Name Resolver

Name Resolver is a simple web application that services HTTP GET requests to resolve astronomical object names to RA and DEC coordinates. Name Resolver concurrently queries one or more services to resolve the object name, returning the first positive result. The services queried are:

NED - The NASA/IPAC ExtraGalactic Database at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech).

Simbad - The SIMBAD Astronomical Database at the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS).

VizieR - The VizieR service at CDS.

VizieR - TheVizieR service at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC).

The typical Name Resolver query format is:

http://www3.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/NameResolver/find?target=object

where object is the object name to resolve.

Sample ASCII results:

Query: http://www3.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/NameResolver/find?target=m31

Result:

target=m31
service=NED(nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu)
coordsys=ICRS
ra=10.68469
dec=41.26904
time(ms)=524

Sample XML results:

Query: http://www3.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/NameResolver/find?target=m31&format=xml

Result:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<result>
  <target>m31</target>
  <service>NED(nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu)</service>
  <coordsys>ICRS</coordsys>
  <ra>10.68469</ra>
  <dec>41.26904</dec>
  <time>524</time>
</result>

Optional parameters:

Name Resolver supports several optional parameters. The complete Name Resolver query format is:

http://www3.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/NameResolver/find?target=object&service=[ned|simbad|vizier|all]&format=[ascii|xml]&cached=[yes|no]

Required:

target - object name to resolve.

Optional:

service - service(s) to query to resolve the target name. Comma separated if more than one specified. The default is to query all three services.
ned - queries the NED service at CalTech.
simbad - queries the SIMBAD service at CDS.
vizier - queries the VizieR services at CADC and CDS.
all - queries the NED, Simbad, and VizieR services concurrently.

format - format of the query results, either ascii (default) or xml format.

cached - whether previous cached results for the object are returned, either yes (default) or no.

Sample query using optional parameters:

http://www3.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/NameResolver/find?target=m31&service=ned,simbad&format=xml&cached=no