Mapping the Milky Way

Started by PabloMack, June 09, 2017, 05:26:06 PM

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PabloMack

I had this idea about downloading a 3D model (greatly simplified) of the Milky Way. I didn't find one but I ran across an interesting project by the ESA. The Gaia probe (launched in 2013) is collecting high precision data on the stars of our neighborhood. Before today I didn't know what LaGrange Points were. This video will explain much of what Gaia is all about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGri4YNggoc

Enjoy...

Ethrieltd

I'm just trying to figure out exactly how simplified a 3d model this would have to be..

3333^10 x 100^10 x 350x1^10 = 5.921356118782830346289920164611720715 × 10^57

5.921356118782830346289920164611720715 × 10^57 being the total area of the Milky Way in meters... Roughly...

There are, again roughly 1 x 10^9 "objects" in the Milky Way...

So, divide 1 x 10^9 by 3...


Dune

TG can handle a lot, but the whole (simplified) galaxy?

PabloMack

What I wanted initially is just a model of the 100~1000 stars that are closest to our sun. You could do the rest of the galaxy as a spherical photo mapped on the inside of a sphere. The idea is to get a feel for the relative orientations and distances between the nearest stars. I would need a list of names, coordinates, relative size, color and brightness. That should be pretty easy to do.

Ethrieltd

Quote from: PabloMack on June 12, 2017, 04:02:42 PM
What I wanted initially is just a model of the 100~1000 stars that are closest to our sun. You could do the rest of the galaxy as a spherical photo mapped on the inside of a sphere. The idea is to get a feel for the relative orientations and distances between the nearest stars. I would need a list of names, coordinates, relative size, color and brightness. That should be pretty easy to do.


http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/catalogs/sao.html

It has all the positions, motions, magnitudes, etc are all there. It does have about 250,000 stars though so..

PabloMack

Interesting. I'll have to write a program to extract the binary data. I was unable to download the Entry description. My browser gave up waiting on the link.

N-drju

Or try "Digital Universe" - my favourite sky-surfing program. There are lots of notepad files with binary data there that make no sense to me... But perhaps they will to you.
"This year - a factory of semiconductors. Next year - a factory of whole conductors!"

PabloMack

#7
I just now was able to download the Entry Format description so I have both now.

Quote from: N-drju on June 19, 2017, 02:28:39 AMOr try "Digital Universe" - my favourite sky-surfing program. There are lots of notepad files with binary data there that make no sense to me... But perhaps they will to you.[/font][/size]

Can you provide a link?

N-drju

Sure. Have a look a this:

http://www.amnh.org/our-research/hayden-planetarium/hayden-planetarium-promos/download-files

I guess you should get the DU and Partiview Resources then. I wonder how your stellar neighborhood project will come out. :)
"This year - a factory of semiconductors. Next year - a factory of whole conductors!"