VI/49 Constellation Boundary Data (Davenhall+ 1989) ================================================================================ Catalogue of Constellation Boundary Data Davenhall A.C., Leggett S.K. ================================================================================ ADC_Keywords: Constellations Description: A computer readable catalog of constellation boundary data is presented in a form suitable for the construction of star charts and atlases. Two data files are available, one for equator and equinox 1875 and the other for equator and equinox 2000. In addition to the data files a documentation file is available that includes a table listing the abbreviations used for the constellations as well as a more detailed discussion of the preparation of the catalog. The present catalog of constellation boundary data is complementary to that of Roman (1987). Roman's catalog should be used to determine in which constellation an object lies in. The present catalog is more suited to the construction of star charts and atlases. Both catalogs were based on Delporte (1930). File Summary: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FileName Lrecl Records Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ReadMe 80 . This file constell.txt 84 260 Plain text document describing the original files constell.tex 86 299 LaTeX document describing the original files adc.sty 78 68 adc style file bound_18.dat 25 1565 Boundaries for B1875 (original file) bound_20.dat 29 13039 Boundaries for J2000 constbnd.dat 28 1651 *Boundaries for B1875 with adjacent constellations constbnd.txt 75 174 *Detailed explanations of file "constbnd.dat" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note on constbnd.dat, constbnd.txt: prepared in 2007 by Bill J. Gray (Project Pluto, Bowdoinham Maine, USA). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See also: VI/42 : Identification of a Constellation From Position (Roman 1987) http://www.iau.org/public/constellations/ : IAU page about constellations (International Astronomical Union) Byte-by-byte Description of file: bound_18.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 8 F8.5 h RAhr Right ascension in decimal hours (B1875) 10- 18 F9.5 deg DEdeg Declination in degrees (1875) 20- 23 A4 --- cst Constellation abbreviation 25 A1 --- type [O] Type of point (O = original) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byte-by-byte Description of file: bound_20.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 10 F10.7 h RAhr Right ascension in decimal hours (J2000) 12- 22 F11.7 deg DEdeg Declination in degrees (J2000) 24- 27 A4 --- cst Constellation abbreviation 29 A1 --- type [OI] Type of point (Original or Interpolated) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byte-by-byte Description of file: constbnd.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 8 F8.5 h RAhr Right ascension in decimal hours (B1875) 10- 18 F9.5 deg DEdeg Declination in degrees (1875) 20- 23 A4 --- cst Constellation abbreviation (1) 25- 28 A4 --- adj Adjacent constellation abbreviation (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note (1): The origin point of a constellation has a blank "adj" name, and the successive boundary lines follow in a counter-clockwise order. See the detailed explanations in the "constbnd.txt" file. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements: The authors of the catalog are grateful to Mr. D.A. Pickup for useful discussions about the format of Delporte's lists and the effect of precession on the shape of the constellation boundaries and to Dr. W.H. Warren Jr. for several useful suggestions. This work was carried out as part of a contract with the Edinburgh publishers John Bartholomew and Son Ltd. to provide data for a revised edition of `Norton's Star Atlas'. References: Delporte, E. 1930, Delimitation Scientifique des Constellations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Roman, N.G. 1987, Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 99, pp695-699. History: * 27-May-1997: documentation of the catalog by N.G. Roman (ADC) * 07-Apr-2009: one of the boundaries for Oph fixed. Files "constbnd.dat" and "constbnd.txt", prepared by Bill J. Gray, were added. * 14-Jun-2013: Removed the spurious point in Cepheus at (1h+88deg) * 22-Aug-2019: J2000 boundaries for UMI and OCT fixed (for OCT, previously 758 points and now 376 points) ================================================================================ (End) N. G. Roman [SSDOO/ADC] 27-May-1997