NED Frequently Asked Questions

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(Latest revision: 19 December 2006)

NED Interface

(Q) : How can I get a permanent record of my search results?

(Q) : How do I get copies of the abstracts e-mailed to me?

(Q) : Is there a way to have the defaults in NED query pages automatically cleared of options?

NED and other catalogs

(Q) : Why doesn't NED have any information about the Sun, the planets, or the stars?

(Q) : What images are included in NED?

(Q) : How may I contribute my FITS images or spectra to NED?

(Q) : What is the difference between "STRICT" and "LIBERAL" in the IAU-format search?

(Q) : Not all of the IRAS catalog entries seem to be in NED. Are some sources missing?

(Q) : There are only 1500 entries in the Markarian catalog. Yet NED has some Markarian numbers over 1500. Why?

(Q) : There is a gap in the Fairall numbers between 1185 and 1201. Do these objects exist?

(Q) : I've noticed that the RC3 data in NED sometimes do not agree with the RC3 printed version. Which is correct?

NED scientific calculations

(Q) : How do you calculate the Galactic extinction values?

(Q) : How do you choose the coordinates for objects in NED?

(Q) : Is there an easy way to precess my coordinates?

(Q) : What precession routine has NED adopted?

(Q) : Is there an easy way to change coordinate systems?

(Q) : What kind of magnitude is listed in the Basic Data?

(Q) : What are the sources for the photometric data in NED?

(Q) : Have the photometric data in NED been transformed or reduced in any way?

(Q) : Why are there negative fluxes and flux densities in NED?

(Q) : What kind of redshifts are used in NED?

(Q) : Some of the reported redshifts in NED seem to show discrepancies with my estimates. Why?

(Q) : Is there a way to determine if the reported redshift is spectroscopic or photometric?

(Q) : Is there any information that explains the jargon used in the photometry of objects in NED?

Specific NED search and retrievals

(Q) : Is there any way to retrieve all of the objects mentioned in a given paper?

(Q) : Can I find all the papers written by a given author?

(Q) : How can I find the Quasar 2251+113 without doing a position search?

(Q) : In the Advanced All-Sky Search page, is it possible to add a filter for the V magnitude of the target?

(Q) : Is there any way to retrieve data concerning velocity functions within galaxies, so one can get the velocity distributions of stars as a function of galactic morphology?

(Q) : Is there anyway I can get a hold of measured fluxes for my objects using NED?

(Q) : Is there a way to perform a NED search for objects based on spectroscopic redshifts, and not one based on color or m₁₀ redshifts?

(Q) : Is there a way of getting the "NED Batch Jobs -- program" to return "FULL" photometry and redshift data when I do a Search for Objects Near Position?

(Q) : When I use the search for References from the LITERATURE menu in the NED Home page, why do I sometimes get results referring to papers that are not related to my intented object?

(Q) : Why does a search for M51 return the wrong position?

NED Database

(Q) : What kind of magnitude is listed in the Basic Data?

(Q) : Is there any information that explains the jargon used in the photometry of objects in NED?

(Q) : What is the source of the Morphological types in the NED database?

(Q) : The "Morphology" line of NED's Basic Data sometimes contains abbreviations such as "BCD" and "Sbrst". What exactly do these mean?

(Q) : How do I read that 19-digit REFCODE of yours?

(Q) : What do the strange notations like "NED01", "ID", and "NOTES02" mean?

(Q) : How often is NED updated?

(Q) : How complete is the NED database?

(Q) : Is there a way to determine if the reported redshift is spectroscopic or photometric?

(Q) : The fields of view from the 2MASS Large Galaxy Atlas (LGA) do not agree between the FITS and GIF versions of the images. Which is correct?

(Q) : What are the object type codes that NED uses?

Nomenclature