NED Queries (astroquery.ipac.ned)

Getting Started

This module can be used to query the Ned web service. All queries other than image and spectra queries return results in a Table. Image and spectra queries on the other hand return the results as a list of HDUList objects. Below are some working examples that illustrate common use cases.

Query an object

This may be used to query the object by name from the NED service. For instance if you want to query NGC 224

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> result_table = Ned.query_object("NGC 224")
>>> print(result_table) # an astropy.table.Table
No. Object Name     RA     ... Redshift Points Diameter Points Associations
                 degrees   ...
--- ----------- ---------- ... --------------- --------------- ------------
  1 MESSIER 031   10.68479 ...              37               7            2

Query a region

These queries may be used for querying a region around a named object or coordinates (i.e near name and near position queries). The radius of the region should be specified in degrees or equivalent units. An easy way to do this is to use an Quantity object to specify the radius and units. The radius may also be specified as a string in which case it will be parsed using Angle. If no radius is specified, it defaults to 1 arcmin. Another optional parameter is the equinox if coordinates are specified. By default this is J2000.0 but can also be set to B1950.0.

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> import astropy.units as u
>>> result_table = Ned.query_region("3c 273", radius=0.05 * u.deg)
>>> print(result_table)
No.        Object Name             RA     ... Diameter Points Associations
                                degrees   ...
--- -------------------------- ---------- ... --------------- ------------
  1  WISEA J122855.03+020309.1  187.22917 ...               0            0
  2 SSTSL2 J122855.02+020313.7  187.22925 ...               0            0
  3 SSTSL2 J122855.23+020341.5  187.23013 ...               0            0
  4 SSTSL2 J122855.36+020346.9  187.23068 ...               0            0
...                        ...        ... ...             ...          ...
863 SSTSL2 J122918.24+020330.7    187.326 ...               0            0
864   SDSS J122918.38+020323.4   187.3266 ...               4            0
865 SSTSL2 J122918.52+020338.9  187.32718 ...               0            0
866 SSTSL2 J122918.64+020326.7  187.32767 ...               0            0
Length = 866 rows

Instead of using the name, the target may also be specified via coordinates. Any of the coordinate systems available in astropy.coordinates may be used (ICRS, Galactic, FK4, FK5). Note also the use of the equinox keyword argument:

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> import astropy.units as u
>>> from astropy import coordinates
>>> co = coordinates.SkyCoord(ra=56.38, dec=38.43,
...                           unit=(u.deg, u.deg), frame='fk4')
>>> result_table = Ned.query_region(co, radius=0.1 * u.deg, equinox='B1950.0')
>>> print(result_table)
No.        Object Name            RA     ... Diameter Points Associations
                               degrees   ...
--- ------------------------- ---------- ... --------------- ------------
  1 WISEA J035137.90+384313.7   57.90793 ...               0            0
  2 WISEA J035138.59+384305.6   57.91062 ...               0            0
  3 WISEA J035139.28+384324.4   57.91371 ...               0            0
  4 WISEA J035139.77+384507.4   57.91572 ...               0            0
...                       ...        ... ...             ...          ...
631 WISEA J035237.78+384519.3   58.15743 ...               0            0
632 WISEA J035238.62+384431.9   58.16083 ...               0            0
633 WISEA J035238.74+384352.1   58.16145 ...               0            0
634 WISEA J035238.84+384437.0   58.16177 ...               0            0
Length = 634 rows

Query in the IAU format

The IAU format for coordinates may also be used for querying purposes. Additional parameters that can be specified for these queries is the reference frame of the coordinates. The reference frame defaults to Equatorial. But it can also take the values Ecliptic, Galactic and SuperGalactic. The equinox can also be explicitly chosen (same as in region queries). It defaults to B1950 but again it may be set to J2000.0. Note that Ned report results by searching in a 15 arcmin radius around the specified target.

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> result_table = Ned.query_region_iau('1234-423', frame='SuperGalactic', equinox='J2000.0')
>>> print(result_table)
No.        Object Name            RA     ... Diameter Points Associations
                               degrees   ...
--- ------------------------- ---------- ... --------------- ------------
  1 WISEA J123639.37-423822.9  189.16406 ...               0            0
  2 WISEA J123639.47-423656.3  189.16458 ...               0            0
  3 WISEA J123639.61-423637.9  189.16506 ...               0            0
  4 WISEA J123639.91-423709.9   189.1663 ...               0            0
...                       ...        ... ...             ...          ...
760   2MASS J12374631-4236174  189.44299 ...               0            0
761 WISEA J123746.44-423727.9  189.44359 ...               0            0
762 WISEA J123746.48-423838.1   189.4437 ...               0            0
763 WISEA J123747.07-423742.9  189.44616 ...               0            0
Length = 763 rows

Query a reference code for objects

These queries can be used to retrieve all objects that appear in the specified 19 digit reference code. These are similar to the query_bibobj() queries.

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> result_table = Ned.query_refcode('1997A&A...323...31K')
>>> print(result_table)
No.        Object Name            RA     ... Diameter Points Associations
                               degrees   ...
--- ------------------------- ---------- ... --------------- ------------
  1                  NGC 0262   12.19642 ...               8            0
  2                  NGC 0449    19.0302 ...               7            0
  3                  NGC 0591   23.38028 ...               7            0
  4                 UGC 01214   25.99084 ...               7            0
...                       ...        ... ...             ...          ...
 33 WISEA J202325.39+113134.6  305.85577 ...               2            0
 34                 UGC 12149  340.28163 ...               8            0
 35                  MRK 0522  345.07954 ...               4            0
 36                  NGC 7674  351.98635 ...               8            0
Length = 36 rows

Image and Spectra Queries

The image queries return a list of HDUList objects for the specified name. For instance:

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> images = Ned.get_images("m1")  
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/dss1B2/Bb/MESSIER_001:I:103aE:dss1.fits.gz
|===========================================|  32k/ 32k (100.00%)        00s
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img5/1995RXCD3.T...0000C/p083n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cop1995.fits.gz
|===========================================|  52k/ 52k (100.00%)        01s
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img5/1996RXCD6.T...0000C/p083n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cps1996.fits.gz
|===========================================|  96k/ 96k (100.00%)        03s
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img5/1995RXCD3.T...0000C/p084n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cop1995.fits.gz
|===========================================|  52k/ 52k (100.00%)        01s
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img5/1998RXCD8.T...0000C/h083n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cps1998.fits.gz
|===========================================|  35k/ 35k (100.00%)        00s
>>> images  
[[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x4311890>],
[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x432b350>],
[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x3e9c5d0>],
[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x4339790>],
[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x433dd90>]]

To get the URLs of the downloadable FITS images:

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> image_list = Ned.get_image_list("m1")
>>> image_list  
['http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/dss1B2/Bb/MESSIER_001:I:103aE:dss1.fits.gz',
 'http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img/1995RXCD3.T...0000C/p084n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cop1995.fits.gz',
 'http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img/1996RXCD6.T...0000C/p083n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cps1996.fits.gz',
 'http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img/1998RXCD8.T...0000C/h083n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cps1998.fits.gz',
 'http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/img/1995RXCD3.T...0000C/p083n22a:I:0.1-2.4keV:cop1995.fits.gz']

Spectra can also be fetched in the same way:

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> spectra = Ned.get_spectra('3c 273')  
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/spc1/2009A+A...495.1033B/3C_273:S:B:bcc2009.fits.gz
|===========================================| 7.8k/7.8k (100.00%)        00s
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/spc1/1992ApJS...80..109B/PG_1226+023:S:B_V:bg1992.fits.gz
|===========================================| 5.0k/5.0k (100.00%)        00s
Downloading http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/spc1/2009A+A...495.1033B/3C_273:S:RI:bcc2009.fits.gz
|===========================================| 9.4k/9.4k (100.00%)        00s
>>> spectra  
[[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x41b4190>],
[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x41b0990>],
[<astropy.io.fits.hdu.image.PrimaryHDU at 0x430a450>]]

Similarly the list of URLs for spectra of a particular object may be fetched:

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> spectra_list = Ned.get_image_list("3c 273", item='spectra')
>>> spectra_list
['http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/spc1/1992/1992ApJS...80..109B/PG_1226+023:S:B_V:bg1992.fits.gz',
 'http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/spc1/2009/2009A+A...495.1033B/3C_273:S:B:bcc2009.fits.gz',
 'http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/spc1/2009/2009A+A...495.1033B/3C_273:S:RI:bcc2009.fits.gz']

Fetching other data tables for an object

Several other data tables for an object may be fetched via the get_table() queries. These take a keyword argument table, which may be set to one of photometry, diameters, redshifts, references or object_notes. For instance the table=photometry will fetch all the relevant photometric data for the specified object. We look at a simple example:

>>> from astroquery.ipac.ned import Ned
>>> result_table = Ned.get_table("3C 273", table='positions')
>>> print(result_table)
No.       RA       ... Published Frequence Mode         Qualifiers
                   ...
--- -------------- ... ------------------------ -------------------------
  0 12h29m06.6997s ...
  1 12h29m06.7000s ...                                   Uncertain origin
  2 12h29m06.7000s ...                                   Uncertain origin
  3 12h29m06.7000s ...                                   Uncertain origin
...            ... ...                      ...                       ...
113    12h29m07.9s ...                                   Uncertain origin
114      12h29m04s ...                                   Uncertain origin
115      12h29m06s ...                                   Uncertain origin
116      12h29m08s ...                                   Uncertain origin
Length = 117 rows

Reference/API

astroquery.ipac.ned Package

NED Query Tool

Module containing a series of functions that execute queries to the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED):

Revision History

Refactored using common API as a part of Google Summer of Code 2013.

Originally contributed by:

11. Willett, Jun 2011

Acknowledgements:

Based off Adam Ginsburg’s Splatalogue search routine:

https://github.com/keflavich/agpy/blob/master/agpy/query_splatalogue.py

Service URLs to acquire the VO Tables are taken from Mazzarella et al. (2007) The National Virtual Observatory: Tools and Techniques for Astronomical Research, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 382., p.165

Classes

NedClass()	Class for querying the NED (NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database) system
Conf()	Configuration parameters for astroquery.ipac.ned.