Archive-name: space/data Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:07 $  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 2.11, available by anonymous FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu     (18.24.0.12) in contrib/xv-2.11.tar.Z and the other standard X11 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 (18.72.1.58), 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 (128.102.18.3) and look in     pub/SPACE. pub/SPACE/Index contains a listing of files available in the     archive (the index is about 200K 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/ss01.23.91.      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 CDROM2 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 140     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 125,000 abstracts of astronomy papers since 1975 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 (128.149.6.2) 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 (818)-354-1333 (no parity, 8 data bits, 1     stop bit).      Contact newsdesk@jplpost.jpl.nasa.gov or phone (818)-354-7170.       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/92 and     retrieve files README and abstracts.92. Most files are compressed     PostScript. The reports are also in a WAIS database with the following     description:  	(:source 	 :version 3 	 :ip-name "techreports.larc.nasa.gov" 	 :tcp-port 210 	 :database-name "nasa-larc-abs" 	 :cost 0.00 	 :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 (205)-895-0028 (300/1200/2400/9600(V.32) baud, 8     bits, no parity, 1 stop bit), or telnet to spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov     (128.158.13.250, 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 (128.183.36.23) 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 (301)-286-9000 (300, 1200, or 2400 baud, 8 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 3/93 are:  	1   -	Master Directory - NASA & Global Change 	2   -	Personnel Information Management System 	3   -	Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS Data 	4   -	Interplanetary Medium Data (OMNI) 	5   -	Request data and/or information from NSSDC 	6   -	Geophysical Models 	7   -	CANOPUS Newsletter 	8   -	International Ultraviolet Explorer Data Request 	9   -	CZCS Browse and Order Utility 	10  -	Astronomical Data Center (ADC) 	11  -	STEP Bulletin Board Service 	12  -	Standards and Technology Information System 	13  -	Planetary Science & Magellan Project Information 	14  -	Other Online Data Services at NSSDC 	15  -	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 8 CD set of Voyager images is $75. 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 633 	Greenbelt, MD  20771  	Telephone: (301) 286-6695  	Email address:	 request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov       SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE      stsci.edu (130.167.1.2) 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 50) 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     (134.171.8.100) or on STESIS (DECnet). The files created can be     retreived by FTP. Contact: Benoit Pirenne, bpirenne@eso.org (phone +49     89 320 06 433) at ST-ECF       ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES      The full SAO stellar database is *NOT* available online, probably due to     the 40 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 (128.214.6.100) 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 8,436 galaxies including name,     RA, declination, magnitude, and radial velocity in MISC/galaxy.dat.     Supplied by Wayne Hayes (wayne@csri.utoronto.ca).      iris1.ucis.dal.ca (129.173.18.107) 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 5pm - 8am 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 $49.95 US (catalog # ST101).  	Astronomical Society of the Pacific 	390 Ashton Ave. 	San Francisco, CA 94112 	Phone: (415) 337-2624 9 AM - 3 PM Pacific Time 	FAX: (415) 337-5205      For German (and possibly other European) readers, Jost Jahn has a     service to distribute astronomical data to interested amateurs at cost.     About 30-40 catalogs are available for DM 6..8/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 11 	W-3123 Bodenteich 	GERMANY 	Phone: FRG-5824-3197       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 (137.39.1.9). 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 8:	    phoon	moon phase and date routines     Volume 12,13:   starchart	starchart program & Yale Star data     Volume 15:	    moontool	shows moon phase picture on Suns     Volume 16:	    sao		reduced SAO catalog      Astonomical/Space-related sources of interest in comp.sources.misc:      Volume  8:	    moon	another moon phase program     Volume 11:	    starchart	starchart program, version 3.2     Volume 11:	    n3emo-orbit orbit: track earth satellites     Volume 12:	    starchart2	starchart program, update to version 3.2.1     Volume 13:	    jupmoons	plotter for Jupiter's major moons [in perl]     Volume 13:	    lunisolar	lunisolar (not sure what this does)     Volume 14:	    ephem-4.21	astronomical ephemeris, v4.21     Volume 14:	    n3emo-orbit patch to orbit 3.7     Volume 18:	    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 (18.24.0.12) in     contrib/xsat1.0.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 (130.195.11.3) 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 (128.183.57.82). 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, (513)-427-0674. Documentation and tracking     software are also available on this system. The Celestial BBS may be     accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data bits, 1     stop bit, no parity.      Orbital element sets are available via anonymous FTP from the     following sites:      archive.afit.af.mil (129.92.1.66)	    NASA,TVRO,Shuttle     directory: /pub/space      ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)	    NASA,TVRO,Molczan,CelBBS,     directory: /pub/astro/pc/satel	    Shuttle (*)      kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov (128.149.1.165)     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 1:1M prints, negatives, or positives for     $10, $18, $12 respectively for any Landsat data more than 2 years old     from EDC, (Eros (Earth Resources Orbiting Satellite) Data Center). Call     them at (605)-594-6511. You get 80 meter resolution from the MSS     scanner, 135x180 kilometers on a picture 135x180 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 	 918 North Rengstorff Ave 	 Mountain View, CA  94043 	 (415)-604-6270   PLANETARY MAPS      The USGS address for maps of the planets is:      U.S. Geological Survey,     Distribution Branch,     Box 25286, Federal Center, Bldg. 41     Denver, CO 80225      Maps cost $2.40 to $3.10 per sheet (a few come in sets of 2 or 3 sheets).      The best global maps of Mars based on Viking images are 1:15,000,000     scale in 3 sheets. These maps are:      I-1535 (2 sheets only) - relief, albedo, names     I-1535     I-1618 (3 sheets) - relief, names     I-2030 (3 sheets) - relief, topographic contours     I-1802-A,B,C (3 sheets) - geology      There are many other maps as well: 30 sheets at 1:5,000,000 scale in     relief, albedo, geology, photomosaic forms (not all 30 sheets available     in all formats); 140 sheets at 1:2,000,000 scale as photomosaics of the     whole planet, about 100 sheets of interesting sites at 1:500,000 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 4935. The catalogue contains 1292 entries which represent     all known comets through November 1989 and is 96 pages long.     Non-subscribers to the Circulars may purchase the catalogue for $15.00     while the cost to subscribers is $7.50. The basic catalogue in ASCII     along with a program to extract specific orbits and calculate     ephemerides is available on MS-DOS 5.25-inch 2S2D diskette at a cost of     $75.00 (the program requires an 8087 math coprocessor). The catalogue     alone is also available by e-mail for $37.50 or on magnetic tape for     $300.00.      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 02138, USA