Object types

The list of object types in SIMBAD can be found at http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/guide/chF.htx an example is given below

It is maintained, i.e. we include new object types from the scanning of published papers, but it remains fairly stable.

We have made choices on the 'granularity' of the list, and more details or additional branches could be included in some of the branches. The example I show is for instance not complete for the X-ray objects I think.

Of course there are problems with a strictly hierarchical representation of the object types. For the moment we have pragmatic short-cuts and there are on-going tests on building ontologies.

Andrea has used the list to build a more formal representation of object types (with some updates/additions I suppose). It would be interesting to check this list for the object types required by VOEvent - are there many additions/changes required?

Object types are a relatively simple case and it is certainly worth trying to create a single list for the sake of interoperability. I have the impression that it is possible.

Cheers
Francoise

 12.13.02.0:	  SB            SB*     Spectroscopic binary
 12.13.11.0:      CataclyV*     CV*     Cataclysmic Variable Star
 12.13.11.2:        DQHer       DQ*     Cataclysmic Var. DQ Her type
 12.13.11.3:        AMHer       AM*     Cataclysmic Var. AM Her type
 12.13.11.5:        Nova-like   NL*     Nova-like Star
 12.13.11.6:        Nova        No*     Nova
 12.13.11.7:        DwarfNova   DN*     Dwarf Nova
 12.13.12.0:      XB            XB*     X-ray Binary
 12.13.12.2:        LMXB        LXB     Low Mass X-ray Binary
 12.13.12.3:        HMXB        HXB     High Mass X-ray Binary