Astronomy / Space Finding star in game by Gaia ID info

Ahkio

Ahkio
Hey all! I'm trying to find a real star in game and found the following info on the Gaia archive at https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/

source_idra
deg		ra_error
mas		dec
deg		dec_error
mas		parallax
mas		parallax_error
mas		phot_g_mean_mag
mag		bp_rp
mag		radial_velocity
km.s**-1		radial_velocity_error
km.s**-1		phot_variable_flagteff_val
K		a_g_val
mag
3054048993906695552114.394196800815410.7314747824773372-7.8464640449283950.7045772070124315-1.4796128181335440.885303703533046910.761190.841948530.9437506937738221.2187169267933335NOT_AVAILABLE5764.0

I found it by searching the Gaia ID number "Gaia DR1 3054048989604417664" and used the default "gaiadr2.gaia_source" for the "search in" field. Am I going about this the right way? Is any of this info helpful in finding the star? It would mean a lot to my friend if we could find it. Thanks in advance for any help.
 

Shadowdancer

Shadowdancer
E:D was populated from catalogues available on http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/ some 6-ish years ago. If you're looking for anything, search it on there and see if it's known in other catalogues (HIP, HD, BP, 2MASS, …) that the game uses for names.

Discoveries from after that initial seed were only integrated on a case by case basis because you can't just drop new stars into the game galaxy but need to modify existing (generated) systems. The Gaia dumps are way younger and contain way more objects and modify information on previous discoveries (like changing their distance from Sol by hundreds of Parsecs as happened with the central star of the Bubble nebula), so it's relatively unlikely that you will find arbitrary objects from those.
 

Ahkio

Ahkio
Thank you! I did find three identifiers using Simbad! However, that hinges on whether or not I'm performing the Gaia search correctly. When I search gaiadr2.gaia_source in the Gaia archive for the original DR1 3054048989604417664 identifier, it returns the source_id ending in 5552 listed above. When I search I gaiadr1.gaia_source I get the following:

source_idra
deg		ra_error
mas		dec
deg		dec_error
mas		parallax
mas		parallax_error
mas		phot_g_mean_mag
mag		phot_variable_flag
3054048989604417664114.394199298061860.9398003320937285-7.8464691841605360.929325630301470410.693460587957432NOT_AVAILABLE

As you can see, there are some differences in the coordinates there. Could that be due to them having updated the coordinates in Gaia data release 2? Or is one of the two just plain incorrect? I'm inclined to go with the one that matches the Gaia ID we have, rather than the one that's getting updated to a different source id during the search process. (However, Simbad can't find a star using that Gaia ID. I'm kinda hoping they just changed its number in data release 2 and that's why it's changing it during search.) :/ It does, however, return the following Vizier info when I click that link: http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-S?Gaia DR1 3054048989604417664 Here's a screenshot of the link I'm clicking, since I fear it might just be sample data and not at all relevant.
 

Attachments

  • NotFound.png
    NotFound.png
    22.3 KB · Views: 250
Last edited:

Ahkio

Ahkio
Haha! I had the same idea and was about to post this when the forums told me I had a new reply. :D I guess I'll try to look those up in EDSM, eddb.io and in game! Thank you for your help! :giggle:
Update: I took the coordinates from searching in gaiadr1.gaia_source (the one that returns a source ID that actually matches) and entered those coordinates into Simbad. The star it found with those coordinates lists the same Gaia DR2 identifier as my searches of gaiadr2.gaia_source. That star also has 2 additional identifiers:
2MASS J07373463-0750477
TYC 5397-944-1
 

Ahkio

Ahkio
Well, it looks like nobody's submitted them to eddb.io or EDSM yet. So maybe the star didn't make it into the game, or maybe it just hasn't been explored yet?
Update: checked the galaxy map in game too, and no luck. Might still be fun to visit the approximate spot where it would be though. :)
 
Last edited:

Ahkio

Ahkio
Shadowdancer said:
I don't remember seeing a Tycho catalogue identifier in game, so if anything it'd be 2MASS :-/
Click to expand...

When I typed in TYC 5*** I got several results, just none for this star. Several for 2MASS as well, but also none for this star. :| Kinda wondering if my next step should be identifying the star's location in relation to constellations in the photo of this star, heading to Sol, looking for the constellations and heading to the general area where the star would be. Even if there's no star there, it could be cool to see the neighborhood it's in, so to speak. I wouldn't really know how far out to go though, even if I could head in the right direction.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Ahkio said:
When I typed in TYC 5*** I got several results, just none for this star. Several for 2MASS as well, but also none for this star. :| Kinda wondering if my next step should be identifying the star's location in relation to constellations in the photo of this star, heading to Sol, looking for the constellations and heading to the general area where the star would be. Even if there's no star there, it could be cool to see the neighborhood it's in, so to speak. I wouldn't really know how far out to go though, even if I could head in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Well, take a distance and velocity from the catalogue and add 1300 years. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom