Alternate Star Names
Alternate Star Names
| Group Name | altLbl |
| Reference | Various |
| Prepared by | Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| Labels | Yes, but there are no specks. Use with stars |
| Files | stars-altlbl.label |
| Dependencies | none |
| Census | 3,007 labels (1,472 Greek, 1,535 Flamsteed) |
In addition to the Arabic star names in the stars.label file, we include another data group with star labels. These labels are a combination of Greek star names and Flamsteed numbers (Greek names taking precedence).
For each constellation, the brightest star is usually designated by the Greek letter α (alpha), the second-brightest is β (beta), and so on to ω (omega), provided there are enough stars in the constellation. These letters were first assigned to the stars in Johann Bayer's sky atlas of 1603. For our catalog, we use a three-letter abbreviation for the Greek letter along with the standard three-letter constellation abbreviation.
Flamsteed numbers run from 1 to N for each constellation and come from John Flamsteed's catalog of 1725. The number 1 star in a constellation has the lowest right ascension, and the numbers increase with increasing right ascension. 61 Cygni is a good example. The subject of the first trigonometric parallax measurement, 61 Cygni led to the first accurate distance determination by Friedrich Bessel in 1838.
Label Sizes
These labels are initialized in the mw.cf file such that they will appear only when you're very close to them. The Partiview command that controls this is labelminpixels. This command sets a minimum pixel height before a label will be drawn. If you want to see more of these labels from your position, set labelminpixels to a lower value (using the Labelmin Slider, or enter the command at the Command Line). To see what these labels look like after you fly outside the stellar data, set labelminpixels to zero, then increase their label size. Using the labelminpixels command along with the labelsize command provides a balanced amount of information without cluttering your view with labels. Such design choices lead to a good “map.”
© 2002-2005 American Museum of Natural History
Last Modified: 2007-12-19 by Brian Abbott