text: Aladin 10 - October 2017 - (Quick overview...)
  Aladin 9 - November 2015 - (Quick overview...)
  Aladin 8 - February 2014 - (Quick overview...)
  Aladin 7.5 - July 2012).
  Contributors:
  Other direct or indirect contributions:
  Softwares:
  Courses & astronomical tutorials:
  Repackaging:
  Since Aladin v10, this data collection list is presented as a "data tree" (left panel) that you can easily browse, filter, explore...
  In addition,you can use your own data images (in FITS, JPEG, GIF, PNG), catalogues (FITS, VOTable, Tab-Separated-Value (TSV), Character-Separated-Value (CSV), IPAC-TBL or simple ASCII tables (aligned columns)), or all sky maps (HiPS and HEALPix FITS maps) via the menu "File -> Open local file" or on the command line as one argument or also via the script command "load".
  The beta version incorporates new features in test phase for the next official Aladin version. The stability of these features is not totally guaranteed. (details...)
  This beta version can be downloaded from the Aladin download page.
  Note: if you want to start Aladin official release in "beta" mode, just add the command line parameter "-beta" => java -jar Aladin.jar -beta French (V10 manual), Italian (V6 manual), and English (V6 manual) language.
  Now, if you need help, a new function has been incorporated since Aladin v10 for "lazy" users. Just let your mouse on a button or a icon. After 6 seconds, you will get a short help on this function, a little bit longer than the basic tooltip.
  If your configuration is supporting it, you can also install and start Aladin Desktop thanks to JNLP technology (ice-tea under linux). Just click on this JNLP URL (Java Webstart installer).
  Note that you need to have a Java runtime environment installed on you machine - - see next point for details.
  You can also start Aladin Desktop by downloading the Aladin.jar file and use this command line in a console window:
  This Java Virtual Machine need to be downloaded for your particular platform - see
  If you need Aladin in your Web navigator, have a look on Aladin Lite which provides definitively a better solution (see).
  When developing Aladin, we are usually trying hard to optimize its performances. So even a "small" computer is a good choice to run Aladin. However, to deal with large catalogs (>1,000,000 sources), you need enough memory (typically 2Gb Ram).
  Note that Aladin Desktop can run neither under Android phones/pads nor Mac mobile phones. Mac phones do not integrate Java technology. And even if Android system is Java based, Google has not implemented legacy Java Oracle libraries required by Aladin (notably AWT). Thus, no mobile support for Aladin Desktop is provided.
  If you need Aladin on your mobile phone, have a look on Aladin Lite (see). Gaia catalogue.2g -jar Aladin.jar.
  But, if you have used a dedicated Aladin packaging you will have to adapt the Aladin launcher according to your configuration:
  Warning: if you plan to increase JVM memory to more than 4GB, you have to install a 64-bit JVM.
  Additionnally, Aladin provides a powerful filter mechanisms to hide temporary non relevant collections (by keywords or other coverage constraints). Aladin V11 adds advanced sort facility for the data discovery tree.
  Note that the "Server Selector" form previously used in earlier versions is still available (menu File -> Open server selector... Ctrl+L)).
  In addition, do not hesitate to explore the advanced filter mechanisms (menu File -> Filter on data collections..."). You will discover that you filter this list by a lot of advanced contraints (spatial, temporal, energy). Note that these advanced filters can be saved to be reused later. They appear in the filter selector just under the "select" field.
  Eventually, you could create a bookmark for a specific collection in order to avoid to search it each time you need it (bookmark icon in the "Access Window" associated to each collection)
  To solve this issue, you can "scan" these collections (those you have selected in the tree). Aladin will explore these collections in order to produce a "temporary" and "local" -in the displayed field- coverage map for each of them. After this process, Aladin will be able to indicate if these collections will have results (green color) or not (orange results) in the field.
  Note: Take care that this scan process can be long and quite "heavy" for the collection servers. So try to convince the data providers to generate their MOC and register them in the VO registry. It's definitively a better solution.
  You have two methods to use TAP in Aladin: on resource or on server:
  TAP on resource:
  Aladin provides a dedicated TAP form for each resource compatible with this protocol. This form is accessible via the check box "by criteria" displayed in the "Access window" associated with each resource in the "data discovery tree". In this case, the TAP form is pre-filled with the metadata corresponding to the resource. You can write an ADQL query directly on the bottom panel, or more easily you can generate it by specifying with the mouse the fields you want to obtain and by adding the constraints one by one. These actions will be automatically translated into the corresponding ADQL syntax. In addition, thanks to the SYNC / ASYNC selector, before submitting your request, you can specify whether you want to launch the request in a-synchronous mode - and later retrieve the result even in another Aladin session.
  TAP on server:
  In some cases, the TAP request that you want to submit is not limited to a unique table, an unique resource. In this case, it is more suitable to open the TAP form for all the DB tables available on a dedicated TAP server. You can switch from single-resource mode to global mode using the "Mode" selector located at the top right of the form. You can also directly use the "File -> menu Open the server selector -> TAP "and select the TAP server that you want to query.
  Note that it is possible in Aladin V11 to take into account a local table, already loaded in Aladin as a catalog plane to perform a join with remote data accessible by TAP. This extremely powerful mechanism is available via the "JOIN" button present in the TAP form.
  The dedicated format for the images are FITS with or without a WCS fields in the header. These images can be compressed with RICE, GZIP (internally or externally)
  Note: This feature can be used to create your own Proposal tool based on this standard and VOApp/VOObserver Aladin Java interfaces (more...). For instance, see APT (STScI HST/JW.
  Note: You can just load a specifical extension (or a set of extensions) by suffixing the FITS filename with the extension numbers embedded in brackets and separated by comas. Example: myMEF.fits[1,4-6,8]
  Note: Each CCD image has its own background adjustement. If you want to have the same pixel cut, use the pixel form and apply the same constraints on all CCD. Note: If each CCD astrometrical solution is not oriented in the same direction, you can have a surprising rotation effect each time you click on another CCD image.
  Notice that Aladin does not suppport FITS internal compressions for tables..
  As a script command, Aladin recognizes basic STC-S (IVOA working draft:) regions specifications (Circle, Ellipse, Box, Polygon, Position) and translates them into regular Aladin draw commands. However, it does not take into account the possible operators Union, Intersection, Difference, Not... It always assumes BARYCENTER reference. Note that the unit specification is supported.
  4.18.2 STC-S "s_region" field:
  As a field value in a catalog entry, Aladin recognizes STC-S strings (all kinds of region types, and the Union operator). However, in order to help Aladin to recognize
  such a column, the "s_region" column name is recommended, and/or the dedicated Obscore utype (see IVOA Obscore standard for definition).
  In fact, the RGB FITS is not really a standard but has been adopted by several tools.
  Aladin supports these existing conventions:
  Several functions are available for manipulating cubes:
  Aladin also supports colored RGB cube. See next section.
  Usage example:
  Note: Thanks to the Galex Viewer team for this feature idea
  The list of bookmarks is displayed on the top of the Aladin main panel as a list of words, prefixed by a "bookmark" logo (green.
  Since release v10, you can directly create a new bookmark for any resource provided in the data discovery tree via the small "bookmark" icon displayed at the bottom of the associated "access window"..
  Note: Aladin V10 does no longer support PLASTIC protocol (ancestor of SAMP). only force the "North Up" by clicking on the corresponding button at the left bottom corner of Aladin.
  Note that this spectrum widget is very basic. Do not hesitate to explore the QuickViz Aladin plugin for a more powerful cube spectrum tool.:.
  Note that you can append manually the reticle position as a new target by pressing the "location" icon at the left side of this triangle.
  If it is known, the default J2000 epoch is replaced by the epoch of the background image (from the EPOCH or DATE-OBS FITS keywords).
  For resetting the epoch, just click on the slider label.
  Additionally, object or to retrieve the list of bibliographical references associated to this objects by the CDS team.
  Since version 10, this function can be directly activated via the "study" icon (orange or green mode), at the bottom left of the view panel..
  Since version 10, this function can be directly activated via the "study" icon (green mode), at the bottom left of the view panel.
  The messages will appear both in the console window in which you launched Aladin. In level 6, the HiPS display strategy is visualized directly in the view. -hipsgen ... Aladin -mocgen ... Aladin -help Aladin -version Options: -help: display this help -version: display the Aladin release number -local: without Internet test access -theme=dark|classic: interface theme -screen="full|cinema|preview": starts Aladin in full screen cinema mode or in a simple preview window -script="cmd1;cmd2...": script commands passed by parameter -nogui: no graphical interface (for script mode only) => noplugin, nobookmarks, nohub -noreleasetest: no Aladin new release test -[no]samp: no usage of the internal SAMP hub -[no]plugin: with/without plugin support -[no]beta: with/without new features in beta test  - properties: propertie record list for populating the data discovery tree - graphics: Aladin or IDL or DS9 regions, MOCs - directories: HiPS - Aladin backup : ".aj" extension - Aladin scripts : ".ajs" extension
  New since V10: -theme, properties file support
  .
  Example of properties record:
  ID = yourAuhority/your/id obs_title = The title of your collection (a few words) obs_description = The description of your collection (a sentence or a short paragraph) tap_service_url =
  The service URL can be replaced/completed by one of these alternatives:
  sia_service_url = sia2_service_url = ssa/url ssa_service_url = ssa/url cs_service_url = hips_service_url =).
  It is also possible to edit and save the FITS header.
  Not all sliders are displayed by default. Use your preferences form (menu Edit -> User preferences) for adjusting this configuration.
  1) With SHIFT:
  By moving the mouse pointer over the icon/name, you will get additional plane information displayed on the top of the stack panel. on its border.
  The current time range can be specified by hand with two ISO dates (ex: 2001-12-20T10:00 2004-07-31) provided on the command field. When a time range has been set, it can be adjusted with mouse actions on the time controller displayed under the space controller in the right bottom panel.
  In a time range expression, it is possible to replace one ISO date by the keyword "NaN" to remove a bound. The string "NaN NaN" fully removes the current time range.
  Note that Aladin V11 also supports time plots (see below)
  You can move a manual contour with the "Select" tool by clicking-and-dragging one of its control points. It means that you have to select the contour and after that click-and-drag one of these control points (little squares on the contour).
  Note: If the background image is a HiPS, the contour extraction is possible, but done on the current view only.".
  Recent Aladin versions (9 and following) add new facilities, notably:
  - you can switch between the preview pixel mode and the full pixel dynamic mode (if it is provided for the current image or HiPS) either via the pixel form or thanks to the "hdr" icon under the main panel;- In full pixel dynamic mode, it is possible to recompute the current cut range only based on the current visible view (button "local cut");
  -.
  By clicking in the second column at the appropriate field, you will be able to specify if this field contains RA, DEC, PMRA, PMDEC, X or Y information.
  You can also select GLON, GLAT and SGLON, SGLAT for galactic and supergalactic coordinates.
  By clicking in the second column at the appropriate field, you will be able to specify if this field contains dates and the syntax/system of these dates: JD - Julian Day, MJD - Modified Julian Day, ISOTIME - calendar date in ISO format, YEARS - decimal years, DATE - regular calendar date.
  It can take into account all sky or wide image surveys, cube surveys, catalog surveys and density maps.
  HiPS are described in this paper 2015A&A...578A.114F. Since 2017, it is an IVOA standard described in this do not see this density slider in your stack, activate it via your preferences (Edit->User preferences->Control sliders).
  Note: You can also modify permanently the default projection via your preferences (Edit->User preferences->HiPS projection).
  HiPS and regular/PNG)..
  Note: Since 2017, HiPS is an IVOA recommended standard. The document is available at this address: .
  Note: In case of network failure between your localization and the current HiPS server, Aladin will silently switch to another one.").
  Tip: One solution is to convert your HEALPix map in HiPS before usage thanks to this command: java -jar Aladin.jar -hipsgen in=yourHealpixMap.fits creator_did=XXX/test out=YourHips
  Good examples of HEALPix fits maps containing polarisation data can be loaded from the LAMBDA site. For instance cut and paste in Aladin this WMAP map - 96MB:
  Client side:
  Via the menu "Image => Crop image area" (or directly via the "crop" button) you activate the crop tool. Select the region by clicking and dragging the red control rectangle, and confirm your choice. You can directly edit the size of your target image by double clicking the small numbers.
  When your background survey is displayed in preview mode (JPEG|PNG), the resulting image will be a simple "screen dump", with a simple astrometric calibration. But when your background survey uses the FITS mode, the resulting image will be produced by a resample algorithm from the original HEALPix pixels to the resulting FITS image. It's better but slower. The resampling algorithm is based on the bilinear approximation method.
  The client side method implies that all HiPS tiles required for cropping will be downloaded first before performing the cropping operation. It can take a long time especially for FITS mode.
  Server side:
  You can also ask the HiPS server to crop for you and send the resulting image to Aladin. It is definitively more efficient but is only possible for HiPS available on the CDS HiPS servers (most HiPS are available on the CDS HiPS servers). This functionality is available from the dedicated Hips2fits form displayed via the "File -> Open server selector... -> Aladin Hips2fits" menu.
  Note that this Hips2fits server-side service can be used directly from a Web page or from a URL API:
  You can use the menu "Tools => Generate a HiPS..." and follow the instructions.
  But as this process can take a while (10 hours2g -jar Aladin.jar -hipsgen in=Path creator_did=my/test/id..
  r = r * scaleR + minR g = g * scaleG + minG b = b * scaleB + minB r = max(0,r) g = max(0,g) b = max(0,b) I = (r+g+b)/3. fI = arcsinh(Q * I) / sqrt(Q) I = max(1e-6,I) r = fI * r / I g = fI * g / I b = fI * b / I
  The classic method provides beautiful colorful compositions, especially with digitized images or images with low pixel dynamics. In contrast, the Lupton method is suitable for CCD images with very high pixel dynamics. Its specificity is to increase the original color distances (blue stars are more blue, red stars are more red). Make sure that the original values must be mapped in a positive range using the factors "scale" and "min". The factor "Q" impacts the behavior of the transfer function applied in the Lupton method (arcsinh / sqrt).
  In this context, it is recommended to also generate the JPEG or PNG tiles for efficient remote acess. The users will have the choice to switch from fast preview access to Fits true pixel value (but slower) mode. mechanism is based on the HEALPix sky tessellation algorithm. It is essentially a simple way to map regions of the sky into hierarchically grouped predefined cells. Concretely, a MOC is a list of HEALPix cell numbers, stored in a FITS binary table.
  Initially designed for space coverages only, MOC has been extended in 2019 for also supporting the time dimension as TMOC for Time-MOC and STMOC for Space-Time MOC. technically, the time are coded as a discretization of the time dimension, but based on JD system instead of HEALpix.
  MOC is fully described by an IVOA standard available at this address:. TMOC and STMOC are already supported by Aladin but not yet standardized by the IVOA (IVOA note:)
  For instance, you can determine in a few mouse clicks the region observed by SDSS and HST, but for which there are no information in Simbad. on the purpose, but generally an order between 9 and 12 is a good compromise between precision and compactness.
  0 9133y 171d 11h 22m 32s 10 3d 4h 21m 17.9s 20 262.144ms 1 2283y 134d 4h 20m 40s 11 19h 5m 19.5s 21 65.536ms 2 570y 307d 11h 35m 9s 12 4h 46m 19.9s 22 16.384ms 3 142y 259d 11h 53m 47s 13 1h 11m 34.97s 23 4.096ms 4 35y 247d 11h 58m 27s 14 17m 53.741824s 24 1.024ms 5 8y 335d 19h 29m 37s 15 4m 28.435456s 25 256micro-s 6 2y 83d 22h 52m 24s 16 1m 7.108864s 26 64micro-s 7 203d 14h 43m 6s 17 16.777216s 27 16micro-s 8 50d 21h 40m 46.5s 18 4.194304s 28 4micro-s 9 12d 17h 25m 11.6s 19 1.048576s 29 1micro-s
  The choice of the resolution depends of the purpose, but generally an order between 9 and 12 is a good compromise between precision and compactness.
  This Aladin MOC display method is also useful to find easily small observations on the sky or in time plot, too small to find it at the true MOC resolution.
  Note: You can modify the visual MOC resolution via the "dens" slider under the stack
  Notice that these queries by MOC are extremely fast and powerful, even with very complex sky regions.
  This control mode can be used via:
  Tip: You can also pass any script command in the "Command" field on the top of the window.] [file] RGB|RGBdiff [x1|v1...] coord|object blink|mosaic [x1] [x2...] timerange|time + | - | * | / ... norm [-cut] [x] CATALOG: conv [x] ... filter ... kernel ... addcol ... resamp x1 x2 ... xmatch x1 x2 [dist] ... crop [x|v] [[X,Y] WxH] ccat [-uniq] [x1...] flipflop [x|v] [V|H] search {expr|+|-} contour [nn] [nosmooth] [zoom] tag|untag grey|bitpix [-cut] [x] BITPIX select [-tag] browse [x] GRAPHIC TOOL: draw [color] fct(param) FOLDER: grid [on|off] md [-localscope] [name] reticle [on|off] mv|rm [name] overlay [on|off] collapse|expand [name] COVERAGE: cmoc [-order=o] [x1|v1...] MISCELLANEOUS: backup filename status sync demo [on|off|end] pause [nn] help ... trace mem info msg macro script param call fct list [fct] reset setconf prop=value function ... = ... convert quit
  The Aladin recent new commands are: timerange, time, ccat, cmoc, browse, call -batch, setconf additional properties
  The help for each command can be accessed via the help script command.()
  Example of PERL script controlling Aladin:
  To create a view with GSC2.32.3); get simbad;\n"; print ALADIN "zoom 10arcmin; reverse; save $obj.jpg\n"; } print ALADIN "quit\n"; close ALADIN; }
  Thus, the "-batch" parameter forces the execution without waiting the stack "synchronization", but by only verifying that the previous command, and only the previous command is ready.
  For instance, this function should launch in batch mode to run properly:
  function mybrowse($cat,$coo) { get Vizier($cat) $coo 50deg browse } call -batch mybrowse(gliese,hd1)
  Note: The "-batch" mode is notably recommended for collaborative tool controlling Aladin via the VOApp interface (see corresponding section).).
  Example: 123.00 +56.5 GAL
  .
  Morover, the HiPS technology is evolving very rapidly. Do not hesitate to install the last Aladin beta version to be sure that the "hipsgen" internal library is the last available one.
  Have a look on Aladin plugin Web page to see the list of public Aladin compatible plugins ().
  To install a plugin, you will proceed in 2 steps:
  (*) On Windows, the home directory is located in C:\Users\YourName
  To execute a plugin:
  Note: Your own plugins will not work with a Web Start launching. Only official ones.. a
  Example:
  public class MyApp() { public void startAladin() { Aladin.launch("-trace"); } }
  See the section VOApp for controlling Aladin from your own applet/application.
  This last method may be useful, notably if you are controlling Aladin from another Java application using a classical GUI theme. historically hisotrically); } } :
  MOC has been invented by the CDS in 2008 and it has been endorsed by the IVOA in 2013. It is an international standard since 2014. The last version (2019 October) is available at this address:
  This method can be used for image surveys, but also for catalogs, notably huge catalogs, density maps,...
  HiPS has been invented by the CDS in 2009 and it has been endorsed by the IVOA in 2016. It is an international standard since 2017: . HiPS is used by a lot of compatible clients notably Stellarium, WorldWide Telescope, KStar
  TAP and ADQL have been standardized by IVOA in 2010 and the documentation can be found on these addresses: ADQL, TAP