Constellation from SAO number?

Hello,

how can I tell the constellation where a star is, from its SAO number?
I mean: are there catalogs or lists or whatever that tell this?
I have a full SAO file but I can't see this information.

Of course, I may find out this information from the coordinates (RA
and Decl), but this would be very long (if I have hundreds of stars).

One question: coordinates change due to precession, but I understand
that the boundaries (of constellations) change either, so all the
stars remain in their constellation (if proper motion is not
considered - I am talking about precession only). Is it correct?

By the way, the only source where I can find the constellation of
SAO stars is a "star name seller". However, not all SAO stars are listed,
so this is not useful to me.
And I don't need to buy or to name a star in their database :-)

Thanks,

Giancarlo

In article ,
(Giancarlo) writes:
how can I tell the constellation where a star is, from its SAO number?

Not easily. You can get the position from SIMBAD:
http://simbad.harvard.edu/sim-fid.pl
in North America, but you will probably prefer the French or Japanese
site if overseas.

If you have hundreds of stars, you probably want to download your own
copy of the SAO catalog from CDS or Vizie-R:
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cats/Cats.htx
and write your own lookup software.

The constellations are defined in terms of equator and equinox of
1875, so the stars remain in the same constellation despite
precession. (Proper motion may cause a star to move into a different
constellation, however.) To find the constellation, precess the
star's coordinates to 1875, then compare to the defined constellation
boundaries. I believe I have seen a program somewhere that does
this, but I no longer remember where. If such a program exists, your
favorite search engine should find it.

--
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(Please email your reply if you want to be sure I see it; include a
valid Reply-To address to receive an acknowledgement. Commercial
email may be sent to your ISP.)