The Hypercat database (Prugniel et al. 1998) has its central node at the Observatoire de Lyon, where it is accessible at http://www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr/hypercat/.
The FITS Archive is a newly-implemented section aimed at collecting images and spectra. We have adopted the standard of the Flexible Image Transport System because of its wide acceptance and its permanent, but controlled, evolution. A detailed on-line manual is available at http://www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr/hypercat/11/. Presently, the data in HFA are mostly from the Observatoire de Haute-Provence.
1) Structure. HFA is divided into independent datasets corresponding to material obtained in the same instrumental conditions (e.g., division by observing runs). For the spectroscopic data, the archive includes spectra of:
instrumental setup, conditions of observation, and the link to associated frames (e.g., nearest arc-lamp spectra, template spectra). The complete list of keywords used is available at http://www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr/hypercat/11/keywords.html.
2) Distribution. The user can extract data from the Lyon site, or from the other two Hypercat mirrors, in Milan (Osservatorio di Brera) and Naples (Osservatorio di Capodimonte) at, respectively:
http://palladio.brera.mi.astro.it/hypercat/, and
http://www.na.astro.it/hypercat/.
3) Evolution. HFA is now in a stage of rapid growth. New data are appended continuously, and we will soon develop a pipeline process allowing a choice between different types of data to be extracted: options will include, e.g., flatfielding, wavelength calibration, and flux calibration. The data actually archived will be essentially the raw spectra, with the processing made at the user's request, in order to ensure homogeneous results between different sources. The following step will be the creation of higher-level procedures ("analysis pipelines'') performing on-line spectrophotometric and kinematical analyses; this is planned for mid-1999.
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