A
star catalogue, or
star catalog, is an
astronomical catalogue that lists
stars. In
astronomy, many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years, and this article covers only some of the more frequently quoted ones. Star catalogues were compiled by many different ancient peoples, including the
Babylonians,
Greeks,
Chinese,
Persians, and
Arabs. Most modern catalogues are available in electronic format and can be freely downloaded from
NASA's Astronomical Data Center.