Variable Star Chart Database

060515 Update: This file is about to be removed from service in favor of a new MySQL database that will be hosting our chart information. When that is ready we will post a copy of the database in both SQL and #-deliminated version to this web page.

The Online Chart Search Engine uses a database which is a combination of the AAVSO validation file, legacy chart catalogs, GCVS, and other variable star catalogs. There are approximately 2100 objects in the database as of summer, 2002.

The database is available to everyone. Be aware that the database is not perfect and is undergoing constant changes (usually weekly). We make no promises concerning accuracy. We feel the database is 98% current, but there may be some charts mislabelled, left out, etc. If you find any please e-mail charts@aavso.org so that we may update this database.

• united.txt

Format

The database is line deliminated, and within each line it is separated by #'s. There are 10 columns:

• Column 1: AAVSO Designation
• Column 2: Star Name (according to AAVSO validation file)
• Column 3: Cross reference chart. This means the star can also be found on the chart for this object. The string is parsed like this: XXXYY_ZZ where X is constellation, Y is the star letter/name, and Z is the scale.
• Column 4: Type
• Column 5: Magnitude range
• Column 6: Period
• Column 7: Spectrum (sometimes comments are placed here - we are working to clean that up)
• Column 8: Comments (from AAVSO staff)
• Column 9: If the star is in the AAVSO Variable Star Atlas, the atlas chart number is here.
• Column 10: Charts

Column 10, the charts, is deliminated by commas. Each chart is a path on the AAVSO FTP site (and also on our CDROMs) that takes you to that chart. Usually, but not always, the path is XXX/XXX_YY/XXXYY-ZZ.EXT where XXX is the constellation, YY is the star letter/name, ZZ is the scale, and EXT is the chart type (usually GIF & ZIP for PostScript, but sometimes also JPG, PNG, etc.).