On or about 2008-04-23,
jochta illuminated us with:


*Paul wrote:
Hi,

We have recently been 'bought' a star and presented with a elaborate
certificate from the International Star Registry. The star was bought in
honor of our son who last year was born premature and unfortunately didn't
make it. I hope the star exists as I would really like to see it. Before I
go out and buy a telescope, I was hoping that someone in here would be kind
enough to verify that the star is actually real using the 'coordinates'
given above (if this is even possible).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P&J




The nearest candidate (assuming J2000.0 epoch) is a faint (magnitude
13.44) star GSC 4411-0358. Pretty difficult to see (and find) in amateur
telescopes.

You can see an image of it using the Digitized Sky Survey, it'll appear
in the exact centre of this image...

http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss...fov=NON E&v3=

If that link doesn't work copy and paste GSC 4411-0358 into the Object
name box on http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form click GET
COORDINATES, change File format to GIF and click RETRIEVE IMAGE.

Just be aware that "...only the IAU, by international decree, can
officially name or number a celestial object; be it a star or whatever.
The naming of celestial objects by organisations other than the IAU is
therefore not recognised by any other astronomical or scientific body
anywhere.".

Ah, so it was the star I found in Google Earth, but of course GE
couldn't tell me much about it. However locating it there & then
zooming out will give you some idea of how difficult it will be to find.

--
Mark
Real email address | All those who believe in psychokinesis
is mark at | raise my hand.
ayliffe dot org |