Star names

I'm looking for a list of common star names; like "alpha centauri , Tau Ceti, etc. that translates those names to hipparcos ID number.

I currently have a "table" that translates about 700 names into 400 hipparcos numbers, I'm hoping there is something a bit more complete out there somewhere.

If any of y'all have run across anything like this...a link please

a reply to: tanka418

not sure what you may be looking for but this link may help you in a direction to wher you are heading en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: tanka418

Don't know if it is what you need, but Stellarium will give the common star name and its HIP number. You can search for the star, go to it and it will give all the details.

All of the star chart programs such as Carters du Ciel and Stellarium provide this data when you look up information on individual stars. If you cannot just use one of these programs directly for the application you could possible pull the table from the install or contact the software developer and ask where they attained their tables. Carters du Ciel is freeware and was just done by a guy as a labor of love I think so he might be the first place to start.

Sometimes I assume too much...

I am a software developer, developing a bit of software, and need this in either a CSV, SQL, or some easy to understand text file.

This will go into software I'm developing for my micro-observatory...

originally posted by: tanka418
Sometimes I assume too much...

I am a software developer, developing a bit of software, and need this in either a CSV, SQL, or some easy to understand text file.

This will go into software I'm developing for my micro-observatory...

Are you aware that there are a number of really good freeware packages out there for running an observatory? They provide automatic tracking, imaging modeling and simulation, target wiki etc.

originally posted by: CraftBuilder

originally posted by: tanka418
Sometimes I assume too much...

I am a software developer, developing a bit of software, and need this in either a CSV, SQL, or some easy to understand text file.

This will go into software I'm developing for my micro-observatory...

Are you aware that there are a number of really good freeware packages out there for running an observatory? They provide automatic tracking, imaging modeling and simulation, target wiki etc.

Yeah...they tried to build that into the telescope too...I'm looking for something a bit more substantial.

However...you have a link?

a reply to: tanka418

Are you the guy setting up that public observatory thing from a few weeks back? Good on you for that btw. There are a few really great experts on ats, most of them hang out and share their photo's Here. So if you don't get your answer here, jump into that thread and prepare to be amazed at the nebulae photo's they do. Ngchunter also runs a very slick and pro youtube channel that tracks asteroids, or the ISS, or planets/stars etc. They are the guys you really need to be asking the questions you need to get your observatory off the ground.

Cheers,
Q

a reply to: tanka418
Yeah, the guides built into the mount firmware is just a courtesy package so that you don't have to carry a tablet into the field. Its never very comprehensive.

Try these on for size:
www.stellarium.org...

www.ap-i.net...

And as a bonus here is a great, simple stacking program that I use all the time:\
www.startrails.de...

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
a reply to: tanka418
Yeah, the guides built into the mount firmware is just a courtesy package so that you don't have to carry a tablet into the field. Its never very comprehensive.

Try these on for size:
www.stellarium.org...

www.ap-i.net...

And as a bonus here is a great, simple stacking program that I use all the time:
www.startrails.de...

Thanks...

I've used, and continue to use Stellarium as well as others.

I wrote my own "star chart" program that uses XHIP and produces a 3D image...

I will probably be writing a new driver for the camera that will include the stacking, kind of like the existing one, except mine will provide video and images that can be put directly online, also the TelescopeUI class will allow for direct, remote operation of the telescope.

Seriously, you should visit the link below and see what it is that I'm building...For the most part, the only open source software I will be using will be "parts" of a whole...all of which add up to a telescope that can be operated online, or given a batch task to perform.

The system is intended for a bit more than simple "star gazing", and will eventually include a toolkit that will allow for sophisticated scientific measurement.

I'm currently working on a TelescopeUI that will allow the instrument to be connected to my database. A database that currently contains Hipparcos, Xhip, Kepler, Gliese, Tycho, 2MASS, as well as the SAC deep space object table. There are well over 2 million records (objects). The database engine is SQL Server, and will allow for extremely sophisticated queries, and reports.

What I don't have is a table that translates common star names into a Hipparcos identifier, well beyond the 410 stars that I currently have in an unidentified table set...I need a better dataset for this...

That makes it clearer now.

You probably wont find what you are looking for on ATS. I would suggest at the very least the main ATM sites but you probably have to query some people at the world class astrophysics sites.

PS: I sometimes hit some luck in the science section of Reddit.

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
That makes it clearer now.

You probably wont find what you are looking for on ATS. I would suggest at the very least the main ATM sites but you probably have to query some people at the world class astrophysics sites.

PS: I sometimes hit some luck in the science section of Reddit.

There are some of us here who have a great deal of expertise in astronomy.

Here is the complete Hipparcos catalog OP, in several parts. First here is the guide to the data:
www.rssd.esa.int...
And here is the actual data:
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...

originally posted by: ngchunter

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
That makes it clearer now.

You probably wont find what you are looking for on ATS. I would suggest at the very least the main ATM sites but you probably have to query some people at the world class astrophysics sites.

PS: I sometimes hit some luck in the science section of Reddit.

There are some of us here who have a great deal of expertise in astronomy.

Here is the complete Hipparcos catalog OP, in several parts. First here is the guide to the data:
www.rssd.esa.int...
And here is the actual data:
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...

That's very nice...already have that data.

Is there, anywhere, a place that will translate the Hipparcos identifiers into commonly used "star names"? By "a place that will translate" I mean a file, a CSV, SQL, XLS(X), flat text, I'm beginning to not care the format that contains more than the 410 I currently have. By the way...PDF won't work too well...too much "meta" and not enough "meat".

Or is it that there are only 410 stars with "proper names"?

originally posted by: tanka418
What I don't have is a table that translates common star names into a Hipparcos identifier, well beyond the 410 stars that I currently have in an unidentified table set...I need a better dataset for this...

You need to cross reference the Hipparcos database using the coordinates of the star (keeping in mind the epoch of the coordinates, proper motion, and precession as necessary) and the coordinates of common star names. There are only a relatively small number of "common names" for stars, such as Sirius, Rigel, Vega, etc. Here is a list of about 537:
ntrs.nasa.gov...
Keep in mind the epoch of this data is 1950, so you need to precess the Hipparcos coordinates back to that epoch when cross-referencing.

originally posted by: tanka418

originally posted by: ngchunter

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
That makes it clearer now.

You probably wont find what you are looking for on ATS. I would suggest at the very least the main ATM sites but you probably have to query some people at the world class astrophysics sites.

PS: I sometimes hit some luck in the science section of Reddit.

There are some of us here who have a great deal of expertise in astronomy.

Here is the complete Hipparcos catalog OP, in several parts. First here is the guide to the data:
www.rssd.esa.int...
And here is the actual data:
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...
www.rssd.esa.int...

That's very nice...already have that data.

Is there, anywhere, a place that will translate the Hipparcos identifiers into commonly used "star names"? By "a place that will translate" I mean a file, a CSV, SQL, XLS(X), flat text, I'm beginning to not care the format that contains more than the 410 I currently have. By the way...PDF won't work too well...too much "meta" and not enough "meat".

Or is it that there are only 410 stars with "proper names"?

Here's a list of 537:
ntrs.nasa.gov...
Sorry, it's still PDF, but should be pretty easily machine readable with proper software. The coordinates in that table are all you need for cross referencing the ID's against the Hipparcos numbers.

Here's another list already in a copyable format, complete with RA and Dec for cross referencing to Hippacros, also SAO and HD catalog numbers included. Not sure if it's as extensive though:
www.fourmilab.ch...

originally posted by: ngchunter
Here's another list already in a copyable format, complete with RA and Dec for cross referencing to Hippacros, also SAO and HD catalog numbers included. Not sure if it's as extensive though:
www.fourmilab.ch...

Of the three links: the first, to a PDF. Contains image data, and is, for the most part only human readable. To construct the necessary software is far too much effort for the return...

The second link is to a broken PDF.

The third actually contain text data that can be parsed out and used...I'll be checking to see IF it contains any "new" data, and of course copying that new ...

So...it appears that the real answer to my query is that there simply isn't such data extant. Which is actually okay, as long as we "know"...

The use of RA, DECL, and Distance data to "cross reference" these stars should have been avoided by astronomy in general, but, apparently that wasn't thought of. The whole notion that these entities can have different values for data items based on "when" it was calculated is also a serious hindrance, though by no means a "show stopper", just a bloody inconvenience. There is also the notion that I have to alter these datasets in order to bring them up to modern data standards, and compliance with modern data tools. This in many peoples eyes will constitute data corruption, even though it shouldn't be thought of that way. It also places a great deal of coding work into the project simply to correct the data...

Sorry for dumping all thin on ya...it's not like either of us have much choice here...we get to find ways to work with what is available...perhaps I cam make a difference there...

So...Thank you...not the result I wanted...but, what I needed...reality.

By the way; have you seen what I'm trying to do? And, what might your thoughts be?

originally posted by: tanka418

originally posted by: ngchunter
Here's another list already in a copyable format, complete with RA and Dec for cross referencing to Hippacros, also SAO and HD catalog numbers included. Not sure if it's as extensive though:
www.fourmilab.ch...

Of the three links: the first, to a PDF. Contains image data, and is, for the most part only human readable. To construct the necessary software is far too much effort for the return...

I once created a lunar calculations spreadsheet by scanning very similar tables out of a book, just image data, and then used microsoft software built into windows to perform machine reading of the data to translate it into ASCII text I could import into Excel. It wasn't really that hard.

The second link is to a broken PDF.

It's not broken?

So...it appears that the real answer to my query is that there simply isn't such data extant. Which is actually okay, as long as we "know"...

Uh, I gave you the data. It's up to you to use it effectively. I've done so myself before with very similar data. Actually I started with a physical book, which is even more work since I had to scan it myself into a series of TIFF images.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The use of RA, DECL, and Distance data to "cross reference" these stars should have been avoided by astronomy in general, but, apparently that wasn't thought of.

Distance isn't an important variable to cross reference the data, just the RA and the Dec. Why should that be "avoided?"

The whole notion that these entities can have different values for data items based on "when" it was calculated is also a serious hindrance,

Dude. If you're seriously planning to write your own software to remote control an observatory you had better become intimately familiar with the concept of precession and the math involved. Coordinates are always in relation to a particular epoch. Sometimes coordinates are listed at standard epochs like B1950.0 or J2000.0 and sometimes they are listed at the equinox of date. Again, if you're serious about writing your own software to control an observatory you're going to have to be able to calculate for that routinely. I do so myself all the time. Astrometry is routinely performed relative to a standard epoch, but if you want to convert that to a realtime altitude and azimuth relative to the local horizon you're going to have to precess the coordinates.

originally posted by: tanka418
By the way; have you seen what I'm trying to do? And, what might your thoughts be?

If you're serious about using a nexstar telescope you're going to need a good autoguiding solution. A nightscape camera uses quite small pixels for an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain, so I would advise using Fastar. Didn't see that mentioned but maybe you were already planning to do that. External guiding can produce flexure, which is why I much prefer to use a CCD camera with internal guiding. If you do use an external guide scope, be sure to put a guidescope ring around the focus tube and support it to minimize differential flexure of the scope.

originally posted by: ngchunter
I once created a lunar calculations spreadsheet by scanning very similar tables out of a book, just image data, and then used microsoft software built into windows to perform machine reading of the data to translate it into ASCII text I could import into Excel. It wasn't really that hard.

Hmmmm...I wasn't aware that there was ever OCR methods in Windows, and I've been developing for Windows for several decades...Be that as it may; I don't currently have any OCR installed, and I'm not too keen on writing any (I have computer vision libraries)...

It's not broken?

Sorry, my bad; it was the first link...something about it not beginning with "%PDF-", it also appears intermittent.

Uh, I gave you the data. It's up to you to use it effectively.

Yes you did...Thank you.

Distance isn't an important variable to cross reference the data, just the RA and the Dec. Why should that be "avoided?"

Actually...distance is required; for instance...IF I were to attempt this with the star Sirius, the probability increases to an unacceptable level due to the fact that there are three (3) stars in proximity; Sirius A, Sirius B, Nu2 C.M. all three of these stars have a RA, and Decl that is very close. The main difference between the three is distance, especially where Nu2 C.M. is concerned...it is 64 ly as opposed to 8.

The published values of RA and Decl may not necessarily agree with the computed values, and while the difference will be too small t make a difference to a Human, it will make a difference to a computer...if I calculate to 7 or 8 decimal places, all must agree or there is no match...And since I will be asking SQL Server to use numerical data as a "key" all digits must match very precisely. So, I'll be needing distance to compensate for any computational differences.

Dude. If you're seriously planning to write your own software to remote control an observatory you had better become intimately familiar with the concept of precession and the math involved. Coordinates are always in relation to a particular epoch. Sometimes coordinates are listed at standard epochs like B1950.0 or J2000.0 and sometimes they are listed at the equinox of date. Again, if you're serious about writing your own software to control an observatory you're going to have to be able to calculate for that routinely. I do so myself all the time. Astrometry is routinely performed relative to a standard epoch, but if you want to convert that to a realtime altitude and azimuth relative to the local horizon you're going to have to precess the coordinates.

Yes I am serious about this project. I've been a software engineer for over 40 years, so the precision, math, and other aspects of this project are nothing new...I only need to map out what I need to be doing...and I don't expect it to be easy...I expect and demand serious challenge. I also expect a great deal of what I think of as "FUN".