3D Space map?

[Jetta_D]

I know space is a massive area, but please correct me if I am wrong. If we measure "things" in space by light years, why couldn't we put that to say, a scale we do know in creating a 3D map? Since space travel seems to be on the horizon, shouldn't we have an effective map in a 3D sense instead of the conventional 2D map ?

 

[MeteorWayne]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I know space is a massive area, but please correct me if I am wrong.&nbsp;If we measure "things" in space by light years, why couldn't we put that to say, a scale we do know in creating a 3D map? Since space travel seems to be on the horizon, shouldn't we have an effective map in a 3D sense instead of the conventional 2D map ? <br />Posted by Jetta_D</DIV></p><p>Jetta, we do have such maps now.</p><p>They are being updated every day, every so often various groups publish the latest.</p><p>Also they are at different scales. A map showing the local stars would be only a tiny dot in a map of the milky way.</p><p>A map of the Local group of galaxies would be just a smudge on a map of the visible (by light, radio, x-rays, infrared, etc) area we have measured.</p><p>I'll see what I can dig up, but there's more than one answer.</p><p>Great question, welcome to Space.com!</p><p>&nbsp;Here's stars visible to the unaided eye (if you live in a VEEERRRYYY) dark area. If you know what light pollution is, you won't see many of these, but they are the brightest.</p><p>http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/50lys.html</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<p><font color="#666699"><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Jetta, we do have such maps now. Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV><br /></font>The page you link is interesting, and I like the 3d maps of the galaxies that can be found on the home page of that site.</p>http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Smersh]

<p>Welcome to SDC Jetta_D. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /> </p><p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>The page you link is interesting, and I like the 3d maps of the galaxies that can be found on the home page of that site.http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /> Posted by centsworth_II</DIV></p><p>Thanks for that link centsworth_II. I had not seen that site before and looks pretty good, cheers!&nbsp;</p><p>Regarding 3D space maps, wouldn't Google Sky count as "3D?"&nbsp;</p><p>Or Celestia?&nbsp;</p><p>(Edit) Apologies to MeteorWayne. Thanks a lot for the link! <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" /> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[eburacum45]

<p>I certainly recommend Celestia. It uses the Hipparchos catalog to give three dimensional locations of 120,000 stars and hundreds of galaxies- and it is <strong>free.</strong></p><p>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestia</p><p>In a few years time the GAIA satellite will give comparable information about a billion stars; I would expect that either Celestia will be extended to display these stars or a new program will be developed. But of course such a large number of stars would require a few gigabytes on your hard-drive to hold the required information.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Even if a billion stars are mapped by Gaia that is less than a hundredth part of the stars in the Galaxy.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>---------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>http://orionsarm.com  http://thestarlark.blogspot.com/</p> </div>