Unnatural star density edge

[TyphoonOfDvina]

Please, describe the star density edge.
I've seen it many times. It seems unnatural.
Can't pick the right set of keywords to find explanation on the forum.
Does it represent some real astronomical observation data, which just happen to have sharp spatial boundaries (limited filed of view of the observation or so)?
Thanks.

 

[Maymo]

Part of this bug?

I thought it was something cool, but it’s one of the oldest bugs in the game apparently.....Raxxla

 

[Factabulous]

webapp

issues.frontierstore.net

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Does it represent some real astronomical observation data, which just happen to have sharp spatial boundaries (limited filed of view of the observation or so)?

They really exist in-game, but it's an artifact of how the galaxy is procedurally generated rather than based on actual observation. Real open clusters also exist, but are generally a lot smaller and a lot less regular.

Basically, the galaxy is generated by fitting together cubes of stars. The heavier (and therefore generally brighter) the stars, the bigger the cubes. This is what gives the stars their names, as well. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/rv-sonnenkreis-decoding-universal-cartographics.196297/ has a much more detailed explanation from the players who originally decoded it.

This 'edge' happens when the density of adjacent cubes is very different - but because of the brightness of the stars, is only really visible in the skybox on the "E" cube of heavy main sequence stars (light/medium B-class and heavy A-class), when you get close enough to the galactic core that some but not all of the "E" cubes are high-density.