[vsnet-chat 4685] Re: comparing stars

[Brian Skiff <bas@lowell.edu>]

     Probably the best place to start on finding information about specific
stars in any field is SIMBAD (http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/Simbad), which
allows searches by name or position.  Since linking of names for a single
object is not done very well in SIMBAD, it is best to do searches by
coordinates, restricting the search region to 2' or 3' radius in order to
be sure to include name with poor positions attached.  Note that in most
cases that there will not often be much study of stars fainter than about
mag. 10 unless there is something special about it---but those are the ones
you're looking for anyway.
     Another simple approach, although not always useful, is to do a 
search-on-position using the Strasbourg VizieR utility:

http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/VizieR

Simply key-in the coordinates in the relevant window (about the fourth one
from the top), again changing the search radius to something reasonable
like 1' or 2', and hit the "find data" button.  This will search in all
of the 3000+ catalogues in the system for things near that spot.  Sometimes
this can give you a clue when an object shows up in special catalogues or
other lists.

\Brian

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