File Summary:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File Name Lrecl Records Explanations
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro 80 . This file
pmnsouth 96 23277 The Southern (-87.5 to -37 degrees) Survey
pmntrop 96 13363 The Tropical (-29 to -9.5 degrees) Survey
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byte-per-byte Description of file: pmnsouth
Byte-per-byte Description of file: pmntrop
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 14 A14 --- PMNJ J2000-derived source name (PMNJhhmm-ddmma).
16- 17 I2 h RAh Right Ascension J2000 (hours)
19- 20 I2 min RAm Right Ascension J2000 (minutes)
22- 25 F4.1 s RAs Right Ascension J2000 (seconds)
27 A1 - DE- Declination J2000 (sign)
28- 29 I2 deg DEd Declination J2000 (degrees)
31- 32 I2 arcmin DEm Declination J2000 (minutes)
34- 35 I2 arcsec DEs Declination J2000 (seconds)
38- 43 I6 mJy Flux [20/100053] 4850 MHz flux density derived
from the Fixed-Width fit (see Paper 1)
46- 47 I2 mJy e_Flux estimated standard error of above Flux (1)
50- 55 I6 mJy Gflux [71/84049]? general-width flux (2)
58- 59 I2 mJy e_Gflux []? error of general-width flux (2)
62- 64 F3.1 --- Wid1 [0.8/5]? fitted major source extent (3)
67- 69 F3.1 --- Wid2 [0.8/5]? fitted minor source extent (3)
72- 76 F5.1 deg Ang [0/180[? position angle of source (3)
78- 81 F4.1 --- SI [-4.5/2.6]? Spectral index alpha defined by
S(v) {prop.to.} v**alpha
computed from the present PMN fluxes at 4850
MHz and the 2700 MHz flux from PKSCAT90
84 A1 --- FlagD [JN] Session in which the source was observed:
"J" indicates the June 1990 session
"N" indicates the November 1990 session
86 A1 --- FlagX [X] "X" indicates that the source is
probably extended.
88 A1 --- FlagG [G] "G" indicates that the source lies
within 10 deg of the Galactic plane.
90 A1 --- FlagZ [Z] "Z" indicates a source which was
observed within 6 deg of the Parkes
telescope's zenith and has a
flux < 60 mJy.
92 A1 --- FlagS [S] "S" indicates that the source lies
within 5 deg of solar contamination
from the telescope's sidelobes and
the data listed may be of lower quality.
94 A1 --- FlagP [P] "P" indicates that this source lies
within 2' of a source listed in the
PKSCAT90 database and is probably
the same object.
96 A1 --- FlagM [M] "M" indicates that this source lies
within 2' of a source listed in the
Molonglo 408 MHz catalog
(Large et al. 1981) and is probably
the same object.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note (1):The error column gives the estimated standard error of the above flux. A standard error >99 mJy is listed as 99 mJy because of space limitations. We estimate the standard error (s.e.) on the flux density of a source (in mJy) to be: (s.e.)^2 = (EF)^2 + (2)^2 + (0.016.S)^2 + (EB)^2 where EF is the flux fitting error, the factor of 2 is the error from confusion, the factor of 0.016 is the gain error, and EB is an error resulting from uncertainties in the flux bias correction. Typically, EB was 1 mJy or 0.6log(S/mJy) mJy, whichever was greater. The flux fitting error, EF, was determined from our Monte Carlo simulations in each declination band and can be approximated for the Southern Survey by:
(EF)^2 = (11.8 + 0.085*dec)^2 + (0.050*S)^2
where S is in mJy and dec is the declination in degrees.
Note (2):
These columns give the 4850 MHz flux density and its error from the
"General fit". This fit was made to sources having flux densities
above 100 mJy and positions within 3' of the local maximum based on the
fixed-width fit. This fit was done to detect and measure genuinely
extended astronomical objects. We fitted a Gaussian having peak flux
density, position, semi-major axis, semi-minor axis, and position angle
as free parameters. However, because of the number of degrees of freedom
permitted, the General fit was only meaningful for stronger sources.
Note (3):
Wid1 is the maximum source half-power width normalized by the telescope
beamwidth of 4.2arcmin; Wid2 is the minimum source half-power width
normalized by the telescope beamwidth; and position angle is that of
the source's maximum dimension measured in the standard sense of North
through East (in degrees). Note that the normalized widths of sources
have a standard error of about 0.2, particularly for the weaker objects.
Courtesy: Mark Griffith: griffith@astro.washington.edu
Heinz Andernach, Francois Ochsenbein [CDS] 09-May-1994PMN Southern, Zenith, Tropical & Equatorial Surveys
This file describes the plain text versions of the point-source catalogue data obtained from the Parkes-MIT-NRAO radio surveys for the Southern, Zenith, Tropical and Equatorial zones.The declination boundaries (in degrees) of these zones are:
Southern (-87 < DEC < -37)
Zenith (-37 < DEC < -29)
Tropical (-29 < DEC < -9.5) and
Equatorial (-9.5 <DEC < +10) surveys.
The data is contained in four separate files called PMNS.TXT, PMNZ.TXT, PMNT.TXT and PMNE.TXT respectively. The fields in these files are exact duplicates of the Tables contained in the three papers presenting the survey data (Papers 2, 7, 3 & 6). Note that the flux density limits of the survey zones are not the same. See the papers for more information.
These fields are:
Name: The J2000-derived source name. The names in this list have been derived from their J2000 coordinates, in a manner similar to that used in the PKSCAT90 catalog (Wright & Otrupcek, 1990). The first three letters, "PMN", denote the Parkes-MIT-NRAO survey, and the fourth letter, "J", denotes that the equinox and equator is J2000. The rest of the name is derived from the hours and minutes of the right ascension and the degrees and minutes of the declination (both J2000). For a few objects, the name (but not the sources) is duplicated: in such cases we have appended an "a" or "b" to the name.
R.A.2000: the J2000 right ascension as hh mm ss.s.
Dec.2000: the J2000 declination as _dd mm ss.
Flux: the 4850 MHz flux density in mJy derived from the Fixed-Width fit (see Paper 1).
s.e.: the estimated standard error of the above flux. (A standard error >99 mJy is listed as 99 mJy because of space limitations: the accurate value can be obtained from the equation given in : 2.)
SI: the spectral index, computed between the present PMN fluxes at 4850 MHz and the 2700 MHz flux from PKSCAT90, for sources common to both databases.
The final columns denote various flags with the following meanings:
D: the session in which the source was observed. "J" indicates the June session and "N" the November session.
X: an "X" indicates that the source is probably extended. This information is only available for sources whose Fixed-Width fit fluxes, before the application of the flux bias corrections (see Paper 1), were stronger than 100 mJy.
G: a "G" indicates that the source lies within 10 degrees of the Galactic plane.
Z: a "Z" indicates a source which was observed within 6 degrees of the Parkes telescope's zenith and has a flux < 60 mJy. Such objects may be affected by residual problems in baseline removal and the data may be of lower quality.
S: an "S" indicates that the source lies within 5 degrees of solar contamination from the telescope's sidelobes and the data listed may be of lower quality.
P: a "P" indicates that this source lies within 2' of a source listed in the PKSCAT90 database and is probably the same object.
M: an "M" indicates that this source lies within 2' of a source listed in the Molonglo 408 MHz catalog (Large et al. 1981) and is probably the same object.
For further information about these flags, see Paper 1.
In the same directory which contains this .doc file, there is a small PC program called BROWSE.COM. This program permits browsing and finding particular sources in the data files. It contains its own help file.
Alan Wright (EMAIL: awright@atnf.csiro.au)
(Parkes Observatory, Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO,Australia)
15-JUNE-1995