<p>OK, it seems to me that what you have is a fits image (from where?) that has some world coordinate system information attached. When you load the 2MASS catalogue, SAOimage is able to use the RA and Dec in the catalogue to calculate the x,y positions of the catalog sources in your image (and marks them as green circles).</p>

<p>Is what you are asking - how do I get the x,y coordinates of these 2MASS sources in my image? Or do you wish to know what the x,y coordinates of the <em>actual sources in your image</em>? If the latter then you will need some other software like Sextractor or DAOphot to do source-searching and parameterisation in your image.</p>

<p>If the former, here's a way of doing it. When you load the catalog you should see a window open entitled "2MASS Point sources" which lists all the sources in your image. From the "File" dialogue, select "Copy to regions". Then, in the main image window open the "Regions" dialogue and select "List regions". Another dialogue box will open asking you to select the format and coordinate system. From this, select "x,y" for the format and "image" for the coordinate system. This will give you a list of x,y coordinates.</p>

<p>If you want to match this up with the 2MASS sources then you have to "list regions" again, but this time select "fk5" as the coordinate system. This will then give you a list of the RA, Dec of the same sources. Use you favourite editor to attach these lists to each other.</p>

<p>Quite probably there is a more elegant solution, but this works.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T12:48:11.643Z
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34924223/getting-extra-catalog-fields-by-saoimage-ds9
orkan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T14:59:31.097Z
2016-01-20T14:59:31.097Z
ProfRob
<p>I loaded my fits image to saoimage ds9. Then, Analysis->Catalogs automatically brought up source locations. <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/hLKUx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/hLKUx.png" alt="screenshot"></a> how can i get xy image coordinates of this source locations?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T12:32:14.663Z
Not quite with you. Does your image have wcs information? Are the green circles the positions from some catalog you have uploaded (as I see some appear to lie outside the image)?
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T12:40:03.253Z
i downloaded image from http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/applications/2MASS/IM/inventory.html#pos. I did not upload catalog. Program (from  Analysis->Catalogs->Infrared-> 2MASS PS) found the green circles. I think it uses image's WCS information for this.
orkan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T12:48:17.010Z
catalog have _raj2000 _dej2000 raj2000 dej2000 ... fields. But i am not sure about their meanings. I found a set of explanations on the net but could not get it cause i don't have an astronomical background.
orkan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T12:52:11.557Z
btw in astropy i used load_spitzer_catalog() method to load a catalog and i am able to convert ra and de fields of it by using wcs info of the corresponding image obtained by load_spitzer_image() to pixel coordinates. But this raj2000 dej2000 fields seem different.
orkan
<star><astrophysics><ds9>
how to get image coordinates of source points in saoimage ds9?
orkan
# how to get image coordinates of source points in saoimage ds9?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-01-20)

I loaded my fits image to saoimage ds9. Then, Analysis->Catalogs automatically brought up source locations. [![screenshot](https://i.sstatic.net/hLKUx.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/hLKUx.png) how can i get xy image coordinates of this source locations?

**Tags:** star, astrophysics, ds9

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Not quite with you. Does your image have wcs information? Are the green circles the positions from some catalog you have uploaded (as I see some appear to lie outside the image)?  
> **username_0**: i downloaded image from http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/applications/2MASS/IM/inventory.html#pos. I did not upload catalog. Program (from  Analysis->Catalogs->Infrared-> 2MASS PS) found the green circles. I think it uses image's WCS information for this.  
> **username_0**: catalog have _raj2000 _dej2000 raj2000 dej2000 ... fields. But i am not sure about their meanings. I found a set of explanations on the net but could not get it cause i don't have an astronomical background.  
> **username_0**: btw in astropy i used load_spitzer_catalog() method to load a catalog and i am able to convert ra and de fields of it by using wcs info of the corresponding image obtained by load_spitzer_image() to pixel coordinates. But this raj2000 dej2000 fields seem different.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-01-20. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

OK, it seems to me that what you have is a fits image (from where?) that has some world coordinate system information attached. When you load the 2MASS catalogue, SAOimage is able to use the RA and Dec in the catalogue to calculate the x,y positions of the catalog sources in your image (and marks them as green circles).

Is what you are asking - how do I get the x,y coordinates of these 2MASS sources in my image? Or do you wish to know what the x,y coordinates of the *actual sources in your image*? If the latter then you will need some other software like Sextractor or DAOphot to do source-searching and parameterisation in your image.

If the former, here's a way of doing it. When you load the catalog you should see a window open entitled "2MASS Point sources" which lists all the sources in your image. From the "File" dialogue, select "Copy to regions". Then, in the main image window open the "Regions" dialogue and select "List regions". Another dialogue box will open asking you to select the format and coordinate system. From this, select "x,y" for the format and "image" for the coordinate system. This will give you a list of x,y coordinates.

If you want to match this up with the 2MASS sources then you have to "list regions" again, but this time select "fk5" as the coordinate system. This will then give you a list of the RA, Dec of the same sources. Use you favourite editor to attach these lists to each other.

Quite probably there is a more elegant solution, but this works.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34924223/getting-extra-catalog-fields-by-saoimage-ds9  

---

