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TeVCat FAQ

Here are some questions and answers about TeVCat.
  1. What is TeVCat?
  2. Why isn't source X listed on TeVCat?
  3. Why doesn't TeVCat do X?
  4. Why doesn't TeVCat work on my browser?
  5. Can I put custom RA/Dec or Lat/Lon into the visplotter?
  6. What do you mean by a "disputed source"?
  7. Is it true that one of you used to be in Pink Floyd?
  8. What are those little globes on the source pages?
  9. What kind of technology does TeVCat use?
  10. What are the red/green lines on the nightly visplot pics?
  1. What is TeVCat?
    TeVCat is an online catalog for TeV Astronomy. We (Scott Wakely & Deirdre Horan) found it useful for ourselves, so we thought we'd open it up so other people could use it as well. For more information on TeV astronomy, look at our Reviews Page

  2. Why isn't source X listed on TeVCat?
    The current TeVCat policy is to list only sources which have been published in refereed journals since the definitive detection of the Crab in 1989. Please send a message if you have a source we missed or a correction!

  3. Why doesn't TeVCat do X?
    TeVCat is currently still being deployed and hence doesn't have all its features enabled. If you are dying for a feature to be included, feel free to drop a line to the TeVCat team.

  4. Why doesn't TeVCat work on my browser?
    The main page makes heavy use of javascript, so if your browser can't handle this, things may get screwy. We have tested on Firefox 2.0 and IE7 and with Safari 3.0 (windows). IE7 still doesn't honor z-index correctly, so the maps look bad with overlays. The best browser to use is Firefox 2+.

  5. Can I put custom RA/Dec or Lat/Lon into the visplotter?
    Yes! Visit this URL and you will be able to set any of these: Custom Vis

  6. What do you mean by a "disputed source"?
    We consider a source to be disputed if there is disagreement between different instruments about the existence of the source, or if the discovery team has withdrawn their claim of discovery. We also categorize as disputed sources which were discovered with 1st or 2nd generation instruments and never subsequently confirmed (by any instrument). Finally, there may be some sources which do not yet hit the traditional 5-sigma threshold on this list. NB: The "disputed" category will soon be branched into several categories to cover the different possibilities.

  7. Is it true that one of you used to be in Pink Floyd?
    We can neither confirm nor deny this rumor.

  8. What are those little globes on the source pages?
    Those are for Google Earth's new Skymap mode. If you click on the link you will be served a kml file which can be opened in Google Earth 4.2+. Note that our positions will not always overlap 100% with existing placemarks. This is because 1) our positions tend to be at the peak of the gamma-ray emission 2) some people use B1950 coords without realizing it (we use all J2000) 3) some mosaics on Google Earth seem to be either offset or scaled incorrectly... we are still looking into this.

  9. What kind of technology does TeVCat use?
    Currently a mishmash of css, javascript, perl and mysql. The data are stored in a mysql backend (set up with help from Steven Lucy) and retrieved on the fly using perl. The data points are plotted using div elements, the data table is modified code from CodeThat and the control panel uses the Ext-JS library. Most of the astronomical libraries are custom bits written in c++.

  10. What are the red/green lines on the nightly visplot pics?
    Those are meant to show the approximate start and stop times for the nightly observations for your location. These are based on moon/sun rise/set and may be off sometimes, due to some bugs that I still haven't had time to track down.