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Date: Sat, 17 May 2003 20:38:27 -0500 Subject: Re: [vsnet-chat 6367] Re: [vsnet-id 808] Re: AAVSO names in SIMBAD From: Michael Koppelman <lolife@bitstream.net> I heard a rumor, and I don't remember where, that the AAVSO was considering abandoning the Harvard designation? I agree that less is more when it comes to designations, but the AAVSO observation database, chart database, etc. have been around a long, long time. It is a mountain of work for the AAVSO to make a change in that regard. Even if they did, they will need to keep the designations around to cross-reference older non-electronic observations (which they still go back and refer to when necessary). On the TASS list we discussed this issue and I believe the consensus was to refer to stars by non-TASS-specific designations whenever possible. I see no value in having a TASS designation, an ASAS designation, a ROTSE designation, etc, etc, etc. I understand why they do it, but they should be considered internal designations only and should not be referred to otherwise, IMHO. Maybe sometime one of you guys could help educate us amateurs on the proper hierarchy of names. \Michael ;) On Saturday, May 17, 2003, at 08:15 PM, Taichi Kato wrote: > Yes, and they are a terrible anachronism. I agree that these > names > should not appear first in the SIMBAD headers, since they are > misleading. > The reason for adding them recently is that eventually there will be > a link directly to the AAVSO database from SIMBAD using these IDs as > the connection. I once suggested that the old-style names be abandoned > by the AAVSO beacuse they were so confusing. (They might have been > useful in the early days when there were only some dozens of stars, but > now they are just clutter.) The response was that there woudl need to > be a "regime change" (i.e. Mattei retires) before anything like this > would happen. > On the original topic: I will send a note before Monday morning > (in France) arguing that the AAVSO names not be at the top of the list, > but instead the usual hierarchy apply (HD, BD, GCVS etc) in SIMBAD. > > \Brian
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