OT: Digital Atlas of the Universe (Hayden)

[Edi]

Now, my normal haunts are in the Dominions 3 forums, but I figured there would be general interest for something I found purely by accident, so I made a rare foray here.

The Hayden Planetarium Digital Atlas of the Universe is a free electronic map of the universe you can download and even modify yourself. It's open source. Allows you to zoom around the galaxy in 3D to see what's what and where it's at and view things in various ways. It also has a separate program for viewing intergalactic space and zooming around the universe.

It's easy to get lost in this, so turning on the various grids and in the milkyway viewer using the Oort cloud grid and the nearstars tab makes it easier to find your way home. In any case, I've barely scratched the surface of this thing and it's enough to mesmerize me for hours on end. It also allows setting time and starting the clock so you can see how the stars move and the galaxy configuration changes if you like. No installation required, just unzip the file and run the bat files.

Word for the prudent: The PDF manual really helps get the hang of this thing. If you happen to stray too far away and can't find your way back to familiar environs, close the window and restart the bat and it will reset to the initial position. And you WILL get lost, believe you me. Anyone who claims they won't is talking out of his arse. We live in a very fricking BIG universe as you will see...

[Renegade 13]

Thanks for sharing the link, I'll have to take a look at it later on

[Fyron]

Better or worse than Google Sky?

[Ragnarok-X]

Irregardless. Everything attuned to Google is EVIL.

You should know better, Fyron.

[Edi]

Fyron said:
Better or worse than Google Sky?

Eh, what? I just looked at that Google excuse for a service and it's not comparable. The Hayden Atlas is not a web service. You download it and then use it. It's in real 3D and you can move around it as much as you wish and use various views which will tell you all sorts of interesting things and you can move out from the Sun and so forth. If you actually have a decent astronomy textbook, you could get even more out of it.

The Google Sky thing is.... *shudder*

[Q]

You might be interested in this too:

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

[Fyron]

You can also get Google Sky as an addon to Google Earth, which is where it started before getting a browser version.

[Edi]

I've got Celestia, but thanks for the link anyway. Lot harder to get things visible in it even if it's more nicefied than the Hayden Atlas. Have to take a better look at that one too.