Rhino wrote:
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.


New General Catalogue (NGC)
http://www.ngcic.org/DSS/dss_ngc.asp

"NGS 549672" doesn't appear to have anything to do with real astronomy

Notable Nearby Stars
http://www.solstation.com/stars.htm

Nearby Stars
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/as...s/980609b.html
http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/ftp-index?V/70A