Searching objects with the position as a designation is not possible. Why?

1

Hi.

This issue has persisted for many years, and it’s annoying to have to manually look an object up, whether by typing its name into any astronomical database (NED, SIMBAD, LEDA…) just to get the position of the object, or by selecting another identifier for this object.

There is a problem with entering an object that uses the position as its designation (e.g., SDSS J153822.01+400919.9, 2MASX J15393598+4010438). The “Jump to Object” feature uses a script that utilizes SIMBAD to retrieve its coordinates; however, it won’t work for objects with only positions as a designation. Both of these objects are valid SIMBAD names.

Is there a way to fix this issue?

Thanks

2

Nobody ever bothered to report this problem

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3

So, will you fix it, or what?

4

I’m just saying, you can’t complain that a problem has existed for years and is really annoying, when only you know about it

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5

It’s not so difficult. Take away the ‘SDSS J’ and add some colons to make it readable sexagesimal coords: 15:38:22.01 +40:09:19.9

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6

I also fixed this last night

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