Why We Publish No Star When the Time of Death Is Unknown
The sky turns about 15 degrees every hour, so “what time” decides “which star.” When a record has a date but no reliable time, any computed star could be wrong. Our rule is simple: publish nothing rather than guess.
Because time decides the answer. The sky’s rotation is fast enough that a few hours of uncertainty can change which star is nearest the zenith — sometimes into a different constellation entirely. When no reliable time exists, we publish the date and place only and state plainly that no star is computed. That is more honest, and more useful, than a star that cannot be checked.
Why a few hours change the answer
Earth rotates roughly 15 degrees per hour, so the region of sky at the zenith shifts about 15 degrees every hour. For the question “which star is nearest the zenith,” an hour of uncertainty spans a patch of sky about thirty full moons wide. If all we know is “at night” or “in the early hours,” the star we would compute is just one of many possibilities.
Three confidence tiers, three treatments
In our case library, every record carries a confidence tier for the time: documented (recorded), sourced but approximate (approximate), or no reliable time at all (unknown). The first is computed as usual; the second is computed with the approximation stated; the third publishes the date and place with no star. The tiers let a reader see at a glance which conclusions can be cited and which are only leads.
Real cases beat principles
The case library includes exactly this: a famous first moonwalker whose time of death is not clearly recorded in public sources, a well-known dog who waited for his owner whose exact passing is unverifiable, and a signing gorilla whose death is reported only by date. Those pages are still published — date, place, life, sources — with no star. The blank space is part of the record.
Why “just give them a star anyway” fails
If an organization still produces a star when the time is unknown, a reader cannot tell the difference: it looks exactly like the documented cases — equally beautiful, equally certain. Once it turns out to be unverifiable, the damage is not to that one page but to the credibility of every result. A page willing to say “here we do not know” is what makes every other page’s “we do know” mean something.
FAQ
What if I only know roughly what time it was?
You can compute it, but treat it as approximate: mark the time as approximate and accept that the result can shift with the error. If the uncertainty is measured in hours, treat the star as an indication rather than a definitive answer.
My family records have no time. What then?
Run the calculator for each plausible time and see whether the star stays stable; if different hours point to the same region of sky, the conclusion is more robust. If not, it is fine to keep the uncertainty honestly.