Methodology and sources

1. Open the dossier and copy the astronomical catalogue identifier, not the dedication name or private verification code. Keep the document date beside it when comparing the record.
2. Search that identifier in SIMBAD. Check the identifiers and coordinates together; a nearby result alone does not establish a match.
3. For a coordinate search, preserve signs, units and reference frame. SIMBAD accepts sexagesimal or decimal input: do not silently turn hours into degrees.

Verifying the catalogue record does not promise naked-eye visibility. Our free date tool reconstructs the sky over an ideal horizon; the dedication dossier describes the region around its assigned star. Choose the tool for a date, and the dossier for that star.

• SIMBAD: catalogue searches
• SIMBAD: coordinate input guide

Catalogue identifiers, coordinates and available physical properties come from SIMBAD, the public astronomical database of the Strasbourg astronomical data centre, under ODbL 1.0.

The imported scientific record is frozen when documents are issued, together with provenance and retrieval information, so later source changes do not rewrite an order’s evidence.

Distance is derived from parallax and becomes unreliable when the measurement is too uncertain.

It is shown only when parallax is positive and the error-to-parallax ratio is below 0.2. Otherwise the document says that the star’s distance is not known with sufficient reliability.

Indicative rise, culmination and set times use the star coordinates, selected location and classical celestial-sphere calculations.

Real horizons, refraction, buildings, weather and haze can change what an observer experiences, so these times are guidance rather than a guarantee.

Calculations use universal time and convert to the location’s time zone at the end, including daylight-saving rules for the relevant date.

Emotional images, social formats and the photograph inside the dossier use real astronomical pixels from the DSS2 survey, distributed by the Strasbourg astronomical data centre. For each order, the cutout around the star is verified, frozen with its SHA-256 fingerprint and reused deterministically across formats.

The night-sky-on-a-date tool starts from a verified, frozen copy of the global DSS2 mosaic. Date, place, time zone and time determine the transformation from celestial coordinates to the sky above an ideal horizon. The Moon, planets, weather, terrain and buildings are not simulated: this is a photographic reconstruction from survey data, not a picture captured that evening.

Credit, provenance, licence and fingerprint accompany the photograph in metadata and in the interface. If the frozen source is missing or fails its integrity check, generation is retried and produces neither a placeholder nor a synthetic image.

The dedication is symbolic and commemorative. Its chosen name exists only in the A Star For You Private Registry, does not transfer ownership and does not change the star’s scientific designation.

Observation information is indicative; naked-eye visibility cannot be guaranteed for a specific time or place.

The documents describe a dedication and its connected star. They are not a scientific publication or a legal title.

• How the Private Registry works →
• What you are buying →