The principal purpose of IAU Colloquium No. 35 was to discuss those aspects of the techniques of the compilation, evaluation, and distribution of data that are common to astrometry, photometry and spectrometry of stars and stellar systems. In the announcement of the Colloquium, it was suggested that there would be special emphasis on the techniques of quality control, and on the standards for the presentation of numerical data in both printed and com­ puter-readable form. As the meeting progressed it became clear that the lack of a standard, unambiguous system for the identifi­ cation of stellar objects was a source of much confusion and inefficiency in the use of existing data files. This and other such matters were the subject of further discussions by Commission 5 at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which was held at Grenoble during the following fortnight, 24 August - 2 September 1976. The proposal for the Colloquium was prepared by J. Jung, who was then Director of the Centre des Donnees Stellaires at Stras­ bourg, and G. A. Wilkins, Chairman of the IAU Working Group on Numerical Data, and was accepted by the IAU Executive Committee on the recommendation of the President of Commission 5, with the support of Commissions 25, 29 and 45. The Scientific Organising Committee consisted of W. Fricke, B. Hauck, C. Jaschek, J. Jung, B. Kukarkin, P. Lacroute, A. Underhill and G. A. Wilkins (Chair­ man). The Local Organising Committee consisted of A.

Inhalt

I. Standards For The Presentation of Data.- 1. (Invited paper) Standards, management and security of astronomical data sets.- 2. Principles of a coded numbering system and its application to open clusters.- 3. Thoughts on the form of presentation of star catalogue data.- 4. A bibliography of astronomical catalogues and the organization of stellar designations.- 5. The catalogue of stellar identifications.- 6. Desiderata for the catalogue of nearby stars.- 7. A proposal for non-ambiguous designation of stars and stellar objects.- 8. The use of SI units in astronomy.- II. Acquisition and Processing Techniques.- 9. (Invited paper) The influence of acquisition techniques on the compilation of astronomical data.- 10. Data processing and analysis for space-based astronomy.- 11. The use of standardized data formats and with the Westerbork radio telescope.- 12. Data storage requirements in relation to radio interferometry observations.- 13. Ultraviolet photometry from the S2/68 observations in the TD1 satellite.- 14. The University of Texas catalog of and ultraviolet and optical stellar data.- III. The Critical Evaluation of Data Chairman, Dr. G.A. Wilkins.- 15. (Invited paper) The critical evaluation J.M. Mead and of stellar data.- 16. Critical evaluation of photometric data.- 17. Some thoughts on astronomical data files.- 18. Work on the general catalogue of P.N. Kholopov variable stars.- 19. A catalogue of photometric sequences Supplement no. 2.- 20.Catalogues of spectroscopic binaries.- 21. The Princeton-Pennsylvania-Florida card catalogue of eclipsing variables.- 22. Plans for a new edition of the bright and star catalogue.- IV. The Distribution of Data.- 23. (Invited paper) Data distribution.- 24. Retrieval techniques and graphics displays using a computerized stellar data base.- 25. A master list of non-stellar objects.- 26. Proposal for a data centre on galactic non-stellar objects.- 27. Main features of the stellar biblio-and F. Spite graphic file.- 28. The visual double star catalogues.- 29. Systematic differences in trigonometric, parallaxes from different observatories.- 30. The astronomical data systems group in Japan.- 31. Stellar data and computing facilities at the Pulkovo Observatory.- 32. Astronomical data files at the U.S. Naval Observatory: star catalogues, ephemerides, and observations.- V. Existing Facilities and Future Role of Data Centres.- 33. (Invited paper) Survey of existing facilities.- 34. Existing data centers and their future role.- 35. Third general catalogue of MK spectral classifications.- 36. The future role of data centres in astronomy.- 37. Astronomical data coordination: a perpetual task.- 38. Concluding remarks.- Report of Discussions.