2024-04-30, 04:01 PM
Hello,
rasvan, thanks for chiming in. But... let me suggest that one should not be making supplemental database objects for objects that are already in the database. This creates unnecessary overlap and confusion, and you give up the connection to all of the associated data in the SkyTools database for your star. Given that most every star down to magnitude 20 is already in the SkyTools database, it is pretty much a given that these stars are already there.
So, this is not a matter of adding objects but matching them. The problem is that with every major new survey, such as Gaia, new designations are created when they publish a catalog. Before Gaia it was IRAS, and before that Tycho-2 and before that it was HIPPARCOS. At some point astronomers are going to have to stop doing this, because we add yet another designation for a star that already has 10 of them, and they become more arcane over time. In the future I am going to fold Gaia data into the SkyTools database, and at that time I may add a cross reference as well. But that day is not today.
Antone- you are using Gaia-3 as your source, so it is natural to want to use those in SkyTools, but given that your stars must be relatively bright, or you wouldn't be able to do spectroscopy, I think the best thing to do is to use the existing designations that have been with us for decades or even longer. I suggest identifying the stars by the better-known designations and adding them to a list in SkyTools, but also adding the Gaia-3 designations as a note & headline so that it can be referred to when needed. This also has the advantage that now you will have all of the cross references available for each star, which makes it easy to look them up elsewhere to see what research has be done, and when you talk about your results with others, they will know what star you are talking about.
That said, there is no simple way to do this. There are two approaches you could use:
1. Find a way to cross reference your list of stars before entering them into SkyTools. Then when you do, SkyTools will recognize them.
2. Track down each star in SkyTools by its position via the atlas, and add that star to an observing list.
I should be able top help you with this. How many stars do you have, and what format is your list in? Feel free to post it here, or email it to me at support, and I will see if I can use one of my private tools to do the cross referencing and add the Gaia designations to a note for each.
rasvan, thanks for chiming in. But... let me suggest that one should not be making supplemental database objects for objects that are already in the database. This creates unnecessary overlap and confusion, and you give up the connection to all of the associated data in the SkyTools database for your star. Given that most every star down to magnitude 20 is already in the SkyTools database, it is pretty much a given that these stars are already there.
So, this is not a matter of adding objects but matching them. The problem is that with every major new survey, such as Gaia, new designations are created when they publish a catalog. Before Gaia it was IRAS, and before that Tycho-2 and before that it was HIPPARCOS. At some point astronomers are going to have to stop doing this, because we add yet another designation for a star that already has 10 of them, and they become more arcane over time. In the future I am going to fold Gaia data into the SkyTools database, and at that time I may add a cross reference as well. But that day is not today.
Antone- you are using Gaia-3 as your source, so it is natural to want to use those in SkyTools, but given that your stars must be relatively bright, or you wouldn't be able to do spectroscopy, I think the best thing to do is to use the existing designations that have been with us for decades or even longer. I suggest identifying the stars by the better-known designations and adding them to a list in SkyTools, but also adding the Gaia-3 designations as a note & headline so that it can be referred to when needed. This also has the advantage that now you will have all of the cross references available for each star, which makes it easy to look them up elsewhere to see what research has be done, and when you talk about your results with others, they will know what star you are talking about.
That said, there is no simple way to do this. There are two approaches you could use:
1. Find a way to cross reference your list of stars before entering them into SkyTools. Then when you do, SkyTools will recognize them.
2. Track down each star in SkyTools by its position via the atlas, and add that star to an observing list.
I should be able top help you with this. How many stars do you have, and what format is your list in? Feel free to post it here, or email it to me at support, and I will see if I can use one of my private tools to do the cross referencing and add the Gaia designations to a note for each.
Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound