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Space Software for the adventurer in all of us - 3D star maps, multiple sky views, and more
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Name a Star
In fact, Name Any, or All of Them
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For each star you visit, you can give it whatever name you want. As the explorer, that's your choice.
Stars in the NeighborHood gives you the option to use the catalog name or number already given to a star, or to prepend a name of your choosing to the one on file, or to replace that name with one of your own. For instance, click on Alpha Centauri in the 3D "Viewing Cube," click the "Add Notes" button in "Hood Tools," then type in "Danny's Place." Clicking the checkbox, "Combine with traditional name," results in, "Danny's Place (Alpha Centauri)." The possibilities are endless.
Power Tools for
Writers and Amateur Astronomers
Whether you're a science fiction writer, an amateur astronomer, or simply curious about the universe, Stars in the NeighborHood lets you combine your own custom tags, your own star names, and star notes, to document the stars that fascinate you. And unlimited User files lets you organize them by story, theme, or area of interest.
If you know the speed of your starship, it's easy enough to figure how long it'll take to get to your destination, once you know the distance. Stars in the NeighborHood gives you an easy, point-and-click method for calculating distance. Simply select your starting point by clicking on the star while in "Data Mode," click the "Calc Distance" button in "Hood Tools," then click on the destination star. The distance measurement will appear in the window below the "Calc Distance" button. And, if you prefer to use "parsecs" instead of "light years," it's easy to toggle between the units by using [Ctrl-Y], or by de-selecting "light years" in the "View" menu. Say, for example, you're visiting Alpha Centauri, but need to stop off at Tau Ceti before heading home. If your starship makes 2 parsecs in a day, the distance of 4.01 parsecs gives you a travel time of about 2 days (distance divided by velocity). But don't worry, a complimentary star travel trip calculator comes with your order.
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Finesse with the Data
Anyone can dump millions of star records into a software program. The data is easily available. But what do the points of data represent? How accurate are they?
One astronomy software program from a popular telescope manufacturer had multiple dots for the same star, and not at the same location in the sky. Indescriminately taking the data from academic sources may be all some software vendors do.
At Tharsis Highlands, preliminary tests showed radial distortions for the star clusters near the Solar neighborhood. The flaw was in the data received from academic sources. Star positions in the two-dimensional sky are known with a great deal of accuracy, but the distances are very poorly known. Astronomers work with the tiniest scraps of information. Because the stars are so very far away, the data we have about them is sometimes part conjecture based on mathematical models rather than hard data.
Original distortion in the data
shown as black ovals
At Tharsis Highlands, a formula was created to compress each cluster along the line of sight until the distortion was minimalized. Not even the scientists can tell the accurate distance to each star. But this approach greatly increased the likelihood that each cluster star is close to its real position in the galaxy.
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Complimentary
Star Travel
Trip Calculator
with Your Order
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Leaving the Neighborhood behind...
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