The second 'Garnet Star' after Mu Cephei must be 119 Tauri!
Abdul Ahad
the lower right of the Bull's lower horn (which is of course marked by
the the star Zeta Tauri). It caught my eye during a recent, deep sky
binocular sweep of the area. I have since done numerous searches on
Google and it appears that no one has 'actively' acknowledged 119
Tauri's intense red, gem-like colour and, surprisingly, no comparisons
have yet been made with Mu Cephei, the famous 'Garnet Star' named by
William Herschel in the 18th century.
119 Tauri is a type M2Ib supergiant and has a colour index (B-V) of
+2.07. This is just 12% less than the colour index of Mu Cephei,
making both 119 Tauri and Mu Cephei stars amongst the reddest stars in
the sky and virtually of identical brightnesses.
As 119 Tauri has no proper name in any catalogs, I should write to the
International Astronomical Union's star registry asking them to name
it Abdul Ahad's Garnet Star... following William Herschel's lead!
<just joking>
BTW: What are the rules for naming stars after people's names? I know
there's a lot of scam out there where, for a small fee, people can
*name* stars that have no previous names in any IAU authorised star
catalogs. Are these recognised in Astronomical circles?
Abdul Ahad
Jonathan Silverlight
<aa_spa...@yahoo.co.uk> writes
They aren't recognised in any circles, AFAIK :-) I don't know if the
rules have changed since Barnard's star and Van Maanen's star got their
names, but if enough people refer to Abdul Ahad's star it might catch
on! It's certainly more interesting than 119 Tauri.
--
Save the Hubble Space Telescope!
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.
CLT
> there's a lot of scam out there where, for a small fee, people can
> *name* stars that have no previous names in any IAU authorised star
> catalogs. Are these recognised in Astronomical circles?
Absolutely! Haven't you heard of the SAO star catalog? It stands for "Sold
Astronomical Objects."
These are astronomical objects which have been sold through the
International Star Registry. Since the purchasers have an official
laser-printer certificate, and the names have been published in a book that
is registered with the US Library of Congress, these names are now official,
and must be used by astronomers in the US. Of course, astronomers are
jealous that
they didn't think of it first. Therefore astronomers have resisted using the
names. In a passive-aggressive move, they have refused to use the full
names, and are using only the numbers. The numbers were assigned in the
order of purchase. However congress is now drafting legislation that will
force astronomers to use the full names. This is only right, as these people
paid good money, and have official certificates.
Of course, as an officially published book, the names are also protected by
International Copyright, thereby forcing the rest of the world to at least
use the numbers as well. And, as more copies of the book are registered with
governments around the world, eventually astronomers everywhere will have to
acknowledge the officialness of these names and use the full names and not
just the Sold Astronomical Objects numbers.
("It must be official. I have an official laser-printer certificate!")
;-)
Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
And the Lunar Picture of the Day http://www.lpod.org/
************************************
> Abdul Ahad
Martin Frey
>1. The star must not already have a proper name (e.g. Sirius, Algenib,
>etc) or a name in common use (e.g. Garnet Star, Pistol Star, Ruby Star
>(the one I've just named!) etc)
>
>2. You must be able to quote some unique or exceptional attribute
>about your star, which no one else has cited before
>
>3. You will have photographed or seen it with your own eye (and be
>able to validate your claim!)
>
>4. Only ONE star in the whole sky can be named per person
>
>5. Once you have decided on the unique name for your unique star, you
>can't change it.
Yes please - that exceptionally pretty one just to the left above the
tree in my garden. Please name it Chardonnay-Mercedes, after my little
niece from Romford, cos its nearly as pretty as she is.
<apologies>Pete</apologies>
--
Martin Frey
http://www.hadastro.org.uk
N 51 02 E 0 47