User`s guide

Object Databases 93
Tip: You can also open the text
description for any object by clicking
the icon that appears to the right of an
object’s name in the list of items found in
the Find pane.
Logs: Lists all log entries (if any) that you
have created for this object. See “Adding
Log Entries” on page 162 for more
information on log entries.
Export: Creates a text file with all the
information generated in the Info pane.
• Position in Sky
This section lists the constellation that the
object is currently in, and the object’s
positional co-ordinates in many different
co-ordinate systems. The meanings of
each of these co-ordinates are described in
“Guides 1 (Co-ordinate Systems)
” on
page 55.
• Position in Space
This section has information on the
object’s 3-D position in space, if known.
Distance from observer: The object’s
distance from your current location.
Note: the distances to stars are only given
for those stars in the HIPPARCOS
catalogue. The distances to stars are
known only approximately and should be
treated with some caution. The closer a
star is, the more accurate its distance
measurement is likely to be. The distances
to stars within a few hundred light years
are relatively accurate, but distances are
much less accurate for stars farther away
than this.
Distance from Sun: The object’s distance
from the Sun.
Proper Motion RA/Dec: Stars are not fixed
in space, and most are in fact moving quite
rapidly. Because of their great distance
from us, however, their positions appear
constant. Only on a timescale of hundreds
or even thousands of years can we actually
see the shifting positions. These fields (for
stars only) describe how much the star’s
equatorial co-ordinates are shifting each
year due to the star’s motion.