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Look Up Objects

Look Up Object

Look Up Object allows you to search the database for an object and retrieve reference information about the object. Enter the user-preferred designation that you want to look up in User Desig.

The designation that you search for is not case sensitive.You may omit spaces between catalog and object name/number for deep-sky objects. Thus, search text M1 = M 1 = m1 = m 1. You may also include wildcard characters * and ? in your search text.

You may search for:

▪planet name - names of the major planets and Pluto.

▪asteroid name - names of the brightest asteroids can be located by name alone, e.g., Juno. If this type of search fails, enter the full, exact, asteroid designation, e.g., (3) Juno.

▪comet name - exact, full, comet designation, e.g. 12P/Pons-Brooks or C/2012 A1 (PANSTARRS).

▪catalog designation (e.g., M 101)

▪double star Bayer or Flamsteed number, e.g. Beta Per. Including an asterisk after the constellation abbreviation in a Bayer designation is recommended, e.g., Epsilon* Lyr.

▪variable star designation, e.g., R And

▪common name (e.g. Crab *)

You can learn more about entering object designations in Object Designation Lookup Engine.

Special Note:

When looking up a variable star, be sure to preface the designation with GCVS or NSV as appropriate. To find R Leporis, enter GCVS R Lep.

When looking up a double star by Bayer designation, you will often need to include the asterisk (*) character in the designation. For example, enter Epsilon* Lyr to find both comonents of the Double Double, Epsilon01 Lyr and Epsilon02 Lyr.

When looking up an asteroid, use the exact asteroid name, e.g. (4) Vesta. Elements for the requested asteroid must be in the database. You can check for it using the Orbital Elements Manager.

When looking up a comet, use the exact comet name, e.g. 144P/Kushida. Elements for the requested comet must be in the database. You can check for it using the Orbital Elements Manager.

Select Look Up to search for the designation. If multiple matches are found for a designation, a popup menu is displayed from which you must choose an object. Once a single object has been retrieved, the system-preferred designation is saved in Object Desig. If no matches are found, an error message is displayed and Object Desig remains blank.

OK closes the Look Up dialog and returns reference information.

Cancel closes the Look Up dialog without retrieving any reference information.

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