 | This is aWikiProject advice page onstyle. It contains the advice or opinions of one or moreWikiProjects on how to format and present article content within their area of interest. An advice page has the status of anessay and is not a formalWikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Advice for providing consistent style and citations in articles on astronomy topics. It covers naming conventions, image use, units, infoboxes, and useful references. |
The following isWikiProject Astronomy's advice for writing and editing clear, encyclopedic, attractive, and interesting articles on astronomy. For matters of style not treated on this subpage, follow the mainManual of Style and its other subpages to achieve consistency of style throughout Wikipedia.
Articles about astronomical objects should use conventionalastronomical naming conventions for the article title, particularly as specified by theInternational Astronomical Union.[1]
For catalogue names, standard astronomy abbreviations can be used. Hence, BD instead ofBonner Durchmusterung and GJ rather thanGliese–Jahreiß. The exception is theBayer designation of a star, which uses the fullyLatinized greek letter followed by the genitive form of the constellation name. An example isSigma Orionis, for σ Ori.
For components of multiple star system, the convention is to follow the system name by a capital letter. Thus,Alpha Centauri A andAlpha Centauri B. Exoplanets typically use a lower case letter, such asEpsilon Eridani b. Hierarchical multiple star systems can combine upper and lower case suffixes. An example isRigel Ba and Bb.
The capitalization of specific astronomy objects is discussed at:MOS:CELESTIALBODIES. Theuniverse, including thevisible universe, uses lower case, except when discussing it in its entirety, such as in amultiverse context.
An astronomical image is any image file concerning non-artificial objects or phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere. It can include photographs, diagrams, and illustrations. In addition to the usual standards of image selection outlined by theWikipedia:Image use policy andWikipedia:Manual of Style/Images, which cover image quality and pertinence, other considerations apply to articles about astronomy:
Careful consideration should be made before adding anyAI-generated illustrations. The accuracy of the image should be confirmed by an astronomy expert, and copyright use should follow the guidelines for other Wikipedia images. SeeWP:AIIMAGES.
Per theManual of Style, the conventional units for astronomy science articles are theInternational System of Units (SI) andunits accepted for use with SI; these should be used consistently throughout an article. Astronomy uses certainunit conventions[2] for specific parameters, and these take primacy where appropriate for the scale. When converting to SI/SI-accepted units, it is usually only necessary supplyone conversion (e.g. there's no need to convert toboth g and kg).
To reduce clutter, do not useUnited States customary units orimperial units in infoboxes. If a reference uses these units, to allow easy verification, convert value to SI (and if appropriate astronomical unit of measure) using the{{cvt}} template but only display the output.[5] For example:
Database sources such asSIMBAD,NED, andExtrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia are invaluable sites for finding reliable sources. However, they are not stable data sources, being subject to change over time. The data comes from multiple overlapping sources, some of which can later be removed. Hence they should not be used directly, but as sources for more static references. But they are useful as a stable reference for the other designations listing.
In the case of theJPL Small-Body Database lookup, the data is not stable, but the report does not always provide an alternative source for static data. The reported data will change over time, particularly in the later decimal fields. Keeping only a few decimals of accuracy will reduce the need to make updates.
There are specific templates for citing commonly used data sources:
| Template | Sample output |
|---|---|
| {{Cite APOD}} | Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (19 January 2014)."Spiral Galaxies in Collision".Astronomy Picture of the Day.NASA. Retrieved20 February 2015.Quoted text. |
| {{Cite EPE}} | "The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopaedia — Kepler-62 f",Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia,Paris Observatory, retrieved2023-11-03. |
| {{Cite Gaia DR3}} | Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023),"Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties",Astronomy and Astrophysics,674: A1,arXiv:2208.00211,Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G,doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940,S2CID 244398875. |
| {{Cite simbad}} | "zet Ari",SIMBAD,Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg, retrieved2012-08-04. |
| {{cite XHIP}} | Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012), "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation",Astronomy Letters,38 (5): 331,arXiv:1108.4971,Bibcode:2012AstL...38..331A,doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015. |
All object-specific infobox data entries should have inline references specifying reliable sources.
Whenever the coordinates of an astronomical object is included, it should also list anepoch so the date context is clear. Typically this isJ2000. For a minor planet, the epoch of the listed orbital elements is used.
Providing error ranges gives the reader a useful indication of the accuracy of the data. In most cases where an error range exists, there is little need to retain accuracy beyond the first two or three digits of the error margin. For example,48.8047215840±1.9920 can be listed as48.80±1.99.
In some instances, different reliable sources may give data values with error ranges that do not overlap. It may be of interest to provide two or more such data values in the infobox, if this is believed to be of interest to the reader. An example of this are diameter estimates for a minor planet that are derived through different methods. The values should be separated by a comma or a new line, and include the margins of error.
There is a set of standard infoboxes for astronomical objects and associations of different types:
Stellar articles generally include an infobox consisting of templates from the starbox group. These start with the{{Starbox begin}} and continue to the{{Starbox end}}. Typically they will include the{{Starbox observe}},{{Starbox character}},{{Starbox astrometry}}, and{{Starbox catalogue}} templates. When a star has more detailed parameter information,{{Starbox detail}} can be included after the Starbox astrometry template. For multi-star systems, the{{Starbox orbit}} and{{Starbox relpos}} templates are available.
For stars that are visible to the naked eye, a location chart may be included at the top of the infobox using the{{Starbox image}} template. These generally use an appropriate constellation map, available from the Wikimedia Commons. The{{Location mark}} template is recommended for overlaying a marker identifying the star, as it provides consistent positioning accuracy. See the starbox image template documentation for further information.
The{{odlist}} template is strongly recommended for formatting the entries in the Starbox catalogue template. The 'name=' field can be used for a proper name. Positions in theequatorial coordinate system can be displayed in a consistent manner using the{{RA}} and{{DEC}} templates.
