This page contains detailed, historic reference information about the DASCH data products. Unfortunately it’s pretty messy, and some sections are out of date. We aim to migrate this information into a series of guides associated with each data release.

See also the summary of current, known data issues. If you get stuck trying to decipher anything here, try inquiring on the DASCH Astrophysics email list.

Database Variables

Table of Variables Used in the Photometry Database

variableName	datatype	unit	variableDescription
A2FLAGS	int		Additional photometry warning flags
adjacentburstdip	int	ct	A measure of the number of adjacent nburst3/4 and ndip3/4 points in a lightcurve
adjacentburstdip2	int	ct	A measure of the number of >5 adjacent nburst3/4 and ndip3/4 points in a lightcurve
adjacentburstdip3	int	ct	A measure of the number of >7 adjacent points 2-sigma above or below the median value of a lightcurve
AFLAGS	int		Photometry warning flags
AFLAGSBits	char		Listing of bits set in the photometry warning flags
AFLAGS_1	int		Photometry warning flags
AFLAGS_2	int		Photometry warning flags
aLength	double	pix	Image long semi-axis in pixels
aLength_1	double	pix	Image long semi-axis in pixels
aLength_2	double	pix	Image long semi-axis in pixels
alternateDate	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Alternate dark, flatfield, or linearity test for failed test
altitude	double	deg	Height of the object above the horizon in degrees
analysis_threshold	double		ratio of FLUX_MAX/THRESHOLD used to select best data for search_close
aperture	double	m	Telescope aperture in meters. Some series, notably mb, contain plates from serveral telescopes.
arraysize	int	ct	Length of a variable character string
aveADU	int	ct	Average ADU level for all of the tile
aveLengthRatio	double	pix	Average aLength/bLength SExtractor images in a candidate scratch chain
aveNeighborCt	double	ct	Average number of neighbering matched SExtractor images in a candidate scratch chain
aveTileSaturation	int	ct	Average number of saturated pixels per tile
B2FLAGS	int		Additional photometry processing flags
BACKGROUND	double	ct	Background at centroid position
BACKGROUND_1	double	ct	Background at centroid position
BACKGROUND_2	double	ct	Background at centroid position
background_ratio	double	ct	(Image filtered background background)/(filtered background RMS)
badMaskFlag	int		If 1, mask flatfield has noise issues; if 0 mask flatfield is o.k.; if -1 indeterminant file name
BFLAGS	int		Photometry processing flags
BFLAGSBits	char		Listing of bits set in the photometry processing flags
BFLAGS_1	int		Photometry processing flags
BFLAGS_2	int		Photometry processing flags
binning	int		Binning (1x1 or 16x16) of the mosaic used for WCS fitting
bin_count	int	ct	Number of images in a spatial bin.
bin_sum	double	ct	Normalized correlation probability
Blendedmag	double	mag	For case B and BD objects, the effective magnitude of all of the GSC2.3.2 objects within the blend.
Blendedmag_1	double	mag	For case B and BD objects, the effective magnitude of all of the GSC2.3.2 objects within the blend.
Blendedmag_2	double	mag	For case B and BD objects, the effective magnitude of all of the GSC2.3.2 objects within the blend.
bLength	double	pix	Image short semi-axis in pixels
bLength_1	double	pix	Image short semi-axis in pixels
bLength_2	double	pix	Image short semi-axis in pixels
bmag0	double	mag	edge of magnitude bin for magnitude-dependent calibration
bmagerr	double	mag	Johnson b magnitude error
border	int	pix	Crop border in pixels. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
bottomMargin	int	pix	Bottom margin in pixels
bound	enum	bit	Bound 'b' or unbound 'u' logbooks
bright_magcor_error	double	mag	magcal_local_error for brightest two magnitudes
bright_magcor_local	double	mag	magcor_local for brightest two magnitudes
bright_npoints_local	int	ct	npoints_local for brightest two magnitudes
BTmag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 Tycho2 blue magnitude
BTminusVTmag	double	mag	Tycho2 BT-VT color
calcTimeType	char		Calculated Date Type: (EST, LST, UT, SAST, ...)
calibrationDate	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Date of dark, flatfield, or linearity test
calibrationStatus	set		calibration test status: acquired, processed, failed, or deleted
calibrationType	set		calibration test type: dark, flat, or linearity
CAL_FLAG	int		Deprecated, now part of BFLAGS
cal_local	int	bit	If 1, local calibration was used; otherwise 0; becomes part of BFLAGS
cal_local_1	int	bit	If 1, local calibration was used; otherwise 0; becomes part of BFLAGS
cal_local_2	int	bit	If 1, local calibration was used; otherwise 0; becomes part of BFLAGS
capacity	int	byte9	Disk capacity in gigabytes
catalog	enum		Fitting catalog 'imwsky2k' or 'imwty2'. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
catalogDistDifferentMag	int	ct	Histogram of the distances of DASCH objects from nearby catalog objects differing by more than 2 magnitudes
catalogDistSimilarMag	int	ct	Histogram of the distances of DASCH objects from nearby catalog objects within 2 magnitudes
catalogDistTotal	int	ct	Histogram of the distances of DASCH objects from nearby catalog objects
catalogmag	double	mag	Magnitude from variable star or galaxy catalog. Miscellaneous filters.
catalogname	char		The GSC2.3.2 ID.
catalogNumber	int	ct	Calibration Catalog 0 = gsc2.3.2, 1 = KIC, 2 = APASS, 3 = experimental
catdec	double	deg	Catalog J2000 Declination in degrees
catra	double	deg	Catalog J2000 Right Ascension in degrees
cd1_1	double	deg/pix	Change in RA---TAN along X axis
cd1_2	double	deg/pix	Change in RA---TAN along Y axis
cd2_1	double	deg/pix	Change in DEC--TAN along X axis
cd2_2	double	deg/pix	Change in DEC--TAN anong Y axis
cdec	double	deg	Search center or plate center Declination in degrees
center	int	ct	Average position: center of the magnet for the plate washer
centerDrift	int	pix	Center drift of solution in pixels
centerSource	enum		Source of J2000 RA and DEC 'Catalog', 'Logbook','imWCS' or 'WCS'
chn	int		Kepler satellite CCD channel
class	int		GSC2.3.2 object type 0 = star 3 = non-star; also synonym for plateClass
classDescription	char		Description of plate class
class_1	int		GSC2.3.2 object type 0 = star 3 = non-star; also synonym for plateClass
class_2	int		GSC2.3.2 object type 0 = star 3 = non-star; also synonym for plateClass
clip_median_local	double	mag	Median DASCH magnitude of clipped dataset
clip_ngood	int	ct	Clipped number of points to compute the clipped median DASCH magnitude
clip_rms_local	double	mag	DASCH magnitude RMS of the clipped dataset
col	double		Kepler satellite CCD column
color	double	mag	magj-magf
colorflag	enum	no	Color correction flag 'linear', 'metropolis' or 'copy'
colorflag_1	enum	yes	Color correction flag 'linear', 'metropolis' or 'copy'
colorflag_2	enum	yes	Color correction flag 'linear', 'metropolis' or 'copy'
colorterm	double	no	Color correction term, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm1	double		Color correction term spatial bin 1, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm2	double		Color correction term spatial bin 2, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm3	double		Color correction term spatial bin 3, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm4	double		Color correction term spatial bin 4, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm5	double		Color correction term spatial bin 5, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm6	double		Color correction term spatial bin 6, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm7	double		Color correction term spatial bin 7, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm8	double		Color correction term spatial bin 8, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm9	double		Color correction term spatial bin 9, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm_1	double	yes	Color correction term, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
colorterm_2	double	yes	Color correction term, multiply by color and subtract to convert locally calibrated magnitudes to catalog color system
color_1	double	mag	magj-magf
color_2	double	mag	magj-magf
comments	char		Disk event comments
convolutionArea	int	pix2	Correlation area
convolutionRadius	int	pix	Correlation radius
correlationCount	int	ct	Number of images at the correlation offset from bright stars
correlationLimit	int	pix	WCS fitting correlation limit in pixels. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
count	int	ct	Count of good stars in the summary file or count of mosaics for dxmedian and dymedian
count2	int	ct	Count of images in a declination band above a particular galactic latitude
count3	int	ct	Count of images in a declination band
countBad	int	ct	Count of bad measurments (FILTER_AFLAG_LIMITING_MAG flag set)
countGood	int	ct	Count of good measurements (FILTER_AFLAG_LIMITING_MAG flag cear)
countmatch1	int	ct	number of matching dim objects for search_close
countmatch2	int	ct	number of matching dim object matches for search_close
countRMSFactor	int		cutoff signal to noise ratio for multiple exposure correlation
count_limit	double	ct	Minimum significant correlation bin count
count_med	double	ct	Median correlation bin count
count_rms	double	ct	RMS of the correlation bin count
coverage_bin_index	int		Coverage bin index (approximately 1 square degree of sky)
cra	double	deg	Search center or plate center Right Ascension in degrees
crpix1	double	pix	X-axis reference pixel
crpix2	double	pix	Y-axis reference pixel
crval1	double	deg	X-axis coordinate value
crval2	double	deg	Y-axis coordinate type
ctype1	char		X-axis coordinate type
ctype2	char		Y-axis coordinate type
cumulativeCount	double	ct	Normalized cumulative plate count
cumulativeCountBad	double	ct	Normalized cumulative bad observation (FILTER_AFLAG_LIMITING_MAG set)
cumulativeCountGood	double	ct	Normalized cumulative good observation (FILTER_AFLAG_LIMITING_MAG set)
currentVersion	int		Latest version of the photometry database
damonBlueRms	double	mag	RMS of good lightcurve magnitudes in dnb and dsb plates
Damon_factor	double	mag	difference in clipped DASCH median magnitude for the dnb and dsb series and all non-Damon plates
daschProcessor	int	ct	server on which the photometry pipeline has been executed for this plate.
datatype	enum		Variable datatype ('char', 'double', 'int', 'short', 'enum', 'set' or 'long')
date	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Geocentric exposure date (See ExposureDate for Date)
Date_1	double	JD	Geocentric Julian date of plate or Heliocentric Julian date of an image
Date_2	double	JD	Geocentric Julian date of plate or Heliocentric Julian date of an image
ddec	double	arcsec	(image - catalog) declination in arcseconds, catalog corrected for proper motion.
dDeclination	double	deg	Decimal J2000 declination in degrees
ddecMedian	double	arcsec	Median declination error in arcsec per smoothing bin (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
ddecMedian2	double	arcsec	Median declination error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
ddecRMS	double	arcsec	RMS declination error in arcsec per smoothing bin (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
ddecRMS2	double	arcsec	RMS declination error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
ddec_1	double	arcsec	(image - catalog) declination in arcseconds, catalog corrected for proper motion.
ddec_2	double	arcsec	(image - catalog) declination in arcseconds, catalog corrected for proper motion.
dec	double	deg	Declination in degrees
decimalPlaces	int		Variable field precision
declination	double	deg	Synonym for dec to avoid MySQL keyword
declinationString	char	deg	Synonym for dec to avoid MySQL keyword
decPixels	double	pix	Offset in declination pixels from the previous exposure
DecPM	double	mas/yr	Declination proper motion in mas/yr
DecPMSigma	double	mas/yr	Declination proper motion error in mas/yr
decrms	double	deg	Standard deviation of lightcurve dec
DecSigmaPM	double	mas/yr	Declination proper motion error in mas/yr
dec_1	double	deg	Image declination from sextractor
dec_1_1	double	deg	Image declination from sextractor
dec_1_2	double	deg	Image declination from sextractor
dec_2	double	deg	Catalog star declination, precessed to current epoch
dec_2_1	double	deg	Catalog star declination, precessed to current epoch
dec_2_2	double	deg	Catalog star declination, precessed to current epoch
Dec_TC	double	deg	Weighted Declination in degrees of the lightcurve points in the selected transient window. Synonym for peakDec
defectFlag	int	bit	SExtractor image is a plate defect
degDrad	double	deg	difference between GSC2.3.2 and Kepler Input Catalog positions in degrees
description	char		Description of pattern, or telescope
diffPM	double	mas/yr	difference between GSC2.3.2 and Kepler Input Catalog proper motions in mas/yr
diskLocation	int		Disk raid array number containing the scan tiles or mosaic
diskStatus	enum		Disk status 'InService', 'Spare', 'Failed' or 'Returned'
dix	int		x bin index in calculation of dxmedian and dymedian
diy	int		y bin index in calculation of dxmedian and dymedian
dmag	double	mag	difference in magnitude
dmagcatalog	double	mag	The differences between catalog magnitude and median magnitude in the plates
dmag_iso	double	mag	difference between the lowess-fitted magnitude and catalog magnitude
dmag_iso_1	double	mag	difference between the lowess-fitted magnitude and catalog magnitude
dmag_iso_2	double	mag	difference between the lowess-fitted magnitude and catalog magnitude
dmag_local	double	mag	difference between locally corrected calibrated isophotal magnitude and the catalog magnitude
dmag_local_1	double	mag	difference between locally corrected calibrated isophotal magnitude and the catalog magnitude
dmag_local_2	double	mag	difference between locally corrected calibrated isophotal magnitude and the catalog magnitude
dnx	int	ct	Number of horizontal bins in calculation of dxmedian and dymedian
dny	int	ct	Number of vertical bins in calculation of dxmedian and dymedian
dra	double	arcsec	(image - catalog) right ascension in arcseconds, catalog corrected for proper motion
drad	double	arcsec	difference between catalog and image position in arcseconds
dradAverage	double	arcsec	The average astrometric mismatch error for a local bin in arcseconds.
dradB	double	arcsec	RMS uncertainty in arcsec for good points, defects, low altitude, uncertain date, and second quality plates
dradRMS2	double	arcsec	RMS positional error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
dradRMS2_1	double	arcsec	RMS positional error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
dradRMS2_2	double	arcsec	RMS positional error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
drad_1	double	arcsec	difference between catalog and image position in arcseconds
drad_2	double	arcsec	difference between catalog and image position in arcseconds
drad_bin_count	int	ct	Number of stars used to compute draMedian and ddecMedian (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
drad_bin_count2	int	ct	Number of stars used to compute draMedian and ddecMedian (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
drad_bin_size	int	ct	Number of smoothing bins used to compute draMedian and ddecMedian (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
drad_bin_size2	int	ct	Number of smoothing bins used to compute draMedian and ddecMedian (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
drad_reject_count	int	ct	Stars rejected for high drad (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
drad_reject_count2	int	ct	Stars rejected for high drad (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
draMedian	double	arcsec	Median Right Ascension error in arcsec per smoothing bin (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
draMedian2	double	arcsec	Median Right Ascension error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
draRMS	double	arcsec	RMS Right Ascension error in arcsec per smoothing bin (tnx fitting quality in filterblended)
draRMS2	double	arcsec	RMS Right Ascension error in arcsec per smoothing bin (final tnx adjustment in recover_points)
dra_1	double	arcsec	(image - catalog) right ascension in arcseconds, catalog corrected for proper motion
dra_2	double	arcsec	(image - catalog) right ascension in arcseconds, catalog corrected for proper motion
dRightAscension	double	deg	J2000 Right ascension in degrees
dual_count_limit1	double	ct	Minimum significant correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_count_limit2	int	ct	Minimum significant correlation count actually use (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_count_med1	double	ct	Median correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_count_rms1	double	ct	RMS of the correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_maxBinCount1	int	ct	Maximum correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_maxBinSNR1	double	ct	maxBinCount divided by count_rms (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_maxCtrMaskArea	int	ct	Maximum mask area with maskCenterFlag set (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_maxMaskArea	int	ct	Maximum mask area (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_minBinCount1	int	ct	Maximum correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
dual_totalMasksSector	int	ct	total number of masks in a sector (parselogs and search_close3)
dxmedian	double	pix	median x-axis angular difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits.
dxrms	double	pix	RMS of the x-axis angular difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits.
dxval	double	pix	x-axis angular difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits
dymedian	double	pix	median y-axis angular difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits.
dyrms	double	pix	RMS of the y-axis angular difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits.
dyval	double	pix	y-axis angular difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits.
eix	int		x position of an extinction bin (0-49)
eiy	int		x position of an extinction bin (0-49)
elevation	double	m	Elevation above sea level in meters
ELLIPTICITY	double		See sextractor manual. (1 - B_IMAGE/A_IMAGE)
ELLIPTICITY_1	double		See sextractor manual. (1 - B_IMAGE/A_IMAGE)
ELLIPTICITY_2	double		See sextractor manual. (1 - B_IMAGE/A_IMAGE)
enableFindWCS	enum	bit	Set to 'no' to abort FindWCS or AstronmetryWCS execution; otherwise 'yes'
enx	int		Number of horizontal bins in an extinction table
eny	int		Number of vertical bins in an extinction table
epoch	double	yr	Database epoch
equinox	double	yr	Database equinox
ERRA_IMAGE	double	pix	RMS position error along major axis. See sextractor manual
ERRA_WORLD	double	deg	World RMS position error along major axis. See sextractor manual.
ERRB_IMAGE	double	pix	RMS position error along minor axis. See sextractor manual.
ERRB_WORLD	double	deg	World RMS position error along minor axis. See sextractor manual.
errorcolor	double	yes	RMS Error in the color correction term
errorcolor_1	double	yes	RMS Error in the color correction term
errorcolor_2	double	yes	RMS Error in the color correction term
errorCount	int	ct	Number of plates in error
errorType	set		Logbook error type
error_bar_factor	double	no	Error bar factor: min(1.0,the median RMS of the lightcurve divided by the median zero-based RMS of the local calibration RMS of all of the individual points in the lightcurve)
errout	double	mag	Local correction error
ERRTHETA_IMAGE	double	deg	RMS position error along minor axis. See sextractor manual.
ERRTHETA_J2000	double	deg	J2000 error ellipse pos. angle (east of north)
ERRTHETA_WORLD	double	deg	World RMS position error along major axis. See sextractor manual.
EstDecPM	double	mas/yr	Estimated declination proper motion in mas/yr
EstDecPMRMS	double	mas/yr	Standard Deviation of the estimated declination proper motion in mas/yr
EstRaPM	double	mas/yr	Estimated Right Ascension proper motion in mas/yr
EstRaPMRMS	double	mas/yr	RMS of the estimated Right Ascension proper motion in mas/yr
eventDate	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Disk event date
expansionRadius	double	pix	average background calculation bin radius
exposure	char	min	Logbook exposure time, normally in minutes but may be qualified by other units
ExposureDate	double	JD	Geocentric Julian date of plate or Heliocentric Julian date of an image
exposureNumber	int	ct	The zero-based exposure number listed in the logbooks, or -1 if WCS fitting finds more solutions than logbook entries.
exposureNumber_1	int	ct	The zero-based exposure number listed in the logbooks, or -1 if WCS fitting finds more solutions than logbook entries.
exposureNumber_2	int	ct	The zero-based exposure number listed in the logbooks, or -1 if WCS fitting finds more solutions than logbook entries.
exposures	int	ct	Number of exposures fitted for this plate
extinction	double	mag	Extinction estimate for an image.
extinction_1	double	mag	Extinction estimate for an image.
extinction_2	double	mag	Extinction estimate for an image.
fatalError	int		terminating condition of the photometry pipeline for this plate.
fatalSolution	int	ct	terminating solutionNumber of the photometry pipeline for this plate
fileExists	int		1 if the drad file associated with a plate exists; 0 otherwise
fileName	char		Filename
fileObsolete	int		1 if the drad file associated with a plate is obsolete; 0 otherwise
fileOffset	int		Byte position offset of the gsc bin into a photometry database file
filingReleaseField	int	ct	Filing location release field (DR1-DR12)
FILTERED_BACKGROUND	double	ct	High-pass filtered background at centroid position
firstPlate	int		Initial plate number in the range
fittedPlateScale	double	arcsec/m-3	Average plate scale from available WCS fits in arc seconds per mm
FitWCS	set		WCS fitting and pipeline status
flag	double		Plotting flag.
flaggrid	int		calibration table entry type 0 = too bright, 1 = valid, -1 = too dim
FLAGS	int		Photometry flag defined by sextractor. See sextractor manual.
flag_MAG_ISO	int	bit	SExtractor image is brighter than the estimated limiting MAG_ISO
flatLinearityJD	double	JD	Julian Date of the last flatfield prior to the scan
FLUXERR_AUTO	double	ct	RMS error for AUTO flux. See sextractor manual.
FLUXERR_ISO	double	ct	RMS error for isophotal flux. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_AUTO	double	ct	Flux within a Kron-like elliptical aperture. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_ISO	double	ct	Isophotal flux. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_ISO_1	double	ct	Isophotal flux. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_ISO_2	double	ct	Isophotal flux. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_MAX	double	ct	Peak flux above background. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_MAX_1	double	ct	Peak flux above background. See sextractor manual.
FLUX_MAX_2	double	ct	Peak flux above background. See sextractor manual.
focus	double	mm	Focus position in mm
fraction	double		Fractional extra stars used for WCS fitting. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
FWHM_IMAGE	double	pix	FWHM assuming a gaussian core. See sextractor manual.
FWHM_IMAGE_1	double	pix	FWHM assuming a gaussian core. See sextractor manual.
FWHM_IMAGE_2	double	pix	FWHM assuming a gaussian core. See sextractor manual.
FWHM_WORLD	double	deg	FWHM assuming a gaussian core. See sextractor manual.
FWHM_WORLD_1	double	deg	FWHM assuming a gaussian core. See sextractor manual.
FWHM_WORLD_2	double	deg	FWHM assuming a gaussian core. See sextractor manual.
galacticbin	int	ct	Galactic Bin Sequence for Scanning
galaxyflag	int	ct	Type of record in the limiting magnitude or nearby object databases
galaxytype	char		Type of variable (in GCVS) or origin of galaxy reference
galaxyversion	int	ct	Version format of the nearby objects table
gapCount	int	ct	number of correlation gaps in quadrant because of masking
Gclass	int		GSC2.3.2 object type 0 = star 3 = non-star; also synonym
Gcolor	double	mag	GSC magj-magf
Gdec	double	deg	GSC Declination in degrees
GDecPM	double	mas/yr	GSC Declination proper motion in mas/yr
geoJulianDate	double	JD	Geocentric Julian date of plate
gmag	double	mag	SDSS g magnitude
gmagerr	double	mag	SDSS g magnitude error
GMAGFlag	int		GSC2.3.2 magnitude origin
gminusrmag	double	mag	sdss g-r color
goodBins	int	ct	number of local smoothing bins without any error flags set
goodDradBins	int	ct	number of local smoothing bins with acceptable positional errors
goodLocalBins	int	ct	number of local smoothing bins with local smoothing correction values
goodMedianBins	int	ct	number of local smoothing bins where the median Stdmag is less than the ((median limiting_mag) + 0.5) magnitudes
goodZoutBins	int	ct	number of local smoothing bins with acceptable local smoothing corrections
Gra	double	deg	GSC Right Ascension in degrees
GRaPM	double	mas/yr	GSC Right Ascension proper motion in mas/yr
GREF	char		The GSC2.3.2 ID.
griderr	double	mag	lowess fit error in the calibration table
group	int		The number of each group of unmatched catalog images associated with a single source
groupCount	int	ct	The count of unmatched catalog images associated with a single source
gsc2_id	char		GSC2 star ID, becomes REF in subsequent tables
GSCBlendFlag	int	bit	If 1, the unmatched image is too close to a bright GSC2.3.2 catalog star; 0 otherwise
gscclass	int		GSC2.3.2 star class 0 = star; 3 = non-star
gsccolor	double	mag	GSC (JpgMag - FpgMAG) also expressed as ( magj-magf)
gsc_bin_index	int		A spatial index of approximately 1/4096 degree used to sort images in the input star catalog and the photometry database.
gsc_bin_index_1	int		A spatial index of approximately 1/4096 degree used to sort images in the input star catalog and the photometry database.
gsc_bin_index_2	int		A spatial index of approximately 1/4096 degree used to sort images in the input star catalog and the photometry database.
GStdmag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 GSC magj magnitude
GVFlag	int	bit	If nonzero, the GSC catalog star is has an uncertin magnitude.
heightJPEG	int	pix	Length of the y axis of the CameraPC image
hJD	double	JD	Heliocentric Julian Day
hourAngle	char	HH:MM:SS	Logbook hour angle
hours	double	ct	Unrelated to astronomy
imag	double	mag	SDSS i magnitude
imagb	int	ct	magnitude index for magnitude-dependent calibration
imagerr	double	mag	SDSS i magnitude error
iMAG_ISO	int		Standard sextractor MAG_ISO bin index. There are 220 bins between MAG_ISO = -22 and MAG_ISO = 0.0
imaxmag	double	mag	OGLE I-band maximum magnitude
index	int		gsc bin offset into a photometry database file. Add to the base index to get gsc_bin_index
inventory	enum	bit	If 'yes' disk found during inventory; otherwise 'no'
ISO0	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 0. See sextractor manual.
ISO0_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 0. See sextractor manual.
ISO0_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 0. See sextractor manual.
ISO1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 1. See sextractor manual.
ISO1_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 1. See sextractor manual.
ISO1_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 1. See sextractor manual.
ISO2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 2. See sextractor manual.
ISO2_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 2. See sextractor manual.
ISO2_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 2. See sextractor manual.
ISO3	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 3. See sextractor manual.
ISO3_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 3. See sextractor manual.
ISO3_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 3. See sextractor manual.
ISO4	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 4. See sextractor manual.
ISO4_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 4. See sextractor manual.
ISO4_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 4. See sextractor manual.
ISO5	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 5. See sextractor manual.
ISO5_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 5. See sextractor manual.
ISO5_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 5. See sextractor manual.
ISO6	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 6. See sextractor manual.
ISO6_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 6. See sextractor manual.
ISO6_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 6. See sextractor manual.
ISO7	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 7. See sextractor manual.
ISO7_1	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 7. See sextractor manual.
ISO7_2	int	pix2	Isophotal area at level 7. See sextractor manual.
ISOAREA_IMAGE	double	pix2	Isophotal area above Analysis threshold. See sextractor manual.
ISOAREA_WORLD	double	deg2	Isophotal image area in square degrees. See sextractor manual.
ISOAREA_WORLD_1	double	deg2	Isophotal image area in square degrees. See sextractor manual.
ISOAREA_WORLD_2	double	deg2	Isophotal image area in square degrees. See sextractor manual.
isogrid	double	mag	isophotal magnitude in calibration table
ix	int		x position of a local calibration bin (0-49)
ixb	int	ct	x index for magnitude-dependent calibration
iy	int		y position of a local calibration bin (0-49)
iyb	int	ct	y index for magnitude-dependent calibration
jacketJPEG	enum	bit	If 'yes' a plate jacket JPEG image is available, otherwise 'no'
julianDate	char	JD	Julian Date from logbook
Kclass	int		Kepler object type 0 = star 3 = non-star; also synonym
Kcolor	double	mag	Kepler magj-magf
Kdec	double	deg	Kepler Declination in degrees
KDecPM	double	mas/yr	Kepler Declination proper motion in mas/yr
keepalive	enum	bit	Set to 'no' when aborting a photometry database update, otherwise 'yes'
keplerField	enum	bit	If 'yes', object is on a Kepler CCD chip. Otherwise 'no'
kmagb	int	ct	Number of magnitude bins for magnitude-dependent calib ration
KMAGFlag	int		Kepler magnitude origin
Kra	double	deg	Kepler Right Ascension in degrees
KRaPM	double	mas/yr	Kepler Right Ascension proper motion in mas/yr
KREF	char		The Kepler ID.
KRON_RADIUS	double		Kron apertures in units of A or B. See sextractor manual.
KRON_RADIUS_1	double		Kron apertures in units of A or B. See sextractor manual.
KRON_RADIUS_2	double		Kron apertures in units of A or B. See sextractor manual.
KStdmag	double	mag	Kepler magj magnitude
KVFlag	int	bit	If nonzero, the Kepler catalog star has an uncertain magnitude.
kxb	int	ct	Number of x bins for magnitude-dependent calibration
kyb	int	ct	Number of y bins for magnitude-dependent calibration
lastPlate	int		Last plate number in the range.
lat	double	deg	Catalog star galactic latitude
latitude	double	deg	Observatory latitude in degrees
leftMargin	int	pix	Left margin in pixels
lightcurveCount	int	ct	Number of lightcurves on this plate
lightcurverms1	double	mag	5-sigma clipped RMS of good lightcurve points
lightcurverms2	double	mag	5-sigma clipped RMS of good lightcurve points after detrending (smooth(x,y,0.4,'lowess'))
lightcurverms3	double	mag	5-sigma clipped RMS of good lightcurve points after detrending (smooth(y,0.8,'lowess'))
lightcurverms4	double	mag	5-sigma clipped RMS of good lightcurve points after detrending (smooth(y,10,'sgolay'))
lightcurverms5	double	mag	5-sigma clipped rms of good lightcurve points after detrending (smooth(y,15,'loess'))
limiting_iso	double	mag	Instrumental isophotal magnitude which corresponds to the lowess limiting magnitude
limiting_iso_1	double	mag	Instrumental isophotal magnitude which corresponds to the lowess limiting magnitude
limiting_iso_2	double	mag	Instrumental isophotal magnitude which corresponds to the lowess limiting magnitude
limiting_mag	double	mag	lowess limiting magnitude
limiting_mag_1	double	mag	lowess limiting magnitude
limiting_mag_2	double	mag	lowess limiting magnitude
limiting_mag_local	double	mag	Locally corrected limiting magnitude
limiting_mag_local_1	double	mag	Locally corrected limiting magnitude
limiting_mag_local_2	double	mag	Locally corrected limiting magnitude
line	int		Line number of the logbook transcription
listName	char		Filename containing a list of plates
local_bin	short		Local calibration bin number (ix + (nx * iy))
local_bin_1	short		Local calibration bin number (ix + (nx * iy))
local_bin_2	short		Local calibration bin number (ix + (nx * iy))
local_bin_index	short		Local calibration bin number (ix + (nx * iy))
locationId	int		Telescope location index
logPage	char		Logbook volume and page
logRemark	enum	bit	If 'Y' a logbook remark is present, otherwise 'N'. Deprecated.
logTimeType	char		Date type given in the logbook ('EST', 'LST', 'UT', 'SASE' ...)
lon	double	deg	Catalog star galactic longitude
M0	double	mag	magnitude range for magnitude-dependent calibration
magcal_iso	double	mag	magnitude estimate from lowess fitting
magcal_iso_1	double	mag	magnitude estimate from lowess fitting
magcal_iso_2	double	mag	magnitude estimate from lowess fitting
magcal_iso_error	double	mag	- plate overall rms error between the lowess and catalog magnitude.
magcal_iso_rms	double	mag	error in the lowess fitting algorithm
magcal_iso_rms_1	double	mag	error in the lowess fitting algorithm
magcal_iso_rms_2	double	mag	error in the lowess fitting algorithm
magcal_local	double	mag	locally corrected magnitude
magcal_local_1	double	mag	locally corrected magnitude
magcal_local_2	double	mag	locally corrected magnitude
magcal_local_error	double	mag	(ERROUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) rms of the needed median magnitude correction
magcal_local_error_1	double	mag	(ERROUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) rms of the needed median magnitude correction
magcal_local_error_2	double	mag	(ERROUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) rms of the needed median magnitude correction
magcal_local_rms	double	mag	Error of the locally corrected magnitude.
magcal_local_rms_1	double	mag	Error of the locally corrected magnitude.
magcal_local_rms_2	double	mag	Error of the locally corrected magnitude.
magcal_magdep	double	mag	magnitude-dependent corrected magnitude
magcal_magdep_1	double	mag	magnitude-dependent corrected magnitude
magcal_magdep_2	double	mag	magnitude-dependent corrected magnitude
magcal_magdep_rms	double	mag	Error of the magnitude-dependent correction
magcal_magdep_rms_1	double	mag	Error of the magnitude-dependent correction
magcal_magdep_rms_2	double	mag	Error of the magnitude-dependent correction
magcor_local	double	mag	(ZOUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) median magnitude correction needed in a given plate ragion
magcor_local_1	double	mag	(ZOUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) median magnitude correction needed in a given plate ragion
magcor_local_2	double	mag	(ZOUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) median magnitude correction needed in a given plate ragion
magcor_local_range	double	mag	Deprecated. Range in magcor_local within a smoothing bin.
magcor_rmsbright	double	mag	Deprecated. magcor_local_rms of the 30 brightest stars in a local smoothing bin.
magcor_rmsdim	double	mag	Deprecated. magcor_local_rms of the 30 dimmest stars in a local smoothing bin.
magdep_bin	int		Magnitude-dependent calibration bin number (ixb + (kxb*iyb) * (kxb*kyb*imagb))
magdep_bin_1	int		Magnitude-dependent calibration bin number (ixb + (kxb*iyb) * (kxb*kyb*imagb))
magdep_bin_2	int		Magnitude-dependent calibration bin number (ixb + (kxb*iyb) * (kxb*kyb*imagb))
magdep_bin_edge	double	mag	Dimmest GSC2.3.2 magj minimum magnitude in a magnitude correction bin
magdep_bin_magcor	double	mag	median magnitude magnitude-dependent correction
magdep_bin_median	double	mag	Median GSC2.3.2 magj median magnitude in a magnitude correction bin
magdep_bin_quality	double	mag	Magnitude dependent bin quality measure (magdep_bin_magcor * sqrt(nstar_magdep))/magcal_magdep_rms
magdep_bin_size	int	ct	Bin expansion factor for magnitude-dependent correction
magdiff	double	mag	Magnitude difference between GSC JpgMag and SDSS gmag
MAGERR_APER	double	mag	RMS error vector for fixed aperture mag.
MAGERR_AUTO	double	mag	RMS error for AUTO magnitude
MAGERR_ISO	double	mag	RMS error for isophotal magnitude
magf	double	mag	GSC2 red magnitude.In subsequent tables color = magj - magf
MAGFlag	int		GSC2.3.2 magnitude origin
MAGFlag_1	int		GSC2.3.2 magnitude origin
MAGFlag_2	int		GSC2.3.2 magnitude origin
maggrid	double	mag	best lowess fit magnitude in calibration table
magj	double	mag	GSC2 blue magnitude, becomes Stdmag in subsequent tables
magnitudeFile	enum	bit	If 'yes' magnitudes are in a file, if 'no' magnitudes are in a MySQL table.
magvsdeccorr	double	mag	Correlation coef. between lightcurve magnitude and dec
magvslimitingcorr	double	mag	correlation coef. between lightcurve magnitude and limiting magnitude
magvsracorr	double	mag	Correlation coef. between lightcurve magnitude and ra
MAG_APER	double	mag	Fixed aperture magnitude vector. See sextractor manual.
MAG_APER_1	double	mag	Fixed aperture magnitude vector. See sextractor manual.
MAG_APER_2	double	mag	Fixed aperture magnitude vector. See sextractor manual.
MAG_AUTO	double	mag	Kron-like elliptical aperture magnitude. See sextractor manual.
MAG_AUTO_1	double	mag	Kron-like elliptical aperture magnitude. See sextractor manual.
MAG_AUTO_2	double	mag	Kron-like elliptical aperture magnitude. See sextractor manual.
MAG_ISO	double	mag	See sextractor manual. isophotal magnitude
MAG_ISO_1	double	mag	See sextractor manual. isophotal magnitude
MAG_ISO_2	double	mag	See sextractor manual. isophotal magnitude
MAG_ISO_bright	double	mag	MAG_ISO of the brightest matching double images
MAG_ISO_diff	double	mag	MAG_ISO difference between matching double images
MAG_ISO_dim	double	mag	MAG_ISO of the dimmestmatching double images
MAG_ISO_flag	int	bit	MAG_ISO difference between matching double images is within limits if set
MAG_ISO_med	double	mag	See sextractor manual. median isophotal magnitude
MAG_ISO_rms	double	mag	See sextractor manual. rms of the isophotal magnitude
Malmquist_factor	double	mag	clipped median DASCH magnitude of 20 deepest plates - clipped median DASCH magnitude of 20 shallowest plates using good points
Malmquist_factorB	double	mag	clipped median DASCH magnitude of 20 deepest plates - clipped median DASCH magnitude of 20 shallowest plates using good points, defects, low altitude, uncertain date, and second quality plates
maskArea	int	pix2	Area of the mask
maskAreaRatio	double	ct	Median correlation bin count
maskCenterDistance	double	ct	Median correlation bin count
maskCenterFlag	int	ct	Nonzero if the mask covers the plate center
maskCount	int	ct	Number of masked regions in the plate
maskIndex	int	ct	Index (one-based) of this mask
maskKernelType	int		Type of convolution kernel found for this plate
maskNumber	int		Last plate number in the mask pseudo-series
maskSector	short		multiple exposure mask bin number (ixs + (nxs * iys))
maskXMax	int	pix	Maximum x value of the mask
maskXMin	int	pix	Minimum x value of the mask
maskYMax	int	pix	Maximum Y value of the mask
maskYMin	int	pix	Minimum y value of the mask
matchCount	int	ct	Number of catalog matches on this plate
matchRatio	double		Fraction of images on this plate which have been matched to a catalog
matchRatio2	double		Fraction of searchTableSize matched to secondary stars during multiple exposure correlation
MATCH_NUMBER	int		The sextractor image NUMBER that a Pickering Wedge ghost image is associated with
maxBinCount	int	ct	Maximum correlation bin count
maxBinSNR	double	ct	maxBinCount divided by count_rms
maxCorrelationIndex	int	ct	Number of pixels in correlation area for search_close
maxDist1	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 1
maxDist2	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 2
maxDist3	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 3
maxDist4	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 4
maxDist5	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 5
maxDist6	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 6
maxDist7	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 7
maxDist8	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 8
maxDist9	double	pix	Maximum difference in pixels between TNX and TAN fits for spatial_bin 9
maxIx	int	ct	Highest x bin (along width) of the emulsion area
maxIy	int	ct	Highest y bin (along height) of the emulsion area
maxmag	int	mag	Maximum bin magnitude in the summary file.
maxmagdiff	double	mag	maximum magnitude difference between spatial bins for a given MAG_ISO
maxMaskSector	int	ct	total number of masks in a sector (parselogs and search_close3)
maxNoiseConvolution	double	ct	CCD maximum convolved noise ADU squared
maxPeak	double	ct	CCD peak noise in ADU
maxPeakRMS	double	ct	CCD peak noise divided by noiseRMS
maxSpatialBins	int		Maximum number of annular bins, normally 9
maxTileOverlapCount	int	ct	total number of masks in a sector (parselogs and search_close3)
maxTileSaturation	int	ct	Maximum number of saturated pixels in any tile
max_bright_iso	double	mag	Isophotal magnitude corresponding to the brightest reliable magnitude in a spatial bin.
max_bright_iso_1	double	mag	Isophotal magnitude corresponding to the brightest reliable magnitude in a spatial bin.
max_bright_iso_2	double	mag	Isophotal magnitude corresponding to the brightest reliable magnitude in a spatial bin.
max_bright_mag	double	mag	Brightest reliable lowess magnitude in a spatial bin.
max_bright_mag_1	double	mag	Brightest reliable lowess magnitude in a spatial bin.
max_bright_mag_2	double	mag	Brightest reliable lowess magnitude in a spatial bin.
max_drad	double	arcsec	Maximum difference between catalog and image position in arcseconds for good points
max_dradB	double	arcsec	Maximum difference between catalog and image position in arcseconds for good points, defects, low altitude, uncertain date, and second quality plates
max_local	double	mag	Dimmest locally corrected magnitude for a lightcurve
max_local2	double	mag	Second dimmest locally correccted magnitude for a lightcurve
mbinindex	int		multibinindex for multastrometry
measurementCount	int	ct	Number of photometry measurements on this plate
medDamonBlue	double	mag	Median of good lightcurve magnitudes in dnb and dsb plates
median	double	mag	Median RMS in the summary file
medianMaxPeak	double	ct	CCD peak noise in ADU
medianMaxPeakRMS	double	ct	CCD peak noise in ADU
medianNoiseVectorCount	double	ct	input rows used to calculate noiseMedian and noiseRMS
medianNoiseVectorPoints	double	ct	rows used to calculcate noiseMedian and noiseRMS
medianPeakYInterval	double	pix	CCD position from the last noise peak
medianPeakYIntervalRMS	double	pix	CCD position from the last noise peak
medianStdmag	double	mag	The median magnitude of GSC2.3.2 images rejected by matchstars and filterblended because there are not enough sextractor images to match them with
median_drad	double	arcsec	Median astrometric error in arcseconds within a spatial bin.
median_iso	double	mag	Median lowess magnitude in a lightcurve
median_local	double	mag	Median locally corrected magnitude in a lightcurve
medNonDamonBlue	double	mag	Median of good lightcuve magnitudes excluding dnb and dsb plates
memberCount	int	ct	Number of SExtractor images in a candidate scratch chain
miles	double	ct	Unrelated to astronomy
minIx	int	ct	Lowest x bin (along width) of the emulsion area
minIy	int	ct	Lowest y bin (along height) of the emulsion area
minmag	int	mag	Minimum bin magnitude in the summary file.
minTileOverlapCount	int	ct	total number of masks in a sector (parselogs and search_close3)
minVersionId	int		Minimum valid versionId for the current catalog calibration.
min_local	double	mag	Brightest locally corrected magnitude in a lightcurve
min_local2	double	mag	Second brightest locally corrected magnitude in a lightcurve
missingFlag	int	ct	If 1, the plate is marked as missing in the stacks database
model	char		Disk model from manufacturer
mosaic	char		Synonym for plate or Plate
mosaicBinning	set		Binning of available mosaics
mosaicComment	char		Mosaic comment
mosaicDate	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Date mosaic was generated
mosaicHeight	int	pix	Mosaic height in pixels
mosaicNumber	int	ct	Mosaic number for this plate
mosaicWidth	int	pix	Width of this mosaic
multipleFlag	int	ct	If 1, the plate has multiple exposures
n1	int	ct	Total points read by annular9.m for a lowess fit attempt.
n1_1	int	ct	Total points read by annular9.m for a lowess fit attempt.
n1_2	int	ct	Total points read by annular9.m for a lowess fit attempt.
n2	int	ct	Actual number of points used by annular9.m for a lowess fit attempt.
n2_1	int	ct	Actual number of points used by annular9.m for a lowess fit attempt.
n2_2	int	ct	Actual number of points used by annular9.m for a lowess fit attempt.
name	char		Name of the observing station
naxis1	int	pix	Length of the x axis of the image in pixels (width)
naxis2	int	pix	Length of the y axis of the image in pixels (height)
nblend	int	ct	Number of blended lightcurve points
nburst	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 0.8 mag above the median value
nburst2	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 0.5 mag above the median value
nburst3	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 0.4 mag above the median value
nburst4	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 3-sigma above the median value
nDamonBlue	int	ct	Number f good lightcurve points in dnb and dsb plates
ndev2	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 2-sigma from the median value
ndev3	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 3-sigma from the median value
ndip	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 0.8 mag below the median value
ndip2	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 0.5 mag below the median value
ndip3	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 0.4 mag below the median value
ndip4	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points 3-sigma below the median value
nearbyObjectDistance	double	arcsec	distance to closest catalog object of any type to a star
nearbyObjects	char		Nearby object of interest @ distance in arcsec
nearbyREFflag	int	ct	If 1, a nearby catalog star is within one half the smallest full width half maximum image size and dimmer than the catalog magnitude - 0.5 mag.
nearbyVSX	char		Nearby VSX object of interest @ distance in arcsec
nearestREF	char		The ID of a catalog star closest to an unmatched image.
nearestREFarcsec	double	arcsec	The distance in arcsec between an unmatched image and the closest catalog star
nextbound	enum	bit	Next bound ('b') or unbound ('u') logbook in logbook browser linked list
nextpage	int		Next logbook page number in logbook linked list
nextseries	char		Next logbook series in logbook linked list
nextvolume	int		Next logbook volume in logbook linked list
ngood	int	ct	Number of good points in a lightcurve. (AFLAGS = 0 with ra and dec filtering)
ngoodB	int	ct	Number lightcurve points with good points, defects, low altitude, uncertain date, and second quality plates.
nlocal	int	ct	Number of good images in a local correction bin.
nmatch	int	ct	Number of stars matched during WCS fitting. WCStools 'imwcs' result.
nNonDamonBlue	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points excluding dnb and dsb plates
noiseBufferRatio	double	ct	relative ratio of noise amplitude between quadrants
noiseMedian	double	ct	median CCD ADU error
noiseMinPoints	int		Number of rows with less than 200 background pixels
noiseRMS	double	ct	CCD ADU noise
noiseVectorCount	int	ct	input rows used to calculate noiseMedian and noiseRMS
noiseVectorPoints	int	ct	rows used to calculcate noiseMedian and noiseRMS
nominalPlateScale	double	arcsec/m-3	Nominal plate scale in arc seconds per mm
nonDamonBluerms	double	mag	RMS of good lightcurve magnitudes excluding dnb and dsb plates
normadjacentburstdip2	double	ct	Normalized adjacentburstdip2: Number of good lightcurve points 3-sigma above the median value divided by number of lightcurves with valid adjacentburstdip2 values
normnburst3	double	ct	Normalized nburst3: Number of good lightcurve points 3-sigma above the median value divided by number of lightcurves with valid nburst3 values
normnburst4	double	ct	Normalized nburst4: Number of good lightcurve points 3-sigma above the median value divided by number of lightcurves with valid nburst4 values
notes	char		Logbook transcription comment
nplot	int	ct	Number of default points plotted in a lightcurve.
npoints	int	ct	Total number of points, good and bad, in a lightcurve.
npoints_local	int	ct	(NPOUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) number of stars used for the median magnitude correction
npoints_local_1	int	ct	(NPOUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) number of stars used for the median magnitude correction
npoints_local_2	int	ct	(NPOUT in contour_plot_clip_smooth_correct2.f) number of stars used for the median magnitude correction
npout	int	ct	number of stars used for the median magnitude correction
Npts_ext	int	ct	Number of points outside the selected points of a transient candidate lightcurve peak. Synonym for peakExtra.
Npts_TC	int	ct	Number of images in a transient candidate lightcurve peak. Synonym for peakCount.
nslope_60	int	ct	Number points in a lightcurve used to calculate slope_60.
nslope_all	int	ct	Number of points used to calculate slope_all.
nstar0	double	ct	stars in magnitude bin for magnitude-dependent calibration
nstar_magdep	int	ct	number of bin stars used for the magnitude-dependent correction
NUMBER	int		Sextractor object number in an image. See sextractor manual.
NUMBER_1	int		Sextractor object number of primary double image
NUMBER_2	int		Sextractor object number of secondary double image
numfake	int	ct	Number of images not matching GSC2.3.2 objects during defect filtering
numreal	int	ct	Number of images matching GSC2.3.2 objects during defect filtering.
numTiles	int	ct	Number of tiles in the scan pattern
nx	int		Number of horizontal bins in a local calibration table
nxs	int		Number of X-axis bins for multiple exposure correlation
ny	int		Number of verticalbins in a local calibration table
nys	int		Number of Y-axis bins for multiple exposure correlation
objectsCutoff	int	ct	If fewer sextractor objects than this amount, consider the bin empty
objid	long		ATLAS refcat2 objid
oldNumber	char		Original plate number for renamed plates
orientation	enum		Series plate orientation North Forward or Left, Mirrored (deprecated)
outlierCount	int	ct	Number of outlier images on this plate
outlierRatio	double		Fraction of images on this plate which are outliers
page	int		Logbook page number synonym for logPage
passBits	int		Pass identifier. Unused, only bit 1 GSC2.3.2 pass1 is recognized
pathCount	int	ct	Number of SExtractor images in the longest path of the candidate scratch chain
patrolGroup	int	ct	Patrol filing group (1-4)
patrolPlate	int	ct	Patrol plate flag 0 = wide field telescope (fittedPlateScale less than 350 arcsec/mm), 1 = patrol telescope (fittedPlateScale greater than 350 arcsec/mm)
patternID	int		Scan pattern
peakArea	double	ct	CCD peak noise area from the center of the CCD array
peakBadColorCount	int	ct	The total number of points with bad or undertain color
peakCount	int	ct	Number of images in a transient candidate lightcurve peak. Synonym for Npts_TC
peakCountNF	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points inside the selected transient window from narrow field telescopes
peakCountWF	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points inside the selected transient window from wide field telescopes
peakDays	double	d	Duration of a transient candidate lightcurve peak
peakDec	double	deg	Weighted Declination in degrees of the lightcurve points in the selected transient window. Synonym for Dec_TC
peakDefectCount	int	ct	The number of lightcurve defects in the selected transient window
peakDradRMS	double	arcsec	RMS positional error of selected points of a transient candidate lightcurve peak
peakDradRMS2	double	arcsec	dradRMS2 pointed added in quadrature for selected points of a transient candidate lightcurve peak
peakDradRMS3	double	arcsec	RMS positional error referred to peakRA and peakDec of selected points of a transient candidate lightcurve peak
peakEvaluation	int		Rejection flags (PEAKEVALUATION) for the flare candidate search
peakEventCount	int	ct	The number of peaks in the lightcurve that meet the event criteria
peakEventCount2	int	ct	The number of peaks in the lightcurve eliminating multiple peaks for each transient
peakEventCount3	int	ct	The total number of peaks in the lightcurve, valid or now
peakExtra	int	ct	Number of points outside the selected points of a transient candidate lightcurve peak. Synonym for Npts_ext.
peakLimitingPoints	int	ct	The number of plates of coverage at or below peakMag (including the transient points)
peakLimitingYears	int	ct	The number of years of coverage at or below peakMag (including the transient year)
peakLongOutburst	int	ct	Number of multi-year outbursts where the average magnitude/yr increases by 1 mag.
peakMag	double	mag	Brightness of the transient candidate lightcurve peak
peakMaxMag	double	mag	Brightest magnitude of the transient
peakMinMag	double	mag	Dimmest magnitude of the transient
peakMultipleCount	int	ct	The number of lightcurve points in the selected transient window from multiple exposure plates
peakNearbyDistance	double	arcsec	distance to nearby stars that are within 2 magnitudes of the brightest or average magnitude of the transient candidate
peakNoDefectMag	double	mag	Brightest magnitude of the transient, not including defects
peakNumber	int	ct	Order of brightness of the selected peak. The brightest peak is 1, the 10th brightest peak is 10
peakOutside	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points outside the selected transient window (ngood - peakCount)
peakOutsideNF	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points outside the selected transient window from narrow field telescopes
peakOutsideWF	int	ct	Number of good lightcurve points outside the selected transient window from wide field telescopes
peakRA	double	deg	Weighted Right Ascension in degrees of the lightcurve points in the selected transient window. Synonym for RA_TC
peakRMS	double	mag	Residual error after linear lightcurve fitting
peakSlope	double	mag/d	Slope of the transient candidate lightcurve after peak
peakSlopeRMS	double	mag/d	Slope uncertainty of the transient candidate lightcurve after peak
peakUpperCount	int	ct	The number of points brighter than (peakMaxMag+peakMinMag)/2
peakYear	double	yr	Year of the transient candidate lightcurve peak
peakYIndex	int	pix	CCD peak noise position from the center of the CCD array
peakYInterval	int	pix	CCD position from the last noise peak
PendingFlag	int	ct	stack processing pending flag yes: plate has not been found; no, plate has been processed.
period	double	days	OGLE orbital period
photFailFlag	int	ct	photometry table insertion failed
phot_bp_mean_mag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 BPmag magnitude
phot_g_mean_mag	double	mag	GAIA DR2 Gmag magnitude
phot_rp_mean_mag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 RPMag magnitude
pixDist	double	pix	Difference in pixels between matching double images
Plate	char		HCO plate designation (series and number within series)
plateClass	char		Plate class
plateComment	char		Special scanning status of the plate
plateCount	int	ct	Number of square plates
plateJPEG	enum	bit	If plate JPEG exists, 'yes'; otherwise 'no'
plateNumber	int		The sequential number assigned to a plate in a given plate series from a single telescope or lens
plateReleaseField	int	ct	Plate Center Release field (DR1-DR12)
plateVersionId	int		Version Id from the photplates table
plate_ddec	double	deg	declination distance in degrees from the plate center
plate_dist	double	deg	distance in degrees from the plate center
plate_dist_1	double	deg	distance in degrees from the plate center
plate_dist_2	double	deg	distance in degrees from the plate center
plate_dra	double	deg	right ascension distance in degrees from the plate center
pmf2	double	ct	Probability Mass Function of grain noise calculated for the spatial convolution function
pmf2_valid	double	ct	If 1, pmf2 is valid, otherwise shows the negative of the correlationCount where pmf2 becomes invalid
PolyDecRMS	double	pix	RMS declination error in pixel from SCAMP polynomial fitting
PolyRARMS	double	pix	RMS Right Ascension error in pixels from SCAMP polynomial fitting
PolyRefStars	int	ct	Number of reference stars used for SCAMP polynomial fitting
port	char		Disk drive raid array port
precessionCorrected	enum	bit	If 'yes', precession error has been corrected, otherwise 'no'. Deprecated
prevbound	enum	bit	Previous bound ('b') or unbound ('u') volume in logbook linked list
prevpage	int		Previous page in the logbook linked list
prevseries	char		Previous series in the logbook linked list
prevvolume	int		Previous volume in the logbook linked list
pridepth	double	mag	OGLE depth of primary eclipse
Q0	int	ct	ADU level in quadrant 0 (upper left)
Q1	int	ct	ADU level in quadrant 1 (upper right)
Q2	int	ct	ADU level in quadrant 2 (lower left)
Q3	int	ct	ADU level in quadrant 3 (lower right)
quadrant	int	ct	CCD quadrant 0 = upper left, 1 = upper right, 2 = lower left, 3 = lower right
quadrantPixelCount	int		Number of pixels in the CCD quadrant present in this file
qualifier	char		Source of the plate class information
quality	int		Plate quality flags
qualitybits	char		Listing of bits set in plate quality flags
Q_DIFF	int	ct	Row Noise correction
ra	double	deg	Right Ascension in degrees
radius	double	arcsec	Radius of a catlog galaxy in arcsec
raidArray	int		Raid array number of which the disk is part of
raidDisk	char		Location in the disk raid array (one-based)
range_iso	double	mag	The magnitude range of the lowess magnitude in a lightcurve
range_local	double	mag	The magnitude range of the locally corrected magnitude in a lightcurve
range_local2	double	mag	The magnitude range from the second brightest to the second dimmest magnitude in a lightcurve
raPixels	double	pix	Offset in Right Ascension pixels from the previous exposure
RaPM	double	mas/yr	Right Ascension proper motion in mas/yr
RaPMSigma	double	mas/yr	Right Ascension proper motion error in mas/yr
rarms	double	deg	Standard deviation of lightcurve ra
RaSigmaPM	double	mas/yr	Right Ascension proper motion error in mas/yr
ratio	double		Generic ratio. ratio of goodcumulativeCount to badcumulativeCount+goodcumulativeCount
ratio1	double		In defect filtering, the number of images flagged as real divided by the number of images matching the GSC2.3.2 catalog
ratio2	double		In defect filtering, the number of images flagged as not real divided by the number of images not matching the GSC2.3.2 catalog
ratio3	double		In defect filtering, the ratio of images matching the GSC2.3.2 catalog and the images not matching the GSC2.3.2 catalog.
ra_1	double	deg	Image Right Ascension from sextractor
ra_1_1	double	deg	Image Right Ascension from sextractor
ra_1_2	double	deg	Image Right Ascension from sextractor
ra_2	double	deg	Catalog star Right Ascension, precessed to plate epoch
ra_2_1	double	deg	Catalog star Right Ascension, precessed to plate epoch
ra_2_2	double	deg	Catalog star Right Ascension, precessed to plate epoch
RA_TC	double	deg	Weighted Right Ascension in degrees of the lightcurve points in the selected transient window. Synonym for peakRA.
recordId	int		Unique MySQL table index
REF	char		The catalog id
reference	int		Page reference in History of the Plate Series by Martha Hazen
refmag	double	mag	Synonym for the Stdmag, the GSC2.3.2 magnitude.
refmag_1	double	mag	Synonym for the Stdmag, the GSC2.3.2 magnitude.
refmag_2	double	mag	Synonym for the Stdmag, the GSC2.3.2 magnitude.
REFNumber	long		Star reference designation expressed as an integer
refstars	int	ct	Number of reference stars to use for WCS fitting. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
REF_1	char		The GSC2.3.2 ID.
REF_2	char		The GSC2.3.2 ID.
rejectFlag	int		Local calibration bin rejection reason.
reject_count	int	ct	Number of images rejected because of high drad in a spatial bin.
reject_reason	int		Lightcurve rejection reason.
reject_reason1	int		Unmasked reject_reason for a lightcurve image
reject_reason2	int		Masked reject_reason for a lightcurve image
releaseField	int	ct	DASCH release field (1-12)
rightAscension	char	HH:MM:SS	J2000 Right Ascension
rightMargin	int	pix	Right margin in pixels
rmag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 sdss r magnitude
rmagerr	double	mag	SDSS r magnitude error
rms	double	mag	The average locally corrected magnitude rms error for an entire spatial bin.
rmsdradrms2	double	deg	Standard deviation of lightcurve dradRMS2
rms_1	double	mag	The average locally corrected magnitude rms error for an entire spatial bin.
rms_2	double	mag	The average locally corrected magnitude rms error for an entire spatial bin.
rms_factor	double	mag	RMS of the lightcurve divided by the median error; valid variables have a larger rms_factor
rms_local	double	mag	In annular9.m, the RMS of the locally corrected good magnitudes in a lightcurve.
rootFlag	int		If nonzero, the observation is selected as the root observation of a Transient Candidate
rotation	int	deg	Angle in degrees between original mosaic and mosaic with North up.
row	double		Kepler satellite CCD row
rowCutoff	int	ct	If greater than equal to this number of empty bins, consider the row empty
scale	double	arcsec/pix	Plate scale in arcsec per pixel
scale1	double	arcsec/pix	Fitted scale in arcsec per pixel, first coordinate. WCStools 'imwcs' result.
scale2	double	arcsec/pix	Fitted scale in arcsec per pixel, second coordinate WCStools 'imwcs' result.
scaleDrift	double		Scale drift during WCS fitting. (1- ratio of scales).
scalex	double	arcsec/pix	x-axis arcseconds per pixel
scaley	double	arcsec/pix	y-axis arcseconds per pixel
scanComment	char		Scan comment
scanDate	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Date scanned
scanExposure	double	s-3	Scanner exposure time in milliseconds
scanJD	double	JD	Julian Date of the plate scan
scanLinearityJD	double	JD	Julian Date of the last linearity test prior to the scan
scanNumber	int		Scan number for this plate
scanTime	long	s	Unix seconds
scratchFlag	int	bit	SExtractor image is a plate scratch
sdsscolor	double	mag	SDSS g - r color
searchTableSize	int	ct	Total number of points used for multiple exposure correlation
secdepth	double	mag	OGLE depth of secondary eclipse
selected	int	bit	Entry has been selected.
sensorIndex	int	ct	Magnetic sensor on the plate washer
separation	double	pix	Fitting separation in pixels (obsolete use in arcsec in fithistory). WCStools 'imwcs' result.
sequence	int		Measurement position within a lightcurve graph
serial	char		Disk serial number
series	char		Plate series indicating the telescope or lens used to photograph the plate
seriesId	int		Index into the plate series table
Sextractor_Blend	double	ct	Number of good points with the sextractor blend or neighbors bits set
SEXTRNUMBER	int		Synonym for NUMBER to avoid MySQL keyword
SFLAGS	int		FLAGS bits from sextractor
Sig_TC	double	arcsec	Maximum value of peakDradRMS2 and peakDradRMS3
single_count_limit1	double	ct	Minimum significant correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
single_count_limit2	int	ct	Minimum significant correlation count actually used (parselogs and search_close3)
single_count_med1	double	ct	Median correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
single_count_rms1	double	ct	RMS of the correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
single_maxBinCount1	int	ct	Maximum correlation bin count (parselogs and search_close3)
single_maxBinSNR1	double	ct	maxBinCount divided by count_rms (parselogs and search_close3)
single_maxCtrMaskArea	int	ct	Maximum mask area with maskCenterFlag set (parselogs and search_close3)
single_maxMaskArea	int	ct	Maximum mask area (parselogs and search_close3)
single_totalMasksSector	int	ct	total number of masks in a sector (parselogs and search_close3)
slope_60	double	mag-3/yr	lightcurve slope for points before 1960
slope_60_err	double	mag-3/yr	lightcurve slope standard deviation for points before 1960
slope_all	double	mag-3/yr	lightcurve slope
slope_all_err	double	mag-3/yr	lightcurve slope standard deviation
smoothedADU	double	ct	smoothedADU at peakYIndex
SMOOTH_BACKGROUND	double	ct	Smoothed background at centroid position (deprecated)
solutionHeader	enum	bit	If 'no', the exposureNumber column is really the solutionNumber; otherwise 'yes'
solutionNumber	int		The zero-based exposure number in the order found by astrometry.wcs in a multiple exposure image
solutionNumber_1	int		The zero-based exposure number in the order found by astrometry.wcs in a multiple exposure image
solutionNumber_2	int		The zero-based exposure number in the order found by astrometry.wcs in a multiple exposure image
source	enum		Source of plates table entry 'Catalog','Logbook', or 'JPEG' expanded with 'logindex','estimate', or 'noknownlog' in logindexnew
spatial_bin	short	byte	annular ring on the plate where the star appears (1 = centermost, 9 = outermost)
spatial_bin_1	short	byte	annular ring on the plate where the star appears (1 = centermost, 9 = outermost)
spatial_bin_2	short	byte	annular ring on the plate where the star appears (1 = centermost, 9 = outermost)
speed	double	ct	Unrelated to astronomy
squareBorder	enum	bit	If 'yes' solution used a square region; otherwise 'no'. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
squareCount	int	ct	Number of square emulsion plates
squareCutoff	int	ct	Value of maxIy-minIy. If less than equal the plate is square
src_name	char		Search query source name
stackFilingBin	int	ct	Plate Stack Filing Location (1-226)
stackLocation	char		Location in the plate stacks
starCount	int	ct	Number of images in for the gsc bin in a photometry database file
start	char	HH:MM:SS	Logbook time of exposure start
startupJD	double	JD	Julian Date of the scanner software startup
stationIndex	int	ct	Unrelated to astronomy
status	enum	bit	WCS fit result 'succeeded' or 'failed'
std2	double	ct	Ratio of bin 9 clipped and 3 sigma clipped ADU to the median ADU
Stdmag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 magj magnitude
Stdmag_1	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 magj magnitude
Stdmag_2	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 magj magnitude
stop	char	HH:MM:SS	Logbook time of exposure end
suffix	char		Suffix for duplicate plate numbers
suffixBase	int		Suffix base for duplicate plate numbers. Original plateNumber is (plateNumber - suffixBase)
table1MaxRatio	double		peak/ave correlation ratio for table1 of search_close
table1Peak	int	ct	peak correlation value for table1 of search_close
table1_dimlimit	double	mag	limiting MAG_ISO found by search_close
table2Peak	int	ct	peak correlation value for table2 of search_close
table2Ratio	double		peak/ave correlation ratio for table2 of search_close
THETA_IMAGE	double	deg	Position angle (CCW/x) determined by sextractor
THETA_J2000	double	deg	Image angle in degrees East of North. See sextractor manual.
THETA_J2000_1	double	deg	Image angle in degrees East of North. See sextractor manual.
THETA_J2000_2	double	deg	Image angle in degrees East of North. See sextractor manual.
THRESHOLD	double	ct	Detection threshold above background. See sextractor manual.
THRESHOLD_1	double	ct	Detection threshold above background. See sextractor manual.
THRESHOLD_2	double	ct	Detection threshold above background. See sextractor manual.
tile	int		Tile position number in the scan pattern. Actual tiles have name Exposure_'tile'.fit
tileJD	double	JD	Julian Date of a flatfield tile
tileMaskType	int	ct	rows relative tile location within a mosaic (see Catalog.h)
timeAccuracy	double	d	Accuracy of logbook time in days
timeSource	enum	bit	Exposure time source, either 'Catalog' or 'Logbook'
timeSpent	int	s	Seconds used for WCS fitting
timeStamp	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Time of last write to the database
timeType	char		Known date type ('EST', 'LST', 'UT', 'SASE' ...)
tolerance	int	pix	WCS fitting tolerance in pixels. WCStools 'imwcs' input parameter.
topMargin	int	pix	Top plate margin in pixels
totalMasks	int	ct	total number of masks in a sector (parselogs and search_close3)
transform	set		Transform between scan and mosaic 'Flip' and/or 'Mirror'. Used with 'rotation' to match raw tiles with positions in the final mosaic.
turnOffForward	int	ct	Magnetic turn off position in the forward direction on the plate washer
turnOffReverse	int	ct	Magnetic turn off position in the reverse direction on the plate washer
turnOnForward	int	ct	Magnetic turn on position in the forward direction on the plate washer
turnOnReverse	int	ct	Magnetic turn on position in the reverse direction on the plate washer
type	char		The GSC2.3.2 ID.
u	double	mm	Aerotech stage u position in mm. Slave gantry position
ucd	char		Unified Content Descriptor
unbound	enum	bit	Logbook volume is bound if 'b' otherwise 'u'
uncertain	enum	bit	If 'yes', there is uncertainty in the location
unit	char		Variable physical unit
unmatched	int	ct	Number of good (AFLAGS == 0) images unmatched to the catalog for a plate
updateflag	enum	bit	If 'yes' then the star summary data needs to be updated; otherwise 'no'
upper_limit	double	mag	upper limit: limiting_mag - 2*error, where the error is the overall RMS in the annular9.m photom fitting
upper_limit_1	double	mag	upper limit: limiting_mag - 2*error, where the error is the overall RMS in the annular9.m photom fitting
upper_limit_2	double	mag	upper limit: limiting_mag - 2*error, where the error is the overall RMS in the annular9.m photom fitting
variableDescription	char		Description of variable
variableFlag	int	ct	If 1, object is in the AAVSO VSX database
variableName	char		Variable name in this table
verified	enum	bit	Observatory location is approximate if 'no'; otherwise 'yes';
version	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Date logbook transcription was last edited
versionDate	char	Y-M-D,h:m:s	Photometry data version date
versionId	int		Index into the photometry version table for GSC2.3.2 stars
versionId1	int		Index into the photometry version table for Kepler Input Catalog stars
versionId2	int		Index into the photometry version table for APASS catalog stars
versionName	char		Photometry data version name
VFlag	int	bit	If nonzero, the catalog star has an uncertain magnitude.
VFlag_1	int	bit	If nonzero, the catalog star has an uncertain magnitude.
VFlag_2	int	bit	If nonzero, the catalog star has an uncertain magnitude.
vmagerr	double	mag	Johnson B magnitude error
vmaxmag	double	mag	OGLE V-band maximum magnitude
volume	int		Logbook volume numbers
VTmag	double	mag	GSC2.3.2 Tycho2 visual magnitude
wcsnref	int	ct	Number of stars used for WCS matching
WCSSource	enum	bit	Source of the WCS fit, either 'Logbook' or 'imWCS'
width	int	pix	Mosaic width
widthJPEG	int	pix	Length of the x axis of the CameraPC image
wLongitude	double	deg	West Longitude of the observatory in degrees
x	double	mm	Aerotech stage x position in mm
xAutoExposeTable	double	m-3	Aerotech X-axis Auto-expose position
xbins	int		Number of horizontal smoothing bins (normally 50)
xcoord	double	pix	Mosaix x-axis of the bin center for magnitude-dependent calibration
xcoord_magdep	double	pix	x-axis center of the magnitude-dependent correction bin
xIndex	int	pix	Correlation offset in pixels
xPixJPEG	int	pix	X-axis brightest selected spot on the CameraPC image
xPos	double	m-3	Aerotech X position for the tile
xval	double	pix	x-axis position in pixels for calculation of dxmedian and dymedian.
X_IMAGE	double	pix	Mosaic x-axis pixel position of the image. See sextractor manual.
X_IMAGE_1	double	pix	Mosaic x-axis pixel position of the image. See sextractor manual.
X_IMAGE_2	double	pix	Mosaic x-axis pixel position of the image. See sextractor manual.
X_WORLD	double	deg	Barycenter position along world x axis. See sextractor manual.
y	double	mm	Aerotech stage y position in mm
yAutoExposeTable	double	m-3	Aerotech Y-axis Auto-expose position
ybins	int		Number of vertical smoothing bins (normally 50)
ycoord	double	pix	Mosaic y-axis of the bin center for magnitude-dependent calibration
ycoord_magdep	double	pix	y-axis center of the magntiude-dependent correction bin
year	double	yr	Calendar year of an image
yIndex	int	pix	Correlation offset in pixels
yPixJPEG	int	pix	Y-axis brightest selected spot on the CameraPC image
yPos	double	m-3	Aerotech Y position for the tile
yrbegin	double	yr	Beginning calendar year of a lightcurve
yrend	double	yr	Ending calendar year of a lightcurve
yval	double	pix	y-axis position in pixels for calculation of dxmedian and dymedian
Y_IMAGE	double	pix	Mosaix y-axis pixel position of the image. See sextractor manual.
Y_IMAGE_1	double	pix	Mosaix y-axis pixel position of the image. See sextractor manual.
Y_IMAGE_2	double	pix	Mosaix y-axis pixel position of the image. See sextractor manual.
Y_WORLD	double	deg	barycenter position along world y axis. See sextractor manual.
z	double	mm	Aerotech stage z position in mm Primary gantry position
Zfinal	double	mag	dmag correction for magnitude-dependent calibration
zmag	double	mag	SDSS z magnitude
zmagerr	double	mag	SDSS z magnitude error
zout	double	mag	median magnitude correction needed in a given plate ragion
Zrms1	double	mag	initial rms before correction for magnitude-dependent calibration
Zrms2	double	mag	final rms after correction for magnitude-dependent calibration

Notes on Database Variables

Plate Selection

Plates are referenced by a plate series which usually identifies individual telescopes; and a plate number, which usually increases monotonically for every plate exposed at the telescope. Any disk files related to a plate have the extended designation:

{series}{plateNumber}_{mosaicNumber}_{binning}{rotationString}ww{solutionString}{qualifierString}{fileSuffix}

where

• rotationString is null for zero degrees and r{rotation} for other angles
  
• solutionString is null for the first solution and _s{solutionNumber} for successive solutions of a multiple-exposure plate
  
• qualifierString is null for the primary GSC2.3.2-calibrated database stream, _{qualifier} for alternate streams such as 'kepler' for photometry data calibrated with the Kepler Input Catalog and 'apass' for data calibrated with the APASS catalog)
  
• fileSuffix defines the type of file.

Observatory Location

Telescopes did not necessary remain at one location but were moved between observatories worldwide.

Plate Class

The plate class serves to identify the kind of exposure that was taken and is useful in filtering out plates that may require special techniques for analysis or for selecting plates taken with particular filters or gratings.

Plate Jacket Photographs

Prior to scanning, a photograph was taken of every plate jacket to capture standard plate information and additional notations that may have been made by observers or researchers.

Plate Annotation Photographs

Many researchers made ink annotations on the rear of plates to identify objects. Up until 2023, if such annotations were found prior to scanning, they were photographed and then the annotations were cleaned from the plate. The emulsion side of the plates was never cleaned.

Fitted Plate Scale

Average plate scale from available WCS fits in arc seconds per mm. This column can not be comprehensive because of the following anomalies:

• The mc series notably has two separate scales because the telescope was refigured after plate 3499. Plates subsequent to 4171 were taken with a curved plate holder.
• The mb series uses a different telescope between plates 2389 and 2721 inclusive.

These anomalies are currently hard-coded in the database access software.

Exposure Information

Many of the plates have multiple exposures to increase the dynamic range of the emulsion, include calibration fields, or look for short-period brightness changes. For each exposure, the Right Ascension and Declination are calculated for the center of the plate.

Geocentric and Heliocentric Dates

The time of the exposure is expressed as a geocentric date. The corresponding heliocentric date is calculated with reference to the right ascension and declination of the center of the plate. Since some plate series contain plates which cover wide areas of the sky, the heliocentric date may vary significantly from the value at the center of the plate.

If the user specifies a specific location or object in the search page, then the Julian Date result will show the heliocentric date for that object in the search page results table.

For Starbase tables provided by the website, a lower case "date" column header represents a geocentric date and an upper case "Date" column header represents a heliocentric date.

For a discussion of the accuracy of the heliocentric dates in the DASCH lightcuves, see Time Accuracy.

Plate Center Source and Date Source

The initial digitization effort involved typing in the card catalog for the stacks. Approximately 129,000 catalog entries were digitized prior to the availability of initial results from the plate scanner. At this point, the scanner results showed that the Julian Date information available in the card catalog was not of sufficient accuracy for the discovery of objects such as eclipsing binaries. The decision was then made to photograph and digitize the logbooks which were the source of the card catalog data. Information from the card catalog is still designated as Catalog and this information will be eventually replaced by information from the logbooks which are designated by Logbook.

Because the logbook plate centers have a median error of about 0.5 degrees, these logbook plate centers will eventually be replaced with the results of wcs fitting to star catalogs which are designated by imWCS or WCS. For the source of the exposure time, only Catalog and Logbook apply.

Exposure Notes

The digitized card catalog information contains a remarks field which is preserved in the database.

Nearby Objects

This list consists of a series of nearby objects followed by their distance in arcseconds. The list is valid only to within 0.5 degrees of a given search center. The list consists of one of each of the following three object types:

• Variable stars within 56 arcsec. Variables come from two sources: (1) the The AAVSO International Variable Star Index (Version 2017-11-13) which uses types from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars and (2) The OGLE Collection of Variable Stars. Over 450 000 Eclipsing and Ellipsoidal Binary Systems Toward the Galactic Bulge Soszyński, I. et al., Acta Astronomica (2016) 66, 405. The OGLE collection uses the following types which we prefix with OGLE: (C - contact, NC - non-contact, CV - cataclysmic variable, ELL - ellipsoidal variable). Because 1870 variables are in both catalogs, only VSX listings appear for these duplicates.

• Galaxies within 10 arcmin if the distance to the galaxy center is within twice the semi-major axis of the galaxy. The galaxies come from HYPERLEDA. I. Identification and designation of galaxies. G. Paturel et al.(PGC), The Updated Zwicky Catalog of Galaxies E. E. Falco et al. (UZC), Southern Galaxy Catalogue. A Catalogue of 5481 Galaxies South of Declination -17 Degrees Found on 1.2m U.K. Schmidt IIIa-J Plates H.H. Corwin et al. (SGC) and the Uppsala General Catalog of GalaxiesP. Nilson (UGC) updated with Arcsecond Positions of UGC Galaxies,W. D. Cotton et. al.

  The 10 arcmin galaxy distance excludes only 20 of the largest galaxies in all of the catalogs.If the semi-major axis of the galaxy is unknown, then a default value of 6 arcsec is used. This default value provides most of the matches among galaxy catalog objects with unknown radii.

• NGC 2000.0 ed. R.W. Sinnott, 1988, Sky Publishing Corporation
• Calibration catalog stars within 56 arcsec if the object of interest has not been matched to a calibration catalog star. A DASCH magnitude of the star is include in parentheses

Time Accuracy

There are a number of automated checks possible on the digitized logbook data. The results of these checks is a time accuracy estimate to give researchers an indication of the reliability of the quoted time. Time accuracy is not available for catalog entries. A default value of -1 is used for an unknown time accuracy.

For individual photometric observations, the website uses heliocentric dates calculated with Jessica Mink's WCSTools package. This package provides UT values where valid and extrapolations of UT for earlier dates. Because the package does not provide barycentric dates, the website accuracy can not be better than approximately 2.6 seconds.

For most DASCH plates the time accuracy of a photometric flare can not be better then the exposure time of the plate. A 90 minute patrol exposure has a timeAccuracy of +/- 45 minutes. The median exposure time for all of our logbook entries is 45 minutes. We have only ~180,000 logbook exposures with a timeAccuracy > 1 minute and an exposure time between 1 and 20 minutes.

A detailed description of time algorithms with references in Jessica Mink's WCSTools software. These references appear in the utdt (Compute difference between UT and dynamical time (ET-UT)) subroutine in the dateutil.c module.

The two lightcurves on the left show a test of the correctness of Jessica's algorithms over 100 years. These lightcurves are of the eclipsing variable DV Cep from the DASCH public website. This particular variable was selected from the AAVSO VSX catalog using the "E" eclipsing binary variable type from the GCVS Variability Types list. The lc_ATLAS2_986321200_DV_Cep.gif shows good coverage from 1900 to 1990 because this eclipsing binary is close to the North Galactic Pole where DASCH lightcurves have the largest plate counts. The lc_ATLAS2_986321200_DV_Cep_folded.gif is a folded lightcurve at this star's published period of 1.1619738 days. Here the 7 digit period accuracy means that this binary is accurate to 3 seconds over 90 years. The range of errors in the minimum time of the lightcurve is approximately 90 minutes.

Logbook Information

The database contains images of 663 bound logbook volumes and approximately 500 loose leaf logbooks. Some of the data has been digitized at Harvard and in India, but currently the data is being digitized by volunteers at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. We appreciate the assistance of Dr Michael Shara, Curator, Dept. of Astrophysics, Holly Klug, Supervisor of Explainer Programs, Dept. of Volunteer Services and their team of volunteers.

All of these photographs are available for browsing.

Exposure Start and Stop Times

Exposure start and stop times were generally recorded in Local Sidereal Time, but in some cases Eastern Standard Time or Universal Time was used. The time type in use can usually be determined from the plate center right ascension and the hour angle. The final reported exposure time in the plate exposure information table is the average of the start and stop times. These times are given to a varying number of significant digits and are used to initialze the time accuracy entry.

Hour Angle

The hour angle was reported not only in the standard sense of increasing time West of the meridian, but sometimes the opposite. Occasionally errors in the sign of the angle can be detected from the context of the rest of the observation.

Logbook Remark

Because comments entered into the logbooks have no defined formats, the typists were instructed to enter either Y or N. Some transcriptions, however, do have transcriptions of the original logbook remark. If this field is blank, the logbook remark was not transcribed or may appear in the notes column.

Logbook Notes

Entries are usually entered at Harvard for certain targets of opportunity. These notes contain the reason for transcription.

Errors Detected by Automated Checks

A number of automatic checks of the logbook data are possible. If one of these checks fail, then the reported time accuracy is reduced accordingly or simply set to 1 day if the actual error magnitude is not obvious. The following definition list shows the error check flags that appear in the database should one of these tests fail. The versions referred to below are used to differentiate new logbook data being entered into the database from previously existing logbook data.

Error Code	Description
Discrepancy	Discrepancy between India and Cambridge transcriptions. (Deprecated because of exposure number uncertainty for multiple exposures)
E vs W Fixed	E Hour angle mistaken for W or vice-versa. Automatically corrected
Bad Date Fixed	Bad date fixed from nearby data (Not yet implemented)
Bad Date	Bad date which has not been corrected
12H Fixed	12 Hour LST error Fixed
Exposure Times Disagree	Exposure Times Disagree
Non-Numeric Exposure	Non-numeric exposure time
Daylight Exposure	Exposure while sun is up
Bad Volume Number	Volume numbers disagree
HA not LST minus RA	Error in Hour Angle
Field Length Exceeded	Field Length Exceeded
Bad Remark	Remark field not "Y" or "N", corrected to "N"
Bad Multiple (OLD)	Multiple exposures on different pages - compared with old version
Bad Multiple (NEW)	Multiple exposures on different pages - compared with current version
Decreasing plateNumber	Plate number not monotonically increasing
Unknown Time Type	Unable to determine if time is LST, UT, or EST because longitide is missing
Below Horizon	The telescope is apparently pointing below the horizon
Bad Page	Error decoding the logbook volume and page
Bad Time Type	Best type type is not the expected time type
Unrecognized Time Type	Can not decode the time type in the transcription
Unexpected Time Type	Transcription time type disagrees with the ranges table
Bad RA	Right Ascension less than 0 hours or greater than 24 hours. NOTE: In some cases, the Right Ascension was deliberately written greater than 24 hours. For these cases, 24 hours should be subtracted from the Right Ascension.
Bad Declination	Declination less than -90 degrees or greater than +90 degrees. Note: In some cases, the Declination was deliberately written greater than 90 degrees or less than 90 degrees. For these cases, subtract positive declinations from 180 and negative declinations from -180 and add 12H to the hour angle.
Incomplete Julian Day	Julian Day fractional part is missing
Julian Day Mismatch	Transcribed Julian Day does not match calculated Julian Day
Time Decreasing	Exposure time not monotonically increasing

Logbook Digitization

The project to image the logbooks started in early 2006 and was accomplished by George Champine whose report appears below. We regret that George Champine passed away on March 25, 2013.

The digitized logbook photographs are available for browsing.

Determining Optimum Photographic Parameters

The first step of the logbook digitization project was to run a set of experiments to determine the optimum resolution and other photographic parameters. After a number of experiments of creating images of differing resolution, it was determined that a resolution of 1500 by 2000 was more than adequate to represent all of the legibility of the handwritten logbook entries without pixilation for a page size of 10 inches by 15 inches.

Equipment

A copy stand was constructed with three lights. Wood guides were attached to allow quick and accurate positioning of the logbook under the camera. Illumination was 400 watts at 22 inches. A camera-to-logbook distance of 21 inches was used to minimize off-axis distortion and yet obtain adequate image size. Images were captured with a Nikon Coolpix 995 with resolution of three million pixels. The camera was set to: manual mode, monochrome image, image sharpening, and image contrast increase. Automatic exposure was used, which was 1/30 second at F7.9. Auto focus was used to compensate for varying image distance as the logbook pages were turned. A foot-operated shutter release was constructed to speed operation and so that pages could be held flat manually. Each image is a JPG file about 0.6 MB in size.

File Naming

The page image file names that came from the camera were renamed so that the first part of the file name was the name of the logbook, and the last part was the left page number of the double page. This assures that each image can be unambiguously related to its source logbook and page. Since there are both bound and unbound logbooks, a letter "b" designates a bound book and a letter "u" designates an unbound logbook. The logbook cover image is always the first image in the folder and always has file number "-0000", giving a file name for example "rh17b-0000". If there are notes on the inside of the cover, that image always has number "-0001". Each subsequent image is numbered the same as the left page in the image. Thus the image of pages 200-201 in logbook RH17 has file name "rh17b-0200". The Bulk Rename Facility software was used to do the initial renaming, followed by a perl script. The renaming also provided a consistency check to make sure there were no missing pages or duplicated pages.

Folder Naming

The files are stored on the web server in a directory tree.The top level directory is named "LogJpeg". The second level directory is named after the plate series. The third level directory is named with the volume number prefixed by a "b" for bound volumes and "u" for unbound volumes. If the word "new" is included, then the directory contains high-resolution images photographed at the Widener Library.

Research Notebooks

The Widener Library photographed historic research notebooks for transcription. Henrietta Leavitt's notebooks appear under the pseudo-series "hsl" and Annie Jump Cannon's notebooks are appearing under the pseudo-series "ajc".

Page Scanner

Research was carried out to identify a page scanner that would meet project needs for scanning pages in loose leaf logbooks. A Fujitsu FI-5110C was procured and used in limited operation. It provided all features necessary for the project, and was very reliable in operation. Images can be stored as JPGs or PDFs, group file names can be assigned, and images can be numbered with a variable increment. Scan rate is about 15 pages per minute. Tests were run and it was found that a resolution of 150 pixels per inch was adequate to capture all of the legibility information on the pages. To be safe, a scanning resolution of 200 pixels per inch is recommended.

Logbook Digitization Completed

All 813 logbooks had been imaged, generating about 79,470 images using storage of 47 GB.

Scan and Mosaic Information

Scan Number

If a plate is scanned multiple times, the scan number keeps track of individual scans.

Mosaic Number

If a second mosaic must be created from a single scan using a new mosaic algorithm, the mosaic number identifies the algorithm. If available, a new mosaic number is assigned with the corresponding scan number. If not available, new mosaic numbers are assigned from unused scan and mosaic numbers. Afterwards, a new scan number will not be assigned an existing scan or mosaic number.

Scan Date

The scan date is important for identifying early scans which are likely to be of lower quality while the scanner was being tested. Because of the mutually exclusive means of assigning scan and mosaic numbers, the scan date is a better way to determine the order of scanning.

Average Tile ADU

Tiles are individual exposures of the scanner camera which are later combined into a mosaic. Since the scanner camera has a 12 bit CCD readout, the average tile ADU will range from the bias level of 50 ADU to the maximum level of 4095 ADU.

Average and Maximum Tile Saturation

In order to improve the dynamic range for dark plates, the scanner exposure time is automatically adjusted. However, pixels imaging film defects and other areas of missing emulsion will saturate. The saturation count is the number of pixels at 4095 ADU on a per tile basis. Since there are 16M pixels per exposure, this is the upper limit of saturation.

Scan Comment

If the average and maximum tile saturation levels reach preset amounts, the scanner software will automatically enter Saturation Error in this field. The scanner operator is free to add any additional comments describing the state of the plate or the reason for the scan.

Mosaic Comment

If a special issue arises with the creation of the mosaic, a comment will be entered here. Currently, the only comment for some mosaics is Linearity Bug which means that the mosaic should be rejected because of a bug in the early version of the mosaic algorithm.

Mosaic Binning

Normally, the mosaic algorithm generates two mosaics simultaneously. These are the full size mosaics with 1 in this field and a 16 x 16 binned mosaic with 16 in this field. Some other binning factors for early mosaics are also present, but the binning factor must be a power of two.

WCS Fit Solution

This entry indicates whether the stars on a mosaic have been fitted to a standard catalog so that an accurate plate center is known.

Mosaic Rotation

If a WCS fit solution is available, this entry indicates how much the original mosaic must be rotated in a clockwise direction so that North is up.

Photometry Pipeline Information

Plotting Symbols

The following plotting symbols are used. These symbols are defined for the WIP Plotting Software Package. The plotting codes appear in the flags database column listed above.

Symbol	Plotting Code	Description
Solid circle	17	for a good point
Small solid circle	17.5	for a good point at the edge of the plate
Open circle	22	for a large error point
Small open circle	22.5	for a large error point at the edge of the plate
Arrow pointing down	31	for not found at the indicated limiting magnitude
Small arrow pointing down	31.5	for not found at the edge of the plate
Asterisk	3	for a suspected plate defect
Triangle	7	for a high astrometric error object
Open square	6	for a Pickering Wedge object
Solid square	16	for an object with high or unknown extinction
Arrow pointing up	30	for an object too bright for the photometric algorithm
Diamond	11.5	for a blended object
Cusped square	10.5	for a high local correction object
Letter b	98.5	for an object considered blended by sextractor, but not by the pipeline because of the low threshold we used in running sextractor
Letter c	99.5	for a good object without color correction
Letter q	13.5	for a good object in a plate with: multiple exposures, gratings, red or yellow filters, Pickering Wedge, spectra, fails colorterm metropolis algorithm, or fails colorterm limits.

AFLAGS

This field is a bitmap of photometry pipeline warnings which exclude a magnitude measurement from being included in the summary statistics for a star. Bits 16-18 come from the GSC2.3.2 class field, but only the code for a non-star is currently defined. Bits 20-23 are cases of blended stars. A case B blend is a single image that covers multiple GSC2.3.2 stars. A case C blend is a single GSC2.3.2 star that can be matched to multiple images. A case D blend is multiple GSC2.3.2 stars matching multiple images. Processing of this blend involves subdividing it into smaller groups of matches with the above blend designations: i.e. DA, DB, and DC. The showflags utility can decode the AFLAGS field into its constituent bits. Bits marked with an asterisk below are not used to filter measurements when computing overall lightcurve RMS values on the website home page.

Bit Position	Decimal Value	Hexadecimal Value	Description
6	64	40	*Object has a high background level
7	128	80	*Plate fails quality criterion
8	256	100	Unmatched object on a multiple-exposure plate
9	512	200	*Object has more than 1.1 hour time uncertainty preventing an accurate extinction calculation
10	1024	400	*Object is a multiple exposure blend
11	2048	800	Maximum isophotonic rms exceeded
12	4096	1000	Maximum locally smoothed rms exceeded
13	8192	2000	Star too close to the limiting magnitude
14	16384	4000	Star is in bin 9
15	32768	8000	Object rejected because bin has unknown drad.
16-18	65536	10000	Galaxy (not in GSC 2.3.2)
16-18	131072	20000	Blend (not in GSC 2.3.2)
16-18	196608	30000	Object is Non-star
16-18	262144	40000	Unclassified (not in GSC 2.3.2)
16-18	327680	50000	*Defect (not in GSC 2.3.2)
16-18	458752	70000	Duplicate Star (Added for DASCH project)
19	524288	80000	*Uncertain catalog magnitude (In the APASS catalog all Tycho2 and GSC2.3.2 objects are marked variable to remove them from the magnitude calculation algorithms.)
20	1048576	100000	*Case B - blended
21	2097152	200000	Case C - overlapping Sextractor hits for one GSC star
22	4194304	400000	Case D - mixture of cases B and C
23	8388608	800000	Object has a drad three times the bin drad or is in a bad spatial bin or local bin
24	16777216	1000000	*Object is a Pickering Wedge object
25	33554432	2000000	Object fails the defect filter
26	67108864	4000000	*Copy of the Sextractor blended flag
27	134217728	8000000	Rejected blended object - avoid plotting a limiting magnitude.
28	268435456	10000000	Rejected because of high smoothing correction
29	536870912	20000000	Object is too bright for accurate magnitudes
30	1073741824	40000000	*Object is within 23.5 degrees of horizon

BFLAGS

This field is a bitmap of photometry pipeline conditions which provide additional information concerning how the image was processed. Bits 12-15 are GSC2.3.2 magnitude substitution flags which depend on the setting of bit 23. The showflags utility can decode the BFLAGS field into its constituent bits. Note that bits 12-15 now contain the definitions defined in MAGFlags below.

Bit Position	Decimal Value	Hexadecimal Value	Description
0	1	1	Object has neighbors
1	2	2	Object was blended with another
2	4	4	At least one pixel is saturated
3	8	8	Object is too close to the image boundary
4	16	10	Object aperture data incomplete or corrupted
5	32	20	Object isophotal data incomplete or corrupted
6	64	40	Memory overflow during deblending
7	128	80	Memory overflow during extraction
8	256	100	Magnitude adjusted for a blended star (currently unused)
9	512	200	Object has low drad but it is in a high drad bin (currently unused)
10	1024	400	Object PSF considered saturated (ISO5/ISO4 > 0.7) and ((BACKGROUND+FLUX_MAX) > 7500)
11	2048	800	Magnitude-dependent calibration has been applied.
12	4096	1000	JMag substituted for JpgMag (deprecated)
13	8192	2000	BMag substituted for JpgMag (deprecated)
14	16384	4000	RMag substituted for FpgMag (deprecated)
15	32768	8000	VMag substituted for FpgMag (deprecated)
16	65536	10000	Good star processed by the pipeline
17	131072	20000	Star has been calibrated with the lowess fit
18	262144	40000	Star has been locally calibrated
19	524288	80000	Magnitude has been corrected for extinction
20	1048576	100000	Magnitude calibration not possible because the star is too bright
21	2097152	200000	Bin has a valid color correction
22	4194304	400000	Color correction used the metropolis algorighm
23	8388608	800000	Interpret bits 12-15 as Kepler Input Catalog Source bits;
24	16777216	1000000	Match at end of pipeline.
25	33554432	2000000	High proper motion uncertainty
27	134217728	8000000	Spatial bin fails QUALITY_COLORTERM
28	268435456	10000000	Ra and dec have been adjusted by the bin medians
29	536870912	20000000	This plate has an uncertain Julian Date
30	1073741824	40000000	Catalog position corrected for proper motion

FitWCS

This field is a bitmap of status flags which summarize the state of pipeline processing for the mosaic.

Name	Decimal Value	Description
Selected	1	Selected for fitting
MikeShawFit	2	Previously fitted by Mike Shaw (deprecated)
Completed	4	Fitting process successful
Copied	8	Fit results copied to head cluster (deprecated)
MultFailedAstrometry	16	Fit results failed AstrometryWCS for next exposure
MultFailedSeparation	32	Fit results failed the separation criteria for the next exposure
MultSucceeded	64	Fit results succeeded for the next exposure
StaleSolution	128	Better astrometry invalidates this solution
StaleExposureNumber	256	The exposure number of this solution has been changed
Wedge	512	This is a Pickering Wedge plate
FilterBlendedTimeout	1024	The filterblended routine timed out
NoAllObjects	2048	The allobjects file for this solution is missing
DuplicateREFCount	4096	This solution shares the same stars with a previous solution
ColortermCrash	8192	The colorterm.m script has crashed and needs to be rerun
InaccuratePV	16384	The SCAMP polynomial fit has significant inaccuracy
NoneFile	32768	The {}_none.db file produced by filter_multiple is present. NOTE: this entry is an internal software flag that does not appear in database files.

MAGFlag

This variable contains flags used in the processing of the GSC2.3.2 catalog. These flags are necessary because the GSC2.3.2 catalog contains magnitudes from multiple source catalogs which used different color filters. Furthermore, there are bugs in the GSC2.3.2 catalog which generate multiple entries for certain bright sources. The goal to put all of the GSC2.3.2 objects on a single color system became possible with the availability of the Kepler Input Catalog. Initially, bits 1-4 were used to identify simple substitutions of JMag or BMag for an unavailable JpgMAG; and RMag or VMag for an unavailable FpgMAG. These definitions are now deprecated. Bits 5-6 are used to eliminate duplicate references to a star and then cleared once this goal has been accomplished. When the Kepler Input Catalog became available, color transformations are now used to put all of the six different populations in the GSC2.3.2 catalog into the reference system of the Kepler Input Catalog and then into the JpgMAG/FpgMAG reference system of the majority of GSC2.3.2 stars. The labels beginning with COLOR identify these six populations. These labels were chosen so as not to create a conflict with the older definitions during pipeline processing. For the Kepler Input Catalog, definitions preceded by KEPLER_CQ designate the source of the Kepler catalog object. This variable is currently unused for the APASS catalog.

Label	Bit	Decimal Value	Hexadecimal Value	Description
COLOR_JPGMAG_FPGMAG	x	0	0	No substitutions
COLOR_BMAG_FOR_JPGMAG	x	3	3	BMag substituted for JpgMag
COLOR_VMAG_FOR_FPGMAG	x	4	4	VMag substituted for FpgMag
COLOR_VMAG_BMAG_FOR_JPGMAG_FPGMAG	x	5	5	BMag substituted for JpgMag and VMag substituted for FpgMag
COLOR_TYCHO	x	6	6	This is a Tycho Source
COLOR_SKYMAP	x	7	7	This is a Skymap Source
JMAG_FOR_JPGMAG	1	1	1	JMag substituted for JpgMag (deprecated)
BMAG_FOR_JPGMAG	2	2	2	BMag substituted for JpgMag (deprecated)
RMAG_FOR_FPGMAG	3	4	4	RMag substituted for FpgMag (deprecated)
VMAG_FOR_FPGMAG	4	8	8	VMag substituted for FpgMag (deprecated)
SAME_LOCATION	5	16	10	Rejected because location (RA and DEC) is identical (INTERNAL)
SAME_ENTRY	6	32	20	Rejected because all fields are identical. (INTERNAL)
DUPLICATE_PAIR	7	64	40	Part of a pair of location identical objects. Reject only objects with bit 6 set (INTERNAL)
TYCHO_SOURCE	8	128	80	This is a Tycho source (INTERNAL)
SKYMAP_SOURCE	9	256	100	This is a Skymap source (INTERNAL)
KEPLER_CQ_SCP		0		Kepler Catalog Source, valid when BFLAGS bit 23 is set
KEPLER_CQ_2MASS		1		Kepler Catalog Source, valid when BFLAGS bit 23 is set
KEPLER_CQ_PHOTO		2		Kepler Catalog Source, valid when BFLAGS bit 23 is set
KEPLER_CQ_TYBV		3		Kepler Catalog Source, valid when BFLAGS bit 23 is set
KEPLER_CQ_UNCAL		4		Kepler Catalog Source, valid when BFLAGS bit 23 is set
KEPLER_CQ_NOCAL		5		Kepler Catalog Source, valid when BFLAGS bit 23 is set

quality

On December 11, 2009, Sumin Tang made the following request to eliminate common causes of outliers in her search for interesting variables: Only use the very good points AND(not blends, not defects, not high drad, not within 23.5 degrees of horizon, not in bin 9, not within 0.5 mag of the limiting magnitude, not high iso rms, not high local smoothing rms, not Pickering wedge object) in good blue plates AND(colorterm between -0.5 and 0.25 in the bin, colorflag==2, not dny plates, not dnr plates, not multiple exposures, not Pickering wedge plates) for the calculation of min_local, max_local, range_local, min_local2, max_local2, range_local2, median_local, rms_local, ngood, clip_median_local, clip_rms_local, clip_ngood, median_iso, range_iso in the ID table. For individual images, most of these conditions are handled by selecting only magntiudes with AFLAGS equal to zero. The remaining conditions are handled by this plate quality flag which marks plates that are second quality. Note that the colorterm flag does not appear in the database because this condition is dependent on the annular_bin that the image appears in. The colorterm limits were shifted to -0.067 to 0.283 when the recalibrated GSC2.3.2 catalog was introduced in January, 2010. These new colorterm limits represent the 5% and 95% tails of the new colorterm distribution for blue plates in the M44 region. Colorterm limits were revised again in November, 2012 after over 30,000 plates were scanned and additional calibration catalogs came into use. For the GSC2.3.2 catalog, the colorterm bit is set when the colorterm is outside the -0.097 to 0.410 range; for the Kepler Input Catalog, the range is -0.102 to 0.409; and the APASS calibration, the range is -0.146 to 0.195.

NOTE: in the following table, bits 10 and 11 are not in all data tables provided by the website. These bits appear only in some of the tables provided by the lightcurve access tool and may appear only if specifically requested by the user.

Name	Bit Position	Decimal Value	Description
multiple	0	1	Multiple exposure plate
grating	1	2	Grating plate
color	2	4	Color filter used for plate
colorterm	3	8	Image fails colorterm limits
wedge	4	16	Pickering Wedge plate
spectra	5	32	Spectra plate
saturated	6	64	Saturated Images (ISO5/ISO4 > 0.7) and ((BACKGROUND+FLUX_MAX) > 7500)
nomagdep	7	128	Image not Magnitude-dependent Corrected
patrol	8	256	Wide-Field Patrol Telescopes
nonpatrol	9	512	Narrow Field Telescopes
limiting	10	1024	Show Limiting Magnitudes
undetected	11	2048	Plot plates where the object was not detected
trailed	12	4096	Image trailed (ELLIPTICITY exceeds 0.6)

REF

Catalog reference number. For GSC2.3.2, these numbers begin with N or S, Kepler Input Catalog numbers are prepended with KIC. Tycho2 catalog numbers are prepended with T. APASS DR8 catalog objects are based on Right Ascension and declination: APASS_Jhhmmss.sSddmmss. The ATLAS REFCAT2 has objid values ranging from 1067906928546 to 215982419254548927 which currently can not fit into the REFNumber format described below. For this reason the website uses the record number in the ATLAS REFCAT2 database with the format ATLAS2_<record number> where the record number has a range from 1 to 992637834. However, the lightcurve query will recognize light queries in the format REFCAT2_<objid> and convert these references to sky positions. Finally, unmatched objects have the format DASCH_Jhhmmss.sSddmmss. Since the website dynamically creates positions for unmatched objects, these positions can change with each database update.

REFNumber

In order to reduce disk space, GSC2.3.2, Kepler, APASS, and DASCH designations were replaced with a sixty-four bit integer. To convert from the catalog reference (REF) to the integer (REFNumber), the following rules apply:

Catalog	Conversion
Unmatched objects	Replace NONEwith 0
GSC2.3.2	Replace N with 11 and S with 12. Be sure to retain any leading zeroes in the numeric part of the GSC2.3.2 identification.
Kepler Input Catalog	KIC catalog numbers are prepended with K. For REFNumber, replace K with 2
DASCH	DASCH and APASS designations are similar to SDSS designations which are based on Right Ascension and declination. DASCH Jhhmmss.sSddmmss becomes 3hhmmsssSddmmss where S is 1 for positive declination and 2 for negative declination. For example, DASCH J083039.3+140709 becomes 308303931140709. The only difference with APASS designations is that a 4 prefix replaces the 3 prefix.
Tycho2	Catalog numbers are prepended with T. For REFNumber, replace T with 5
ATLAS refcat2	record numbers are prepended with ATLAS2_. For REFNumber, remove ATLAS2_ and replace it with 9.

rejectFlag

These flags are set whenever the collection of images in the local bin do not meet overall quality requirements for the local bin. Such flagged images are not used in statistical analyses.

Name	Decimal Value	Description
DMAG_REJECT_HIZOUT	1	local correction bin rejected because the local correction is out of range
DMAG_REJECT_MEDIAN	2	local correction bin rejected because median brightness dimmer than the limiting magnitude
DMAG_REJECT_DRAD	4	local correction bin rejected because majority of stars have high drad

reject_reason

The lightcurve plotter compiles summaries of the reasons why individual magntiude measurements should be rejected from consideration. These flags are compiled mostly from AFLAGS with some additional error conditions.

Bit Name	Bit Position	Decimal Value	Hexadecimal Value	Description
ERROR	0	1	1	Error processing this Plate
OFFPLATE	1	2	2	Object not on plate
BINFAILURE	2	4	4	No data for this spatial bin
UNDETECTED	3	8	8	Object undetected on this plate
WEDGE	4	16	10	Object is a Pickering wedge
DRAD	5	32	20	Object has high DRAD
DEFECT	6	64	40	Object failed the defect filter
HIZOUT	7	128	80	Object in bad spatial bin
BLEND_NOMATCH	8	256	100	Object in glare of brighter object
BLEND	9	512	200	Object is blended
BIN9	10	1024	400	Object is in bin 9
LOCAL_RMS	11	2048	800	Object has high locally calibrated RMS
LIMITING_MAG	12	4096	1000	Object within 0.75 mag of the limiting magnitude
TOO_BRIGHT	13	8192	2000	Object is too bright
LOW_ALTITUDE	14	16384	4000	Object is too close to the horizon
ISO_RMS	15	32768	8000	Object has high lowess RMS
DRADBIN	16	131072	20000	Object is in a bin with too high RMS drad
COMPLEX_BLEND	17	262144	40000	Object has a case c or d blend
MULTIPLE_BLEND	18	524288	80000	Object is a multiple blend
UNCERTAIN_DATE	19	1048576	100000	Object has an uncertain date for extinction calculation
MULTIPLE_NONE	20	2097152	200000	Unmatched object on a multiple exposure plate
QUALITY	21	4194304	400000	Plate fails quality criterion - see quality
SATURATED	22	8388608	800000	Object is saturated
NOMAGDEP	23	16777216	1000000	Object has no magnituded-dependent correction.
BACKGROUND	24	33554432	2000000	Object has a high background level.

fatalError

These error codes are generated by the CheckProgress routine which is used to ensure completeness when the pipeline is rerun for all plates because of major revisions. Codes less than 100 indicate completed execution. Codes between 99 and 1000 indicate incomplete execution. Codes greater than or equal to 999 are software consistency checks.

Name	Decimal Value	Description
FATAL_NO_MATCHFILE	1	No match file found
FATAL_NO_ALLOBJECTS	2	recover_points failed
FATAL_ASTROMETRY	3	find_astrometry2 failed
FATAL_ASTROMETRY2	4	find_astrometry2 failed. None file does not exist
FATAL_MAX_SOLUTION	5	Too many solutions
FATAL_ASTROMETRYWCS_FAIL	6	AstrometryWCS failed
FATAL_MULT_FAILED_SEPARATION	7	Second solution is too close to the first
FATAL_MISSING_ALLOBJECTS	8	Allobjects missing for higher order solution
FATAL_NO_FILTER_MULTIPLE	100	filter_multiple did not run
FATAL_NO_ASTROMETRY	200	find_astrometry2 did not run
FATAL_STALE_FILTER_MULTIPLE	300	Latest summary allobjects file not later than individual solution allobject file
FATAL_NO_SUMMARY_ALLOBJECTS	400	Summary allobjects file does not exist
FATAL_NO_WCSHISTORY	500	No AstrometryWCS history available
FATAL_STALE_ALLOBJECTS	600	Allobjects stale for higher order solution - run filter_multiple
FATAL_STALE_ALLOBJECTS2	700	Allobjects stale for higher order solution - run rest of pipeline
FATAL_MISSING_MATCHFILE	800	matchfile missing for higher order solution
FATAL_STALE_MATCHFILE	900	stale matchfile for higher order solution
FATAL_NO_NEXT_MOSAIC	10000	MULTSUCCEEDED without a mosaic
FATAL_UNKNOWN_MOSAIC_STATE	20000	Unknown mosaic state
FATAL_NO_LAST_MOSAIC	30000	Could not get the last mosaic
FATAL_ORPHAN_NEXT_MOSAIC	40000	Have next mosaic but no astromfithistory
FATAL_ORPHAN_NEXT_MOSAIC2	50000	Have next mosaic but no find_astrometry
FATAL_ORPHAN_NEXT_MOSAIC3	60000	Have next mosaic but no none file
FATAL_ORPHAN_LAST_SUCCESS	70000	Have successful next mosaic but no astromfithistory
FATAL_ORPHAN_LAST_SUCCESS2	80000	Have successful next mosaic but no find_astrometry
FATAL_ORPHAN_LAST_SUCCESS3	90000	Have successful next mosaic but no none file
FATAL_ORPHAN_GOOD_ASTROMFITHISTORY	100000	Have good astromfithistory but no find_astrometry
FATAL_ORPHAN_GOOD_ASTROMFITHISTORY2	110000	Have good astromfithistory but no none file
FATAL_ORPHAN_SUCCESS_FILE	120000	Have an astrometry success file, but no none file

magcal_local_rms

This is the estimated error of the locally corrected magnitude measurement. Since adding the spatial bin rms and local correction bin rms in quadrature produces errors which are higher than the rms of the final lightcurve for constant stars, the following procedure recalculates the error based on stars of similar magnitude in the spatial bin.

1. For each spatial bin, take all of the images which have successfully completed local calibration and sort them by magcal_local, the locally corrected and magnitude-dependent corrected magnitude.
2. After sorting, divide the images into magnitude bins with 20 stars per bin. Within each bin find the 3-sigma clipped rms of (magcal_local - Stdmag) where Stdmag is the catalog magnitude adjusted by extinction. Since the mean and median values of this rms are expected to be zero, the rms calculation is zero-based rather than based on the mean.
3. For every image within the spatial bin and magnitude bin, use the rms calculated in step 2. Images dimmer the limiting magnitude will have the rms set to 99.0 and images brighter than the brightest magnitude will use the rms of the brightest magnitude bin.

extinction

Extinction estimate for an image. Because most observations used a single color filter, accurate extinction coefficients are not available. The DASCH project uses the following approximations documented in a private communication from Sumin Tang dated Thu 12/10/09 9:12 PM.

• blue plates: extinction coefficient = 0.4 - 0.2*(elevation/2300m)
• yellow plates: extinction coefficient = 0.25 - 0.11*(elevation/2300m)
• red plates: extinction coefficient = 0.2 - 0.1*(elevation/2300m)

The extinction coefficient is multiplied by the airmass given in atmospheres to provide the extinction in magnitudes for every local bin on each plate. Calibration curves use catalog manitudes adjusted by this extinction value.

Optimization for Transients

The default star matching algorithm attempts to match every observation with a catalog star by recognizing:

• Astrometric uncertainty.
• Enlargement of images by saturation.
• Trailing of images, both deliberate and accidental.
• Distortion of images.
• Blending of images with nearby catalog objects.

The transient optimization algorithm gives priority to the value of the SExtractor centroid location over all of the above issues. The search area is divided into 6 arcsec bins and all of the images are placed in these bins. To avoid boundary crossing issues, a parallel sort is performed on a second grid offset by 3 arcsec. Each maximum in this map is assigned to either a catalog star or a DASCH object in the order the number of observations within each bin. All adjacent bins are assigned to the peak bin as long as there are at least three images in these bins. This assignment progresses in the order of decreasing binned observation counts in order to preserve all local count maxima. Where there is a conflict between two objects, the bin contents will be assigned to the closest local maximum.