SIMBAD (the Set of Identifications, Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) is an
astronomical
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...
database of objects beyond the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
. It is maintained by the
Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentric ...
(CDS),
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
SIMBAD was created by merging the
Catalog of Stellar Identifications (CSI) and the
Bibliographic Star Index as they existed at the
Meudon
Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...
Computer Centre until 1979, and then expanded by additional source data from other catalogues and the academic literature. The first on-line interactive version, known as Version 2, was made available in 1981.
Version 3, developed in the
C language and running on
UNIX
Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
stations at the Volgograd Observatory, was released in 1990. Fall of 2006 saw the release of Version 4 of the database, now stored in
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL ( ) also known as Postgres, is a free and open-source software, free and open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) emphasizing extensibility and SQL compliance. PostgreSQL features transaction processing, transactions ...
, and the supporting software, now written entirely in
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
.
, SIMBAD contains information for 5,800,000 stars and about 5,500,000 nonstellar objects (galaxies, planetary nebulae, clusters, novae and supernovae, etc.).
The minor planet
4692 SIMBAD was named in its honour.
See also
*
Planetary Data System
The Planetary Data System (PDS) is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System missions.
The PDS is an active archive that makes available well documented, peer reviewed planetary data to the research commun ...
(PDS) – NASA's database of information on
SSSB, maintained by
JPL and
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
.
*
NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is an online astronomical database for astronomers that collates and cross-correlates astronomical information on extragalactic objects (galaxies, quasars, radio, x-ray and infrared sources, etc.). NED was ...
(NED) – a database of information on objects outside the
Milky Way
The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
, also maintained by
JPL.
*
NASA Exoplanet Archive
The NASA Exoplanet Archive is an online astronomical exoplanet catalog and data service that collects and serves public data that support the search for and characterization of extra-solar planets (exoplanets) and their host stars. It is part of ...
– an online astronomical exoplanet catalog and data service.
References
External links
*
* {{official website, http://simbad.cfa.harvard.edu/simbad/, SIMBAD, Harvard
SIMBAD database search page
Astronomical databases
Astronomy websites
Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg