Editing Astronomical naming conventions (section)

==== Black holes ====
{{see also|List of black holes}}

Black holes have no consistent naming conventions. [[Supermassive black hole]]s receive the designation of the galaxy whose core they reside in. Examples are [[NGC 4261]], [[NGC 4151]] and [[Andromeda Galaxy#Nucleus|M31]], which derive their designation from the ''[[New General Catalogue]]'' and the list of ''[[Messier objects]]''.

Other black holes, such as [[Cygnus X-1]] – a highly likely [[stellar black hole]], are cataloged by their constellation and the order in which they were discovered. A large number of black holes are designated by their position in the sky and prefixed with the instrument or survey that discovered them.<ref>{{cite web |title=Black Hole Encyclopedia – FAQ |url=http://blackholes.stardate.org/resources/faqs/faq.php?p=black-hole-names |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806072246/http://blackholes.stardate.org/resources/faqs/faq.php?p=black-hole-names |archive-date=2021-08-06 |access-date=4 September 2015 |website=StarDate.org}}</ref> Examples are {{nowrap|[[SDSS J0100+2802]]}} (where SDSS stands for [[Sloan Digital Sky Survey]]), and [[RX J1131-1231|RX&nbsp;J1131&minus;1231]], observed by the [[Chandra X-ray Observatory]].<ref>{{cite web |date=10 August 2015 |title=Chandra images by category: Black holes |url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/category/blackholes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205090958/https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/category/blackholes.html |archive-date=2022-12-05 |publisher=Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics}}</ref>