Question #157608 “How can I label objects in Stellarium?” : Questions : Stellarium (2025)

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Asked by Don Himes on 2011-05-15

Can a user create, add to, or change an object's label? I am a variable star observer and want to find, say, R Leonis. Stellarium found R Leonis but labeled it in the Hipparchus system which I don't want. Stellarium could not find V Cor Bor, though the star is present on screen. I want to create a label for this star.
I downloaded this Stellarium around May 7 2011; I am using a brand new Toshiba laptop and a much older Gateway home computer.
Having a blast with this cool program anyway! It will certainly multiply my presentation by a lot!

Question information

Language:: English Edit question

Status:: Answered

For:: Stellarium Edit question

Assignee:: No assignee Edit question

Last query:: 2011-05-18

Last reply:: 2011-05-19

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Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said on 2011-05-15:

Yes, you can add custom names for stars. But you need edit file star_names.fab from western sky culture

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Khalid AlAjaji (kajaji) said on 2011-05-16:

Don,
Stellarium can find V Cor Bor, but you have to enter the name as V CrB, using the standard abbreviation for constellations.

As Alex said, you can add custom names for stars, but you need to know the Hipparcos number of the star. You can get it from simbad at: http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid or from stellarium if you search properly (actually stellarium uses simbad for names not in its lists).

After you find the hipparcos number, you can edit the star_names.fab file found in a path similar to this, C:\Program Files\Stellarium\skycultures\western . Use notepad to edit the file.

You have to make your entry in the proper place because the file is ordered in ascending order according Hipparcos numbers.

For example V Crb is HIP 77501, so you have to enter it between 77070 and 78401:
77070|_("Unukalhai")
77501|_("your label here")
78401|_("Dschubba")

I suggest also to backup the star_names file before editing.

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Don Himes (xx1pines) said on 2011-05-18:

Hi all... it worked great but I could not save the Notepad additions; the star's name was unchanged. Why can't I save Notepad?

--- On Sun, 5/15/11, kajaji <email address hidden> wrote:

From: kajaji <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #157608]: How can I label objects in Stellarium?
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Sunday, May 15, 2011, 10:41 PM

Your question #157608 on Stellarium changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/157608

kajaji proposed the following answer:
Don,
Stellarium can find V Cor Bor, but you have to enter the name as V CrB, using the standard abbreviation for constellations.

As Alex said, you can add custom names for stars, but you need to know
the Hipparcos number of the star. You can get it from simbad at:
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid or from stellarium if you
search properly (actually stellarium uses simbad for names not in its
lists).

After you find the hipparcos number, you can edit the star_names.fab
file found in a path similar to this, C:\Program
Files\Stellarium\skycultures\western . Use notepad to edit the file.

You have to make your entry in the proper place because the file is
ordered in ascending order according Hipparcos numbers.

For example V Crb is HIP 77501, so you have to enter it between 77070 and 78401:
77070|_("Unukalhai")
77501|_("your label here")
78401|_("Dschubba")

I suggest also to backup the star_names file before editing.

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Khalid AlAjaji (kajaji) said on 2011-05-19:

I believe you need admin authority to change files in the Program files directory. You can modify the security options for stellarium, edit and save your changes.

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