AstroProjects SkyServer NoteBook
____________________________________________________________________________________
How to use the SkyServer NoteBook to save information about objects
You can ask the SDSS Navigate Tool to automatically save the data on any object you select in a
special on-line Notebook. All your saved data can then be exported as a CSV file which Excel
can open.
A minor drawback is that the Notebook lists objects in order of their SDSS reference numbers
(objId) rather than in the order that they were saved. This can make it difficult to know which
object in the list corresponds to which object in your image.
Instructions
These instructions assume that you have the Navigate Tool window open.
Click on an object to select it Information about the object and a magnified thumbnail
image appear on the right hand side of the screen.
Save the information by clicking the Add to notes button. (You can see the information that
you have saved on different objects by clicking the Show notes button.)
Click Show notes to see all the data you have saved.
Select CSV at the bottom of the page
Click Export, and choose to save the data in a suitable place on your hard disc as a CSV file
(i.e. the filename should end in .CSV – this means comma separated values).
Import the saved data into Excel
Open a blank Excel worksheet
Read the data into Excel as follows:
o In the Data menu choose Get External Data and then Import Text File...
o Find the CSV file you have just saved (in Windows you will have to set Files of type:
to All Files (*.*) first in order to see a CSV file).
o Select the file and then click Import (Windows) or Get Data (Mac)
o In step 1 of the Text Import Wizard that appears, just click Next
____________________________________________________________________________________
Richard Beare, 12th December, 2007 Version 1.00 Page 1 of 2
AstroProjects SkyServer NoteBook
____________________________________________________________________________________
o In step 2, select Comma as one of the delimiters (these are the characters used to
divide up data into separate bits)
o Still in step 2, click Next.
o In step 3, select the Text button – this ensures that Excel reads in the SDSS object
identifiers in the first column as text rather than numbers (which would be too large for
it to handle so they would all appear identical).
o Now click Finish.
o When asked where you want to put the data, leave the options set to Existing
Worksheet and cell $A$1.
o You now have the data in the Notebook as a normal Excel spreadsheet. Save this in
a suitable place on your hard disc with an appropriate name that will remind you later
on what it is (e.g. objects_near_180_60.xls would tell you that you have a list of
objects near to RA = 180 degrees, dec = 60 degrees).
____________________________________________________________________________________
Richard Beare, 12th December, 2007 Version 1.00 Page 2 of 2