STAR CATALOGUES! - The versions Frontier uses in the game

saulscmit

saulscmit
I am forever looking at the galaxy map during exploration & I'm wondering, what Star Catalogues does Frontier use & what versions of those catalogues does Frontier use?

If the staff members here know or have a list then I would very much appreciate it, as would others. It would allow us to know which REAL stars are in the Galaxy and which are not, because we're forever looking at Wikipedia, SIMBAD, NASA, ESA or downloaded raw data from the HIP or GSC catalogue in vain.

Here are a few I know are in the game, staff that can edit my post, feel free to do so to add more or a comprehensive list!


Full Sky Surveys:

HD/Henry Draper - (Version ???)
BD/Bonner Durchmusterung - Full Version (Assumption)
GSC/Guide Star Catalogue - (Version ???)
CPD/Cape Photographic Durchmusterung - Full Version (Assumption)
CD/Cordoba Durchmusterung - Full Version (Assumption)
2MASS/Two-Micron All Sky Survey - Partial Version (Confirmed)

Specific Surveys:

HR/Harvard Revised Photometry Catalogue (/YBS) - Full Online version (Assumption)
HIP/HIPP/Hipparcos Catalogue - (Version ???)
Gliese Catalogue - (Version ???)
LHS/Luyten Half-Second catalogue - Full Version (Assumption)
LTT/Luyten Two-Tenths catalogue - Full Version (Assumption)
LFT/Luyten Five-Tenths catalogut - Full Version (Assumption)
LP/Luyten-Palomar Survey - Full Version (Assumption)
LBN/Lynds Bright Nebula Catalogue - Full Version (Assumption)
S171/Sharpless Catalogue-171 (NGC 7822 Nebula) - Full Version (Assumption)
KOI/Kepler Object of Interest (from KIC, Kepler Input Catalogue) - Full Version (Assumption)
Mel/Melotte Catalogue - Partial, some objects ar enot in the Milky Way
M/Messier Object Catalogue - Partial, some objects are not in the Milky Way
NGC/New General Catalogue - Partial, some objects are not in the Milky Way
GCRV/General Catalogue of stellar Radial Velocities - Partial Version
StKM/Stephenson, K and M - Full Version (Assumption)

Compact and Exciting Object catalogues (NS, WD, BH, Pulsars etc)

XTE/Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer - Partial Version
GRS/Gamma Ray Sources - Full Version (Assumption)
OGLE/Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment - Partial Version
PSR/Pulsar Survey - Almost Full Version, some stars off the galactic pane (above or below) but still searchable in GalMap

If anyone knows any more then please post here and let me know! This goes for any Devs that could add, change/clarify this list/confirm what versions (full or specific versions or partials) that are used.


Catalogues not in The Game/GalMap Accessible

COL/Collinder catalogue - Objects listed in other catalogues

Contributors!!!!

•saulscmit (OP)
•Andrew Gaspurr
•Zenith
•Bertrand Du Guesclin
 
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Vincent

V
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saulscmit

saulscmit
Yes I use SIMBAD myself a fair bit. Used to use it to find interesting things before I started playing Elite (been an Amateur Astronomer since I was a child).

WISE survey is also in Elite I've since found. Would really appreciate it if one of the Q&A staff are able to find out what Versions Elite uses. I want to use the GSC but there's little point without knowing what version due to the amount of stars and the likelyhood of getting duff, after duff Gal-Map search.
 

Andrew Gaspurr

Andrew Gaspurr
2MASS / Two-Micron All Sky Survey
CD / Cordoba Durchmusterung
COL / Collinder catalogue
CPD / Cape Photographic Durchmusterung
KOI / Kepler Object of Interest (from KIC, Kepler Input Catalogue)
LBN / Lynds Bright Nebula Catalogue
Mel / Melotte Catalogue
M / Messier Object Catalogue
NGC /New General Catalogue

PSR is not a survey in itself but rather an acronym/abbreviation for a pulsar.
 
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saulscmit

saulscmit
Andrew Gaspurr said:
2MASS / Two-Micron All Sky Survey
CD / Cordoba Durchmusterung
COL / Collinder catalogue
CPD / Cape Photographic Durchmusterung
KOI / Kepler Object of Interest (from KIC, Kepler Input Catalogue)
LBN / Lynds Bright Nebula Catalogue
Mel / Melotte Catalogue
M / Messier Object Catalogue
NGC /New General Catalogue

PSR is not a survey in itself but rather an acronym/abbreviation for a pulsar.
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Cheers & yes I know. All/most Pulsars in the Milky Way, with that abbreviation, are in the game though. Some of them are about 1000 light years below the galactic plane/-10000 on Y axis, but you know. I thought I would add it for clarity more than anything. Seems like it's a partial collection they've implemented anyway.

I wonder if there are any X-Ray/Chandra Sky survey data catalogues available/open to the public with more information on PSR abbreviated stars.
 

madbilly

M
Michael Brookes said:
We used Hipparcos and Gliese, with some selected entries from a variety of others, mostly for clusters and degenerate stars. The Kepler database was used for exoplanets as well.

Michael
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Just got this info from Michael Brookes in the Aliens etc thread. I've invited him here to shed a bit more light on "some selected entries from a variety of others, mostly for clusters and degenerate stars". I think some investigations by some people have shown that not all stars from the Hipparcos and Gliese catalogues are actually in game, but I may be mistaken.

I imagine that this thread will probably get lost in the ocean of dangerous discussion, so may I suggest that it is moved to the exploration sub-forum where it will likely find a more interested audience?
 

Michael Brookes

Game Director
madbilly said:
Just got this info from Michael Brookes in the Aliens etc thread. I've invited him here to shed a bit more light on "some selected entries from a variety of others, mostly for clusters and degenerate stars". I think some investigations by some people have shown that not all stars from the Hipparcos and Gliese catalogues are actually in game, but I may be mistaken.

I imagine that this thread will probably get lost in the ocean of dangerous discussion, so may I suggest that it is moved to the exploration sub-forum where it will likely find a more interested audience?
Click to expand...

This pretty much the case. Hipparcos and Gliese provided the main entries. For exoplanets we used the Kepler database, and nebula and star clusters were populated from SIMBAD using a variety of sources such as WISE, 2MASS, HD and so forth.

MIchael
 

raymondo the great

R
Michael Brookes said:
This pretty much the case. Hipparcos and Gliese provided the main entries. For exoplanets we used the Kepler database, and nebula and star clusters were populated from SIMBAD using a variety of sources such as WISE, 2MASS, HD and so forth.

MIchael
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I'm pretty sure that Tycho G and Cassiopeia A are in these.... any chance of some feedback for the Cassiopeia project on these apparently missing objects?

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/297941-The-Cassiopeia-Project
 

cptdavep

cptdavep
Michael Brookes said:
This pretty much the case. Hipparcos and Gliese provided the main entries. For exoplanets we used the Kepler database, and nebula and star clusters were populated from SIMBAD using a variety of sources such as WISE, 2MASS, HD and so forth.

MIchael
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While you're here Michael, will there ever be globular clusters in game or is the galaxy unchangeable at this point?
 

Zenith

Zenith
XTE - Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. X-ray sources, usually black holes and pulsars. Not all entries are in game.
GRS - Gamma Ray Sources. Mainly black holes and pulsars.
OGLE - Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. A survey of stars to determine their planetary complement by microscopic gravitational lensing of the light.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
saulscmit said:
.........

I wonder if there are any X-Ray/Chandra Sky survey data catalogues available/open to the public with more information on PSR abbreviated stars.
Click to expand...

There is the Australia Telescope National Facility's Pulsar database / catalogue:

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/pulsar/psrcat/

This is a section of the Pulsar group which is a good source of info, the main section is here:

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/


Plus, have you tried here:

http://cxc.harvard.edu/csc/

or here (although that is {those are} for extragalactic sources so probably not what your are looking for):

http://cxc.harvard.edu/xraysurveys/



[alien]

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madbilly said:
..............

I imagine that this thread will probably get lost in the ocean of dangerous discussion, so may I suggest that it is moved to the exploration sub-forum where it will likely find a more interested audience?
Click to expand...


May I offer a different suggestion - maybe the Astronomy sub-forum might be more apposite.
 

Andrew Gaspurr

Andrew Gaspurr
Ahem... While MB is here: I'd like to see more proc-gen Dark Regions like Coalsack, Pipe & Stem, Ophiuchi and the like. The galaxy is so full of dust. Are there any plans to seed more of these?

I know, I shouldn't ask "yes or no" questions but I was thinking really hard on how to handle this, because "some" or "none" is also a viable option for "what" questions. It's complicated... :D
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Antar3s said:
Just for reference as I am an astronomer. The Gaia mission will change everything and the first data release happened a few months ago. Final data release will happen only in a few years, though.

http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dr1
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Yep been following it eagerly and Gaia will, as you rightly said, change everything. There were some pretty big astronomical discoveries this year and as the next few years progress, we get more data from Gaia and can apply some of the new knowledge along with the new technology... I think that we're in for a pretty astonishing time.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
Antar3s said:
Just for reference as I am an astronomer. The Gaia mission will change everything and the first data release happened a few months ago. Final data release will happen only in a few years, though.

http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dr1
Click to expand...

I posted in another thread about a free and incredibly powerful application developed by Heidelberg University as an outreach project of the Gaia survey mission, you can download "Gaia Sky" to view and move around inside an accurate model of the galaxy (well the Gaia survey set).

https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/gaia/outreach/gaiasky/

http://langurmonkey.github.io/gaiasky/


Have a play, it is really good.


[video=youtube;LcHgvjx4nuA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcHgvjx4nuA[/video]

[alien]
 
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Jackie Silver

Jackie Silver
FWIW I'm still slowly making my way through the HR catalogue stars (almost all of which are present in-game) and uploading my logs so eventually at least those stars should all be "known" by edsm. I have got a copy of the HIP catalogue sorted by galactic longitude somewhere but as mentioned above not all HIPs are present (it varies by direction, interestingly, and also there's a funny thing where stars closer than 1000 ly tend to be called under their HIP name and over 1000 ly by their HD name).
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Jackie Silver said:
FWIW I'm still slowly making my way through the HR catalogue stars (almost all of which are present in-game) and uploading my logs so eventually at least those stars should all be "known" by edsm. I have got a copy of the HIP catalogue sorted by galactic longitude somewhere but as mentioned above not all HIPs are present (it varies by direction, interestingly, and also there's a funny thing where stars closer than 1000 ly tend to be called under their HIP name and over 1000 ly by their HD name).
Click to expand...

It's worth a huge amount Jackie!
 

madbilly

M
Michael Brookes said:
<snip>... nebula and star clusters were populated from SIMBAD using a variety of sources such as WISE, 2MASS, HD and so forth.
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Thanks for dropping by! Much appreciated. I've been looking for a big cluster that is in 2MASS but I can't find in game. I'm sure many others have looked too. This is an example of why I think it's useful to know more about which stars are in game and which aren't, I think it will avoid a few headaches.

Michael Brookes said:
<snip>... We did include a lot of cluster data where it was available.
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I remember you saying in a stream that there were some globular clusters in game, which are currently not reachable, but with dev superpowers you can visit and look down/up upon the whole milky way. Looking forward to black hole jump boosts now!

Andrew Gaspurr said:
I know, I shouldn't ask "yes or no" questions but I was thinking really hard on how to handle this, because "some" or "none" is also a viable option for "what" questions. It's complicated... :D
Click to expand...
Questions in general, I'm sure we all have many. I for one would appreciate an exploration Q&A livestream soon, especially considering the thread that Sandro started requesting suggestions for improvements to exploration gameplay.

Ozric said:
It's worth a huge amount Jackie!
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Hear hear!

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MalcYorks said:
<snip>
May I offer a different suggestion - maybe the Astronomy sub-forum might be more apposite.
Click to expand...
I thought about that, but the discussion is about catalogues used in the game, and not astronomy in general. As it is, the thread is still in dangerous discussion anyway.
 
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