How are constellation stars named?

[Stark]

Basically, is it 'Alpha Centauri' or 'Centauri Alpha'. Only the SC2 guide and TWoK use the second, but it sounds neat. What's the form?

[CaptainChewbacca]

Basically, is it 'Alpha Centauri' or 'Centauri Alpha'. Only the SC2 guide and TWoK use the second, but it sounds neat. What's the form?

Greek Letter- Constellation. It only changes if you're dealing with binary or trinary systems.

[Stark]

Can you give me an example? I'm dealing with a name-letter list at the moment and mentally reversing them, all the while hearing Khan scream 'THIS is Ceti Alpha 5!'.

[kheegster]

Basically, is it 'Alpha Centauri' or 'Centauri Alpha'. Only the SC2 guide and TWoK use the second, but it sounds neat. What's the form?

It is indeed a 'Greek-letter - Latin constellation name' convention, with the letters progressing roughly according the the brightness of the star. In some constellations this is continued with Latin alphabets, but this is less common as such stars are more likely to be referred to by their 'phone number' designations.

[kheegster]

Can you give me an example? I'm dealing with a name-letter list at the moment and mentally reversing them, all the while hearing Khan scream 'THIS is Ceti Alpha 5!'.

'Beta Ori', 'Gamma Pegasi', 'Delta Cepheii' etc. It's fairly easy to google a list of constellation names, e.g. [urlhttp://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/constellation_names.html]this[/url].

Putting the constellation name in front of the letter is just plain wrong.

[Stark]

W00t - corroboration is good enough for me. I just created a list of stars from Star Control for use in GalCiv 2 mods. Delta Lyncis, here I come!

[Stark]

Oh by example I meant an example of the difference - I'm not sure how binary or trinary systems are named. Isn't Alpha Centauri a loose trinary, with the outer partner being Proxima Centauri? They use the regular form, even though they're grouped.

[kheegster]

Oh by example I meant an example of the difference - I'm not sure how binary or trinary systems are named. Isn't Alpha Centauri a loose trinary, with the outer partner being Proxima Centauri? They use the regular form, even though they're grouped.

I may be wrong, but IIRC stars in binary/trinary systems are designated by a superscript. My suspicion that the term Proxima Centauri is an arbitrary designation outside the usual Bayer convention, which is not unusual (e.g. the star Algol is not a Latin/Greek name, but Arab). Most stars have multiple names in any case, take for example Alpha Centauri:

CCDM J14396-6050AB
alf Cen
RHD 1AB
Ci 20 875
CPD-60 5483
CSI-60 5483 43
1E 143556-6037.3
2E 3308
2E 1435.9-6037
1ES 1435-60.6
EUVE J1439-60.8
2EUVE J1439-60.8
FK5 538
GC 19728
GCRV 8519
HD 128620J
IDS 14328-6025 AB
LPM 534
RE J1439-605
RE J143944-605008
2RE J143941-605000
2RE J1439-605
SBC7 520
[TSA98] J143948.42-605021.66
com H 1438-60

If you're looking for a nice convention though, stick with the Bayer!

[NoXion]

What about HIPPARCOS numbers? Are they any good?

[Lord Zentei]

Oh by example I meant an example of the difference - I'm not sure how binary or trinary systems are named. Isn't Alpha Centauri a loose trinary, with the outer partner being Proxima Centauri? They use the regular form, even though they're grouped.

Alpha Centauri consists of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B as well as Proxima Centauri. Proxima is only very loosely bound to the other two.

[kheegster]

What about HIPPARCOS numbers? Are they any good?

Hipparcos numbers are probably the most general designation scheme possible, since the spacecraft has done a fairly good job of measuring ~100,000 stars within about a few hundreds of kpc nearest Earth. Obviously if you are referring to a very distant or obscure star (or galaxy) then it wouldn't be in the Hipparcos catalogue, and there's the fundamental problem of the designations being 'phone numbers'.

I've worked in projects where Hipparcos parallax data really helped to narrow down parameters like the distance the star etc., so I really appreciated it. The next generation astrometry mission will be GAIA, which is due for launch (IIRC) in 2012, and will survey a billion stars to a distance of something like 10 kpc.