has offered to respond to email requests for information on any topic relating to lunar and planetary maps cometary orbit data the central bureau for astronomical telegrams and the minor planet center announce the sixth edition of the catalogue of cometary orbits in iau circular the catalogue contains entries which represent all known comets through november and is pages long non subscribers to the circulars may purchase the catalogue for while the cost to subscribers is the basic catalogue in ascii along with a program to extract specific orbits and calculate ephemerides is available on ms dos inch s d diskette at a cost of the program requires an math coprocessor the catalogue alone is also available by e mail for or on magnetic tape for except for the printed version of the catalogue the various magnetic media or e mail forms of the catalogue do not specifically meantion non subscribers it is possible that these forms of the catalogue may not be available to non subscribers or that their prices may be more expensive than those given mail requests for specific information and orders to central bureau for astronomical telegrams smithsonian astrophysical observatory cambridge ma usa next faq performing calculations and interpreting data formats
