<p>The best source for alternative names for astronomical objects is the SIMBAD database and many journals, such as A&amp;A, include links to SIMBAD for the objects in a paper automatically.
If you go to the <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2005/10/aa1620/aa1620.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;homepage&quot; for the paper</a> at the publisher, you should see a link for 'SIMBAD objects' in the side bar (<a href="http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-ref?querymethod=bib&amp;simbo=on&amp;submit=submit%20bibcode&amp;bibcode=2005A%26A...432...31T" rel="nofollow noreferrer">direct link</a>). This will bring up a table of the objects and some basic data. Clicking on an object will get you all the identifies, measurements and references for the object as well as links to query catalogs for the object in Vizier and at NED.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-04T23:34:24.473Z
2021-08-04T23:34:24.473Z
astrosnapper
<p>The problem is that names like &quot;0005+0254&quot; are hopelessly vague; you probably wouldn't get anything useful from Simbad, either, if you just typed that into the search field. They <em>might</em> be valid as part of a longer name, but you need to know the proper format of that longer name, which isn't at all obvious.</p>
<p>Looking more closely at the paper, there is this line in Section 2.2: &quot;Accurate positions of the target sources were obtained from the JVAS catalogue ...&quot;. So maybe something with &quot;JVAS&quot; in the name?</p>
<p>If you click on one of the links in the &quot;SIMBAD objects&quot; table that @astrosnapper linked to, you'll get a Simbad page for that object. Down near the bottom will be a link to NED info; clicking on that shows that the objects really is in NED. In the long-ish list of bewildering alternate names, there is in fact one that starts with &quot;JVAS&quot;... (More precisely, it has the form &quot;JVAS Jnnnn+nnnn&quot; or &quot;JVAS Jnnnn-nnnn&quot;, where the nnnn<span class="math-container">$\pm$</span>nnnn part matches the names in the paper you're reading.)</p>
<p>So you <em>can</em> find these sources in NED directly, but you have to name them as, e.g., &quot;JVAS J0005+0254&quot; instead of just &quot;0005+0254&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-05T09:57:38.707Z
2021-08-05T09:57:38.707Z
Peter Erwin
<p>The paper <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2005/10/aa1620.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">High Frequency Peakers: Young radio sources or flaring blazars?</a> by S.Tinti et.al. lists some nice radio-wavelength SEDs, like these for instance:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/LMbT7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/LMbT7.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>When looking for more photometric info on a source, I'd normally go to <a href="https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/byname" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NED</a>. When I try one of these objects (like 0005+0254) in the search box, the database can't find it. Is there some place where I could find alternative names for the objects in this paper? Or another source for photometric measurements of these objects?</p>

<galaxy><photometry><quasars><resource-request>
How can I find more information on a certain galaxy when NED isn't helping?
Jim421616
# How can I find more information on a certain galaxy when NED isn't helping?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-04)

The paper [High Frequency Peakers: Young radio sources or flaring blazars?](https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2005/10/aa1620.pdf) by S.Tinti et.al. lists some nice radio-wavelength SEDs, like these for instance:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/LMbT7.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/LMbT7.png)

When looking for more photometric info on a source, I'd normally go to [NED](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/byname). When I try one of these objects (like 0005+0254) in the search box, the database can't find it. Is there some place where I could find alternative names for the objects in this paper? Or another source for photometric measurements of these objects?

**Tags:** galaxy, photometry, quasars, resource-request


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-08-04. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

The best source for alternative names for astronomical objects is the SIMBAD database and many journals, such as A&A, include links to SIMBAD for the objects in a paper automatically.
If you go to the ["homepage" for the paper](https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2005/10/aa1620/aa1620.html) at the publisher, you should see a link for 'SIMBAD objects' in the side bar ([direct link](http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-ref?querymethod=bib&simbo=on&submit=submit%20bibcode&bibcode=2005A%26A...432...31T)). This will bring up a table of the objects and some basic data. Clicking on an object will get you all the identifies, measurements and references for the object as well as links to query catalogs for the object in Vizier and at NED.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2021-08-05. Score: 3

The problem is that names like "0005+0254" are hopelessly vague; you probably wouldn't get anything useful from Simbad, either, if you just typed that into the search field. They *might* be valid as part of a longer name, but you need to know the proper format of that longer name, which isn't at all obvious.

Looking more closely at the paper, there is this line in Section 2.2: "Accurate positions of the target sources were obtained from the JVAS catalogue ...". So maybe something with "JVAS" in the name?

If you click on one of the links in the "SIMBAD objects" table that @username_1 linked to, you'll get a Simbad page for that object. Down near the bottom will be a link to NED info; clicking on that shows that the objects really is in NED. In the long-ish list of bewildering alternate names, there is in fact one that starts with "JVAS"... (More precisely, it has the form "JVAS Jnnnn+nnnn" or "JVAS Jnnnn-nnnn", where the nnnn$\pm$nnnn part matches the names in the paper you're reading.)

So you *can* find these sources in NED directly, but you have to name them as, e.g., "JVAS J0005+0254" instead of just "0005+0254".


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