Subject: Digitized Sky Survey CD-ROMs

From: Marc Postman <postman at stsci.edu>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 93 11:07:41 EDT

The Space Telescope Science Institute
                     (Operated by AURA, Inc. for NASA)

                                  AND

                  The Astronomical Society of the Pacific

       jointly announce the pre-production sale of the compressed  digi-
       tized  sky survey on CD-ROMs.  THIS  IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT
       NEW RESEARCH TOOLS IN ASTRONOMY. The cost of the  entire  101  CD
       set  will  be  $US 2900 if ordered prior to  Feb. 15, 1994. After
       Feb. 15th the  price will  be  $US  3500  (Airmail  shipments  to
       non-US addresses  will  be surcharged at a later date immediately
       prior to delivery).

       Manufacture of the first 61 CDs from the  southern  SERC  J  band
       survey  will  occur  as  soon as sufficient presale payments have
       been received.  Distribution will follow immediately. The remain-
       ing  40  CDs  from the northern Palomar Observatory E-band survey
       will be produced and distributed by early 1995. Separate purchase
       of the north and south sets is NOT possible.

       Orders by check or purchase order should be sent to:
       
                      ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
                                  DEPT. 10X
                               390 ASHTON AVE.
                      SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112-1787 U.S.A.

       Visa  or  Mastercard  orders  will  also  be accepted by phone by
       calling  (415)  337-2624  between  9AM  and  3PM  PST from Monday
       to Friday only.  Alternatively, credit  card   orders   may    be
       FAXed   to  (415) 337-5205 and be sure to include expiration date
       and authorizing signature.

       PLEASE ORDER NOW TO AVOID DELAYS IN  PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION  AND
       TO OBTAIN THE PRICE DISCOUNT.

       The images on the CDs have been compressed by a factor  of  about
       10  and  are practically indistinguishable  in  quality  from the
       original  digitized  scans.   The  CD  sets  also  contain  image
       decompression  software  that  can  be  installed   and  operated 
       on machines running the  UNIX  or VMS operating systems. All  CDs  
       are formatted   according   to   the   ISO   9660  standard.   An 
       astrometric  calibration  database is provided.  If the number of 
       CD  set  orders is sufficient, a photometric calibration database 
       will also be shipped to all  subscribers in  late  1995.

       The digitized data scale is 1.7 arcsec per pixel. The SERC J band
       plate  limit  is  ~21.5;  the POSS E band plate limit is ~20.5. A
       full description of the data and software will  be  published  in
       upcoming issues of the STScI and AAS Newsletters.

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