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Star Name Conventions
Name Formats
Incorrectly formatted star names will cause a new star to be created in the database with its own light curve. So your observations will not be found by researches.
To avoid this problem, please ensure that all star names are accurate and adhere to agreed name conventions. Take particular care to ensure that spaces are only present when they are part of the name convention. Constellations should only be included where it is part of the name convention, and should be the standard 3 letter abbreviation.
Below are examples of some of the more common name formats:
- SS Cyg - Space between letter designation and constellation
- Delta Cep - Full english spelling of greek letter followed by 3 character constellation
- Gaia16ams - No spaces
- HD 126138 - Space between HD and number
- Nova Aql 2012 - Spaces between Nova, constellation and year
- NSV xxxx - Space between NSV and the identification number
- NSVS xxxx - Space bewteen NSVS and the identification number
- SN 2016ino - Space between SN and year but no space between year and letter identifiers
- V1404 Cyg - Space between Vxxxx and constellation
- WASP-2b - No spaces
Oddities
There are a few stars that require special solutions to deal with name issues.
- mu Cep and MU Cep - These are two different stars and the first of these starts with the Greek letter mu. To avoid issues with capital/lower case and case insensitivity in the database, mu. Cep is used for the first star with the Greek character. At the time of writing only mu Her has observations in the database, and any observations with mu her in any case are recorded as mu Her.
- U Her and u Her - These are two different stars. In the database U Her is used for U Her, and 68 Her is used for u Her.
Useful Websites
Below is a list of some useful websites for finding the agreed name for a star.