Preliminary Version of the Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Edition Dorrit Hoffleit Department of Astronomy Yale University Wayne H. Warren Jr. ST Systems Corporation National Space Science Data Center NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Bright Star Catalogue (BSC) is widely used as a source of basic astronomical and astrophysical data for stars brighter than magnitude 6.5. The catalog contains the identifications of included stars in several other widely-used catalogs, double- and multiple-star identifications, indication of variability and variable-star identifiers, equatorial positions for B1900.0 and J2000.0, galactic coordinates, UBVRI photoelectric photometric data when they exist, spectral types on the Morgan-Keenan (MK) classification system, proper motions (J2000.0), parallax, radial- and rotational-velocity data, and multiple-star information (number of components, separation, and magnitude differences) for known nonsingle stars. In addition to the data file, there is an extensive remarks file that gives more detailed information on individual entries. This information includes star names, colors, spectra, variability details, binary characteristics, radial and rotational velocities for companion stars, duplicity information, dynamical parallaxes, stellar dimensions (radii and diameters), polarization, and membership in stellar groups and clusters. The existence of remarks is flagged in the main data file. The BSC contains 9110 objects, of which 9096 are stars (14 objects cataloged in the original compilation of 1908 are novae or extragalactic objects that have been retained to preserve the numbering, but most of their data are omitted), while the remarks section is slightly larger than the main catalog. The present edition of the compilation includes many new data and the remarks section has been enlarged considerably. This preliminary version of the fifth edition of the Bright Star Catalogue supersedes the published and machine-readable versions of Hoffleit (1982, Yale University Observatory) and is intended for use until the final verison of this edition is completed. It has been made available only for dissemination on the Astronomical Data Center CD ROM. The brief format description applies to the preliminary version of the catalog only. The format will change for the final edition. THE BSC5 FORMAT --------------- Fd Datum Byte(s) Comments/Occurrences Format ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 HR 1- 4 Bright Star number I4 2 Name 5- 14 Bayer, Flamsteed A10 3 DM 15- 25 Supplemental ID in 25 A2,I3,I5,A1 4 HD 26- 31 Henry Draper number I6 5 SAO 32- 37 SAO Catalog number I6 (A6) 6 FK5 38- 41 Fifth Fundamental Catalog I4 (A4) 7 CIO flag 42 I A1 8 CIO ' flag 43 ' A1 9 Double code 44 W, D, S A1 10 ADS 45- 49 Number if in Aitken catalogue A5 11 ADS comp. 50- 51 Letter identifications A2 12 Var 52- 60 Name, number (NSV), "var" A9 13 RAH B1900.0 61- 62 hours of time I2 14 RAM 63- 64 minutes of time I2 15 RAS 65- 68 seconds of time F4.1 16 DECD B1900.0 69- 71 degrees of arc I3 (A1,I2) 17 DECM 72- 73 minutes of arc I2 18 DECS 74- 75 seconds of arc I2 19 RAH J2000.0 76- 77 hours of time I2 20 RAM 78- 79 minutes of time I2 21 RAS 80- 83 seconds of time F4.1 22 DECD J2000.0 84- 86 degrees of arc I3 (A1,I2) 23 DECM 87- 88 minutes of arc I2 24 DECS 89- 90 seconds of arc I2 25 Gal. long. 91- 96 degrees F6.2 26 Gal. lat. 97-102 degrees F6.2 27 V mag. 103-107 UBV system if available F5.2 28 V code 108 R, H if not UBV A1 29 V unc. code 109 :, ? A1 30 B-V 110-114 UBV system F5.2 31 B-V code 115 :, ? A1 32 U-B 116-120 UBV system F5.2 33 U-B code 121 :, ? A1 34 R-I 122-126 Johnson system if available F5.2 35 R-I code 127 C, E, :, ?, D (Cousins, Eggen) A1 36 Sp. type 128-147 MK type if available A20 37 Sp.T. code 148 e, v, t A1 38 PMRA J2000 149-154 on FK5 system F6.3 39 PMDC J2000 155-160 on FK5 system F6.3 40 Par. code 161 D (dynamical) A1 41 Par. 162-166 Trigonometric if code blank F5.3 42 RV 167-170 Line-of-sight velocity (helio.) I4 43 RV comms. 171-174 Variable, SB, etc. A4 44 vsini code 175 = if limit A1 45 vsini code 176 < or > A1 46 vsini 177-179 Slettebak system I3 47 vsini code 180 : if uncertain A1 48 Delta mag 181-184 Components of multiple F4.1 49 Separation 185-190 For identified components F6.1 50 Components 191-194 Letter identifications A4 51 # comp. 195-196 Total number known I2 52 Remark code 197 * if remark(s) in file A1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Description prepared by Wayne H. Warren Jr. 1991 June 28