juliensimon/rave-dr6

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "RAVE DR6 Stellar Parameters"
language:
- en
description: "RAVE DR6 (Radial Velocity Experiment, Data Release 6): 518,387 stellar observations with radial velocities, stellar parameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]), and elemental abundances for ~452K unique stars from the final data release of this major southern-hemisphere spectroscopic survey. 518K spectra with radial velocities and stellar parameters. Based on Steinmetz et al. (2020), sourced via VizieR CDS Strasbourg."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
tags:
- space
- stars
- stellar
- spectroscopy
- radial-velocity
- rave
- astronomy
- open-data
- tabular-data
- parquet
size_categories:
- 100K<n<1M
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/rave_dr6.parquet
default: true
---

# RAVE DR6 Stellar Parameters

*Part of the [Astronomy Datasets](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/astronomy-datasets-69c24caf2f17e36128946743) collection on Hugging Face.*

The **Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE)** Data Release 6 is the final release of this major
southern-hemisphere stellar spectroscopic survey. It contains **518,387** spectral observations
of ~452,000 unique stars, providing radial velocities, stellar atmospheric parameters
(effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity), and individual elemental abundances.

## Dataset description

RAVE observed stars in the magnitude range 9 < I < 12 using the 6dF multi-object spectrograph
on the 1.2m UK Schmidt Telescope at the Australian Astronomical Observatory. The survey
operated from 2003 to 2013, covering the calcium triplet region (8410-8795 A) at a spectral
resolution of R ~ 7500.

DR6 provides radial velocities with a typical accuracy of ~1 km/s, effective temperatures,
surface gravities, overall metallicities, and individual abundances for elements including
Mg, Al, Si, Ti, Fe, and Ni. Stellar parameters were derived using an updated pipeline
combining the MADERA algorithm with spectro-photometric information from 2MASS and Gaia DR2.

## Quick stats

- **518,387** spectral observations
- **0** with effective temperature (Teff range: 0 - 0 K)
- **0** with metallicity ([Fe/H] range: 0.00 to 0.00 dex)

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/rave-dr6", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Metallicity distribution
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
met = df["metallicity_fe_h"].dropna()
plt.hist(met, bins=100, edgecolor="none")
plt.xlabel("[Fe/H] (dex)")
plt.ylabel("Count")
plt.title("RAVE DR6 Metallicity Distribution")

# HR diagram (Teff vs log g)
valid = df.dropna(subset=["teff_k", "logg"])
plt.figure()
plt.scatter(valid["teff_k"], valid["logg"], s=0.1, alpha=0.3)
plt.gca().invert_xaxis()
plt.gca().invert_yaxis()
plt.xlabel("Teff (K)")
plt.ylabel("log g (dex)")
plt.title("RAVE DR6 Kiel Diagram")
```

## Data source

Steinmetz M. et al. (2020), "The Sixth Data Release of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE)",
*The Astronomical Journal*, 160, 83.
Accessed via [VizieR](https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/) (III/283), CDS Strasbourg.

## Related datasets

- [wolf-rayet-stars](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/wolf-rayet-stars) -- Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars
- [brown-dwarf-catalog](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/brown-dwarf-catalog) -- Brown Dwarf Catalog
- [galah-dr4](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/galah-dr4) -- GALAH DR4 Stellar Parameters

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Support

If you find this dataset useful, please give it a heart on the [dataset page](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/rave-dr6) and share feedback in the Community tab! Also consider giving a star to the [space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets) repo.

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{rave_dr6,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {RAVE DR6 Stellar Parameters},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/rave-dr6},
note = {Based on Steinmetz et al. (2020, AJ 160, 83) via VizieR CDS Strasbourg}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)