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| Paper: |
A Tool to Explore Astronomical Databases and Transform Data into Planetarium Formats |
| Volume: |
535, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXXI |
| Page: |
235 |
| Authors: |
Soancatl-Aguilar, V.; Mathlener, A.; Roerdink, J. B. T. M.; Valentijn, E. A.; Williams, O. R. |
| Abstract: |
The Virtual Observatory can provide a valuable source of material for presentations in digital planetaria. However, importing data from the Virtual Observatory can be a time-consuming process. Data must be downloaded manually from a web portal or programatically by using an API (Application Program Interface). The data must then be transformed into one of the formats used in digital planetaria: this can be done by ad-hoc scripts but writing them takes time and is prone to error. The Data2Dome consortium provides an excellent source of data for digital planetaria, but does not provide a tool to access archival catalogues in a flexible way. Here we present a tool that can accelerate the transformation of astronomical data into formats that can be ingested in display systems commonly used in digital planetaria. The tool consists of a graphical user interface that provides the ability to explore and query a range of different sources of astronomical data, such as KiDS, Gaia, and SDSS. It can store queries in a database and transform the data into appropriate planetarium formats. Prototypes of this tool have been used to prepare data for use in presentations in the DOTliveplanetarium in Groningen. It has been shown to be a convenient method of preparing presentations by professional astronomers on specialist subjects. |
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