Alternate Names
A classic form of astronomical embarrassment is to be caught
unwittingly analyzing the same star twice with different names, as
Chandrasekhar once did with Sirius! Besides, occasionally one needs to
look up an object in old books or unfamiliar catalogs. Therefore, here we
list Eta's designations used in various places.
Caveat: Large standard catalogs often contain untrustworthy
information about this object, because its characteristics are ill-suited
to mass cataloging. The spectrum is unclassifiable by normal standards,
bright ejecta make its position and brightness hard to measure, etc.
Eta Carinae =
- Eta Argus, Eta Navis, Eta Roburis (old constellation names; all
three were used during 19th C).
- HR 4210 (Yale Bright Star Catalog; HR originally meant "Harvard
revised photometry").
- HD 93308 (Henry Draper Catalog of spectral types, Harvard Annals
early 20th C).
- SAO 238429 (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory positional
catalog, 1960s).
- CPD -59 2620 (Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, early 20th C).
- IRAS 10431-5925 (InfraRed Astronomical Satellite survey,
1980s).
- PPM 339408 (A fairly modern positional catalog).
- TYC 8626-2809-1 (Tycho positional catalog (Hipparcos/Tycho)).
- Hen 3-481 (Henize, emission-line objects).
More designations can be found at the SIMBAD site.
©2003,2004 The University of Minnesota
