COMPRESS-ed "MASTER" STAR CATALOGS IN TRANSFER FORMAT
-----------------------------------------------------

To install either of these catalogs follow these steps:

1) transfer the catalog file to your computer (must be a UNIX
   workstation -- SUN, Linux, Mac/OSX -- or any other machine that has
   uncompress or gzip UNIX utilities) by FTP in BINARY mode:

      ftp> bin
      ftp> get tycho2.xdb.Z

2) "uncompress" the file using uncompress:

      % uncompress tycho2.xdb.Z

   or gzip

      % gzip -d tycho2.xdb.Z

   Note that the uncompressed transfer file tycho2.xdb is a UNIX
   end-of-line convention text file. If your computer uses different
   line terminators, convert the file to the text format native to 
   your computer.

3) run SPICE's tobin utility (<<spice_system_home_directory_name>>/
   toolkit/exe/tobin) to convert the transfer file tycho2.xdb to binary
   format:

      % tobin tycho2.xdb tycho2.bdb
      Converting: tycho2.xdb
              To: tycho2.bdb

4) use binary "master" file tycho2.bdb with SPICE's starsb (Star Catalog
   Subsetter utility program available for a number of environments at
   http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/utilities.html) to create a subset 
   catalog that suits your needs.


If you have any questions regarding this data contact

   Boris V. Semenov, NAIF/JPL
   e-mail: bsemenov@spice.jpl.nasa.gov
   phone: -1-(818)-354-8136
    
BVS, February 15, 2007