Need help finding star

Posts : 6 Join date : 2011-08-26

I have a friend that gave me coordinates of a star.She is wondering about where it is like magnitude and location.I cant find the option in starrynight to enter the info so if someone can help.the info she gave me is

105.74695 dec deg 7hrs 2.99 min
dec -30.50071 dec deg -30 30.04min

Thanks guys this would mean alot to her.

Posts : 95 Join date : 2011-08-23 Age : 35

When I type those coordinates into SIMBAD I come up with nothing.

Posts : 58 Join date : 2011-08-23

Using Google Sky those coordinates took me to a spot in Gemini just under Castor's east armpit. I used 07:02:59.4 for the RA. There doesn't appear to be a star at that location, although there are several nearby.

Posts : 116 Join date : 2011-08-23

Gemini would be +30, this is -30. I don't have this for sure but -30 would be Canis Major or Puppis.

Posts : 36 Join date : 2011-08-23

When I punch the coordinates into Cartes Du Ciel the closest star it gives me is Epsilon Canis Major - AKA "Adhara".

Posts : 23 Join date : 2011-08-23

What's the coordinate system? J2000 is standard these days, but she may have been given coordinates from a previous epoch.

Posts : 37 Join date : 2011-08-23 Age : 43

Let me guess; someone bought a star for her?

Posts : 6 Join date : 2011-08-26

Yes but it is a sad story.She was a girlfriend from years ago and since she has been married with kids.One of her daughters died of sids and her mom bought a star for her daughters birthday.she is wondering where the star is in the sky.somthing to keep her going. So with that what constallation would you say its in and what magnitude is that?

Posts : 116 Join date : 2011-08-23

It will be one of these two stars, either CD -30 3848 or CD -30 3852
Both of the suspect stars are CD designation and here is what I’ve found out about what CD stands for.

Description:
The "Cordoba Durchmusterung" (CD, Thome 1892-1932) is a visual survey of southern stars in the declination zones -22 to -89 deg, carried out as an extension to the "Bonner Durchmusterung" (BD) catalogs of Argelander (1859-1862) (see also Kuestner 1903) and Schoenfeld (1886). It contains 613959 records for stars brighter than 10.0 magnitude.

Introduction:
The goal of the survey was to obtain a position and estimated visual magnitude for every star down to 10.0 magnitude inclusive, but the faint limit was confirmed from comparisons with other catalogs, to be somewhat below 10. The positional uncertainties quoted in the original publications vary from +/- 0.42 sec and +/- 0.23 arcmin for zones -22 to -32 deg and +/- 0.33 sec, +/- 0.10 arcmin for zones -42 to -51 deg.

The document originally prepared by Wayne H. Warren Jr., on which this document is closely based (adc.doc) contains substantial additional information.

Here is a Digital sky Survey image that contains both stars.

http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/alapre.pl?out=image&-c=07%2003%2021.0-30%2034%2048&fmt=JPEG&resolution=FULL&qual=SERC%20I%20DSS2

In this image CD -30 3848 is the star at the centre of the image. CD -30 3852 is the star to the upper left with the fuzzy blur beside it. Both are around mag 10.

A couple of years ago there was a discussion on Amastro about the legitimacy of these star dealers/namers. Brian Skiff from Lowell Observatory seemed to imply that even though these names aren’t registered with the IAU the companies do have a so called “right” to name these stars. It has something to do with the fact they are fainter than naked eye. DO NOT tell the mother that there is no legitimacy to this star naming.

You will be able to show her both of these star with your scope.
For CD -30 3848 put; 07 h 03m 21s -30º 34.8’ into your GOTO
For CD -30 3852 put; 07h 03m 33.6968s -30º 29’ 53.532” into the GOTO

Perhaps the baby’s Mom would like to decide which star she wants to link to. I hope in a small way this helps her find some peace. I can’t even imagine how horrible it must be to lose a child and I hope to never find out. Give her my love.

This is a map of the bottom part of Canis Major. The stars in question are located in the exact centre of the rectangle within that circle.

Posts : 95 Join date : 2011-08-23 Age : 35

There’s no need to tell your friend or her mother, but be warned that accepting money to place a star name in a self-published book is essentially a scam. Only star names designated by the International Astronomical Union are recognized as official by the scientific community. Historically, governments have refrained from getting involved in naming conventions that are best left to scientists. Laymen accepted this until a few decades ago when some sharpies realized there was no law against anyone naming or renaming stars. Those that sell star names generally utilize stars that are too faint for naked eyes and often duplicated by their competitors. Unfortunately, those hucksters take advantage of the likelihood that those in the know will respond to purchasers and recipients with the comment I made in the first phrase of this paragraph. So the con never ends.

That being said, I’ll assume that your given coordinates are for the epoch 2000.0. As noted, the star would be in the southeastern portion of the constellation Canis Major. But it’s too faint to appear on the chart I have of stars visible by naked eye under perfect sky conditions.

Posts : 6 Join date : 2011-08-26

Thanks for the help guys.