References

Entire Package

As of 2018, the latest summary paper for WCSTools is being presented at ADASS XXVIII in College Park, MD and is entitled:

"Exploring Space, Time, and Data with WCSTools " and will be published in 2019 in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXVIII
[abstract] [PDF poster] [HTML of the mostly-text poster]

In 2005, WCSTools was upgraded to the then-latest version of WCSLIB and a paper was presented at ADASS:

"WCSTools 4.0: Building Astrometry and Catalogs into Pipelines," Douglas J. Mink, 2005 in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XV,
[abstract] [PDF poster] [HTML presentation [PDF presentation] [PDF paper] [HTML paper]

The 2001 ADASS paper gives the current status of the package, with examples of many of its capabilities:

"WCSTools 3.0: More Tools for Image Astrometry and Catalog Searching", Douglas J. Mink, 2002, in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XI, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 281, David A. Bohlender, Daniel Durand, and T. H. Handley, eds., pp. 169-172.
[abstract] [full text] [PDF poster]

The 1998 ADASS paper is the first published description of the tools in the WCSTools package, including SAOimage when used for WCS work:

"WCSTools: An Image Astrometry Toolkit", Douglas J. Mink (1998), in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VIII, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 172, 1999, Dave Mehringer, Ray Plante, Doug Roberts, eds., pp. 498-501.
[ ADS abstract]

Fitting World Coordinate Systems to Images

The paper presented at ADASS in 1996 is the best published description of the IMWCS world coordinate system fitting program:

"WCSTools: Putting Image World Coordinate Systems to Use", Douglas J. Mink, 1997, in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VI, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 125, Gareth Hunt and H. E. Payne, eds., pp. 249-252.
[ ADS Abstract] [local abstract] [ proceedings full text]

Using Source Catalogs

Our 2003 ADASS paper tests the accuracy of the various catalogs one is likely to use with imwcs, showing how well it works in a pipeline mode on 1728 images. It is an improved version of our AAS/DDA paper, adding the UCAC2 catalog and emphasizing usefulness more than astrometry.

"A Comparison of Large All-Sky Catalogs" Douglas J. Mink, Warren R. Brown, and Michael J. Kurtz in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XIII, ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 314. Edited by Francois Oschenbein, Mark Allen, and Daniel Egret. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ISSN: 1080-7926, 2004., p. 141.
[abstract] [PDF full text] [Web presentation]

Our 2003 AAS/DDA paper has more of an astrometric slant comparing accuracies of the most commonly used catalogs against actual star positions in 1728 images.

"A Comparison of Large All-Sky Catalogs", Douglas J. Mink, Warren Brown, and Michael J. Kurtz, 2003.
[abstract] [Web presentation]

The 2002 ADASS paper displays some of the uses of scat as part of the Virtual Observatory:

"Federating Catalogs and Interfacing Them with Archives: A VO Prototype" Douglas J. Mink and Michael J. Kurtz, 2002, in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XII, ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 281. Edited by David A. Bohlender, Daniel Durand and T.H. Handley. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ISSN: 1080-7926, 2002., p. 169.
[abstract] [PDF full text] [Web presentation] [ Open/StarOffice presentation]

All of the Papers

1995: Browsing Images in World Coordinate Space with SAOimage

Mink, D.J. 1995, presented at the Fifth Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems, published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems V, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 101, 1996, George H. Jacoby and Jeannette Barnes, eds., p. 96.
[full text] [abstract]

1996: WCSTools: Putting Image World Coordinate Systems to Use

Mink, Douglas J. Mink (1996), presented at the Sixth Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS 96) in Charlottesvile, Virginia in September 1996, published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VI, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 125, 1997, Gareth Hunt and H. E. Payne, eds., p. 249.
[full text] [abstract]

1998: WCSTools: An Image Astrometry Toolkit

Mink, Douglas J. 1998, presented at the annual meeting of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society, Charlottesville, VA, 1-3 April 1998.
[abstract] (This poster talk was, for the most part, an earlier version of the following paper.)

1998: WCSTools: An Image Astrometry Toolkit

Mink, Douglas J. 1998, presented at the Eighth Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS 98) in Urbana, Illinois in November 1998, published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VIII, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 172, 1999, Dave Mehringer, Ray Plante, Doug Roberts, eds., p. 498.
[full text] [local abstract] [ ADS abstract]

2001: WCSTools 3.0: More Tools for Image Astrometry and Catalog Searching"

Mink, Douglas J. 2001, presented at the Eleventh Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS 2001) in Victoria British Columbia in October 2001, published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XI, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 281, edited by David A. Bohlender, Daniel Durand, and T. H. Handley, eds., pp. 169-172.
[abstract] [full text] [Postscript poster]

2002: Federating Catalogs and Interfacing Them with Archives: A VO Prototype

Mink, Douglas J. Mink and Kurtz, Michael J. 2002, presented at the Twelfth Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS 2002) in Baltimore, Maryland, published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XII, ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 295, edited by Harry E. Payne, Robert I. Jedrzejewski, and Richard N. Hook. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ISSN: 1080-7926, 2003, pp. 51-54.
[abstract] [PDF full text] [Web presentation]

2003: A Comparison of Large All-Sky Catalogs

Douglas J. Mink, Warren Brown, and Michael J. Kurtz, 2003, presented at the annual meeting of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society, Ithaca, NY, May 4-7, 2003.
[abstract] [Web presentation]

2003: A Comparison of Large All-Sky Catalogs

Douglas J. Mink, Warren R. Brown, and Michael J. Kurtz, presented at the Thirteenth Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS 2003) in Strasbourg, France, published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XIII, ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 314, Edited by Francois Oschenbein, Mark Allen, and Daniel Egret. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ISSN: 1080-7926, 2004, pp. 141-144.
[abstract] [PDF full text] [Web presentation]

2005: WCSTools 4.0: Building Astrometry and Catalogs into Pipelines

Douglas J. Mink, 2005 presented at the Fifteenth Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS XV) in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, to be published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XV
[abstract] [PDF poster] [HTML presentation [PDF presentation] [PDF paper] [HTML paper]