# The Hipparcos Catalog & HIP Numbers

> How a 1990s space mission became the stars’ identity card — and how it relates to Gaia.

Hipparcos was an ESA astrometry satellite (1989–1993) that measured the positions, distances (parallaxes) and motions of 118,218 stars to thousandths of an arcsecond. Its HIP numbers are still a universal star identifier — the HIP 7097 or HIP 49669 on your certificate comes from here.

URL: https://astarnamed.com/guides/hipparcos · Category: astronomy · Published: 

## What a HIP number looks like

HIP numbers are plain sequence entries in the Hipparcos catalog: HIP 49669 is Regulus in Leo; HIP 7097 is another star genuinely sold on our site. The numbers carry no meaning by themselves — but they point to exact positions.

## Hipparcos vs. Gaia

- **Hipparcos (1997)** — 118,000 stars, to ~0.001 arcsecond
- **Gaia (today)** — over a billion stars, far sharper — its successor
- **Our catalog** — HYG-based (Hipparcos inside); brightness/color cross-checked with Gaia

## Why your star has several numbers

One star appears in many catalogs: HIP in Hipparcos, a source ID in Gaia, and often a traditional name in its constellation. Your certificate prints both your Star ID and the catalog IDs so you can verify it anywhere.

**Browse Catalog Stars ✦** — https://astarnamed.com/stars

> See the real star data behind every memorial star → https://astarnamed.com/our-data

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# 依巴谷星表与 HIP 编号

> 1990 年代的太空测量如何成为恒星的"身份证",以及它与 Gaia 的关系。

依巴谷(Hipparcos)是欧空局 1989–1993 年的天体测量卫星,以千分之一角秒的精度测定了 118,218 颗恒星的位置、距离(视差)与运动。它输出的 HIP 编号至今是恒星的通用标识——你证书上的 HIP 7097、HIP 49669 都出自这里。

## HIP 编号长什么样

HIP 编号就是依巴谷星表中的序号:HIP 49669 指狮子座的轩辕十四(Regulus),HIP 7097 是我们站内另一颗真实交易过的星。编号本身没有含义,但它们指向的位置分毫不差。

## 依巴谷与 Gaia 的关系

- **依巴谷(1997)** — 11.8 万颗恒星,精度千分之一角秒
- **Gaia(当代)** — 十亿颗恒星,精度更高——"接棒者"
- **我们的星库** — 以 HYG(含依巴谷)为骨架,亮度和颜色列与 Gaia 交叉核对

## 为什么你的星同时有几种编号

同一颗星在不同星表中都有条目:依巴谷有 HIP 号,Gaia 有源 ID(gaia_source_id),星座内还有传统名称。证书会同时印出站内 Star ID 与星表编号,方便你在任何平台查证。

**浏览星表恒星 ✦** — https://astarnamed.com/stars

> 看每一颗纪念星背后的真实星表数据 → https://astarnamed.com/our-data