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Public Universe

Stars and deep sky

Observing target starter catalogues

Explore bright stars, historical double-star records and a selected deep-sky sample with traceable sources.

A bounded starter sample: 50 bright-star records from HEASARC BSC5P, including 23 records with identified double-star components and historical separations, plus 108 OpenNGC deep-sky records associated with Messier numbers.

These are static catalogue measurements, not current sky positions or a complete census. Double-star records may describe the same pair; a pair is not necessarily a gravitationally bound binary. Separation dates and companion position angles are not available.

Missing measurements are unknown, not zero. Sizes can come from different wavelength bands and do not guarantee an object’s visible extent. No observability or equipment-resolution prediction is made here.

Your equipment workspace · Observing tools

158 matching records · page 1 of 7

Source and reuse: bsc5p

Hoffleit and Warren (1991), Bright Star Catalog, 5th revised preliminary edition; NASA/GSFC HEASARC

Original source / pinned release · NASA government-works; HEASARC free-use policy

Credit Hoffleit and Warren and NASA/GSFC HEASARC when reusing these records. Retain the source flags and historical measurement limitations.

Selection
Vmag <= 2.0, excluding 14 documented nonstellar HR identifiers
Retrieved
2026-10-01T21:40:09.869946+00:00
Reviewed subset SHA256
7fe926d80b535f9422ca81f8f3fee1d6422de29adaecfbd2f14b1a93fe5134b9
Original file hashes
bsc5p.tdat
e2b2f8e9d615426f9478f88061235976143d49d8b25c6c15df3f3661c7095b53
Coordinate-frame evidence

CDS VizieR · V/50/catalog

Exact source identifiers matched: 50. Evidence retrieved: 2026-10-01.

Pinned response SHA256
a3f83273ccaecf913a0d8e077413062c20ce1fc01ce890c80615a9572d5f1be9

Source and reuse: openngc

OpenNGC, copyright 2023 Mattia Verga; adapted by Public Universe: bounded selection and unit conversions; source row strings retained

Original source / pinned release · CC-BY-SA-4.0

OpenNGC data and adaptations retain CC BY-SA 4.0: credit the authors, indicate changes and share adaptations under the same licence. The website’s MIT software licence does not replace these data terms.

Selection
Nonempty Messier cross-reference; exclude duplicate M102 and double-star M040
Retrieved
2026-10-01T21:40:09.873502+00:00
Reviewed subset SHA256
d8517e8d195ce69700645b60f8d6603d2aebba0e8e21f47603a4d6a31fe667a1
Original file hashes
NGC.csv
d3cd7f1ab83122e81b3453d765d93b6dbbb15c910716c9e4ff99c7e916cb2218
addendum.csv
1d8f0914e643ada325a5a94d88d8fefad6a4937a2f77cc34f21483af22b11983
Coordinate-frame evidence

GAVO Data Center (author-linked OpenNGC publication) · openngc.data

Exact source identifiers matched: 107. Evidence retrieved: 2026-10-01.

Without matching frame evidence: Mel022.

Pinned response SHA256
bb872b3b8759508d0bf714eabcd1bfed1796be95046506dd0802819a846535dd