Which catalog is best?

"Lucy" wrote in message ...

I am looking for a good catalog of stars.

Nothing fancy - bare minimum would be:

Star Name
Spectral Class
R.A.
Dec
Distance from Sol


That's it.

A text file, comma separated value file, database or spreadsheet would be
great.
The simplier the better.

If it could go out to 200 to 300 light years, it would be great.

Most astronomical data is available online for free, starting at
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr.

I'm not sure what you want to do with your data, but I warn you that
you are likely to be biting off more than you can chew; star catalogs
can be pretty overwhelming.

I recommend starting with the Yale Bright Star Catalog; it is simple,
high-quality, complete, and not terribly huge -- just 9000 stars,
basically all the ones that are visible to the naked eye. After you've
played with that, you will have a better idea where you want to go next.

No catalog is complete to 200 light-years from Earth; in fact, the
overwhelming majority of stars within 200 l-y haven't even been detected
yet, much less cataloged. We are still discovering new stars just 20 l-y
from Earth!

Another way to start would be with the Tycho catalog.

- Tony Flanders