Gem)
Source designations for objects in WISE Catalog and Databases conform to the recommendations outlined in International Astronomical Union's specifications concerning designations for astronomical radiation sources outside the solar system. Source designations should be given as:
WISExy Jhhmmss.ss±ddmmss.s
The decimal parts of the RA seconds and Declination arcseconds are truncated rather than rounded, per the IAU recommendation. The coordinate sequence is the sexagesimal J2000-equinox RA and declination, hence the "J" designator.
CAUTION: Coordinates extracted from the designation column are less precise than those given in the right ascension and declination columns of the source Catalog and Databases. The use of designation coordinates will result in a maximum (unsigned) error of 0.0996" in declination and a maximum (unsigned degree) error of 0.1488" in right ascension.
The WISE part of the acronym is used to identify source information derived from WISE data. The xy part of the acronym distinguishes the data processing provenance and exact data products from which the source information is drawn. The set of acronyms are as follows:
| Acronym | Catalog/Database |
| For objects derived from first-pass WISE data processing | |
| WISEP | For objects in the Preliminary Release Source Catalog |
| WISEPF | For objects in the Preliminary Release Single-Exposure Source Working Database |
| WISEPAa | For objects in the preliminary release Atlas Tile Source Working Database |
| WISEPCa | For objects in the first-pass processing operations coadd Source Working Database |
| WISEWFb | For objects in the Preliminary Release Post-Cryo Single-Exposure Source Working Database |
| For objects derived from second-pass WISE data processing | |
| WISE | For objects in the All-Sky Release Source Catalog |
| WISER | For objects in the All-Sky Release Reject Table |
| WISEAF | For objects in the All-Sky Release Single-Exposure Source Working Database |
| WISET | For objects in the 3-Band Cryo Source Catalog |
| WISETR | For objects in the 3-Band Cryo Reject Table |
| WISETF | For objects in the 3-Band Cryo Single-Exposure Source Working Database |
a - These product were used internally for
validation, analysis and some early pilot science investigations, but are not released.
b - The WISE Post-Cryo data have
undergone only first-pass Scan/Frame processing even though their
release follows the All-Sky Data Release.
The acronym designation is not carried explicitly for entries in the Catalogs to save space. The coordinate sequence is tabulated for each source and is included in the designation field for each source in the Catalogs.
For example, the complete designations for two sources in the WISE Preliminary Release Source Catalog are:
WISEP J073435.74+315316.1 (= Gem)
and
WISEP J024240.69-000047.8 (= NGC 1068)
Last Update: 2012 March 15