[Everyone] PSRCAT v2.6.2 release [minor]

[Toomey, Lawrence (S&A, Marsfield)]

Dear PSRCAT users,

We are excited to release PSRCAT v2.6.2!

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Please read below very carefully:

This minor release is to update the PSRCAT naming convention for new pulsars - this fixes the old policy of adding a suffix lowercase 'g' for new FAST pulsars, which has caused multiple source duplication in PSRCAT.

We have updated the naming convention whereby all new pulsars with an imprecise position and/or 'short' Jname JNNNN+/-NN receive a suffix '_P' for 'Provisional' - the provisional status will be removed once the source has been timed and the position has arcsecond precision in declination. We have applied the suffix '_P' to the FAST 'g' pulsars that fit this criteria and have removed the 'g' suffix for pulsars with precise positions.

Authors can publish the pulsar names as determined by the existing convention of the 'short' Jname for imprecise positions and the 'long' Jname JNNNN+/-NNNN only for positions with arcsecond precision (and do not need to publish with the '_P' suffix). Authors are encouraged  to check PSRCAT before publishing.

We do however recommend that the following suggestions are implemented prior to publication:


  1.
If authors publish an updated 'long' Jname with a precise position for an existing pulsar, we encourage them to add a footnote indicating what the current Jname is in PSRCAT. We will then update the catalogue with the new Jname. For the sqlite database, the Jname will be updated in the 'pulsar' table and the old Jname will be input to the 'name' table.
  2.
If a precise 'long' Jname exists and authors find a new pulsar with the same 'long' Jname format, authors can publish using an 'extended' Jname of the format JNNNN+/-NNNNNN.

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The PSRCAT webpage www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat<http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat> has been updated, and if you wish to use the SQL database and the corresponding scripts, they can be accessed at the following DOI https://doi.org/10.25919/d9a8-pq84.

For users of ATNF machines, the 'stable' pulsar software stack is now running v2.6.1 and the 'next' release is running v2.6.2.

Updates for this release
------------------------------
Bug fixes:

  *
Fix missing refs in psrcat_ref [PSRSOFT-335]
  *
Fix segfault on PML and PMB [PSRSOFT-291]


Features:

  *
Update pulsar naming convention

New parameters:
None

Thanks to Agastya for the code development and verification for this release, and to Vince McIntyre and Andrew O'Brien for web development.

A huge thank you also to those users who spotted and reported any issues back to us - as always, please don't hesitate to contact us to report any issues that you encounter.

Regards,
Lawrence, on behalf of the PSRCAT team.


Lawrence

Lawrence Toomey (he/him) | Senior Research Technician

Data archivist for Murriyang, the CSIRO Parkes 64-metre radio telescope
Project lead, CSIRO Radio Astronomy Image Archive (CRAIA)
Project lead, The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue (PSRCAT)
                            
Winner of the 2023 CSIRO Support Excellence Award

CSIRO Space & Astronomy
Marsfield, NSW 2122

+61293724572

https://www.csiro.au/

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands that we live and work on across Australia and pays its respect to Elders past and present.

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