The constellations

[noone]

I wonder how far one would have to go into space before the constellations start looking different?

 

[vogon13]

If you're near Proxima Centauri and look back at sun, that would be a pretty different view already, and that's just the nearest star.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[noone]

Yeah, that's aprox. 80 lightyears away, I'm asking how far from Earth would one have to go.

 

[odysseus145]

Actually Proxima Centauri is only a little over four lightyears away. As for the constallations looking different, I would imagine that you'd have to be well outside the Solar System. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Think Carl Sagan on Cosmos series did a 3D fly around of stars in big dipper (ursa major). Proably best way to visualize what your asking about. <br /><br /><br /><br />Wish upon a star and put in your pocket, save it for a rainy day<br /><br />Andy Williams <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[noone]

<img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> thanx for the link <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[odysseus145]

There's a program called Celestia that is very good for this. Once you get familiar with the controls you can go anywhere in the galaxy. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Starry Night and Deep Space Explorer will also do that. It's really cool.<br /><br />My dad and I helped my brother with a science fair project once. (I never did a science fair; my grade school didn't start running science fairs until after I'd moved on to junior high. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> ) It was pretty cool. He did all this research to find out the relative positions of the stars, and then put beads on sticks mounted on a board so that if you looked at it the right way, you'd see the normal constellations you'd expect from Earth -- but it would look completely different from any other angle. It was basically a three-d model of the sky in the direction of Orion. It was very clever. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[thalion]

This question is almost impossible to answer, because the answer depends on how different the constellations would look, and also on what direction you're traveling. <br /><br />In any event, in my limited experience with various space PC programs, the constellations don't really get unrecognizable until you're some 5 to 10 parsecs out. Once you're about 30 parsecs out, the night sky is a whole new ball game.