Astro::Catalog module
---------------------

What is it?
-----------

The module is a generic object orientated astronomical catalogue object.

Requirements
------------

While useful in itself as a generic catalogue object, the additional optionals
Astro::Catalog::USNOA2 and Astro::Catalog::GSC modules provides an interfaces 
to the online USNO-A2 and Guide Star Catalogues provided by ESO/ST-ECF.

The following external modules are required by the Astro::Catalog module and
associated classes

   LWP::UserAgent
   Net::Domain 
   File::Spec
   Carp
   
all these modules, if not already installed, are available from CPAN. If you
want to (optionally) use the Astro::Catalog::SuperCOSMOS module then the

   Astro::Aladin
   
module and supporting CDS Java infrastructure must be installed. This is
also needed, along with the Astro::DSS module, if you want to make use of
the example scripts provided with the distribution.   
  
Provides
--------

The package provides the following classes

    Astro::Catalog
    Astro::Catalog::Star
    Astro::Catalog::SuperCOSMOS::Query
    Astro::Catalog::GSC::Query
    Astro::Catalog::USNOA2::Query
    
further information can be found in the POD included in modules.

Where can I get it?
-------------------

The package is availabe from CPAN <http://www.cpan.org/> and from
the eSTAR Project at http://www.estar.org.uk/

Installation
------------

Installation is automated using the ExtUtils::MakeMaker library

     % perl Makefile.PL
     % make
     % make test
     % make install

Authors
-------

The module was written by Alasdair Allan <aa@astro.ex.ac.uk>, of the 
University of Exeter Astrophysics Group (http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/) 
as part of his work for the eSTAR project.

The latest version of the module includes patches supplied by Stephen
Quinney <S.J.Quinney@durham.ac.uk> of Durham University, and Brad
Cavanagh <b.cavanagh@jach.hawaii.edu> of the Joint Astronomy Centre
in Hawaii.

License
-------
This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple
Place,Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA