[vsnet-chat 1737] Re: Variable Star Designations in 'The Astronomer'

[Taichi Kato <tkato>]

> Those folks will look up a new variable they happen to find (say
> in the automated surveys that are getting going now) in SIMBAD and perhaps
> the most recent GCVS compilation---and no further!, find nothing at that spot,
> and subsequently report it as a new variable.

   From my experience, a "typical" astronomer doesn't usually know how to
find the variable star catalog ;-) -- even perheps doesn't know variable
stars have their own constellation-based naming convention (I even felt
dizziness when I realized an astronomer doesn't know "RR Lyr" is a name
of a variable star when discussing on astronomical distance).  More informed
astronomers can probably go further than Dr. Skiff suggests, they may not
find the object in question in the GCVS printed volumes and soon realize
they must check several additional literatures.  Perhaps the ultimate solution
might be the continuous daily update of the GCVS...

> But I don't think there will be object-wise indexes unless someone does them.

   Why not coordinates-wise indexes?  I have been working with this kind of
variable star indexes, and found nothing inconvenient.

Regards,
Taichi Kato

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