The Nasa/ipac Extragalactic Database
Abstract
NED has been operating in the public domain since 1990. Originally composed of a merger of a few well known catalogs of galaxies containing around 30,000 entries each, the object database has now grown to over 750,000, and will soon exceed 3,000,000 extragalactic objects. The problems and challenges unique to a heterogeneous scientific database will be addressed. Design of a successful user interface will be discussed. And the existing shortcominmgs of NED will be highlighted. The question of doing original and meaningful research with a literature-based database in extragalactic astronomy will be critically reviewed, and plans for upgrading NED in the near future will be explored.
- Publication:
-
Astrophysics and Algorithms
- Pub Date:
- 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998asal.confE...6M