This Addon for Celestia v1.6.1 displays the positions of stars which are likely to be members of various open clusters. It includes a star database derived from Gaia DR1, defining the locations of 416,945 stars with parallax errors less than 10% of their parallax values. It also includes all-sky plots showing the relative coverage of Tycho-2, TGAS and this Addon's star databases.
This Addon for Celestia v1.6.1 or later includes catalogs of 1,229 Open Clusters and 397,897 of their member stars, derived from Gaia DR2 and provided by
J/A+A/618/A93 Gaia DR2 open clusters in the Milky Way (Cantat-Gaudin+, 2018) ================================================================================ A Gaia DR2 view of the open cluster population in the Milky Way. Cantat-Gaudin T., Jordi C., Vallenari A., Bragaglia A., Balaguer-Nunez L., Soubiran C., Bossini D., Moitinho A., Castro-Ginard A., Krone-Martins A., Casamiquela L., Sordo R., Carrera R.=2018A&A...618A..93C (SIMBAD/NED BibCode) ================================================================================
Starting with Celestia v1.3, OpenClusters can be listed in .DSC files.
Copy these files to the directory Celestia/extras
or to your personal
addons
folder.
When "galaxy label rendering" is turned on, the clusters' names will appear at the appropriate places in space. You can visit those locations to see what stars are nearby. Also, you can "Mark" them so the locations will be visible when labelling is turned off. Some may have InfoURLs associated with them to provide more information.
The selection criteria for the lists of open clusters below were
The lists were obtained using the HEASARC Browser at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/ and reformatted for Celestia.
Deep Space Catalog file | Description |
---|---|
lynga.dsc (40KB, 18Feb03) |
332 Named Open Clusters (obsolete)
Extracted from the HEASARC copy of
the 1987 Lynga Catalog.
For a description of the catalog,
see "LYNGACLUST - Lynga Open Clusters Catalog," at
|
openclusters.dsc (80KB, 18Feb03) |
610 Named Open Clusters (for Celestia v1.3.0-v1.3.2)
This list of clusters was extracted from the HEASARC copy of "New Optically Visible Open Clusters & Candidates Catalog" by Dias,W.S. et.al.,Astronomy & Astrophysics 389, 871 (2002). For a description of the catalog, see http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/star-catalog/openclust.html |
openclusters.dsc (80KB, 22Dec05) |
610 Named Open Clusters (for Celestia v1.4.0)
The v1.4.0 version was updated to include popular names (like Hyades) as well as catalog names. |
Marked Open Clusters opencl_marked.dsc opencl_dots.dsc |
The "marked" catalog substitutes an "x" for the cluster names. It does not use the new "Mark" function. However, this does make it easy to get an overview of the clusters' distribution. The "dots" catalog substitutes a "." for better resolution. |
messier_open.dsc
(6KB, 19Feb03) |
31 Open Clusters.
27 of these are the open clusters originally cataloged by Messier.
Although not well known by its catalog name "Collinder 285", the "Ursa Major Moving Cluster" is very well known by its common name: "The Big Dipper." The entries for Messier's open clusters are cataloged here by the short form of their names, e.g. "M47". 2 of Messier's 27 clusters are listed with their popular names instead of their Messier numbers: "Pleiades" (M45) and "Praesepe" (M44). M44 is also known as "Beehive". These two clusters are involved in what is known as "The Hipparcos Pleiades Distance Problem." The cataloged distances of these two clusters, determined by photometry and spectroscopy, are significantly larger than the distances to their members measured by Hipparcos. The cause of these distance discrepancies is not understood and is a topic of current astrophysical research. Some think that there may be problems with the Hipparcos values. See "Astronomers Measure Distance to Well-Known Star", Clavin, Savage & Tindol, Nature, Jan 22, 2004, available at . http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2004/26.cfm. However, the response by Michael Perryman, Hipparcos Project Scientist, at http://www.rssd.esa.int/hipparcos/Pleiades_distance.html points out that the newly measured position of Atlas is consistant with the standard errors of its position as measured by Hipparcos. These entries were extracted from openclusters.dsc above and "InfoURL" entries were added, mostly to http://obswww.unige.ch/webda/ |
Note: Celestia v1.6.1 includes its own catalog of 150 Globular Clusters. The Addoon below is obsolete.
Starting with Celestia v1.3, Galaxies are listed in .DSC files, and starting with Celestia v1.4.0, Celestia includes its own catalog of galaxies. The catalogs previously provided here are obsolete.
Copy the file below to the directory Celestia/extras
or to your personal
addons
folder.
When "galaxy rendering" is turned on, the globular clusters will be visible. When "galaxy label rendering" is turned on, their names will appear at the appropriate places in space. You can visit those locations to see what other objects are nearby. Also, you can "Mark" them so the locations will be visible when labelling is turned off. Some may have InfoURLs associated with them to provide more information.
The original version of this catalog was developed by Paul Baulch for Celestia v1.2. Paul gave permission for Selden to make the minor modifications needed to make it usable with Celestia v1.3.
Deep Space Catalog file | Description |
---|---|
globular_clusters.zip
(6KB, expands to 30KB, 24Feb03; updated 19apr08) |
150 globular clusters
These are designated "Galaxies" for rendering by Celestia.
This information was extracted from Globular Clusters in the Milky Way (Harris,
1996), and, in 2008, from the CATALOG OF PARAMETERS FOR MILKY WAY GLOBULAR
CLUSTERS: THE DATABASE,
Compiled by William E. Harris, McMaster University, February 2003.
See below for the formal VizieR acknowledgment.
|
addons
folder in order to see the locations of some Planetary Nebulæ.
When "galaxy label rendering" is turned on, their names will appear at the appropriate places in space. You can visit those locations to see what other objects are nearby. Also, you can "Mark" them so the locations will be visible when labelling is turned off. Some may have InfoURLs associated with them to provide more information.
Deep Space Catalog file | Description |
---|---|
planetary_nebulae.zip
(72KB, 25Feb03, updated 8Nov03) When this zip archive is extracted to your "Extras" directory and "galaxy rendering" is turned on, each of these Planetary Nebulæ will be visible as a sphere of blue lines enclosing a sphere made of red lines. The size of the blue sphere corresponds to the cataloged size of the nebula. |
73 Planetary Nebulæ
Of the over 1,000 Planetary Nebulæ which have been cataloged, fewer than 10% of them have had their distances estimated, and many of those distances are highly suspect. Catalog sources:
Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulæ
See below for the formal VizieR acknowledgment. The distances in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalog seem to have some serious accuracy problems: it contains large distances (>2Kpc) for nebulæ that are listed in other catalogs as being nearby (<1Kpc). Also, the fields allocated for indicating the accuracy of the distances are blank. As a result, I was pleased to find the article by Bensby et al. Its authors list the distances of 73 planetary nebulæ for which relatively accurate values have been determined. They don't specify the equatorial coordinates (RA and Dec) of the nebulæ, however. The ESO catalog's coordinates were precessed from B1950.0 to J2000.0 using the algorithm described at http://www.xylem.f2s.com/kepler/b1950.html |
pn.zip (300KB, 25Apr03) |
This Zip archive includes the following billboards:
pn/pn-readme.txt pn/pn.dsc pn/models/ngc2346.3ds pn/models/ngc2392.3ds pn/models/ngc2440.3ds pn/models/ngc6369.3ds pn/textures/medres/ngc2346.jpg pn/textures/medres/ngc2392.jpg pn/textures/medres/ngc2440.jpg pn/textures/medres/ngc6369.jpgSee http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/billboard.html for more information. |
Four Planetary Nebulae |
|
Alternate Deep Space Catalog file | Description |
---|---|
planetary_nebulæ_dots.dsc
(25KB, 25Feb03) |
This "dots" catalog substitutes a "o" for the nebulæ names in order to make it easy to get an overview of their distribution. |
extrasolar.ssc
included with Celestia.
Stellar System Catalog file | Comments |
---|---|
lalande.ssc
(1KB, 15Mar03) |
Lalande 21185
Two (maybe three) Jovian planets This red dwarf star is only 8.3 light years away from us.
Its planets were discovered by George Gatewood, U.of Pittsburgh, 1996
|
esp-4jul03.ssc (3KB 4Jul03) | 9 new extrasolar planets posted to the Celestia Forum by Chris Laurel on 2Jul and 4Jul03. These will be included in Celestia v1.3.1. |
This Addon for Celestia superceeds all of the Messier Addons below. It provides those Messier objects which are not in Celestia v1.6.1, including Nebulae, Stars and Open Clusters. Its positions have been updated to use values provided by Gaia DR2. (Celestia v1.6.1 already includes all of Messier's Galaxies and Globular Clusters.)
Specifically, it includes these objects:
The locations of these objects were taken from SEDS, so they're only accurate to about the nearest minute of arc. More accurate coordinates may be provided in a future version of this catalog.
Each of these "other" objects is declared as a Nebula with an associated mesh. No 3DS meshes are actually provided in this add-on, however. As a result, only the locations of these objects will be visible in Celestia, not images of the objects themselves. You may be able to find some appropriate 3DS objects elsewhere which have been created by various artists.
(M44 and M45 are included in this file with their Messier numbers instead of their popular names, Praesepe and Pleiades, respectively. Their indicated distances correspond to the Hipparcos measurements instead of their spectrographic distances.)
The zip archives below contain all of the files as listed above except for the file "messier_other.dsc". Instead they include "messier_other_v2.dsc" and the accompanying models and images.
The 16 images in these archives all are 512x512 pixels. They require a total of about 16MB of graphics memory. Your graphics card must have 32MB of memory or more in order to be able to see them all at once.
If you restore one of these zip archives into your Celestia Add-ons
directory,
it will create a directory named "messier_all" along with appropriate
models
and textures
subdirectories within it.
The initial locations of these objects were taken from SEDS, but were modified so that images of these objects would be properly positioned on the sky. Photographs of celestial objects usually are not ceneterd on the accepted coordinates of those objects. The images are positioned to somewhat better than a minute of arc.
Each of these "other" objects is declared as a Nebula with an associated mesh. Unlike the first version of this file, flat 3DS meshes (billboards) are provided in this add-on. As a result, after installing this, low resolution images of these objects will be visible in Celestia. They'll only look right if you look at them from the solar sysrtem. From other directions, they'll look like what they are: flat pictures posted on bulletin boards.
These images are very low resolution jpeg images. They are only included to give you some idea of what Messier's objects look like. Low resolutions are used both to minimize the size of the archive file and to encourage you to find some appropriate 3DS models with high resolution surface textures created by various artists.
(M44 and M45 are included in this file with their Messier numbers instead of their popular names, Praesepe and Pleiades, respectively. Their indicated distances correspond to the Hipparcos measurements instead of their spectrographic distances.)
models
directory
messier_other_v2.dsc
(M42 and M43 are shown as parts of the same object)
In the v2 zip archive, all of the billboard objects included in the archive specify a wildcard
texture file type. This means that you can replace, for example, the
512x512 quality=20 m1-5.jpg
by a 4Kx4K lossless
m1-5.dds
with alpha
channel. NOAO provides up to 4K TIFF images of most of the Messier
objects. Their larger images have the same fields of view as the
smaller ones used here. Links to all of them are included in the
archive.
The billboards in the v2a and v3a archives specify .jpg
images
in order to be compatible with v1.3.0 of Celestia.
textures/medres
directory
messier_other_v2.dsc
These images are all "derivative works". In other words, the pictures are modifications of images created by someone else.
The originals used for this project were all procucts of NOAO. The credit for all of the original pictures goes to "National Optical Astronomy Observatory/ Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy/ National Science Foundation." According to the NOAO copyright page at http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/copyright.html, their images may be used freely for "educational outreach activities composed by amateur astronomers". That's what this is.
A complete listing of the original pictures and their credits is included in the v2, v2a and v3a archives.
This Addon adapts the "Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 1" catalog of Quasars for use with Celestia v1.3.1. Quasars also are called QSOs or QuasiStellar Objects.
This Addon causes Celestia to run extremely slowly. If you have a more recent version of Celestia, v1.3.2 prerelease 3 or later, then you should use the CMOD version instead. See below.
Archive: QUASARS.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 0 02-15-04 12:13 Quasars/ 0 02-15-04 12:13 Quasars/models/ 835 02-15-04 12:19 Quasars/models/min-red.3ds 345 02-15-04 12:09 Quasars/test.dsc 0 02-15-04 12:19 Quasars/textures/ 0 02-15-04 12:19 Quasars/textures/medres/ 631 02-15-04 12:22 Quasars/textures/medres/min-red.jpg 210 02-15-04 13:32 Quasars/ViewQuasars.dsc 969 02-15-04 09:14 Quasars/test.txt 1487457 02-15-04 13:22 Quasars/sdss-dr1-qso-dots.dsc 675 02-15-04 14:54 Quasars/ViewQuasars.html 1337048 02-15-04 14:44 Quasars/MarkQuasars.cel 1604448 02-15-04 14:57 Quasars/sdss-dr1-qso-named.dscNO 3141 02-15-04 15:32 Quasars/sdss-dr1-qso-readme.txt -------- ------- 4435759 14 files
Restore this Zip archive into Celestia's extras directory, where it'll create the necessary files and folders.
This Addon contains two Deep Space Catalogs for Celestia:
sdss-dr1-qso-named.dsc
sdss-dr1-qso-dots.dsc
These two catalog files each list the locations of the same 16713 QSOs.
sdss-dr1-qso-named.dsc
includes their formal names and locations.
sdss-dr1-qso-dots.dsc
has replaced all of the quasars' formal names
by a single dot (period).
[back to Contents]
Because of the large number of objects involved, Celestia runs frustratingly slowly.
sdss-dr1-qso-dots.dsc
and enable "Label Galaxies", you'll see an
overview of the distribution. However, the positions aren't exactly right.
sdss-dr1-qso-named.dsc
, run the script
MarkQuasars.cel
and enable markers (but not labels), you'll see an overview of the
distribution with somewhat more accuracy. However, running the
Mark script can take quite a while.
The included HTML file ViewQuasars.html
provides two Cel:// URLs
to view the Quasars. They take you to a distant viewpoint
and enable either labels or markers.
Quasars seen from a distance |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the dots
representing Quasars are visible.
This Cel:// URL takes you to this viewpoint: |
[back to Contents]
This Addon adapts the "Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 1" catalog of Quasars for use with Celestia v1.3.2pre3 or later. Quasars also are called QSOs or QuasiStellar Objects. Unlike the Multi-body Addon, this version leaves Celestia quite responsive.
Archive: QUASARS-CMOD.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 0 02-21-04 10:06 quasars-cmod/models/ 907870 02-21-04 13:32 quasars-cmod/models/quasars.cmod 325 02-21-04 13:38 quasars-cmod/quasars-cmod.dsc 2893 02-21-04 13:50 quasars-cmod/quasars-cmod-readme.txt 210 02-15-04 13:32 quasars-cmod/ViewQuasars.dsc 318 02-21-04 13:45 quasars-cmod/ViewQuasars.html -------- ------- 911616 6 files
Restore this Zip archive into Celestia's extras directory, where it'll create the necessary files and folders.
This Addon contains a single Deep Space Catalog for Celestia:
quasars-cmod.dsc
This catalog file places a single model within Celestia. The model itself consists of 16713 points, representing the QSOs.
[back to Contents]
Despite the large number of points involved, you can rotate a single model that has many points within Celesia in realtime. It is not slow at all.
The included HTML file ViewQuasars.html
provides a Cel:// URL
to view the Quasars. It takes you to a distant viewpoint
looking toward the sun. You can then use your keyboard or mouse to
change the viewpoint in realtime.
Quasars seen from a distance |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the dots
representing Quasars are more visible.
This Cel:// URL takes you to this viewpoint: |
These catalog files were generated from the catalog "J/AJ/126/2579 SDSS quasar catalog. II. First data release (Schneider+, 2003)" downloaded from the VizieR catalog server.
See below for the formal SDSS and VizieR acknowledgments.
See the included readme file for additional credit information.
This Addon adapts the "The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey 100k Data Release" of 31 January 2001 for use with Celestia v1.3.2pre3 or later. It displays the locations of 93,843 objects. Although this isn't the complete 2dF dataset, the "walls" and "voids" of galaxies are plainly visible. The northern survey is colored blue, the southern survey yellow, and the "random" surveys are red.
Because of its popularity, this file now is available only from The Celestia MotherLode ( http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/ )
Archive: 2DF_100K-CMOD.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 317 02-22-04 11:38 2df_100k-cmod/2df_100k-cmod.dsc 2859 02-22-04 12:47 2df_100k-cmod/2df_100k-cmod-readme.txt 0 02-21-04 21:02 2df_100k-cmod/models/ 4557605 02-22-04 12:34 2df_100k-cmod/models/2df_100k.cmod 210 02-15-04 13:32 2df_100k-cmod/View2df_100k.dsc 335 02-21-04 22:18 2df_100k-cmod/View2df_100k.html -------- ------- 4561326 6 files
The model was updated on 22Feb to correct the sign of the declination which had been dropped in the calculations used to create the original model. It also has been color coded to show which galaxies were observed in the different surveys. This coloring revealed a problem in the original catalog data. Some galaxies seem to have spuriously small redshifts and have been placed in the wrong positions on the sky.
Despite the almost 100,000 points involved, you can rotate this single CMOD model within Celesia in realtime.
The included HTML file View2df_100k.html
provides a Cel:// URL
to view the distant galaxies. It takes you to a distant viewpoint
looking toward the sun. You can then use your keyboard or mouse to
change the viewpoint in realtime.
2dF: 100k galaxies seen from a distance |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the dots
representing the 2dF's 100k galaxies are more visible.
This Cel:// URL takes you to this viewpoint: |
[back to Contents]
This Addon adapts the "2dF Galactic Redshift Survey" final data release (Colless et al, 2003) for use with Celestia v1.3.2pre3 or later. It displays the locations of 229103 galaxies and QSOs. The appearance of the "walls" and "voids" of galaxies is somewhat improved over the 100K release. The northern survey is colored blue, the southern survey yellow, and the "random" surveys are red.
CML: 2df_300k.zip (4MB, 5Mar04)
Note
Because of its popularity, this file now is available only from The Celestia MotherLode ( http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/ )
Archive: 2DF_300K.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 317 03-03-04 07:59 2df_300k-cmod/2df_300k-cmod.dsc 1988 03-06-04 11:36 2df_300k-cmod/2df_300k-cmod-readme.txt 0 02-22-04 15:45 2df_300k-cmod/models/ 11247955 03-03-04 20:13 2df_300k-cmod/models/2df_300k.cmod 626 03-05-04 23:35 2df_300k-cmod/View2df_300k.html -------- ------- 11250886 5 files
Despite the more than 200,000 points involved, you can rotate this single CMOD model within Celesia in realtime.
The included HTML file View2df_300k.html
provides a Cel:// URL
to view the distant galaxies. It takes you to a distant viewpoint
looking toward the sun. You can then use your keyboard or mouse to
change the viewpoint in realtime.
The 100K catalog file was generated from the catalog VII/226 The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey 100k Data Release (2dFGRS Team, 2001) downloaded from the VizieR catalog server.
See below for the formal VizieR acknowledgment.
The 300K catalog file was generated from the catalog "best_observations.idz" by Matthew Colless, et al. 30 June, 2003. It was downloaded from the 2dFGRS Web site at http://magnum.anu.edu.au/~TDFgg/Public/Release/SpecCat/index.html
See below for the formal 2dF acknowledgment.
For details of the 2dF survey of galactic redshifts, visit the Web page http://magnum.anu.edu.au/~TDFgg/
See the included readme file for additional credit information.
Archive: HIP-ERRORS.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 184 03-04-04 03:09 hip-errors/hip-10-20-errors.dscNO 184 03-04-04 03:10 hip-errors/hip-20-40-errors.dscNO 179 03-04-04 03:10 hip-errors/hip-40-errors.dscNO 191 03-04-04 03:09 hip-errors/hip-5-10-errors.dscNO 180 03-04-04 03:08 hip-errors/hip-5-errors.dscNO 192 03-04-04 18:05 hip-errors/hip-60k-errors.dscNO 1162 03-04-04 19:18 hip-errors/hip-errors.dsc 3084 03-06-04 09:28 hip-errors/hip-errors-readme.txt 0 03-04-04 19:33 hip-errors/models/ 634291 03-04-04 18:11 hip-errors/models/hip-05-errors.cmod 3000793 03-04-04 18:13 hip-errors/models/hip-10-20-errors.cmod 3439646 03-04-04 00:37 hip-errors/models/hip-20-40-errors.cmod 3644639 03-04-04 18:11 hip-errors/models/hip-40-errors.cmod 1544733 03-04-04 18:11 hip-errors/models/hip-5-10-errors.cmod 104023 03-04-04 18:08 hip-errors/models/hip-60k-errors.cmod 1837 03-04-04 19:18 hip-errors/ViewErrors.html -------- ------- 12375318 16 files
The Hipparcos satellite measured the distances of over 100,000 stars. Unfortunately, the uncertanty in those measurements varied significantly. This Addon provides a view of those errors, drawing lines (error bars) of different colors though the stars drawn by Celestia. Green lines are used for stars where the standard error was less than 5%. Red lines are used for errors greater than 40%. Since distant stars have tiny parallaxes, those errors are quite large.
Top: HIP 400's Error: <5% Bottom: Hipparcos Errors >40% |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the lines
representing the errors in the Hipparcos parallax measurements are more visible.
Red error bars indicate the measurements with standard errors greater than 40% of a star's parallax. |
Top: Hipparcos Errors <5% Bottom: Closeup |
Green error bars indicate the measurements with standard error less than 5% of a star's parallax. |
Acknowledgements:
This DSC catalog file was generated from the Vizier catalog " I/239 TheHipparcos and Tycho Catalogues (ESA 1997)"
See below for the formal VizieR acknowledgment.
See below for the formal Hipparcos acknowledgment.
See also http://astro.estec.esa.nl/Hipparcos/site-guide.html and the Proceedings from the Hipparcos Venice '97 symposium at http://astro.estec.esa.nl/Hipparcos/venice.html
(This Addon isn't really a catalog. I'll move it somewhere more appropriate eventually.)
This Addon displays two of the WMAP microwave maps of the sky. It uses wildcard filetypes, so you must have Celestia v1.3.1 or later to be able fo view it.
Archive: WMAP.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 0 12-23-03 07:21 wmap/models/ 52145 03-12-04 21:09 wmap/models/sphere-trans-prot.3ds 26102 03-09-04 20:19 wmap/models/wmap-bkg.3ds 26100 03-09-04 21:22 wmap/models/wmap-q.3ds 52141 03-12-04 21:10 wmap/models/wmap-trans-prot-bkg.3ds 52139 03-12-04 21:10 wmap/models/wmap-trans-prot-q.3ds 0 12-23-03 07:21 wmap/textures/ 0 12-23-03 07:21 wmap/textures/medres/ 58368 03-09-04 21:02 wmap/textures/medres/Thumbs.db 448705 03-09-04 20:36 wmap/textures/medres/wmap-bkg.jpg 654436 03-09-04 21:02 wmap/textures/medres/wmap-q.jpg 479 03-09-04 21:39 wmap/wmap.dscNO 842 03-09-04 21:38 wmap/WMAP.html 2349 03-12-04 21:21 wmap/wmap-prot-readme.txt 1900 03-09-04 21:48 wmap/wmap-readme.txt 649 03-12-04 21:17 wmap/wmap-trans-prot.dsc -------- ------- 1376355 16 files
If you restore this Zip archive into your Addons (or extras) folder, it should create its files in all the necessary sub-directories.
This Addon displays the combined microwave map projected onto the inside of a sphere with a radius of about 13.8GLY. This is just slightly larger than the diameter of the observable universe, assuming a Hubble constant of 72 km/sec/Mpc. (Recombination, which generated the microwave background, occurred at z=1089, according to Spergel, et al. 2003, in First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters)
Since the Q-band microwave map is dominated by radiation from our local Milky Way galaxy, it is projected onto the inside of a sphere with a radius of about 65K LY. This corresponds to the apparent extent of the disk of molecular hydrogen associated with our galaxy.
The surface texture image files are 2Kx1K for ease of use. This Addon contains the Deep Space Catalog "wmap.dsc", which specifies both the Background and Q-Band objects. You may want to remove one of these declarations in order to minimize visual confusion.
If you look closely, you'll see a seam along 180 degrees of longitude. After many attempts to get rid of it, I just gave up. There seem to be some off-by-1 scaling errors in the tool I've been using to convert the WMAP Aitoff projections into simple cylindrical maps. They are very difficult to compensate for.
A view of deep space including the WMAP microwave map and other items. |
|
Acknowledgements:
This DSC catalog file uses images generated from the WMAP images of "The Microwave Sky" created by the "NASA/WMAP Science Team". See the Web page http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_or.html for more information.
The maps were converted from Aitoff/Hammer projections to simple cylindrical projections using the freeware program "Iris" v4. 12 by Christian Buil. See the Web page http://astrosurf.com/buil/ for more information.
This Addon adapts the catalog "Quasar & Active Galactic Nuclei (11th ed) Veron et al., December 2003" for use with Celestia v1.3.2pre3 or later.
Archive: QAGN.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 0 02-28-04 15:36 QAGN/models/ 751960 03-06-04 08:59 QAGN/models/agn.cmod 22065 03-06-04 08:59 QAGN/models/bllac.cmod 2703933 03-06-04 09:00 QAGN/models/qsos.cmod 658 03-06-04 09:04 QAGN/qagn.dsc 1959 03-06-04 09:11 QAGN/QAGN-readme.txt 645 03-05-04 23:26 QAGN/ViewQSOs.html -------- ------- 3481220 7 files
If you restore this Zip archive into your Addons (or extras) folder, it should create its files in all the necessary sub-directories.
The 11th edition catalog includes entries from the 2dF Quasar catalog and the first data release of the Sloan catalog, as well as previous catalogs.
This Addon displays the locations of 15066 active galactic nuclei, 401 BL Lac objects, and 49820 QSOs (and others). They are color coded by the type of object: red = QSO, yellow though near white = Seyfert galaxies, cyan = BL Lacertae objects. Consult the CMOD files for the precise details of color assignments to the various categories.
This Addon consists of the Deep Space Catalog qagn.dsc
,
which specifies
the three model files
qsos.cmod
,
agn.cmod
and
bllac.cmod
,
corresponding to the three categories mentioned above.
A view of Quasars and AGN |
|
This DSC catalog file was generated from the catalog file VII/235 Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (11th Ed.) (Veron+, 2003) at http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/ftp-index?VII/235
See below for the formal VizieR acknowledgment.
For more information, see the abstract of the paper by Vernon et al. at http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/cdsbib?2003A%26A...412..399V
This Addon displays the positions of O and B stars and many nearby clusters. It was designed to be used with Celestia v1.6.1 but might work with previous versions.
This Addon lets you display the density of the clouds of B stars within about 1500 LY. The colors of the marks vary from red (low density) through yellow (medium density) to white (high density).
If you squint, you can see a trail of bright marks (high star density) leading from our Sun down to the Orion Nebula, which is at the lower right. Toward the upper right you'll see vast OB Associations of young stars.
See below for the formal Hipparcos acknowledgment.
If you restore this Zip archive into your Addons (or extras) folder, it should create its files in all the necessary sub-directories.
Archive: OB_Stars.zip Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 882 05-03-2017 15:26 OB_Stars/cocd_ext1_lt1300.dsc 4453 05-03-2017 15:23 OB_Stars/cocd_lt1300.dsc 4403 03-27-2011 08:15 OB_Stars/GalacticPC.dsc 791 05-04-2017 06:37 OB_Stars/install_readme.txt 7501 04-30-2017 11:59 OB_Stars/messier_open.dsc 0 05-04-2017 06:30 OB_Stars/models/ 145975 03-27-2011 08:15 OB_Stars/models/graticule.cmod 1905 05-04-2017 06:22 OB_Stars/nebulae.dsc 4640 05-04-2017 06:54 OB_Stars/OB_Stars_readme.txt 665206 05-01-2017 13:47 OB_Stars/pulsars.stc 0 05-04-2017 06:53 OB_Stars/scripts/ 82 05-03-2017 07:19 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_earth.cel 11301 05-01-2017 17:54 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_o.cel 19189 05-03-2017 12:07 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_obm_color-001.cel 161481 05-03-2017 15:41 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_obm_color-002.cel 220221 05-03-2017 15:43 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_obm_color-003.cel 298741 05-03-2017 15:43 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_obm_color-004.cel 488259 05-03-2017 15:44 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_obm_color-005.cel 798856 05-03-2017 07:19 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_obm_color-all.cel 4687 05-04-2017 06:53 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_psr.cel 13226 05-04-2017 05:16 OB_Stars/scripts/mark_streams.cel 18 04-30-2017 11:51 OB_Stars/scripts/unmark_all.cel 3087 05-03-2017 15:14 OB_Stars/ViewOBM.html 4640 06-16-2017 09:19 OB_Stars_readme.txt 791 06-16-2017 09:19 install_readme.txt --------- ------- 2860335 25 files
This Addon requires Celestia v1.6.1 or later. It includes a menu which allows you to view up to 2,204,870 galaxy positions. These positions were taken from the SDSS DR13 data release. 11 CMOD models are used instead of detailed DSC catalogs, so performance is reasonably good.
SDSS DR13 galaxy "pie" seen from a distance |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the dots representing SDSS DR13 galaxies are visible. |
SDSS DR13 2 million stars seen from the side. |
This thumbnail also links to a much larger image, but you still can't see all the dots. |
Archive: SDSS-2DR-GALAXIES.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 0 05-16-2017 13:16 sdss-2dr-galaxies/ 0 05-16-2017 10:48 sdss-2dr-galaxies/models/ 3702488 03-24-2004 06:37 sdss-2dr-galaxies/models/sdss-2dr-galaxies.cmod 1511 03-24-2004 07:00 sdss-2dr-galaxies/QAGN-readme.txt 275 03-24-2004 06:46 sdss-2dr-galaxies/sdss-2dr-galaxies.dsc 1454 05-16-2017 13:16 sdss-2dr-galaxies/ViewSDSSgalaxies.html --------- ------- 3705728 6 files
Archive: SDSS-DR2-V2.ZIP Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 2669 05-16-2017 13:34 sdss-dr2-galaxies-readme.txt 0 05-16-2017 13:35 sdss-dr2-v2/ 0 05-16-2017 13:25 sdss-dr2-v2/models/ 418703 04-05-2004 21:55 sdss-dr2-v2/models/sdss-dr2-0-360-qsos.cmod 4149545 04-07-2004 23:59 sdss-dr2-v2/models/sdss-dr2-fan-n1.cmod 4835287 04-08-2004 00:00 sdss-dr2-v2/models/sdss-dr2-fan-n2.cmod 755144 04-07-2004 23:58 sdss-dr2-v2/models/sdss-dr2-fan-s1.cmod 1012456 04-07-2004 23:58 sdss-dr2-v2/models/sdss-dr2-fan-s2.cmod 1135035 04-07-2004 23:58 sdss-dr2-v2/models/sdss-dr2-fan-s3.cmod 2669 05-16-2017 13:34 sdss-dr2-v2/sdss-dr2-galaxies-readme.txt 997 04-08-2004 00:06 sdss-dr2-v2/sdss-dr2-galaxies.dsc 1495 05-16-2017 13:31 sdss-dr2-v2/ViewSDSSgalaxies.html --------- ------- 12314000 12 files
These Addons display the locations of selected galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, second data release, with Celestia v1.3.2pre3 or later. v1 shows 78,055 galaxies, while v2 shows 243,673 with improved precision in distance over those in v1.
If you restore either of these Zip archives into your Addons (or extras) folder, it should create its files in all the necessary sub-directories.
You must have Celestia v1.3.2 prerelease 3 or later in order to be able to use CMOD model files.
SDSS 2DR galaxies seen from a distance |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the dots
representing SDSS 2DR galaxies are visible.
This Cel:// URL takes you to this viewpoint: |
Acknowledgements:
The 2DR Addons above were generated from data downloaded using the SDSS SkyServer Spectro Query Server form at http://cas.sdss.org/dr2//en/tools/search/SQS.asp
The major constraints were redshift confidence >0.2 and 0.001 < z < 2.
See below for the formal SDSS acknowledgement.
Also, see the SDSS credits page at http://cas.sdss.org/dr2/en/credits/
Archive: IRAS-PSCZ.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 419 04-04-04 13:28 iras-pscz/iras-pscz.dsc 1714 04-04-04 13:27 iras-pscz/iras-pscz-readme.txt 0 04-03-04 13:19 iras-pscz/models/ 986837 04-04-04 12:22 iras-pscz/models/iras-pscz_r-r.cmod 987088 04-04-04 12:15 iras-pscz/models/iras-pscz_z.cmod 1426 03-24-04 06:51 iras-pscz/ViewIRASgalaxies.html -------- ------- 1977484 6 files
This Addon displays the locations of 16159 galaxies from the PSCz catalog (Saunders, et. al. 2000) when used with Celestia v1.3.2pre3 or later.
If you restore this Zip archive into your Addons (or extras) folder, it should create its files in all the necessary sub-directories.
This Addon consists of the Deep Space Catalog "iras-pscz.dsc", which specifies the model file "iras-pscz_z.cmod". It includes a commented-out reference to the model file "iras-pscz_r-r.cmod". The "_z" model uses distances as determined from spectrographic recessional velocities measured by IRAS. "Finger of God" effects are plainly visible in clusters of galaxies. The "_r-r" model uses distances determined by Rowan-Robinson (1988) and included in the PSCz catalog. Galaxies in the same cluster usually are all shown at the same distance. Each of the 235 clusters of galaxies listed in the PSCz catalog have been given a unique random color. However, no attempt was made to provide distinctively different colors to clusters which are near one another.
You must have Celestia v1.3.2 prerelease 3 or later in order to be able to use CMOD model files.
IRAS PSCz galaxies seen from a distance |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image, where the dots
representing galaxies are visible.
This Cel:// URL takes you to this viewpoint: |
Acknowledgements:
This DSC catalog was generated from a copy of the catalog "VII/221 PSCz catalog (Saunders+, 2000)" downloaded from VizeR.
This Celestia Addon displays the 2617 pulsars which are listed in ATNF Pulsar Catalog v1.56 at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/ as of May 1, 2017.
Archive: atnf_pulsars_v5.zip Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 3069 05-06-2017 13:27 atnf_pulsars_v5/atnf_pulsars_v5_readme.txt 664902 05-06-2017 10:43 atnf_pulsars_v5/atnf_v156.stc 791 05-04-2017 06:37 atnf_pulsars_v5/install_readme.txt 0 05-06-2017 13:28 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/ 251994 05-06-2017 06:38 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_density_all_v5.cel 44449 05-06-2017 13:01 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_density_inter_v5.cel 27557 05-06-2017 13:02 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_density_thick_v5.cel 165469 05-06-2017 12:49 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_density_thin_v5.cel 251996 05-06-2017 10:03 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_period_all_v5.cel 48558 05-06-2017 10:08 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_period_fast_v5.cel 95079 05-06-2017 10:12 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_period_slow_v5.cel 75 03-27-2011 08:27 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/mark_Sol.cel 18 03-27-2011 08:27 atnf_pulsars_v5/scripts/unmark_all.cel 902 05-06-2017 07:34 atnf_pulsars_v5/View_Pulsars.html --------- ------- 1554859 14 files
View_Pulsars.html (in the Addon's main directory) is a Web file containing Cel:// URLs which should take you to viewpoints above and in the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. From those viewpoints you can observe the spatial and frequency distributions of the pulsars listed in the ATNF database.
The /scripts/ directory contains the .CEL scripts listed below which show the distributions of the pulsars. Colors go from red for the lowest values through yellow to white at the highest.
mark_period_all_v5.cel.......mark all pulsars, colored by frequency mark_period_slow_v5.cel......mark slow pulsars, " mark_period_fast_v5.cel......mark fast pulsars, " mark_density_all_v5.cel......mark all pulsars, colored by density mark_density_thin_v5.cel.....mark thin-disk pulsars, " mark_density_thick_v5.cel....mark thick-disk pulsars, " mark_density_inter_v5.cel....mark pulsars between the two regions, " mark_Sol.cel................mark the Sun's position unmark_all.cel..............clear all marks
Archive: ATNF_PULSARS_V2.ZIP Length Date Time Name -------- ---- ---- ---- 285 12-18-04 15:55 atnf_pulsars_v2/pulsars.html 224036 12-23-04 21:48 atnf_pulsars_v2/pulsars_atnf_v2.stc 139582 12-23-04 21:48 atnf_pulsars_v2/pulsars_density_v2.cel 132028 12-23-04 21:49 atnf_pulsars_v2/pulsars_periods_v2.cel 1977 12-23-04 21:55 atnf_pulsars_v2/pulsars_readme_v2.txt 18 12-18-04 14:28 atnf_pulsars_v2/unmark-all.cel -------- ------- 497926 6 files
This Addon works with Celestia v1.3.1 or later. It displays the locations of the 1509 pulsars listed in the ATNF database at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/
Six files are provided:
Although some effects can be seen which may be due to where pulsar searches have looked, the outlines of nearby arms of the Milky Way can be seen clearly.
Improvements for v2:
ATNF pulsar distribution |
This thumbnail links to a much larger image.
This Cel:// URL takes you to this viewpoint: |
Acknowledgements:
This DSC catalog was generated from the database provided by the Australia Telescope National Facility at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/
Translated for use with Celestia
by S. Ball, December, 2006.
Contents copyright © 2006, Kevin Jardine & Selden Ball.
This Addon was created from a spreadsheet of Milky Way objects provided by Kevin Jardine. See http://galaxymap.org/
This version (v2) of the update disables the DSC catalogs and instead uses scripts to mark the objects. This provides significantly better performance.
Restore this Zip file into your "extras" or "Addons" directory. This should create the directory "galaxy_map" containing this documentation, its Catalog files, scripts, models, textures and source directory.
The catalogs and scripts show 8978 objects in 4 categories. Of the 9041 objects in the original spreadsheet, 63 nebulae do not have valid distances and are not shown. They are in the spreadsheet because Kevin has pictures of them on his Web site.
A separate script is provided for each of the categories. If you select (double-click-on) these scripts, you'll see the following:
milky-way-cl.cel | 1013 clusters of stars represented by blue circles |
milky-way-co.cel | 1899 molecular clouds represented by green circles |
milky-way-hii.cel | 901 nebulae (mostly HII regions) represented by red circles |
milky-way-st.cel | 5165 stars represented by white circles. Many of these stars are far beyond Celestia's 16KLY star distance limit, including a few Wolf-Rayet stars at the galactic center. |
unmark-all.cel | removes all marks |
markSol.cel | displays the location of our Sun |
STC Star catalogs are used to define the objects' locations so the scripts have objects to mark. Stars are drawn efficiently by Celestia, but have the problem that these objects cannot easily be selected or labeled because of the distances to them. All of these objects, including the stars, all are arbitrarily classed as M9. No luminosity or spectral information is provided in the spreadsheet used to create the catalogs.
DSC Nebula objects are not (yet?) handled efficiently by Celestia, so the DSC catalog files included here have been disabled by appending the letters "NO" to their filetypes. This causes Celestia to ignore them. If you enable the DSC catalogs, you'll be able to select the objects and see their labels.
A separate DSC catalog file is provided for each of the four categories. If you enable these Catalogs by removing "NO" from their filetypes, you'll see the following:
milky-way-cl.dsc | 1013 clusters represented using the blue spherical model "cl.cmod" |
milky-way-co.dsc | 1899 molecular clouds represented using the green model "co.cmod" |
milky-way-hii.dsc | 901 nebulae (mostly HII regions) represented using the red model "hii.cmod" |
milky-way-st.dsc | 5165 stars represented using the white model "st.cmod" Many of these stars are far beyond Celestia's 16KLY star distance limit, including a few Wolf-Rayet stars at the galactic center. |
All of the DSC models are translucent, since some of the objects are inside others. No attempt has been made to display the actual shapes of any of these objects. All of the models are spherical.
The star models are drawn with a radius of 50 ly just to make them readily visible from a distance. Some of these stars already are included in Celestia, but some are not. Of course, Celestia defines the locations of many stars, which it shows as points.
Celestia does not (yet?) provide a way to select different Nebula object types to be displayed at runtime. However, you can change the filetypes of the catalogs that you do not want to see so that Celestia won't recognize them when it starts up. I usually disable catalogs by appending the letters NO to the filetype. That way Celestia doesn't recognize them and it's obvious which catalogs I've disabled.
Here are a few viewpoints to display these objects in Celestia. Note that these URLs work best in Celestia v1.5.0. Celestia v1.4.1 provides only a generic galaxy model, while v1.5.0 has one based on recent surveys of the Milky Way.
Although Kevin thinks that the currently available surveys of individual galactic objects provide poor evidence for a spiral structure, I was pleasantly surprised at the good match between his catalog and the spiral structure represented by the model of the Milky Way that is provided with Celestia v1.5.0.
The contents of this Addon are copyright © 2006, Kevin Jardine & Selden Ball. All rights reserved. This Addon may be freely redistributed for educational purposes. It may not be used for commercial advantage without the written permission of the authors.
This Addon for Celestia v1.6.1 or later provides an updated binary catalog of 114357 stars from the Hipparcos Catalog. It provides star distances, coordinates, spectral types and visual magnitudes obtained from Simbad, as provided by Gaia DR2 and other recent research.
Full details of how this database was created, including software and intermediate data files, is available upon request.
seb@lepp.cornell.edu
If you don't tell me that something's missing, unclear or wrong, I can't improve it.
Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/.
The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, University of Pittsburgh, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington.
Please make use of IAU designations for SDSS sources in your publications.
2000,A&AS,143,9 , "The SIMBAD astronomical database", Wenger et al.