A star catalogue, or star catalog, is an astronomical catalogue that lists stars. In astronomy, many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years, and this article covers only some of the more frequently quoted ones. Star catalogues were compiled by many different ancient peoples, including the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Persians and Arabs. Most modern catalogues are available in electronic format and can be freely downloaded from NASA's Astronomical Data Center.
Completeness and accuracy is described by the weakest apparent magnitude V (largest number) and the accuracy of the positions.
Read more about Star Catalogue: Full-sky Catalogues, Specialized Catalogues
Famous quotes containing the words star and/or catalogue:
“Never tell me that not one star of all
That slip from heaven at night and softly fall
Has been picked up with stones to build a wall.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those which are worth turning round.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)