Splatalogue is a database for

astronomical spectroscopy Astronomical spectroscopy is the study of astronomy using the techniques of spectroscopy to measure the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, infrared and radio waves that radiate from stars and othe ...

which contains information on nearly six million

spectral line A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from emission or absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to iden ...

s and is maintained by the

National Radio Astronomy Observatory The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a federally funded research and development center of the United States National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. for the purpose of radio a ...

(NRAO). A. J. Markwick-Kemper, A. J. Remijan
"The Splatalogue (Spectral Line Catalogue) and Calibase (Calibration Source Database)"
''Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society'', vol. 38, p. 130, 2006. The name is a portmanteau of "spectral line catalogue". It contains data from seven catalogues and other sources of spectral line data and is accessible via an online search interface.

Spectral lines

The spectral lines contained in Splatalogue range in frequency from 400 to 3.22×10¹⁸ Hz (400 Hz to 3.22 PHz), or equivalently, wavelengths from 97.25nm to 749.5 km). About 99.99% of the lines are in the

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

millimeter 330px, Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The microwave is between 1 meter to 1 millimeter. The millimetre (American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, ...

, and

submillimeter Submillimetre astronomy or submillimeter astronomy (see spelling differences) is the branch of observational astronomy that is conducted at submillimetre wavelengths (i.e., terahertz radiation) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers plac ...

spectral regimes (1 GHz to 10 THz), as the catalogue is for use mainly by observational astronomers using instruments such as the

Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The ar ...

and

NRAO The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a federally funded research and development center of the United States National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. for the purpose of radio a ...

Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~ west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twent ...

and

Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in Green Bank, West Virginia, US is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope, surpassing the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope in Germany. The Green Bank site was part of the National Radi ...

External links

Splatalogue

References

{{reflist category:astronomical catalogues