Real Sky - Palomar Observatory Astronomy Survey 9 CD-ROMs

Description: Real Sky - Palomar Observatory Astronomy Sky Survey 9 CD-ROMs - Open Box, never used I won this as an observatory's door prize but never used it. This is meant to install the viewing program software and all images are then viewed from the CD-ROMs -- this is NOT a collection of .jpg images on CD-ROMs. This software is designed to run on Win 3.1, Win95, WinNT and Mac OS 7.0 or above. Please see all other information below from the included manual. **FREE SHIPPING**!! Thanks for looking and please ask any questions prior to purchasing! The Palomar Observatory Sky Survey The National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), which was the first modern project to construct a photographic atlas of the sky, was made with the 48-inch Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain. Completed in 1958, this nine year effort produced thousands of 14-inch square glass plates, each encompassing a 6.4 degree square area, with about 0.4 degree overlap areas. Photographed in two wavelength ranges, red and blue, nebulae and stars down to about magnitude 20 were recorded. Copy sets printed on paper (and less frequently on glass) became a basic research tool for astronomers everywhere. These provided an enormous amount of information for a wide range of research: galaxy counts, supernova and variable star searches, identifications of optical counterparts to radio and x-ray sources, multi-object spectroscopy, and preparation of finder charts. Additional details on the POSS may be found in the article by Minkowski and Abell in Basic Astronomical Data (ed. K. Aa. Strand, University of Chicago Press, 1963). The Digitized Sky Survey The Space Telescope Science Institute (ST Scl) digitized this photographic survey as part of an eight year effort to provide image and catalog data required to support the operations of the Hubble Space Telescope. (For reference, the other northern survey digitized in this program-the circa 1983 epoch Palomar Quick V— is the basis for the Guide Star Catalog.) Then, with funding from NASA Headquarters, the Institute began compressing the digitized images in June 1992. Institute engineers and astronomers modified a pair of microdensitometers to produce highly accurate scans rapidly. It took five years to scan the plates and convert them into a database. The digitized scans represent a huge quantity of data, with each plate scan measuring 14,000 x 14,000 15-bit pixels. To make the digitized sky survey more accessible to researchers, Institute astronomers identified and extensively tested an algorithm to compress the data by a ratio of 10:1 without significantly degrading the accuracy of stellar positions and brightnesses. The compression technique is based on the H-transform (an adaptive wavelet transform) to maximize compression and minimize information loss. Released in 1994, the 10x Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) on 102 CD-ROMs offers deep-sky images of the entire sky. This important tool provides a powerful resource for doing a wide range of research and affords astronomers rapid access to images of the sky in a format that is readily manipulated by modern research software. RealSky CD The eight CD-ROMs of RealSky CD contain the 1949-58 epoch Palomar Observatory Sky Survey E band (red plates), compressed by a factor of 100. For the first time, the public has access to actual deep-sky survey plates used by research astronomers. The unprecedented level of detail, especially of extended images like galaxies, clusters, and nebulae, is not available with any other astronomical software package. Uncompressed, current storage technology would require over 800 CD-ROMs to accommodate this enormous data storehouse; but the 100x compression makes distribution of this essential resource both feasible and affordable. The 100x compressed data provides a basically faithful reproduction of the original data, but the critical user is advised of the following caveats: (1) At extreme contrast enhancements, the sky background takes on a patchy or tiled appearance; this is due to the discretization of sky noise required by this high degree of compression. In crowded fields both this effect and a tendency to blend close pairs near the sky limit are exacerbated. (2) Photometrically, the flux limit is about 1 magnitude brighter than the limit of the original plates and the photometric accuracy may be degraded by up to 15% for the brighter objects. (3) Astrometrically, the positions are consistent with the original material to within 0.8" Using RealSkyView for Mac and Windows™ The universe has suddenly grown smaller. The thousands of glass plates from the original Palomar Observatory Sky Survey have been digitized and compressed by a factor of 100x to fit on the 8 CD-ROMs of RealSky CD. This high-compression version covers the sky to about 15° below the Celestial Equator. The enclosed RealSky View software on disc 9 lets you view and manipulate images from this Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) (both the high-compression version of RealSky CD and the low-compression version of the original 102 CD-ROM Digitized Sky Survey). This booklet explains how to install and use it. Features + Direct coordinate entry— select any part of the sky to view (above - 15° declination) + Enter coordinates in degrees/minutes/seconds, or decimal hours/ degrees + Lists of common targets for each of the eight discs, plus a complete NGC list (above - 15º) + Create custom target lists in any text editor + Variable field width up to 60 arc-minutes (1°) + Flexible scrolling and zooming, including autosizing (proportional and non-proportional) + Wide range of image-manipulation functions + Direct readout of image's sky coordinates and pixel location + "Live" zoom-enlarge any section of the screen + Variable equinox entry-select 1950.0, 2000.0, or any date + Calculate centroidal coordinates of stars + Astrometry information in FITS header + Save images in BMP or FITS format + Long file names in Windows 95 or NT + Online Help Installation Windows™/Macintosh Operation This manual assumes you know how to use the Windows or Macintosh operating system—how to start and exit programs, point-and-click with the mouse, select folders, open and close files, and so on. Please refer to the system manuals if you are not familiar with these procedures. Windows 95 and the Macintosh OS use the term "folder." For simplicity, this manual uses that term, rather than "directory." All screen displays are for Windows 95. The Windows 3.1x and Macintosh displays are similar. Requirements Your computer should meet the following minimum requirements: + Windows 3.1x 8 MB RAM; CD-ROM drive; 486/33 or faster + Windows 95 or NT 8 MB RAM; CD-ROM drive; 486/66 or faster; math co-processor + Macintosh 8 MB RAM; Power Mac; CD-ROM drive; System 7.0 or later Windows Installation Insert the RealSky View CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. Under Windows 3.1x or NT, go to the Program Manager. Select the Run command from the File menu. Under Windows 95, select Start/Run. Type d: setup (where d: is the drive letter of the CD-ROM). Press ENTER. Follow the instructions. To run RealSky View, double-click on its icon

Price: 58 USD

Location: Grove City, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2025-01-05T08:45:45.000Z

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