Actual Star Positions

[Albertese]

All right, I've been looking high and low for this and I just can't find it, but i'm pretty sure I originally got the link from someone on this board... I want to have the positions of all the real-life (not Trek per se) stars in a radius of 50 light years from here. I know i've seen a site where a guy could get all this information in the form of xyz coordinatees rather than degrees of arc. You see I'm not trying to find them with a telescope, but rather am trying to plot their posiotions for an art-y type project I'm trying to figure out.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

--Alex

 

[Christopher]

Here's a page containing a variety of star maps based on real astronomical data:

http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html

Scroll down to the HabHYG Starmaps section, and there's one featuring all the known stars within 50 light-years, in various 2D map formats plus a spreadsheet of the data. Here's a direct link to the spreadsheet file, which is in CSV format:

http://www.projectrho.com/HabHYG50ly.csv

 

[Ronald Held]

You could also go to star catalogues and sort on distance.

 

[Galactic Alignment]

Christopher said:
Here's a page containing a variety of star maps based on real astronomical data:

http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html

Scroll down to the HabHYG Starmaps section, and there's one featuring all the known stars within 50 light-years, in various 2D map formats plus a spreadsheet of the data. Here's a direct link to the spreadsheet file, which is in CSV format:

http://www.projectrho.com/HabHYG50ly.csv

Interesting link - thanks for posting that here. Always had a 'thing' for starmaps since playing an old computer game called Frontier. Oh, and Trek of course.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

If you want an easy and FUN way of exploring this information... go to this page:

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

It's free, it's safe (been running it for YEARS), it's accurate (and regularly updated starcharts based upon the latest known data... and expandable easily to include new discoveries). It can also take "fictional" elements (for instance, I have added in the Episilon Eridanae system, completely with Babylon 5 and a lot of ships... ). And you can fly through the accurate (as far as we know) universe at specific set speeds.

Some "fictional" things you might want to install:
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/fic_startrek.php

DEFINITELY the best tool I've found for "playing" with this stuff. By the way, here's one more plug-in you might want to try:

http://www.sfe.sitesled.com/sfe/warpdrive.html

It's a TNG-era "one touch" warp drive control for Celestia.

 

[Galactic Alignment]

Astonishing. And there's a Mac version! Thanks.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Rattrap 64 said: Astonishing. And there's a Mac version! Thanks.

That was my take on it as well... astonishing. An overall better piece of software than pretty much anything I've ever PAID FOR. I run it on both my Windows and Linux installs, by the way.

In addition to the "real universe" I said that there are various fictional bits in there. They orbit, or fly preprogrammed flight paths, or so forth. For instance, I've got THIS hanging in orbit around my Earth...

And this is in the fictitious Epsilon Eridanae system. There are a number of spacecraft flying around the station, by the way... you can't CONTROL them, but you can watch them.

All the models seen in this program are basically just 3DSMax models (with a few constraints). So if a 3DSMax model exists, it can VERY easily be made into a Celestia model.

 

[Unicron]

I've got a nice program (Starry Night 3D) for looking at the night sky.

 

[Ronald Held]

Cary, I have not looked at Celestia since it came out. Can you explain those trek add-ons?

 

[captcalhoun]

is it possible for there to be G-type stars within ~20 light years that we can't see from Earth because of their positions relative to other stars that are closer/brighter?

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Ronald Held said:Cary, I have not looked at Celestia since it came out. Can you explain those trek add-ons?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you asking about how you install them, or what?

Assuming that's what you're asking... you simply drop the files into the appropriate directories. Celestia is designed more along the lines of a Unix architecture than a Windows one... so there's no "registry" stuff going on, other than registering a couple of filetypes.

Most of the "add-ons"... regardless of whether or not they're real astronomical items, real spacecraft, or entirely fictional entries... come with a basic "readme" to explain how to install. Very few items require you to do anything more than just drop the files into the correct directories... which happens to typically be the path provided within their zip file. A few require you to edit text files to add additional lines (for instance, I keep my asteroid emphemerae updated regularly, and have to adjust my main configuration to allow all of them to be displayed).

The add-ons are not "playable" in any way. They simply exist in the universe. You can go to them, track them, follow them, examime them, etc... but you can't CONTROL them. Your limits of control are basically YOU... your own personal perspective (think of it as an infinitely-fast one-man starship).

The more add-ons you load, obviously, the more memory you'll need... especially in cases like Epsilon Eridanae where I have upwards of 30 objects, including the hi-poly B5 space station... on my old system I would occasionally get framerate "hickups." That's not a problem now, however. But it's something to bear in mind.

I hope that answers your question. If I've missed your point, please expand and let me know what it is you're REALLY asking... K?

 

[Ronald Held]

I was asking what the added functionality of the Trek add-ons were. I vaguely remember about adding planetary systems.

 

[Maurice]

captcalhoun said:
is it possible for there to be G-type stars within ~20 light years that we can't see from Earth because of their positions relative to other stars that are closer/brighter?

Pretty unlikely for there to be any that haven't already been discovered. Our POV in our own system wobbles across a diameter of 186 million miles and even a star parked perfectly behind as seen from Earth one day would likely peek out when viewed from a different point on the orbit.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Ronald Held said:I was asking what the added functionality of the Trek add-ons were. I vaguely remember about adding planetary systems.

Yes, well... just for example, there's a Risa system you can install, and that's entirely fictional. Again, it's just a matter of unzipping the archive and it should be installed automagically. That is, assuming that the creator of the add-in put it together properly, of course.

 

[Ronald Held]

Thanks, if I have some time, I will do the downloads and experiment with them.

 

[Albertese]

Christopher said:
Here's a page containing a variety of star maps based on real astronomical data:

http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html

Awesome. Thanks, that's the one I was looking for!