The query pages of Simbad can be used directly in any application, or using standard tools like curl or wget. The result can be provided in HTML, ASCII or VOTable.
This documentation will describe how to write the URLs for querying Simbad and detail the required parameters. Be careful, some characters are not allowed in URLs. http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp
The following urls can be used to query Simbad (each one is shown as a valid example):
This Url is the most recommended one as it allows fine tuning of the output.
The following URLs do specialized queries and require parameters to specify the data to output.
They are processed by the url
https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-script?script=...}
The script parameter consist of script commands separated by a newline char. All the script commands described in this help page can be used in an URL.
Main commands to consider for a URL query are:
Example: format object "%IDLIST(1) | %-27COO(A D) | %FLUX(B;F) | %SP(S)"
To define a votable output with a list of requested fields. All the available field names for the votable are described here.
Example:
votable v1 {
MAIN_ID
COO
SP
}
votable open v1
sirius
votable close
Example:
query id hd 100
m31
Radius, frame, epoch and equinox can be factorized in global commands:
set radius=... set frame=... set equi=... set epoch=...
Example:
output console=off script=off
format object "%-35IDLIST(1) | %-27COO(s;A D) | %6.3FLUXLIST(B;F) | "+
"%6.3FLUXLIST(V;F) | %-15SP(S) | nbref=%#BIBCODELIST"
set epoch 1950
query coo 12 30 +10 20 radius=10m
echodata ===================
query coo 13 29 52.37 +47 11 40.8 radius=30s
Example:
format object "%-35IDLIST(1) | %-27COO(s;A D) | %MEASLIST(ubv)[%*(F)]"
query sample dec > 85 & ubv.b < 6
URLs for specialized queries are:
Each of them have their own set of parameters, but share also a set of output definition
parameters which are described later.
All the parameters are case sensitive.
Url example : https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=m31
The parameters are:
name values description Ident= Identifier, wildcard expression
or catalogue name Identifier or acronym to query NbIdent= [1|around|wildcard|cat]1 query one identifier (default) around query around the identifier (see also the Radius and Radius.unit parameters)wildcard The identifier (parameter 'Ident=') is a wildcard expression cat The parameter 'Ident=') is a catalogue name and the whole catalogue will be queried
arcsec arc seconds arcmin arc minutes (default) deg degrees
See below for the output definition parameters
Url example : https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-coo?Coord=10h30+%2B12d20&Radius=15&Radius.unit=arcmin
The parameters are:
name values description Coord= right ascension declination
longitude latitude Coordinates which van be written in several formats:
arcsec arc seconds arcmin arc minutes (default) deg degreesCooFrame= [ICRS|FK5|FK4|GAL|SGAL|ECL Coordinate frame:
ICRS ICRS frame. Objects are stored in this frame in SIMBAD FK5 FK5 frame. FK4 FK4 frame. GAL Galactic frame. SGAL Super Galactic frame. ECL Ecliptic frame.CooEpoch= Epoch of the submitted coordinates
See below for the output definition parameters
Url example : https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-sam?Criteria=dec>86%26ra>22%26Bmag<8%26cat=%27HIP%27&OutputMode=LIST&maxObject=100 The parameters are:
name values description
Criteria= a criteria expression
All the possible criteria names and the corresponding
operators are described in the
query by criteria page.
OuputMode= [COUNT|LIST|REF]
Defines the expected output:
COUNT Number of objects that would have been returned by the query (default)
LIST Return the list of objects selected by the query
REF Return all the references that belong to the list
of objects that would habe been returned by the query
maxObject= Maximum number of objects
to return (abs. maximum: currently 50000)
See below for the output definition parameters
Reference queries can be of two types, distinguished by the submit parameter:
Url example : https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-ref?submit=submit+bibcode&bibcode=2003AN.324.61M
Such a query can be performed either by giving a complete bibcode (parameter bibcode), or by giving elements of a bibcode. Any part(s) among the year (byear), the journal (bjournal), the volume(bvolume) and/or the page (bpage) can be defined to retrieve the corresponding list of references.
name values description
submit= submit bibcode written like this
bibcode= bibcode
A bibcode. It can be written shorter than the normalized bibcode
(19 chars) as long as a dot ('.') separates each item after the journal
abbreviation.
simbo= on display the list of objects in the reference. This parameter
can be used only with a complete bibcode
byear= year a bibcode year (4 digits)
bjournal= journal abbreviation a journal abbreviation
bvolume= volume a volume number
bpage= page number a page number
Url example : https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-ref?submit=submit+criteria&fromyear=2005&toyear=2006&words=xmm
These parameters allow to find a list of references in SIMBAD based on criteria on journals (journal), year range (fromyear and toyear), author names (authors) and/or words in the title (words).
name values description
submit= submit criteria written like this
journal= list of journal abbreviations the list
fromyear= lower year limit first year to search for references
toyear= upper year limit last year (inclusive) to search for references
authors= author names list of authors separated by operators '|' (or) or '&' (and)
words= title words list of words in the title separated
by operators '|' (or) or '&' (and)
SIMBAD has two kind of outputs:
Output parameters can be global (usable for all kind of output) or relevant of only one particular kind.
The remaining of this section will describe all output parameters grouped by data type. Default value, if any, is written in boldface.
These output definition parameters are common to all kind of outputs:
name values description
output.format= HTML|VOTable|ASCII
Defines the output format (HTML page, only ASCII or VOTable)
output.max= max # of objects Maximum number of objects to display.
This number is in any case limited currently to 50,000
The object type is always displayed with an astronomical object.
name values description list.otypesel= on|off display or not the main object type in a list otypedisp= S|V|3|N display format for the object type:
S = standard (6 chars max), V = verbose description, 3 = short abbreiviation on 3 chars max (default), N = numeric display (NN.NN.NN.NN)
Four coordinates can be displayed for an astronomical object.
name values description obj.cooN= on|off display for an object the N-th coordinate (N=1..4). See below how to specify the frame
4 coordinates are displayed for an astronomical object list.cooN= on|off display in a list the N-th coordinate (N=1..4). See below how to specify the frame
Only list.coo1 is on by default frameN= ICRS|FK5|FK4|GAL|SGAL|ECL define the frame for the N-th (N=1..4) coordinates epochN= [B|J]year define the epoch for the N-th (N=1..4) coordinates equiN= year define the equinox for the N-th (N=1..4) coordinates coodispN= [s|d][2] define the coordinates format for the N-th (N=1..4) coordinates:
s = sexagesimal, d = decimal, 2 = space insertion between ra and dec
name values description obj.pmsel= on|off display or not the proper motions in an astronomical object list.pmsel= on|off display or not the proper motions in a list
name values description obj.plxsel= on|off display or not the parallaxes in an astronomical object list.plxsel= on|off display or not the parallaxes in a list
name values description obj.rvsel= on|off display or not the radial velocities in an object list.rvsel= on|off display or not the radial velocities in a list rvDisplay= R|Z|V define which value will be displayed:
R = the radial velocity or the redshift, as stored in the database, Z = force a redshift display, V = force a radial velocity display
name values description obj.spsel= on|off display or not the spectral type in an astronomical object list.spsel= on|off display or not the spectral type in a list
name values description obj.mtsel= on|off display or not the morphological type in an astronomical object list.mtsel= on|off display or not the morphological type in a list
name values description obj.sizesel= on|off display or not the size of an astronomical object (extended objects) list.sizesel= on|off display or not the size in a list
name values description obj.fluxsel= on|off display or not the fluxes of an astronomical object. For an object, all the available fluxes are always displayed list.fluxsel= on|off display or not the fluxes in a list. They can be specified by the parameters filtername=on. filtername= on|off display the flux value of the given filters set to 'on'. Please, check the list of available filter names in the corresponding combobox on the Output options web page.
In an astronomical object display, the identifiers are always displayed.
name values description list.idsel= on|off display or not an identifier in a list. Only one identifier will be displayed in a list. It can be defined with the other parameters in this section. list.idopt= FIRST|CATLIST identifier display option: FIRST = first identifier, CATLIST = display the first identifier present in the list of acronyms specified in the list.idcat parameter list.idcat= list of catalog names list of comma separataed acronyms. The displayed identifier is the first one found in this list. if none is found, the first identifier will be displayed
name values description obj.bibsel= on|off display or not the bibliographic data of an astronomical object, according to the other parameters list.bibsel= on|off display or not the number of bibliographic references in a list. The number is computed according to some other parameters bibyear1= year select references from this given year up (inclusive lower limit) bibyear2= year select references up to the given year (inclusive upper limit) bibjnls= list of journals select only the journals belonging to the comma separated list of journal abbreviations bibdisplay= display type For astronomical object full display, choose the kind of reference display. All these display take in account the restrictions imposed by bibyearN and bibjnls.bibnum number of references (imposed in a list) bibnumauthors number of references grouped by first author bibnumyears number of references grouped by year bibnumjournals number of references grouped by journal bibcode display only the bibcodes refsum display the reference summary (authors, title, ...)bibcom= on|off display or not the comments when the reference summary is displayed bibtabular= on|off if on, the main reference data are displayed in a tabular format
In a list, only the number of measurements for a specified list of catalogs can be displayed. The display in an astronomical object depends on the mesdisp parameter.
name values description obj.messel= on|off display or not the measurements of an astronomical object. The display is done according to the mesdisplay parameter list.messel= on|off display or not the number of measurements in a list. The catalogs for which the number of measurements is displayed are defined in the list.mescat parameter. mesdisplay= N|A|M|F display option: N = number of measurements, A = all measurements, F = first measurement, M = mean value (when it exists) list.mescat= list of meas. catalogs list of measurements catalogs to display. in a list, only the number of measurements for these catalogs will be displayed
In a list, only the number of notes can be displayed.
name values description obj.notesel= on|off display or not the notes of an astronomical object list.notesel= on|off display or not the number of notes in a list notedisplay= N|S|A display option: N = number of notes (imposed in a list), S = only essential (short) notes (default for objects), A = all notes
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