The Asiago Database on Photometric Systems (ADPS)
I. Census parameters for 167 photometric systems
2000, A&AS 147, 361
Dina Moro1,2 and Ulisse Munari1,3
1 Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Sede di Asiago, I-36012 Asiago (VI), Italy
2 Osservatorio Astrofisico di Asiago, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Padova, I-36012 Asiago (VI), Italy
3 CISAS, Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi ed Attività Spaziali, Padova, Italy
Abstract
The Asiago Database on Photometric Systems (ADPS) is a compilation of basic
information and reference data on 167 optical, ultraviolet and infrared
photometric systems.
Thirty-four additional systems are briefly described. In compiling
this census we have relied on published information only.
In Paper II the
photometric systems will be inter-compared, calibrated and parameterised by
means of synthetic photometry using uniform criteria and the same set of
input spectra and extinction laws.
keywords photometry - astronomical data bases - surveys
1. Introduction
When we became involved in the design of the photometric system for GAIA,
which is under evaluation by ESA as the next Cornertone 5 mission, we realized
how useful it would have been to have a nearly complete census of
the existing ground-based and space-born photometric systems.
The completion of the Asiago proposal for the GAIA
photometric system (Munari 1998) was originally conceived to follow the
realization of the Asiago Database on Photometric Systems(ADPS), but
actually the reverse happened because the preparation of ADPS has been a
tougher task than anticipated. This paper intends to summarise this
extensive census in an interesting way for the general reader.
Some compilations of photometric systems have already been presented, among
others by Lamla (1982), Bessell (1993), in the books by Golay (1974) and
Straizys (1995) and on the world wide web by Mermilliod et al.
(1997). The latter focuses mainly on the data collected in various
photometric systems (with entries for more than 2 105 stars). At the same
time, the Mermilliod et al. www version available at the time of
submission of the ADPS provides a census of photometric systems by listing
and describing 82 of them. Even if our compilation was independent, we
undoubtedly benefited by checking against Mermilliod et al.'s work.
In compiling the ADPS we have tried to be as complete as possible for the
optical region (from 0.3 to 1.0 microns, where GAIA is currently planned to
collect data), but effort has also been made to include ultraviolet as well
as infrared photometric systems (even if at a lower degree of completeness).
The ADPS www site will be regularly updated as new information becomes
available.
In this paper we rely only on data from literature (instrumental set-ups,
transmission curves, calibration and transformation functions, zero
points, etc.), with preference for those provided by the authors of the
photometric systems in the original papers. Unfortunately,
accurate and complete information is available only for a small minority
of the surveyed systems. We have been able to locate in literature (or
derive ourselves from published graphs) the tabular band transmission
profiles for 105 systems. Calibration and
transformation functions with any kind of accuracy have been published only
for a fraction of the 167 surveyed systems. Even when calibration and
transformation functions are available, it is not always easy to
inter-compare them because of the heterogeneous methods adopted by
the different authors (see sect. 2). As a contribution toward a clarification of
the whole issue, in a forthcoming Paper II we will inter-compare, calibrate
and parameterise the systems by means of synthetic photometry using uniform
criteria and the same set of synthetic and observed input spectra and
extinction laws.
GAIA is a candidate ESA Cornerstone 5 mission designed to obtain extremely
precise astrometry (in the micro-arcsec regime), multi-band photometry
and medium/high resolution spectroscopy for a large sample of stars. The
goals as depicted in the mission Red Book call for astrometry and
broad band photometry to be collected for all stars down to V ~ 20 mag
over the entire sky (~ 1 109 stars), with brighter magnitude limits
for spectroscopy and intermediate band photometry. Each target star should
be measured over a hundred times during the
five year mission life-time, in a fashion similar to the highly successful
Hipparcos operational mode. The astrophysical guidelines of the GAIA
mission are discussed by Gilmore et al. (1998, and references therein) and
Perryman (1999). An overview of the GAIA payload and spacecraft is presented
by Mérat et al. (1998).
2. The Database
The 167 systems included in the ADPS are listed in Table 1, in order of
publication year. The systems are documented by individual figures that
conform to the common layout.
The reference sources are given in square brackets for all the information
provided with a given photometric system and are also listed in Table 2. No
information is entered if not present in literature. The information
provided with the systems surveyed in the ADPS are grouped into five main
blocks:
System Code Name. This is formed from the system name generally used in the
literature, the author(s) name(s) and the year of publication of the
original paper introducing the system. A short sentence describing the
system main usage or aim follows (normally as given by the authors
themselves).
General Information. The authors of the system (not listed for space
missions), the telescope and detector originally adopted, and the main
reference article are given here. The main reference article is generally
the one introducing the photometric system; however, some of these historical
articles contain little information and in such cases a more recent,
informative paper is taken instead.
System Description. Basic information like the filters used,
the wavelength and width of the bands, the zero points and the
flux calibrations are reported here. The literature is heterogeneous
regarding these parameters, with values sometimes referring only to the
filters, or to the filters+detector combination or also including
the contribution of the telescope optics and atmosphere. So different
quantities as 
peak (peak transmission), c (unspecified
band " centre"), eff (generally without specification of
the energy distribution of the input source weighting the transmission
profile) or 0 (again unspecified) are provided by the authors of
the photometric systems as the wavelength of the bands. The situation is
somewhat more confused when it comes to the width of the bands: the authors
have used values ranging from the FWHM of a Gaussian approximation to the
band, to something resembling the full width at zero transmission, or half
of the total width at 50% transmission, or even unspecified concepts as
" band-width", " band-pass" or " half width". There are
cases where the values given for the wavelength and width of the bands
are missing or they disagree with the plotted and/or tabulated transmission profiles.
In such cases we have computed on the transmission profiles two quantities and
reported them in the ADPS with the aim of clarifying the
situation: the WHM (width at half maximum: the full wavelength span
between the points where the transmission reaches half of the maximum value)
and c (central lambda: the wavelength halfway between
these half-maximum transmission points). In Paper II we
plan to homogenise and standardise the situation regarding the wavelength
and width of the bands for all systems with published transmission curves by
means of synthetic photometry against the same set of observed and synthetic
spectra. Finally, for some systems references are also provided to
papers specifically devoted to the porting of the system to a different
detector (like photographic plates or CCDs for systems originally designed
for photo-multipliers).
System Analysis. This section deals with assorted information like
the most frequently used colour indices and their aim (preserving as much as
possible the terminology used by the original authors), reddening-free parameters,
reddening ratios and transformation to other systems. Transformations
are only to chronologically earlier systems in order to avoid
duplication.
Transmission Curves. The last section is devoted to the presentation
of the band transmission profiles both in graphical and tabular form. The
transmission curves are not plotted and tabulated if they refer to square
bands (essentially flat 1.0 transmission within the band and 0.0 outside),
such as
those provided by diaphragms placed on the focal plane of a spectrograph in
front of a photo-multiplier tube or the square bands synthesised from fluxed
digital spectra. When the transmission curves have been plotted but not
tabulated by the authors, we have reconstructed them by measuring the
plotted profile. In such a case, the reader is warned by a sentence
like "As derived from Fig.Y of [XXX]".
3. Additional systems
In this section 34 additional systems are briefly described.
These systems do not appear in
the main article body because - to our own judgment - they
(a) lack some or most of the basic information, and/or
(b) have been poorly documented, and/or
(c) had little or no follow-ups in the literature, and/or
(d) have been applied to very few objects, if not to just a single one.
Finally, (e) some systems based on spectral scanner data
seem to resemble the classification of very-low dispersion spectra more than
the conventional photometric techniques.
After the author name, year of publication and the reference paper
(for the reference code numbers see Table 2),
for each of the 34 additional systems three types of basic information
are given. " Instr:" reports if the system has been
obtained with a photometer (+filters) or if it has been designed on
spectral scanner data. "Features:" lists the system's goals
and the lines/bands/continuum the system is aimed to. Finally, " Bands:"
gives the wavelength and width of the system bands.
Kraft - 1960 [170]
Instr: photometer.
Features: G-band in F-G stars.
Bands: at 4305 Å (
= 10
Å )
and 4290 Å
( = 200 Å).
Gutierrez-Moreno et al. - 1967 [129]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: H
, H
,
H
in B-A stars.
Bands: set by the 50 ÷ 80 Å slit width.
McNamara et al. - 1970 [205]
Instr: photometer.
Features: CaII K, H and G-band in RR Lyr stars.
Bands: at 3933, 4100 and 4305 Å ( = 30 Å for all of them).
Wawrukiewicz - 1971 [268][315]
Instr: photometer.
Features: TiO and CN in M stars.
Bands: at 7125 ( = 55 Å ), 7170 ( = 302 Å )
and two at 7935 Å ( = 135 and 500 Å).
Lutz and Lutz - 1972 [194]
Instr: photometer.
Features: H in O-F stars.
Bands: two at H ( = 30 and 150 Å).
Seeds - 1972 [265]
Instr: photometer.
Features: C2 in Carbon stars.
Bands: at 5165, 5635, 5300 and 5780 Å
( = 100 Å for all of them).
Caplan - 1973 [59]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: H in G-M stars.
Bands: at 6548 ( = 24 Å), 6563 ( = 4.9 Å) and
6577 Å ( = 24 Å).
Cherepashchuk and Khaliullin - 1973 [67]
Instr: photometer.
Features: continuum in Wolf Rayet stars.
Bands: at 4244 ( = 49.5 Å), 4789 ( = 61 Å),
5806 ( = 95 Å), 6320 ( = 91 Å) and
7512 Å ( = 109 Å).
Jones and Carrick - 1973 [159]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: H and H
in early type stars.
Bands: at 4761, 4861, 4961, 6487, 6563 and 6642 Å ( = 30.6 Å for all of them).
Khozof et al. - 1973 [165]
Instr: photometer.
Features: H- opacity in A-M stars.
Bands: h' (1.58 µm), h'' (1.70 µm) and k (2.15 µm).
Faÿ et al. - 1974 [104]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: NaI, C2 and CN in carbon stars.
Bands: 20 Å -width bandpasses between 5000 and 7000 Å, with
5610, 5710, 5730, 5820 and 6780 as the most relevant wavelengths.
Gustafsson et al. - 1974 [127][128][231]
Instr: echelle spectrophotometer.
Features: Metallicity and microturbolence in F-G-K stars.
Bands: at 4794.5, 4799.5, 4897.0, 4911.0,
5801.5 and 5805.5 Å ( = 3 Å for all of them).
Nissen - 1974 [232][233]
Instr: echelle spectrophotometer.
Features: HeI (4026 Å ) in B dwarfs.
Bands: at 4016 ( = 6 Å), 4026
( = 14 Å) and 4036 ( = 6 Å).
Sorvari - 1974 [274]
Instr: photometer.
Features: OI 7772 Å in A-F stars.
Bands: two at 7772 Å ( = 10 and 60 Å).
Greenstein - 1976 [121]
Instr: multichannel spectrophotometer.
Features: classification of WDs.
Bands: at 3571, 4255, 4717, 5405, 6579, 6944, 8000 and 10000 Å.
[168] adopted somewhat different wavelengths.
Mould - 1976 [217]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: CaH and TiO in M dwarfs.
Bands: at 6540, 6830, 7035, 7100, 7500, 7812 and 8130 Å. [218] has slightly modified the bands
to investigate T Tau stars of the M type.
Dzervitis - 1977 [89]
Instr: photometer.
Features: classification of carbon stars via CN and C2 absorption bands.
Bands: at 5135 ( = 70 Å), 5300 ( = 200 Å),
6775 ( = 250 Å), 7785 ( = 170 Å),
8025 ( = 250 Å) and 8850 Å ( = 300 Å).
Yamashita et al. - 1977 [333]
Instr: multichannel spectrophotometer.
Features: Classification of Carbon stars via BaII, LiI, NaI lines and CN, C2 bands.
Bands: at 4160 ( = 80 Å), 4227 ( = 10 Å),
4234 ( = 30 Å), 4237 ( = 30 Å),
4554 ( = 10 Å), 4575 ( = 10 Å),
5150 ( = 10 Å), 5193 ( = 10 Å),
5893 ( = 15 Å), 5893 ( = 150 Å),
6708 ( = 8 Å) and 6708 Å ( = 30 Å).
Mould and McElroy - 1978 [219]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: CaH and TiO bands in M dwarfs.
Bands: at 7540 ( = 50 Å), 6880 ( = 80 Å),
7120 ( = 60 Å) and 10175 Å ( = 280 Å).
Pedersen and Rudkøbing - 1978 [241]
Instr: echelle spectrophotometer.
Features: CaII K in B-F stars.
Bands: at 3929.4 ( = 4.3 Å), 3933.7 ( = 4.3 Å),
3938.0 ( = 4.3 Å) and
at 3925.9 ( = 7.8 Å), 3933.7 ( = 7.8 Å),
3941.5 Å ( = 7.8 Å).
Pilachowski - 1978 [246]
Instr: photometer.
Features: CO in cool giants.
Bands: at 2.17 ( = 0.098 µm), 2.2 ( = 0.40 µm) and
2.41 µm ( = 0.088 µm).
Cohen - 1979 [72]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: NaI and C2 in Carbon stars.
Bands: at 5165, 5185, 5220, 5635, 5660, 5720, 5893, 6070, 6168, 6192, 6195, 6206,
6260, 6615, 6880 and 7830 Å ( = 7 Å for all of them).
Mould and Aaronson - 1980 [1][220]
Instr: digital spectra.
Features: C2 and TiO in M giants and Carbon stars.
Bands: at 4930, 5615, 5690, 6150, 6250 and 6540 Å ( = 15 Å
for all of them).
Avetisyan et al. - 1981 [13]
Instr: photometer.
Features: Continuum away from absorption bands in Carbon stars.
Bands: at 3600, 3700, 4800, 5200, 5670, 6160 and 6690 Å (120 
200 Å).
Wing and Rinsland - 1981 [330]
Instr: infrared spectral scanner ( = 450).
Features: energy distribution of the continuum and the CO, CN, C2, OH, H2, SiO absorption bands in late type stars.
Bands: 13 bandpasses in the 1-4 µm range including bands at 1.04, 1.29, 2.10, 2.28 and 4.00 µm.
Avetisyan and Melik-Alaverdyan - 1982 [14]
Instr: photometer.
Features: H2O and CO bands in M giants.
Bands: at 0.98 ( = 0.03 µm), 1.47 ( = 0.03 µm), 1.54 ( = 0.03 µm),
1.72 ( = 0.04 µm), 1.75 ( = 0.03 µm), 1.98 ( = 0.05 µm),
2.02 ( = 0.05 µm), 2.17 ( = 0.05 µm), 2.29 ( = 0.06 µm)
and 2.39 µm ( = 0.04 µm).
Yorka - 1983 [334]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: NH, CN, CH and C2 in Carbon stars.
Bands: at 3366, 3410, 3875, 3908, 4305, 4325, 4702, 4766, 5630 and 5655 Å ( = 20 Å for all of them).
Hartwick et al. - 1984 [134]
Instr: spectral scanner.
Features: CaH and TiO absorption bands in M dwarfs.
Bands: at 6540 ( = 32 Å), 6830 ( = 32 Å), 7099 ( = 30 Å)
and 7500 Å ( = 32 Å).
McWilliam and Lambert - 1984 [206]
Instr: photometer.
Features: CO in M giants.
Bands: at 2.17 and 2.40 µm.
Nersisian - 1984 [226]
Instr: photometer.
Features: continuum in Carbon and S stars.
Bands: at 4020 ( = 120 Å), 4200 ( = 120 Å), 4660 ( = 110 Å),
4910 ( = 130 Å), 5167 ( = 120 Å), 5670 ( = 120 Å),
5830 ( = 100 Å), 6160 ( = 110 Å)
and 6360 Å ( = 120 Å).
Herbst et al. - 1987 [138]
Instr: photometer.
Features: H in K and M stars.
Bands: a wide ( = 150 Å) and a narrow ( = 30 Å) band centered on H.
A third, narrower filter ( = 8 Å) has been added by [139].
Faulkner et al. - 1988 [103]
Instr: photometer.
Features: molecular opacity in the violet continuum on Carbon stars.
Bands: at 3410 ( = 90 Å), 3500 ( = 314 Å),
3676 ( = 130 Å), 3792 ( = 116 Å),
4090 ( = 168 Å) and 4520 Å ( = 111 Å).
Elsner et al. - 1999 [98]
Instr: binning of -dispersed fringes by a Fizeau interferometer.
Features: photometry by the DIVA astrometric satellite.
Bands: 32 or 66 gaussians (monochromatic instrumental PSF), generously overlapping and covering
the whole 3500-11000 Å range.
Vansevicius et al. - 1999 [308]
Instr: CCD.
Features: Mg in galaxies.
Bands: two at 5190 Å ( = 80 and 450 Å)
Acknowledgements
This work has been partially supported by grants from
the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova and CISAS/Agenzia Spaziale Italiana.
We would like to thank J.-C. Mermilliod, J. Lequeux and A. Henden for
their comments on a preliminary version of the ADPS. Dedicated to Francesco.
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