Sofia Sky-Archive Data Center: Photographic Plate Collections for Developing Countries

Extract

The Sofia Sky Archive Data Center (SSADC) was developed on the base of the Wide-Field Plate Database (WFPDB – http://www.skyarchive.org) as a project of the Working Group on Sky Surveys, Commission 9 of the IAU, and is dedicated to saving plate collections. The center manages 12 PCs connected in a local computer network and a PDS 1010 microdensitometer donated by the European Southern Observatory. The main field of operation is the WFPDB development, plate digitization and image processing for different astronomical tasks in South- and East Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, etc.), and as a regional coordinator especially for the neighbour countries – Romania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. The main problem in the way of the WFPDB development is the creation of the computer-readable plate catalogues of the original logbooks because the speed of converting the logbooks in a computer-readable form is very low. The message is: we have to find the way to accelerate this important part of the project where the role of the developing countries in this direction should be very important. (Co-authors are: K. Tsvetkova, K. Stavrev V. Popov, H. Lukarski, A. Borisova, M-E. S. Michailov and G. Borisov of Sofia, Bulgaria, and S. Christov, Bulgarian South-West University).