The Online system assumes that you are using a VT100- compatible terminal, and emits ANSI escape sequences to clear the screen. Each of these options is designed to create a list of catalogs meeting the given criteria. Catalogs are then selected from the list and information such as the full title and reference, file format description, comments, and the current distribution status is displayed. The ADC is currently working on an improved version of the Online Information Service, and the availability of that version will be announced in a future issue of this newsletter. The International Astronomical Union has lent valuable support in the form of a grant to defray costs of distributing the data to small institutions in developing countries that might otherwise have difficulty in acquiring and using such large volumes of data.
Software is available from the ADC for browsing through the FITS-formatted datasets.
The FITS Table Browser can read standard FITS tables and data stored as flat files with separate FITS table extension headers, select fields to display by name, filter records by boolean comparisons of field values, and extract selected fields into text files. In preparation for the CD-ROM, all catalogs were inspected and certain fields, such as object names and coordinates, have been reformatted for more homogeneity between datasets. For instance, all Durchmusterung catalog identifiers have been placed in a single uniform format. That office's contact information is listed at the end of this edition. Requests are submitted via electronic mail, and the data may be retrieved via anonymous FTP or default NSI-DECnet copy.