<div dir="ltr">There is an increasing call for such a thing, and not just for astrophysics - planetary has similar issues. The PDS approach was designed specifically for spacecraft. Attempts to extend it to groundbased and airborne observatories have been, shall we say, less than satisfying. <div><br></div><div>The only lists I have encountered for planetary are very purpose-driven: The Minor Planet Center list of Observatory Codes (<a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/ObsCodesF.html">https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/ObsCodesF.html</a>) exists to provide very specific coordinates for the point of observation which are then used to derive the astrometry of submitted observations. It includes only observatories that have contributed observations to the MPC. Sometimes "observatory" includes a telescope designation, sometimes not. The Planetary Data System "context collection" (<a href="https://pds.nasa.gov/data/pds4/context-pds4/">https://pds.nasa.gov/data/pds4/context-pds4/</a>), which provides unique internal identifiers and high-level description for things like spacecraft and instruments, is a patchwork of confusion between observatory sites, observatory organizations, telescope names/sizes, and so on applied nearly randomly by people who just want to have "the answer" to fill in their data labels. Context objects are created as they are needed in PDS, so there is, in general, very little planning or stability in assigning identifiers. PDS nodes other than my own do not seem to consider this an important consideration, so even the small collection there is corrupted by duplication and misidentification.<div><br></div><div>I don't know the underlying database criteria or how it was maintained, but I thought there might have been more order in the collection of the Astronomical Almanac. Unfortunately, their observatory search page is nonfunctional and apparently abandoned: <a href="https://asa.hmnao.com/SecJ/Observatories.html">https://asa.hmnao.com/SecJ/Observatories.html</a>. </div><div><div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Anne Raugh<div>PDS Small Bodies Node</div><div>University of Maryland</div><div>College Park, MD 20742-2421</div><div>301-405-6855</div></div></div></div><br></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jan 28, 2022 at 5:10 AM Robert Rovetto <<a href="mailto:ontologos@yahoo.com">ontologos@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div><div dir="ltr">Hi Alberto, <br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">One of my works-in-progress is a taxonomy/ontology of spaceflight missions (broadly construed).<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">If you and your colleagues are interested in creating one specifically for astrophysics, I'm very interested in formally working together to do that. <br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Please contact me in any case.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div><div style="font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><div>Roberto <font size="2">Rovetto</font><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>--</div><div><a href="http://tinyurl.com/r2qb6d42" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Schedule a Meeting</a>.</div></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span><span><a href="https://tinyurl.com/yas7trzy" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Hire ontology services</a>.</span></span></font></span></span></span></font></span></span></span></span></font></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:16px"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span><span><span>NASA Datanauts Open Data Initiative class of 2017.</span><br></span></span></font></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:16px"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size:16px"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><div><span style="font-size:16px"><span><span style="font-size:16px"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><span><br></span></div><div><span><a href="https://purl.org/space-ontology" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://purl.org/space-ontology</a> (<a href="http://purl.org/space-ontology" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Orbital Space Domain Knowledge Modeling</a>)</span><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span><span></span></span></font></span></span><span></span></div><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span><div><div dir="ltr"><span></span></div><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span><span></span><span></span><span></span><span></span><span></span></font></span></div></span></font></span></span><span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span></span></div></div></span></span></span><div dir="ltr"><span></span></div><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span><span></span><span></span><span></span><span></span></font></span></div></font><div><font size="2"><span></span><span><br></span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span><a href="http://www.coder.umd.edu/node/287" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Research Affiliate</a>,
Center
for Orbital Debris Education & Research.</span></font></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div><font size="2"><span><span><span>Education Committee, International Association for Ontology and its Applications.</span></span></span></font></div><span style="font-size:16px"></span><div><br></div></div></div></span></span></span><div dir="ltr"><span><a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3835-7817" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ORCID</a>: <a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3835-7817" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3835-7817</a></span></div><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span><div><span></span></div><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span><div><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span></div><span style="font-size:16px"><font style="background-color:inherit" size="2"><span></span></font></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="gmail-m_-756739174237961884yahoo_quoted_4103757894">
<div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:rgb(38,40,42)">
<div>
On Thursday, January 27, 2022, 06:02:17 PM EST, Accomazzi, Alberto <<a href="mailto:aaccomazzi@cfa.harvard.edu" target="_blank">aaccomazzi@cfa.harvard.edu</a>> wrote:
</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><div id="gmail-m_-756739174237961884yiv8362948109"><div dir="ltr">Dear Semantics,<div><br></div><div>I have been asked by NASA colleagues if there is an existing taxonomy of Missions, facilities and instruments in use in Astrophysics. This of course brought back fond memories of discussions I've had with some of you over the past decade, but I'm afraid I haven't followed any of the recent conversations on the topic.</div><div><br></div><div>So I found my way to the following IVOA pages:</div><div><a href="https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/UniFacil" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/UniFacil</a></div><div><a href="https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/MetaTelInst" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/MetaTelInst</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>From what I can gather, some progress has been made but there is still no official list that this WG has endorsed or is even considering at this point. Is this correct? And if so, are there any "work in progress" lists that are available for inspection?</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div>Alberto<br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div></div><div><span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-left:0pt"><span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-left:0pt"><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse"><colgroup><col width="445"><col width="275"></colgroup><tbody><tr style="min-height:90pt"><td style="border-width:1pt;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:top;padding:5pt"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="Arial" color="#000000"><span style="font-size:12.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap"><b>Alberto Accomazzi</b></span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Program Manager and Principal Investigator</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">NASA Astrophysics Data System</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">60 Garden Street | MS 83 | Cambridge, MA 02138</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/iEhls32f3S2RBzoI5DnklqaMcwuTNIBkcE1Q-iS9ixAQX6u-RMkuI-TmME1HmsCOkfAyFN0pWJ88fKnUbr4miiWKzL5NpjWz4SJikHk017WtLMSQNzqKQ9bmzzwgkZVvLNQvmNx-" width="350" height="2"></span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="http://ads.harvard.edu" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">ads.harvard.edu</font></a></span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font style="background-color:inherit" color="#000000"> | </font><a href="https://twitter.com/adsabs" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">@adsabs</a><font style="background-color:inherit" color="#000000"> | </font><u><a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">ui.adsabs.harvard.edu</font></a></u></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><u><a href="https://cfa.harvard.edu" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">cfa.harvard.edu</font></a></u><font style="background-color:inherit" color="#000000"> | </font></span><a href="http://cfa.harvard.edu/facebook" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> | </span><a href="http://cfa.harvard.edu/twitter" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> | </span><a href="http://cfa.harvard.edu/youtube" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">YouTube</span></a><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> | </span><a href="http://cfa.harvard.edu/newsletter" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Newsletter</span></a></p></td></tr><tr style="min-height:27pt"><td style="border-width:1pt;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:top;padding:5pt"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse"><colgroup><col width="445"><col width="275"></colgroup><tbody><tr style="min-height:27pt"><td style="border-width:1pt;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:top;padding:5pt"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div></div>
</div>
</div></div></blockquote></div>