GET API access to Variable Star Database

The Variable Star Database (VSD) is the collection of comparison stars plotted with our Variable Star Plotter (VSP). We have created an API for the public to query the VSD and get back photometry on those comparison stars. This is basically the same data shown in the "photometry table" option of VSP, except it is in a delimited format easily parsed by automated software. In other words, you can use this format for your own scripts/software/etc. The format may change over time, but we will attempt to keep the changes to a minimum and will add fields to the end of the format, so make it easier for you to maintain.

To access the delimited version via the GET method, put &delimited=yes in the URL, below is a sample:

http://www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/vsp.pl?name=ss+del&ra=&dec=&charttitle=&chartcomment=&fov=30&maglimit=16.5&ccdtable=on&delimited=yes [1]

The format is delimited by the pipe (|) character. The fields are:

1. AUID
2. RA
3. Declination
4. Chart Label
5. U magnitude
6. U Mag error
7. U Mag source
8. B magnitude
9. B Mag error
10. B Mag source
11. V magnitude
12. V Mag error
13. V Mag source
14. Rc magnitude
15. Rc Mag error
16. Rc Mag source
17. I magnitude
18. I Mag error
19. I Mag source
20. J magnitude
21. J Mag error
22. J Mag source
23. H magnitude
24. H Mag error
25. H Mag source
26. K magnitude
27. K Mag error
28. K Mag source
29. Sloan U magnitude
30. Sloan U Mag error
31. Sloan U Mag source
32. Sloan G magnitude
33. Sloan G Mag error
34. Sloan G Mag source
35. Sloan R magnitude
36. Sloan R Mag error
37. Sloan R Mag source
38. Sloan I magnitude
39. Sloan I Mag error
40. Sloan I Mag source
41. Sloan Z magnitude
42. Sloan Z Mag error
43. Sloan Z Mag source
44. Comments
45. Chart ID

At the end of the file will be the keyword Count=.

The value of that keyword will be one of the following:

1. X where X is the total number of stars in the photometry list
2. 0 when we don't have have any photometry for the field in which you searched
3. NA when the star name you put in the search was not resolved by VSX [2]

Click here for information about plotting charts via the GET method [3] and for definitions for the other keywords in the URL.