Hi, I'm running SkySafari 4 Pro on both my iOS devices as well as my Mac Mini. While going through and updating my favorites, I found what I believe is an error in the database on all three platforms. While trying to locate V460 Cygni, I couldn't find it listed. After further searching, it is listed, but incorrectly identified as DS Pegasi.
You might already be aware but will post just in case.
Steve,
I don't believe this is a database error. If you search the SIMBAD database for V460 Cygni, you will find that it is the same object as DS Pegasi. Possibly you could say we have an error because we don't also list it as V460 Cygni. However, most objects have many, many catalog designations. We don't attempt to include all of them. We already have 6 alternate catalog entries for DS Pegasi.
Aha, thanks Bill. I don't normally use SIMBAD so didn't realize they were the same. I'll make note of it.
The AAVSO índex (VSX) shows the designation "DS Pegasi" as obsolete:
https://www.aavso.org/vsx/index.php?view=detail.top&oid=11380
It seems this star was previously classified as belongig to the constellation Pegasus, but is now located in Cygnus. For this reason it doesn't make sense to call it DS Pegasi anymore. The text in Skysafari's info panel states that: "DS Pegasi is a [...] star appearing in the constellation Cygnus", which is actually a contradiction between the Latin and English...
I suppose that at least some of the observers using SkySafari to locate variable stars are also using AAVSO charts and sequences for their estimates. Maybe it would be better to prefer the designation "V0460 Cygni"?
Or otherwise implement a way for the user to enter a customized alias for an object in the observation list...