HJ star catalogue?

[ChrisM]

Can anybody help me please with what the 'HJ' prefix means in a star name? That is, which catalogue uses the HJ prefix? I have found references to this type of star name in AS&T in the column 'Double Star Notes', for example HJ 4188.

Chris

[Robh]

Hi Chris,

HJ is an abbreviation for John Herschel.
Many references just use "h" e.g. h 3945.
Any publication on double stars will reference this abbreviation if it was a discovery of his.
Some historical info here ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Catalogue_of_Nebulae_and_Cl usters

Regards, Rob

[ChrisM]

Thanks for the explanation Rob. I have been doing quite a bit of informal research on star catalogues yet have found nothing that mentions HJ. It almost seems that you have to be 'in the know' with some of the finer points regarding names!

Cheers,
Chris

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

You can do cross-referencing in Simbad

http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/

When searching the HJ catalogue, type ** before the identifier, eg ** HJ 5524.

The different identifiers can be very handy. For instance a Synscan controller may have in it the SAO catalogue, but not HJ or WDS. I've looked up lots of SAO identifiers because of that.


Cheers

[Robh]

Chris,

Just occurred to me.
A while back Enchilada compiled this excellent document "350 Bright Double Stars for Southern Observers".
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=51509

See post 1.
Page 10 has a list of double star discoverers and abbreviations.

Regards, Rob

[ChrisM]

Geoff, thanks for the link to Simbad. I've had a very quick look and it appears to be a very powerful tool. Using the Basic Search tool, I entered the star that you suggested and Simbad came up with two stars, but I could not see any reference to the SAO x-reference. I might have to read the help I think. My own Meade controller seems to have a large SAO listing, but none of the others like HR.

Rob, thanks too for the link to the Southern doubles catalogue. I'll have a closer look at that too. There seems to be no shortage of reference material out there!

Cheers
Chris

[GeoffW1]

Hi Chris,

It was possibly a bad example, as that particular star, ** HJ 5524, is actually part of a binary system and is not in the SAO catalogue.

When searching Simbad with a SAO identifier the ** is not required.

Cheers

[Robh]

If the star(s) are not in the SAO catalogue you can always use the ICRS coordinates given by SIMBAD.

Rob

[mithrandir]

I have a Herschel catalog and SAO in CdC. Search by H or HJ names usually gives me an SAO number for the same coordinates.

But the Gemini does not have the entire SAO catalog, so sometimes I have to resort to coordinates.

[ChrisM]

Thanks again Rob and Geoff, I've now had a longer look at Simbad and found far more references than I think I'll ever need!

And yes - entering coordinates is a possibility, although it always seems easier to enter a catalogue number.

Cheers,
Chris