Woolley Catalog: Stars within 25 Parsecs of Earth

The Woolley Catalog of Stars within 25 Parsecs was constructed at the Royal Greenwich Observatory to expand the 1957 Gliese compilation. It contains data on stars nearer than 25 parsecs not in the original Gliese catalog, plus post-1957 updates for stars that were included. NASA's HEASARC recreated this electronic version in December 2002 based on a 1997 release from the CDS.

Use Cases

• Studying stellar kinematics and galactic dynamics based on (U,V,W) space velocities and box orbit parameters.
• Analyzing stellar properties and populations based on parallaxes, spectral types, and UBV photometric data.
• Cross-referencing stellar identities for multiple systems using component IDs and catalog identifiers like HD, DM, and BS.
• Identifying binary and variable stars based on remarks codes for spectroscopic binaries, doubles, and variables.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific, nearby stellar population within 25 parsecs of Earth.
• Includes multiple data types per star: parallaxes, proper motions, radial velocities, spectral types, and photometry.
• Provides cross-references to major historical catalogs like the GCTP, HD, and DM.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The electronic version omits some original catalog data, including non-machine-readable notes and tables for systems moved beyond 25 parsecs.

Provenance

Source

Royal Greenwich Observatory, later served by NASA HEASARC.

Collection Method

Catalog compilation to supplement and update the Gliese (1957) catalog.

Time Range

Based on data published after 1957, with a catalog version from 1997.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:21:44.501155; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Stellar data for objects within 25 parsecs of the Solar System.