Actually, I'm not really even a newbie, just a science fiction fan with a
vague interest in astronomy.

But, as it happens, I'm reading a novel which gives a catalog reference to a
particular star and I would like to know where this star is and what it's
called. I know the novel will tell me this eventually but I'd like to know
*now* :-)

The star mentioned in the book is identified as "NGS 549672"; if I'm not
mistaken, "NGS" refers to a particular star catalog (National Galactic
Survey?) and "549672" uniquely identifies a specific star. I googled on "NGS
549672" but found nothing useful. Then I googled on "star catalog" and found
tons of hits and discovered that there are apparently a number of popular
star charts. Unfortunately, I don't know how to use *any* of them to
discover what the name of this particular star is.

Now, I am NOT asking anyone to simply tell me the star's name is; I'd like
to learn a little something along the way :-) So, can anyone tell me what
catalog to use to find this star and where I can find an online tool (or
program) that will enable me to do this lookup? For example: "use the XYZ
Star Catalog, which can be found at http://xyz.com and has a
self-explanatory interface where you can specify the star's identifier."

I should mention that the book was written in 1953 so the catalog in
question, NGS, may not exist any more, having been superseded by something
newer. If that is the case, I assume there is some way to translate my
reference to the name used in the later catalog(s) so I'd appreciate some
guidance in how to find a conversion tool.

See, I *am* trying to learn something, not just have all the answers handed
to me on a silver platter :-)

--
Rhino