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An encoding system to represent stellar spectral classes in archival databases and catalogs
Version 1.02

IVOA Note 01 October 2008

Interest/Working Group:
http://www.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/IvoaSemantics
Author(s):
Myron Smith, Randall Thompson, Richard Gray, Chris Corbally, Inga Kamp
Editor(s):
Myron Smith

Abstract

The astronomical data archives from space and ground-based telescopes present a vast opportunity for the community. We describe a classification encoding system for stellar spectra designed for archival databases that organizes the spectral data by “spectral classes.” These classes are encoded into a digital format of the form TT.tt.LL.PPPP, where TT and tt refer to spectral type and subtype, LL to luminosity class, and PPPP to possible spectral peculiarities. As a data source, the Multi-Mission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST) plans to use an extant comprehensive web-based catalog of “best” spectral types for those stars listed in MAST’s spectroscopic mission database. The encoding system will allow users to request archived data based on spectral class ranges, thereby streamlining an otherwise tedious data discovery process.

Status of this document

This is an IVOA Note expressing suggestions from and opinions of the authors.
It is intended to share best practices, possible approaches, or other perspectives on interoperability with the Virtual Observatory. It should not be referenced or otherwise interpreted as a standard specification.



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