GALEX Time Domain Survey: Catalog of Over 1,000 UV Variable Sources

Over a thousand ultraviolet variable sources were discovered in ~40 deg² of GALEX Time Domain Survey images observed with a 2-day cadence over ~3 years. The catalog, created by NASA, classifies sources as active galaxies, variable stars, and transients, providing statistical properties of UV variability. The table includes field centers, Galactic extinction values, and epoch counts as listed in the reference paper.

Use Cases

• Classifying variable sources based on UV light curve characteristics and optical host properties mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the structure function of UV variability on timescales from days to years.
• Studying the large-amplitude UV variability of M-dwarf flare stars and RR Lyrae stars.
• Calculating surface densities of variable and transient sources in the ultraviolet.
• Cross-matching UV variable sources with archival X-ray and spectroscopy catalogs.

Strengths

• Contains over a thousand classified variable sources, including 358 quasars, 305 AGN, and 92 variable stars.
• Provides empirically characterized photometric errors and 5-sigma variability selection.
• Reports surface density rates for transient classes, such as ~52 deg⁻² yr⁻¹ for extragalactic transients.
• Observations were coordinated with the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey for simultaneous optical data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect observational bias inherent to the specific ~40 deg² GALEX TDS fields.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Selection and classification from GALEX Time Domain Survey NUV images.

Time Range

Observational baseline of ~3 years.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:13:09.462245; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Covers ~40 deg² of sky, with field centers specified by RA and Dec.