Several science museums have exhibits showcasing the three-dimensional distribution of stars. The concept is that stars which appear to form constellations when viewed from Earth are actually distributed in three dimensions, and the shapes of the constellations change depending on the viewing location.
With a computer program, we can freely draw constellation lines or travel to any star. For example, we could create a tour flying from Vega to Altair, or trace the Winter Diamond in sequence, or move even more freely. So I designed a Star Trek-inspired website called Constellations 3D that can display constellations in 3D.
Fly to Orion’s belt
Fly to Alcor, the companion star of Mizar. On its way, we are passing by Mizar.
Fly to Antares of Scorpius. You can move the camera in any direction even in moving.
About the data:
- Coordinates: Star data was obtained from the Hipparcos star catalog. Since right ascension and declination alone don’t create three-dimensional coordinates, distance data is necessary. However, the catalog doesn’t include distance directly. Instead, it contains annual parallax data from which distance can be calculated. I converted this to X, Y, Z three-dimensional coordinates. Note that for stars with no parallax data or negative values, the distance approaches infinity or invalid, so I could only map coordinates for “neighborhood” stars with sufficient parallax values.
- Color: This was calculated from the B-V index information.
- Brightness: The catalog only lists apparent magnitude as seen from Earth, so I converted to absolute magnitude. When moving through space, I calculate the apparent magnitude from the current position based on distance and absolute magnitude. The size of the star representation changes according to this brightness.
- When you approach within 0.4 light years of a star, it displays “Arrived” prominently, sized according to the star’s actual size, creating an immersive feeling. Note that I’ve set an upper limit for oversized stars, so they aren’t shown at their actual relative sizes.
- Constellation lines: Data for constellation lines was scarce. After much searching, I found CSV files of constellation lines in Satoshi Ganeko’s Making of Constellation VizMaking of Constellation Viz.” I processed and used these with permission.
I completely ignored relativistic effects, light aberration, red/blue shifts, etc. Since we’re traveling at warp speed, this is fiction after all.
Playback speed: On screen, 1 second equals 1 year. Traveling 10 light years at the speed of light takes 10 years, which takes 10 seconds on screen. This shows that even at Star Trek’s maximum warp speed, it would take months to reach distant stars.