The CDS is an astronomical data centre operated at the Strasbourg astronomical
observatory in France, a Research Unit of Strasbourg University and CNRS.
In operation since 1972 it has developed some reference services for astronomy
and is a major actor of the Virtual Observatory project.
The team of about 30 people includes astronomers for scientific expertise,
computer engineers for software development and documentalists feeding the databases.
The CDS mission is to collect useful information concerning astronomical objects,
update its data by critical evaluations and comparisons, distribute the results to
the astronomical community and conduct research using this data.
The CDS hosts the SIMBAD astronomical database, the world
reference for the identification of astronomical objects and their
bibliography. VizieR, the catalogue service providing access to thousands of
astronomical catalogs and tables published in academic journals
and Aladin, an interactive sky atlas for access, visualization and analysis of
astronomical images surveys catalogs and other databases.
CDS hosts other services like support for publication of catalog data in collaboration with major
academic journals and a powerful cross-match engine to perform positional
associations between catalogs. You can also use the CDS portal to start
exploring what data are available for your favorite objects in the various
services. These services are used by the astronomical research community but also
by amateurs and educators worldwide and the CDS has collaborations with CNES, ESO,
ESA, NASA and other institutes hosting mirrors of some of its services.
If you'd like to learn more about CDS visit our website or subscribe to our YouTube
channel to discover our video tutorials