Access to the information

Thanks to the work on stellar identifications invested in the preparation of the catalogues used for building the database, the identification problem is greatly simplified; the various data for each star are collected under a unique designation, according to the numbering system adopted for the cluster. This identification is the main key for accessing the data of any star in any file. However, there are other possibilities for querying the database:

• One can recover the star number in the adopted numbering system (main key) starting with any identification existing in the cross-reference tables;
• One can access the data directly with HD, DM or other identifications;
• Data can be selected according to a source number;
• Samples can be formed according to astrophysical criteria.

Interesting clusters may be selected according to the number of available data of any type and the implementation of Lyngå's (1987) catalogue allows other types of selection, based on galactic position or cluster age for example.