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Paper: The Digitation of the Astronomical Plates of Catania Astrophysical Observatory
Volume: 351, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XV
Page: 755
Authors: Massimino, P.; Catalano, S.; Cigna, M.; Greco, V.; Mangano, A.; Marilli, E.; Blanco, C.
Abstract: To make easily available the great amount of highly valuable information stored in the photographic archives of many Italian Observatories and of the Specola Vaticana, a large-scale National Project to digitize the plates was financially supported by the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) (Barbieri et al. 2003, 2004). The contribution of the Catania Astrophysical Observatory and of the Physics and Astronomy Department of Catania University to the Project is to digitize the image plates of the “Carte du Ciel” and of the Astrographic Catalogue obtained from 1896 to 1907. Moreover plates of the 1910 passage of Halley's comet and other plates obtained during the XX Century (Massimino et al. 2004) have been digitized. A set of identical systems, composed of a commercial flat-bed-retro-illuminated scanner, a dedicated personal computer and an acquisition software, has been installed in the Institutes involved in the Project. The main characteristics of Astroplates, a software program developed in Catania, that uses the IDL libraries to manage the astronomical images acquired with the scanner from photographic plates are presented.
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