--------------------------------------------------------------
How to throw a list of stars against catalogs in VizieR
--------------------------------------------------------------

1. The input file will simply be a list of coordinates, so select the
   list of stars you wish to bounce against the catalog(s), copy them
   to another file (which will be your input file), and delete all
   columns except for the coordinates. At this point, you probably
   shouldn't sort your master list, because then the input file and
   your master list will not correspond to each other and matching
   stars will be a lot more difficult.


2. Go to http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR. In the first box
   (Find Catalogs among ...), type in the name of the catalog you
   want. Common ones include Hipparcos and the YPC (Yale Parallax
   Catalog). For these, you want to make sure you've got the correct
   version, so you'll be looking for the van Leeuwen (Hipparcos) and
   ??? (YPC). When in doubt, the largest one or the one with the most
   correct sounding name is likely correct.


3. Click on the appropraiate catalogs and select "query these
   catalogs" at the bottom.

4. To actually input your stars, click the "list of targets" tab at
   the top of the screen. You can then select the file in the box. Set
   the "target dimension" field to "90 arcsec" (I can give you a long,
   boring explanation of why it's 90, if you really want). This will
   pull out anything within 90 arcseconds of the input lines. We do
   this because coordinates can be off by a few arcseconds here and
   there, up to 90. Okay, so that was more or less the explanation. 

5. On the sidebar, you can mess around with stuff if you need to. In
   particular, the default of "HTML table" can be changed to various
   forms of ASCII tables, which are useful for sorting through lists
   using programs to sort through lists. 

6. Once everything is set, click "submit". This will take you to the
   output file. If an object is not found, it will tell you
   so. Otherwise, there will be a line of data. Now you get to connect
   the data to the appropriate star! First, you'll want to make sure
   the data line and your star have the same input coordinates. In
   order to ensure there wasn't another star in the 90 arcsec radius,
   you should check the magnitudes provided against the BRI magnitudes
   you have. If the data line is, say, 12th magnitude, but your line
   is 14th or whatever, it's probably not the right star. If
   everything looks good, copy down the data you're looking for
   (parallax, in this case) and move on to the next star!

7. When you're done, bother someone to figure out what to do
   next. Hooray!