Star catalog

A star catalogue (Commonwealth English) or star catalog (American English), 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 peoples, including the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Persians, and Arabs. Most modern catalogues are available in electronic format and can be freely downloaded from space agencies data center.

Completeness and accuracy is described by the weakest apparent magnitude V (largest number) and the accuracy of the positions.

From their existing records, it is known that the ancient Egyptians recorded the names of only a few identifiable constellations and a list of thirty-six decans that were used as a star clock. The Egyptians called the circumpolar star 'the star that cannot perish' and, although they made no known formal star catalogues, they nonetheless created extensive star charts of the night sky which adorn the coffins and ceilings of tomb chambers.

Although the ancient Sumerians were the first to record the names of constellations on clay tablets, the earliest known star catalogues were compiled by the ancient Babylonians of Mesopotamia in the late 2nd millennium BC, during the Kassite Period (ca. 1531 BC to ca. 1155 BC). They are better known by their Assyrian-era name 'Three Stars Each'. These star catalogues, written on clay tablets, listed thirty-six stars: twelve for 'Anu' along the celestial equator, twelve for 'Ea' south of that, and twelve for 'Enlil' to the north. The Mul.Apin lists, dated to sometime before the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626-539 BC), are direct textual descendants of the 'Three Stars Each' lists and their constellation patterns show similarities to those of later Greek civilization.

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