Looking for the Z coordinate for the galactic plane on the galaxy map
- Thread starter jovrtn
- Start date
Of course, Elite is Wrong, and uses (west-east,down-up,south-north) and not (west-east,south-north,down-up) like all Right Thinking People. 
In any case, the plane of the galaxy is more or less represented by (any number, 0, any number); there is a layer of brown dwarfs slightly below this point which could mark the "true" plane.
Sagittarius A*, the central black hole, is 21 light years below at roughly (25,-21,25900) which further suggests that the "true" plane is at -21.
So if you're at any point whose coordinates are (any number, -21, any number) you're on the plane.
In any case, the plane of the galaxy is more or less represented by (any number, 0, any number); there is a layer of brown dwarfs slightly below this point which could mark the "true" plane.
Sagittarius A*, the central black hole, is 21 light years below at roughly (25,-21,25900) which further suggests that the "true" plane is at -21.
So if you're at any point whose coordinates are (any number, -21, any number) you're on the plane.
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Of course, Elite is Wrong, and uses (west-east,down-up,south-north) and not (west-east,south-north,down-up) like all Right Thinking People.
In any case, the plane of the galaxy is more or less represented by (any number, 0, any number); there is a layer of brown dwarfs slightly below this point which could mark the "true" plane.
Sagittarius A*, the central black hole, is 21 light years below at roughly (25,-21,25900) which further suggests that the "true" plane is at -21.
So if you're at any point whose coordinates are (any number, -21, any number) you're on the plane.
Thanks! Sol being at 0,0,0 in galactic coordinates is accurate, but wanted to make sure the game wasn't also placing Sol at 0 of the galactic plane. 21 LY above the plane is a bit low according to the most published data, which is in the 40 to 100 LY range, but good to know it was factored in to some degree.
For a Sol centric co-ordinate system the axes make sense. Go to Sol, face the core and the axes follow automatically - left-right (x), up-downOf course, Elite is Wrong, and uses (west-east,down-up,south-north) and not (west-east,south-north,down-up) like all Right Thinking People.
and the z axis directly ahead / behind. It doesn't feel right, but it is logical.
For a Sol centric co-ordinate system the axes make sense. Go to Sol, face the core and the axes follow automatically - left-right (x), up-down
Heh, I think what Jackie means, is that the coordinates are (x, z, y) with y being the vertical to the plane x-z, instead of (x, y, z) with z being the vertical to the plane x-y. The (x, y, z) as looked from (probably) an astrophysicist's point of view as opposed to the (x, z, y) which is the coordinate system often used in computer graphics, with z the horizontal plane and y going up. I can understand why they used that coordinate system and if I was to make an arbitrary change I'd also use the coordinate system Elite currently has.
I follow the teachings of the great prophet Toady One. And although it's hurting my brain, I believe the Elite way is right-handed and the other, true way is left-handed. *contorts fingers into the left- and right- hand rule positions, tries to work it out, and falls off the chair*
Left hand, thumb pointing up (+y), index pointing in front (+z), middle finger pointing right (+y). Used in graphics programming. Not the only one you can use but as I said arbitrary decisions usually based on convenience or personal understanding, together with decisions already made by the engine.
Edit: Forgot to say: All hail the toady one!
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For a Sol centric co-ordinate system the axes make sense. Go to Sol, face the core and the axes follow automatically - left-right (x), up-down
If it truly goes to Sag A*, why is it also 21 ly below?
In reality one can call any of the directions in space as any coordinate and arrange them in any order. There is no, "here is z" sign in space to do that for you, even if you have your 3 orthogonal dimensions set up.
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One thing not mentioned here is, while Sol is at 0,0,0 in our coordinate system, which makes sense for a Sol origin species, Sol is nowhere near the galactic plane, estimates vary between 40ly and 100ly above the galactic plane. The coordinate system we use is actually completely random and selected according to the current position of Sol in the galaxy. So the coordinate 0 that represents up and down is not actually the galactic plane. Sag A* may be slightly above the galactic plane, but it may still get a minus vertical coordinate depending on it's relation to Sol, not the galactic plane!
That's essentially what my original question was—what's the negative number for the galactic plane relative to Sol at 0,0,0. If Sag A* isn't precisely on the galactic plane, then -21 isn't the number I'm looking for. I expect it to be more in the 40-100 range as you mentioned, but curious where the devs decided to place it exactly.
I suspect they first made Sol, based their coordinate system on it, and then create the galaxy over the predermined grind, somewhat reasembling the real galaxy.
Go to the core, take the highest known system, the lowest known system, work out how far apart they are, find the midpoint, there's your plane. Of course I would probably exclude single outliers, it may be a project worth doing at some time, just needs the time, I think all the information required should already be available. But yes I understand what you mean know, there's a big variation on what we know about the earths position in the galaxy itself, but the ED galaxy is a fixed system and we should be able to do it, even if it doesn't exactly match reality!