It is possible to access the ATNF catalog from the command line. Then various unix commands may be used on the output to create tailored data. The catalog software is now in /data/psrdata/psrcat. There is a README there that gives directions on how to use it.
Note that it accesses a database file on disk which may or may not be the latest version!
Also note that you need not supply the db_file parameter if you desire that it default to the location given in the environment variable PSRCAT_FILE (you may find the value of that variable by typing
printenv PSRCAT_FILE
if you got your .cshrc from me (Joel) relatively recently, you will probably get
/usr/share/astro/psrhome/psrcat/psrcat.db
I have linked that locataion to the psrcat.db file that is “actually” in /data/psrdata/psrcat
so when i type psrcat -v from that directory, I indeed get the current catalogue version, v1.57:
“Software version: 1.49
“Catalogue version number = 1.57”
I may or may not update the catalog in the future.
Note also that the psrchive suite now accesses the same catalog through a link. That is, the only file in
/usr/share/astro/psrhome/psrcat is a link to the above /data/psrdata/psrcat/psrcat.db
(OK I also did the same with glitch.db)
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