GALOBSTARS ivo://nasa.heasarc/galobstars NASA/GSFC HEASARC Reed 2026-10-09 NASA/GSFC HEASARC help desk heasarc-vo at athena.gsfc.nasa.gov Star An all-sky catalog of Galactic OB stars has been created by extending the Case-Hamburg Galactic Plane Luminous Stars surveys to include 5,500 additional objects drawn from the literature. This work brings the total number of known or reasonably suspected OB stars to over 16,000. This catalog contains UBV photometry and MK spectral type classifications for these objects as well as radial velocities. This project originated in the summer of 1991 when the author began compiling a cross-reference catalog and tabulation of published UBVbeta photometry for stars listed in Stephenson and Sanduleak's Luminous Stars (LS) in the Southern Milky Way Catalog (<a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/III/43">CDS Cat. III/43</a>). This database was published in July 1993 (Reed 1993, ApJS, 87, 367) and was subsequently expanded to include compilations of published MK classifications (Reed & Beatty 1995, ApJS, 97, 189), 4-color photometry (Read 1996, A&AS, 117, 313), and radial velocities (Reed & Kuhna 1997, AJ, 113, 823) for these objects. In mid-1997 the project was again expanded to include UBVbeta photometry for stars listed in the Northern-hemisphere volumes of the "Case-Hamburg" (<a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/III/76A">CDS Cat. III/76A</a>) surveys (Reed 1998, ApJS, 115, 271); MK classifications for the Northern stars were similarly compiled and made electronically available to interested parties, though they were not formally published. Most of the LS objects are OB stars, but there are as well a number of A, F, and G supergiants and a few white dwarfs and Wolf Rayet stars. These surveys reached a limiting photographic magnitude of ~13.5, and were based on objective-prism surveys of dispersion 580 Angstrom/mm at H-gamma. OB stars is here taken to mean main-sequence stars down to temperature class B2 and more luminous ones down to temperature class B9. The original Case-Hamburg surveys (about 12,000 stars) also include some 2,000 evolved A-G stars, along with some white dwarfs, planetary nebulae, and Wolf-Rayet stars. It is worth noting that the definition of an OB star is not universal; for example, Vanbeveren et al. (1998, in "The Brightest Stars") define them as O-B2 V-IV, O-B3 III, O-B4 II, and all OBA Ib, Iab, Ia, and IaO stars. This table was created by the HEASARC in September 2017 based on the <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/V/125">CDS Catalog V/125</a> files obcat.dat, obmk.dat, obubvbet.dat and radvel.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC . 2005AJ....130.1652R https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/galobstars.html Catalog Research served-by HEASARC TAP https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xamin/vo/cone?showoffsets&table=galobstars& GET text/xml 180 99999 true 239.12125 -85.79138889 0.0166666666666667 https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xamin/vo/tap https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/W3Browse/getvotable.pl?name=galobstars GET text/xml https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/W3Browse/w3query.pl?tablehead=name=heasarc_galobstars&Action=More+Options&Action=Parameter+Search&ConeAdd=1 STAR CATALOG 0.0166666666666667 Optical public galobstars Catalog of Galactic OB Stars name Source Designation meta.id;meta.main char nullable ra Right Ascension degree pos.eq.ra;meta.main double nullable dec Declination degree pos.eq.dec;meta.main double nullable app_mag Magnitude mag phot.mag;em.opt double nullable app_mag_flag Flag [PVN] Indicates Type of Magnitude: V=pe, P=pg, N=none meta.code;phot.mag;em.opt char nullable spect_type_1 Spectral Type #1 src.spType char nullable bv_color_1 B-V Color Index #1 mag phot.color;em.opt.B;em.opt.V double nullable ub_color_1 U-B Color Index #1 mag phot.color;em.opt.U;em.opt.B double nullable "__x_ra_dec" System unit vector column double nullable "__y_ra_dec" System unit vector column double nullable "__z_ra_dec" System unit vector column double nullable "__row" System index column char nullable ubvbeta_bibcode_1 Reference Code for UBV Beta #1 meta.bib.bibcode;phot;em.opt char nullable hbeta_index_1 H-Beta Index #1 mag phot;em.line.Hbeta double nullable rad_vel_1 Radial Velocity #1 km/s spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric double nullable rad_vel_ref_3 Radial Velocity Reference #3 meta.ref;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable ub_color_3 U-B Color Index #3 mag phot.color;em.opt.U;em.opt.B double nullable spect_type_dispersion_3 Dispersion Description for Spectral Type #3 instr.dispersion;obs;src.spType char nullable rad_vel_1_error Standard Deviation for Radial Velocity #1 km/s stat.error;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric double nullable ubvbeta_author_1 First Author for UBV Beta #1 meta.bib.author;phot;em.opt char nullable rad_vel_ref_1 Radial Velocity Reference #1 meta.ref;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable ubvbeta_notes_1 Short Notes Concerning the Photometry #1 meta.note;phot;em.opt char nullable rad_vel_dispersion_1 Radial Velocity Dispersion #1 instr.dispersion;obs;spect.dopplerVeloc char nullable number_rad_vel_obs_2 Number of Observations of Radial Velocity #2 meta.number;obs;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric short nullable rad_vel_pub_year_3 Radial Velocity Year of Publication #3 yr meta.ref;time;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric short nullable spect_type_bibcode_2 Reference Code for Spectral Type #2 meta.bib.bibcode;src.spType char nullable spect_type_dispersion_2 Dispersion Description for Spectral Type #2 instr.dispersion;obs;src.spType char nullable rad_vel_ref_2 Radial Velocity Reference #2 meta.ref;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable spect_type_notes_2 Remarks Concerning Spectral Type #2 char nullable ubvbeta_notes_3 Short Notes Concerning the Photometry #3 meta.note;phot;em.opt char nullable rad_vel_dispersion_2 Radial Velocity Dispersion #2 instr.dispersion;obs;spect.dopplerVeloc char nullable rad_vel_pub_year_2 Radial Velocity Year of Publication #2 yr meta.ref;time;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric short nullable rad_vel_notes_1 Variable Type or Other Note #1 meta.note;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable ubvbeta_author_3 First Author for UBV Beta #3 meta.bib.author;phot;em.opt char nullable ls_phot_mag LSS Photographic Magnitude mag phot.mag;em.opt.B double nullable number_hbeta_obs_3 Number of H-Beta Observations #3 meta.number;obs;phot;em.opt short nullable spect_type_2 Spectral Type #2 src.spType char nullable rad_vel_dispersion_3 Radial Velocity Dispersion #3 instr.dispersion;obs;spect.dopplerVeloc char nullable bv_color_3 B-V Color Index #3 mag phot.color;em.opt.B;em.opt.V double nullable photometry_flag Flag [YN] Indicates Note Concerning Photometry meta.code;phot char nullable spect_type_notes_3 Remarks Concerning Spectral Type #3 char nullable bii Galactic Latitude degree pos.galactic.lat double nullable rad_vel_author_1 First Author of Radial Velocity Reference #1 meta.bib.author;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable rad_vel_3_error Standard Deviation for Radial Velocity #3 km/s stat.error;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric double nullable als_number Alma LS Number meta.id int nullable alt_name Other Designation for Source meta.id char nullable vmag_2 V Magnitude #2 phot.mag;em.opt.V double nullable hbeta_index_3 H-Beta Index #3 mag phot;em.line.Hbeta double nullable rad_vel_notes_2 Variable Type or Other Note #2 meta.note;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable rad_vel_2 Radial Velocity #2 km/s spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric double nullable rad_vel_author_2 First Author of Radial Velocity Reference #2 meta.bib.author;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable sao_number SAO (Cat. I/131) Number meta.id.cross int nullable rad_vel_pub_year_1 Radial Velocity Year of Publication #1 yr meta.ref;time;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric short nullable number_ubv_obs_3 Number of UBV Observations #3 meta.number;obs;phot;em.opt short nullable rad_vel_flag Flag [YN] Indicates Note Concerning Radial Velocity meta.code;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable hbeta_index_2 H-Beta Index #2 mag phot;em.line.Hbeta double nullable ubvbeta_notes_2 Short Notes Concerning the Photometry #2 meta.note;phot;em.opt char nullable hd_number HD (Cat. III/135) Number meta.id.cross int nullable vmag_1 V Magnitude #1 phot.mag;em.opt.V double nullable spect_type_3 Spectral Type #3 src.spType char nullable rad_vel_author_3 First Author of Radial Velocity Reference #3 meta.bib.author;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable spect_type_dispersion_1 Dispersion Description for Spectral Type #1 instr.dispersion;obs;src.spType char nullable ubvbeta_bibcode_3 Reference Code for UBV Beta #3 meta.bib.bibcode;phot;em.opt char nullable hr_number Bright Star (Cat. V/50) Number meta.id.cross short nullable lii Galactic Longitude degree pos.galactic.lon double nullable ubvbeta_author_2 First Author for UBV Beta #2 meta.bib.author;phot;em.opt char nullable bv_color_2 B-V Color Index #2 mag phot.color;em.opt.B;em.opt.V double nullable spect_type_author_3 First Author of Reference for Spectral Type #3 meta.bib.author;src.spType char nullable class Browse Object Classification src.class short nullable number_hbeta_obs_1 Number of H-Beta Observations #1 meta.number;obs;phot;em.opt short nullable number_rad_vel_obs_3 Number of Observations of Radial Velocity #3 meta.number;obs;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric short nullable spect_type_bibcode_3 Reference Code for Spectral Type #3 meta.bib.bibcode;src.spType char nullable ub_color_2 U-B Color Index #2 mag phot.color;em.opt.U;em.opt.B double nullable spect_type_notes_1 Remarks Concerning Spectral Type #1 char nullable spect_type_bibcode_1 Reference Code for Spectral Type #1 meta.bib.bibcode;src.spType char nullable number_hbeta_obs_2 Number of H-Beta Observations #2 meta.number;obs;phot;em.opt short nullable spect_type_author_1 First Author of Reference for Spectral Type #1 meta.bib.author;src.spType char nullable number_rad_vel_obs_1 Number of Observations of Radial Velocity #1 meta.number;obs;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric short nullable spect_type_author_2 First Author of Reference for Spectral Type #2 meta.bib.author;src.spType char nullable dm_name DM Identification meta.id.cross char nullable number_ubv_obs_1 Number of UBV Observations #1 meta.number;obs;phot;em.opt short nullable ubvbeta_bibcode_2 Reference Code for UBV Beta #2 meta.bib.bibcode;phot;em.opt char nullable number_ubv_obs_2 Number of UBV Observations #2 meta.number;obs;phot;em.opt short nullable vmag_3 V Magnitude #3 phot.mag;em.opt.V double nullable rad_vel_3 Radial Velocity #3 km/s spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric double nullable rad_vel_2_error Standard Deviation for Radial Velocity #2 km/s stat.error;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric double nullable rad_vel_notes_3 Variable Type or Other Note #3 meta.note;spect.dopplerVeloc;pos.heliocentric char nullable