NAME

Astro::Catalog - A generic API for stellar catalogues

SYNOPSIS

$catalog = new Astro::Catalog( Stars   => \@array );
$catalog = new Astro::Catalog( Cluster => $file_name );
$catalog = new Astro::Catalog( Scalar      => $scalar );

DESCRIPTION

Stores generic meta-data about an astronomical catalogue. Takes a hash with an array refernce as an arguement. The array should contain a list of Astro::Catalog::Star objects. Alternatively it takes a file name of an ARK Cluster format catalogue.

REVISION

$Id: Catalog.pm,v 1.9 2003/06/10 23:17:42 aa Exp $

METHODS

Constructor

new

Create a new instance from a hash of options

$catalog = new Astro::Catalog( Stars       => \@array );
$catalog = new Astro::Catalog( Cluster     => $file_name );
$catalog = new Astro::Catalog( Scalar      => $scalar );

returns a reference to an Astro::Catalog object. Where $scalar is a scalar holding a string representing an ARK Cluster Format file.

Output Methods

write_catalog

Will write the catalogue object to an standard ARK Cluster format file

$status = $catalog->write_catalog( $file_name, \@mags, \@colour );

returns zero on sucess and non-zero if the write failed. Only magnitudes and colours passed in the array will be written to the file, e.g.

my @mags = ( 'R' );
my @colour = ( 'B-R', 'B-V' );
$status = $catalog->write_catalog( $file_name, \@mags, \@colour );

will write a catalogue with R, B-R and B-V.

Accessor Methods

sizeof

Return the number of stars in the catalogue.

$num = $catalog->sizeof();

pushstar

Push a new star onto the end of the Astro::Catalog object

$catalog->pushstar( $star );

returns the number of stars now in the Catalog object.

popstar

Pop a star from the end of the Astro::Catalog object

$star = $catalog->popstar();

the method deletes the star and returns the deleted Astro::Catalog::Star object.

stars

Return a list of all the Astro::Catalog::Star objects stored in the results object.

@stars = $catalog->stars();

starbyindex

Return the Astro::Catalog::Star object at index $index

$star = $catalog->starbyindex( $index );

the first star is at index 0 (not 1). Returns undef if no arguements are provided.

fieldcentre

Set the field centre and radius of the catalogue (if appropriate)

$catalog->fieldcentre( RA     => $ra,
                       Dec    => $dec,
                       Radius => $radius );

get_ra

Return the RA of the catalogue field centre

$ra = $catalog->get_ra();

get_dec

Return the Dec of the catalogue field centre

$dec = $catalog->get_dec();

get_radius

Return the radius of the catalogue from the field centre

$radius = $catalog->get_radius();

General Methods

configure

Configures the object from multiple pieces of information.

$catalog->configure( %options );

Takes a hash as argument with the list of keywords.

freeze

Method to return a blessed reference to the object so that we can store ths object on disk using Data::Dumper module.