All stars but one can be associated with an IAU (International Astronomical Union) constellation. IAU constellations are areas of the sky. Although there are only 88 IAU constellations, the sky is actually divided into 89 irregularly shaped boxes as the constellation Serpens is split into two separate sections, Serpens Caput (the snake's head) to the west and Serpens Cauda (the snake's tail) to the east.
The only star that does not belong to a constellation is the Sun. The Sun travels through the 13 constellations along the ecliptic, the 12 of the Zodiac and Ophiuchus.
Among the remaining stars, the nearer ones exhibit proper motion, so it is only a matter of time before some of them cross a constellation boundary and switch constellations as a consequence. In 1992, Rho Aquilae became the first star to have its Bayer designation "invalidated" by moving to a neighbouring constellation—it is now a star of the constellation Delphinus. [1]
Stars are listed in the appropriate lists for the constellation, as follows:
Note that these lists are currently unfinished, and there may be stars missing that satisfy these conditions. If you come across one, please feel free to add it.
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. The brighter stars were assigned their first systematic names by the German astronomer Johann Bayer in 1603, in his star atlas Uranometria. Bayer catalogued only a few stars too far south to be seen from Germany, but later astronomers supplemented Bayer's catalog with entries for southern constellations.
A Flamsteed designation is a combination of a number and constellation name that uniquely identifies most naked eye stars in the modern constellations visible from southern England. They are named for John Flamsteed who first used them while compiling his Historia Coelestis Britannica.
A star catalogue is an astronomical catalogue that lists stars. In astronomy, many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years, and this article covers only some of the more frequently quoted ones. Star catalogues were compiled by many different ancient people, including the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Persians, and Arabs. They were sometimes accompanied by a star chart for illustration. Most modern catalogues are available in electronic format and can be freely downloaded from space agencies' data centres. The largest is being compiled from the spacecraft Gaia and thus far has over a billion stars.
In astronomy, stars have a variety of different stellar designations and names, including catalogue designations, current and historical proper names, and foreign language names.
In astronomy, a variable star designation is a unique identifier given to variable stars. It uses a variation on the Bayer designation format, with an identifying label preceding the Latin genitive of the name of the constellation in which the star lies. See List of constellations for a list of constellations and the genitive forms of their names. The identifying label can be one or two Latin letters or a V plus a number. Examples are R Coronae Borealis, YZ Ceti, V603 Aquilae.
Pegasus is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the winged horse Pegasus in Greek mythology. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the 88 constellations recognised today.
In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few stars, and the most easily visible planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered every year. Astronomers need to be able to assign systematic designations to unambiguously identify all of these objects, and at the same time give names to the most interesting objects, and where relevant, features of those objects.
Kappa Serpentis, Latinised from κ Serpentis, is a single, red-hued star in the constellation Serpens, in its head. It has the proper name Gudja and the Flamsteed designation 35 Serpentis. This star is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.09. It is located approximately 382 light years from the Sun, based on parallax, and is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −38 km/s.
51 Andromedae, abbreviated 51 And and formally named Nembus, is the 5th brightest star in the northern constellation of Andromeda, very slightly dimmer than the Andromeda Galaxy also being of 4th magnitude. It is an orange K-type giant star with an apparent magnitude of +3.57 and is about 169 light-years from the Earth/solar system. It is traditionally depicted as one of the two northern, far upper ends of the mythological, chained-to-the-rocks princess, the other being binary star system Gamma Andromedae.
Xi Andromedae, officially named Adhil, is a solitary star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It has an apparent magnitude of +4.9. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Gaia mission, it lies at a distance of roughly 223 light-years from the Sun.
38 Boötis is a single star in the northern constellation of Boötes, located approximately 157 light years from the Sun. It has the traditional name Merga and the Bayer designation h Boötis; 38 Boötis is the star's Flamsteed designation. This object is visible to the naked eye as a dim, yellow-white hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.76. It is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −4.5 km/s.
Alpha Fornacis is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Fornax. It is the brightest star in the constellation and the only one brighter than magnitude 4.0. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is approximately 46 light-years distant from the Sun.
41 Lyncis, also designated HD 81688 and named Intercrus, is a fifth-magnitude star located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. An extrasolar planet is thought to be orbiting the star.
An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. The oldest and largest are star catalogues. Hundreds have been published, including general ones and special ones for such items as infrared stars, variable stars, giant stars, multiple star systems, star clusters, and so forth.
Gould designations for stars are similar to Flamsteed designations in the way that they number stars within a constellation in increasing order of right ascension. Each star is assigned an integer, followed by " G. ", and then the Latin genitive of the constellation it lies in. See 88 modern constellations for a list of constellations and the genitive forms of their names.
1 Serpentis is a red giant in the constellation Virgo with an apparent magnitude of 5.5. It is a red clump giant, a cool horizontal branch star that is fusing helium in its core. It has expanded to over 13 times the radius of the Sun and although it is cooler at 4,581 K it is 77 times more luminous. It is 322 light years away.
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