Astronomy / Space Locating a real star in ED?

Zenith

Zenith
The first thing to do is try typing the name into Galaxy Map.
If it doesn't work, try an alternative identifier for the star. HD and HIP catalogues are good ones.
 

NeilF

NeilF
Zenith said:
The first thing to do is try typing the name into Galaxy Map.
If it doesn't work, try an alternative identifier for the star. HD and HIP catalogues are good ones.
Click to expand...

So with the example in the original post for KIC 2305866, try "2MASS J19282240+3736485"?
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
Isn't there a way to use the Galactic co-ordinates?

Never tried it myself but it should be possible, after all EDDiscovery shows the Galactic Coordinates of systems.

Of course I am assuming that E D actually uses our real-world (galaxy/universe) co-ordinate systems and hasn't implemented one of their own.

P.S. The 2MASS number is the RA and Dec of the star (well, of the point-source) from Earth, I don't know if the Galaxy Map in E D would use a 2MASS identifier, never tried.
 
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NeilF

NeilF
MalcYorks said:
Isn't there a way to use the Galactic co-ordinates?

Never tried it myself but it should be possible, after all EDDiscovery shows the Galactic Coordinates of systems.

Of course I am assuming that E D actually uses our real-world (galaxy/universe) co-ordinate systems and hasn't implemented one of their own.

P.S. The 2MASS number is the RA and Dec of the star (well, of the point-source) from Earth, I don't know if the Galaxy Map in E D would use a 2MASS identifier, never tried.
Click to expand...

I might be wrong, but aren't galactic co-ordinates measurements (angles) taken from earth as if looking up at the night sky? Where as any co-ordinates in ED are more akin to a map reference (in LY)?
 
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edd

edd
I don't have the game handy right now, but if someone can give me a few HIP stars, ideally in a few different directions and their in game coordinates as precisely as is reasonable I can probably work out the coordinate transformation and stick it in a javascripty webpage some time. Maybe this afternoon or weekend if you're lucky.
 

Alec Turner

Alec Turner
edd said:
I don't have the game handy right now, but if someone can give me a few HIP stars, ideally in a few different directions and their in game coordinates as precisely as is reasonable I can probably work out the coordinate transformation and stick it in a javascripty webpage some time. Maybe this afternoon or weekend if you're lucky.
Click to expand...

You could look up some known stars on EDDB?

For example, Mintaka ..

https://eddb.io/system/27328

.. coords = 270.625 / -204.34375 / -603.78125, HIP number (from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mintaka) = 25930
 
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Para Handy

Para Handy
NeilF said:
I might be wrong, but aren't galactic co-ordinates measurements (angles) taken from earth as if looking up at the night sky? Where as any co-ordinates in ED are more akin to a map reference (in LY)?
Click to expand...

The pointing data of Right Ascension and Declination are different from Galactic Co-ordinates which are horizontal angle along the galactic plane and the angle perpendicular to that plane. Both systems use angles in the "vertical plane" but the reference plane is different, the "horizontal plane" is different in that RA is measured in hours mins and sec. So RA and dec just point (are directional) but galactic co-ordinates define a three-dimensional position.

I had assumed that E D used the galactic co-ordinates but I suppose that must not be the case since they use a grid on the galaxy map so presumably they use a Cartesian system of x,y,z for their positional data. I never thought of that before so I am glad I came across your query, I'll have to keep an eye out for what they have implemented. There must be a method to convert GC to a rectilinear system but I'd hate to do the spherical trig that would be required.
 

Guywired

Guywired
Michael Brookes said:
Not at the moment - introducing new stars effects stars that have already been generated, so would cause problems. Maybe for the future.

Michael
Click to expand...

Gravitational problems with the rest of the galaxy if that were to happen?

I would kinda love to see a failed implementation of this, that would be hilarious...

"So we added this black hole found in real life over here, but things didn't balance right and now the Milky Way is no longer a spiral galaxy. "
 

Genar-Hofoen

Genar-Hofoen
Guywired said:
Gravitational problems with the rest of the galaxy if that were to happen?

I would kinda love to see a failed implementation of this, that would be hilarious...

"So we added this black hole found in real life over here, but things didn't balance right and now the Milky Way is no longer a spiral galaxy. "
Click to expand...

I doubt that very much.

ED's galaxy is basically a database of systems you can jump to.

FDEV could add a supermassive black hole system near to Sol tomorrow if they wanted - it wouldn't do anything other than be just some other star system your virtual space ship could 'jump' into and out of.

If the ED galaxy was a full-on simulation in which they did maths on every one of the 400 Billion star systems such that they actually affected each other gravitationally, and.or the galaxy slowly spun in the 'universe', I'd be utterly surprised.

So. Looking behind the curtain, as it were, the ED galaxy is at it's core (heheh) basically a very large database with system names, coordinates, and whatnot. It is a simulated galaxy inasmuch as the 400 billion systems have been shaped and herded to make them look like what was thought the composition of the Milky Way was at the time they created it. They even include known star systems from star catalogues. But that's the extent of the simulation.

If M. Brookes was to come back to me and say "yes we actually perform calculations on every one of those 400 billion stars systems at our database end", I'd be very surprised ;)
 

Michael Brookes

Game Director
Genar-Hofoen said:
I doubt that very much.

ED's galaxy is basically a database of systems you can jump to.

FDEV could add a supermassive black hole system near to Sol tomorrow if they wanted - it wouldn't do anything other than be just some other star system your virtual space ship could 'jump' into and out of.

If the ED galaxy was a full-on simulation in which they did maths on every one of the 400 Billion star systems such that they actually affected each other gravitationally, and.or the galaxy slowly spun in the 'universe', I'd be utterly surprised.

So. Looking behind the curtain, as it were, the ED galaxy is at it's core (heheh) basically a very large database with system names, coordinates, and whatnot. It is a simulated galaxy inasmuch as the 400 billion systems have been shaped and herded to make them look like what was thought the composition of the Milky Way was at the time they created it. They even include known star systems from star catalogues. But that's the extent of the simulation.

If M. Brookes was to come back to me and say "yes we actually perform calculations on every one of those 400 billion stars systems at our database end", I'd be very surprised ;)
Click to expand...

We don't - however the mass would eat up all of the generated systems for a large volume, bar any manual overrides.

Michael
 
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