Probable errors detected in the
Henry Draper Catalogue identifications for Tycho-2 stars
(Cat. IV/25)



1  Communicated by B. Skiff

The HDE chart is ambiguous for the identification of HD 298954. It has been assigned to a red star, CPD-52 3353 = CD-52 3647 by both the Nesterov and the Fabricius cross-ID catalogues. The HDE star is, however, a fainter blue star (HDE type A2) that lies  30" northwest.

IRAS 10110-5317 = CPD-52 3353 = CD-52 3647 = TYC 8599-2547-1

— spectral type M3 (1993yCat.3170.....M)

HD 298954 = CPD-52 3352 = TYC 8599-1797-1

— HDE type A2

\Brian     (30 Jan 2007)



The Fabricius et al HD/Tycho catalogue has mis-identified the red variable HD 177868 with an ordinary star  1'.5 east. The original HD is correct, as is SIMBAD.

HD 177868 = CPD-29 5883 = IRC -30403 = IRAS 19044-2856 = AG Sgr

\Brian     (12 Jul 2007)



This star (cluster actually) is misattributed in the catalogue IV/25 with the faint star Sk-66 31. It is instead CPD-66 343 (per the HDE) consistent with the HDE type ('Oa' = WC in modern notation), and with the cluster RMC 64, which includes WR-type components.

\Brian     (13 Nov 2007)



The list below shows corrections to the Fabricius et al file of Tycho-2 identifications in the HD catalogue (2002A&A...386..709F = item IV/25 in VizieR). Specifically, the list here applies only to HD numbers 268601 through 272150, i.e. the region of the HDE centered on the Large Magellanic Cloud published in 1936AnHar.100..205C. I have gone over the region rather carefully, including a re-reduction of the original x,y coordinates to J2000 RA/Dec. The files are located here:

ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats/hde.lmc.dat
ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats/hde.lmc.outer

...which are flat text files that include details of how they were prepared. My intent was to obtain accurate coordinates for all the HD stars, while Fabricius et al obtained Tycho-2 IDs only for HD stars appearing in that catalogue—which does not solve the problem of identifying all the HD stars! They omit 643 of the 3550 stars (18 percent) in this portion of the catalogue. I used VizieR to extract chunks of IV/25 by HD number. For the inner zone, where my own file has Tycho numbers, I visually compared Tycho numbers side-by-side on the computer screen. I skipped HD numbers not listed by Fabricius et al unless there is an overlooked Tycho entry (and several of these appear in Tycho-1 only). For the second outer section, where I omit Tycho numbers, I compared the coordinates as shown by VizieR (which are Tycho-2 positions without proper motion correction to J2000) against my ep/eq J2000 positions mainly from UCAC2. Again I skipped the entries omitted by Fabricius et al. (Since so many of the stars are at the faint limit of Tycho-2, the UCAC2 positions/motions are much preferred.)

Besides the Tycho numbers overlooked by Fabricius et al, there are a variety of corrections. Some of these result from errors in the HDE x,y coordinates not previously recognized; others result from Fabricius et al having chosen a relatively bright Tycho star, whereas the actual HDE entry is for a faint WR star or similar not in Tycho. In the outer rectangular annulus Fabricius et al have commonly favored a Tycho-2 star, whereas the HDE entry applies to a brighter non-Tycho star of appropriate color. In each case I give a brief explanation of the error involved. For just one star there is real ambiguity, and so either star could be the one intended by Cannon (probably only examination of the marks on the plate Cannon used will solve the problem). For one other star my choice was incorrect, and Fabricius is correct. I made several minor changes to my files as a result of this comparison, and new versions are copied out to the Lowell ftp area.

\Brian     (15 May 2008)


Misidentifications in Fabricius et al HD/Tyc2 file for HDE stars in LMC region version: 15 May 2008

1.1   LMC inner region

HD 269051 = TYC 9161-0685-1 = CPD-68 319

HD 269052 = TYC 9165-0548-1 = NGC 1837 coords for brightest star

HD 269207 = TYC 9169-1563-1 HD +20" Dec error

HD 269367 = TYC 9166-0002-1 = LHA 120-N 120B

HD 269382 = TYC 9166-0540-1 = CPD-69 361 = CD-69 297 SErn of 4".5 pair

HD 269537 = TYC 8891-0278-1 HD -1' Dec error

HD 269599 = TYC 9162-0657-1 = CPD-69 383 Tycho-1 ID

HD 269686 not TYC 8891-3565-1: Tyc2 entry is for specific V=12.0 star, whereas the HD object is compact cluster [SL63] 538 as a whole

HD 269784 not TYC 9166-0078-1; is instead mag 14 WR star  15" SE

HD 269858 = TYC 9167-0730-1 = CPD-69 427 SErn of 3" pair

HD 269928 = TYC 9163-0960-2, not 0960-1, which seems to be a poor detection of the same star possibly including nearby nebulosity

HD 270005 = TYC 9163-0751-1 Tycho-1 ID

HD 270078 = TYC 8904-0686-1 = CPD-66 449 HD -20" Dec error

HD 270128 = TYC 9163-0887-1 = CPD-68 436 HD +20" RA error

HD 270171 = TYC 9163-0863-1 HD -20" Dec error

HD 270342 = TYC 8904-0766-1 = CPD-66 473 HD -2s/+30" coords error

HD 270435 = TYC 9168-1217-1 HD +20" RA error

HD 270467 = TYC 8904-0911-1 = CPD-66 484 HD +15" RA error

HD 270485 = TYC 8904-0005-1 HD -1s/+10" coords error


1.2   LMC outer region

HD 270502 = TYC 9157-0001-1; Fabricius star (pair) is too faint and wrong color

HD 270526 = ? TYC 9160-1142-1: this star is slghtly brighter in the blue; but the Fabricius star 56" NE is similar enough that the ID is uncertain

HD 270653: 4 42 29.17 -66 18 53.2 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star 43" N is slightly fainter in the blue and less red (HDE type K7)

HD 270765 = TYC 8888-0928-1: Fabricius star is incorrect and is HD 31011 (mag 10, F8), whereas HDE star is mag 12, K5 (colors suggest it is probably a K0 dwarf). identifications in the field are unambiguous

HD 270794 = TYC 8888-0910-1: Fabricius star is incorrect (not red)

HD 271030: the HDE type almost certainly applies to the 13" common-motion pair

HD 271058: 5 10 26.9 -65 51 49 (J2000, 2MASS); Fabricius star is incorrect (not red), and the HDE type applies to the brighter 6" pair

HD 271224 = NGC 1944 (5 21 57.4 -72 29 39, J2000 estimate): Fabricius star is incorrect (it is the cluster, not the neighboring field star)

HD 271264: 5 27 04.24 -64 49 43.9 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect, being fainter in the blue and not red

HD 271389: 5 35 40.7 -66 02 06 (J2000 estimate); Fabricius star is incorrect, the intended HD object is the nebulous knot in NGC 2029 (given as mag 15 emission spectrum), not the mag 12 Tycho-2 star  30" south

HD 271472: Fabricius correct; wrong star in my file

HD 271600: 5 50 10.40 -65 09 33.9 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect, since it is fainter in blue and farther from the published position. HD type is in error, since neither star is red (fairly common in this section of the HDE).

HD 271695 = CPD-64 499: 5 56 46.54 -64 13 34.8 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect, per HDE CPD name and coordinates

HD 271727: 5 56 40.72 -72 13 07.9 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect mainly on positional arguments (offset 88" versus 32"); the two candidates have similar brightness and color

HD 271764: 6 01 16.76 -65 13 58.2 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect, since it is fainter in blue and too red (HD type F8), also coords offset is 76" versus only 13" for the star cited

HD 271802: 6 01 03.63 -73 13 12.4 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect, mainly on positional arguments (offset 139" versus 9"); the two candidates have similar brightness and color

HD 271875: 6 05 32.24 -68 16 13.7 (J2000, UCAC2); Fabricius star is incorrect, being too faint, too red, and too distant (offset 188" versus 41")

HD 272095: Fabricius star is incorrect and is nearby red star HD 272092; the identities of the  2' trio HD 272092, -095, and -100 are unambiguous

2  Communicated via the VizieR Annotations