MAST
Catalogs and Surveys Group
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Quick Fact Sheet on GSC versions

Note - always use the most recent version of GSC 2 (currently 2.3.2) for HST target coordinates!

 
GSC 1.1
GSC 2.3.2
Total Objects
18,819,291
945,592,683
Mean epoch of catalog positions
1981.8
1992.5
Magnitude limit
15.5
20.5 F, 21.5 J, 19 N
Complete to magnitude limit
No
Yes*
Bandpass: North
V
F, J, N, O, E, V
Bandpass: South
J**
F, J**, N, O***, E***
Digitization resolution
1.7 arcsec
1 arcsec****
Source for bright stars
Hipparchos Input Catalog
Tycho 2
Astrometry:
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Reference frame
FK4
ICRF

Reference catalogs

AGK3, SAO: 10^2 calibrators per plate

ACT, Tycho2: 10^3 calibrators per plate

Projection

Gnomonic
Equidistant

Systematic error correction

None
mask, refraction precorrection
Errors: typical
0.5"
0.3"
Errors:
worst case
1.2"
near plate edges
0.35" - 0.75"
near plate edges for mag > 16
Photometry:
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Reference catalogs

GSPC1: 6 calibrators per plate
GSPC2: 10^2 calibrators per plate
Errors
0.5 mag
0.2 - 0.25 mag

* Except for the most difficult areas such as around bright stars, globular clusters, etc
** 93 short exposure V plates replace the deep J plates in the galactic plane
*** POSS-I southern extension down to -24degrees

**** Approximately half the southern J plates are included at the original 1.7" resolution

 

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Last Modified: 2016-06-20 14:42