Astronomy software?
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She'll sober up eventually, they all do...
Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
Start here: www.nasa.gov Search on: data, download Doubly seriously, JPL has MANY tiny applets that often have data output options. I mean you did say "astrogation". You're committed to the where there.
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I remember my wedding. Bar the best man, every male guest of mine was married and, to a man, repeatedly said "It's not too late..." right up until I walked out of the church. Then they sadly said "It's too late..."
Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol
Hence the Gin.
"The ones who care enough to do it right care too much to compromise." Matthew Faithfull
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Yes, it is actually a rather good program. Shows all the major (ie easy to see) satellites too. (I mean man-made ones, it shows all the natural ones, obviously, and when I say all I mean all that we know about. (This line comes courtesy of the Pedants' Society))
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
I wondered if it allowed you to input your location and get the sky view from there, for us poor sod on the other side of the planet. The next thought was Singapore, yeah blank page or maybe 3-4 stars, there is so much light pollution and water in the atmosphere that is all I see.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
I'm an astrophysicist. A really great PC planetarium app for either a pro or amateur is Stellarium. I don't have time to list even a fraction of this free software's features, but it often comes in handy for me.
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
Kundali Lite
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
The best software I think is Celestia, it can be expanded with plugins and accept script. I used it some years ago. Here you can get plugins, new textures, maps, objects, etc. Celestia Motherlode[]
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Hence the Gin.
"The ones who care enough to do it right care too much to compromise." Matthew Faithfull
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
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I wondered if it allowed you to input your location and get the sky view from there, for us poor sod on the other side of the planet. The next thought was Singapore, yeah blank page or maybe 3-4 stars, there is so much light pollution and water in the atmosphere that is all I see.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
I have actually done something very similar. I used Java to generate a simulated star cluster from physical equations that reconstruct the H-R diagram, then I used MySQL to store the star data (and planetary data) and then PHP scripts to interrogate the database to obtain distances and so forth, using an HTML interface. For 3D, I used Pov-Ray to generate the selected views I needed (using a simple script to generate the Pov-Ray file). If you want real-time animation then of course something like DirectX or OpenGL (with say C++) would be required.
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Another odd request for the geeks among us. I am looking for a reasonably up to date astronomy application database and front-end, giving stars with, say, 100 light years from ours. A 3D simulator would be nice, but cost is an issue. Basically, I need something I can consult for astrogation: starting at one star system, how far away is another and what direction would I go? This for my science... um, fiction project. Yeah, that's it.
I almost exclusively use Distant Suns on my Android and iStuff. It's very comprehensive for astronomers - I haven't used hard copy star charts since I got it. Not sure if it would aid you in stellar navigation, though. It uses a pretty comprehensive database for almost all the items and most stars, including distance measurements. You might be able to derive something from that.
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The best software I think is Celestia, it can be expanded with plugins and accept script. I used it some years ago. Here you can get plugins, new textures, maps, objects, etc. Celestia Motherlode[]
Celestia - That was the nation declared by James Thomas Mangan back in the forties. It consisted of all the space above the Earth's atmosphere - effectively the entire rest of the universe. He was actually successful in registering it with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds and Titles. Tried to get international recognition through the United Nations but they blew him off. He even printed stamps and minted several gold coins (one Celeston). They're very sought after by collectors now. And, he issued "official" passports to a couple of the Apollo astronauts before they went to the moon. Wierd guy...
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Celestia - That was the nation declared by James Thomas Mangan back in the forties. It consisted of all the space above the Earth's atmosphere - effectively the entire rest of the universe. He was actually successful in registering it with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds and Titles. Tried to get international recognition through the United Nations but they blew him off. He even printed stamps and minted several gold coins (one Celeston). They're very sought after by collectors now. And, he issued "official" passports to a couple of the Apollo astronauts before they went to the moon. Wierd guy...