In search of a map that would give an idea of ​​the relative position of the nearest stars in space (out of pure curiosity), I came across a reference to the model depicted in the first picture. I was struck by the fact that in my childhood, when I suffered from grafomanism with a bias in sci-fi, I painted about the same projections of the starry sky - balls-circles, and from them threads-dotted lines to a rectangle in isometry or in perspective. If you remove the cubic cover from the model (there is such a photo on the site ), then the coincidence with my arts will be complete. I despised the real sky maps because of the obvious absurdity - they are almost flat!


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It has long been known to everyone that the Earth is not a flat, but almost a regular ball. But does everyone know that the cosmos is not a sphere, not a crystal vault of heaven? Theoretically, yes, but modern starry sky maps are not far from the celestial globe. A spherical coordinate system is used, with visible star magnitudes. Everything is sharpened by the observer, solid anthropocentrism. Earth (or at least the Sun) - the navel of the universe!

No, it is clear that this is due to a number of practical considerations, and even historically, and no one will redo it. The galactic coordinates (there are such, there are, and the absolute stellar magnitudes are) will acquire meaning only in the era of practical interstellar navigation. It is clear that this is still very, very far. But a few centuries ago, interplanetary navigation had no practical significance (it is now ... not very). Nonetheless, inquisitive comrades made the following models of the universe:



Already in the solar system, we now do not get lost, if that. If we, by hitchhiking through the galaxy, get lost a little, then to the question of the green man “Hey, baby, our younger brother, by reason, where do you live?”, Most will answer without hesitation: “The third planet from a star named the Sun”. Well, in the extreme case, we burst into tears, and remember that the Earth is “so blue, with white curlicues ... and so little yellow is spinning side by side.” Completely exhaustive information for internal search.

But the elder green brother will still be forced to ask another leading question: “is the Sun - this is where?”. Any patsak in our place would say “Planet Plyuk, 215 in tentur, Kin-Dza-Dza galaxy in a spiral” - and in five minutes would be at home (well, or a cactus - how lucky it is). And what will the average homo sapiens answer? Even if he is not indifferent to astronomy? And he won't say anything worthwhile. Astronomers, correct, please, if I am mistaken.



Even if an astronomer remembers some constellations, then they will be flat (well, they are slightly bent about the sphere, it does not matter). Saying “such a star is in such a constellation” is the same as when I look out the window and say: “Paris is between that pillar and this tree, two fingers from the traffic light. And now there will be a total eclipse of Paris by bus, if it comes on time. ” And I will be right, oddly enough. But it will greatly help you in geography?

And even if an astronomer points out some global landmarks such as quasars or pulsars - will he measure them in what units? For green, it's like measuring a boa constrictor. No, we, of course, tied meter-seconds to every-86 kryptons and cesium-133. But you remember from the memory coefficient? No, our meters are more associated with the Paris meridian, seconds later in hours, days and a year - with the orbit of the Earth. Even an astronomical unit (a. E.), A parsec (pc), a light year - all this is tied to the orbit of the Earth. I say, continuous anthropocentrism.

But the maps of the mutual arrangement of galaxies and galactic clusters have already been compiled. The radius of the observed space: 4 gigaparsec. By the way, 24 - given the expansion of the universe. For me, the extension has always been something abstract. The first time I ran into him was so “concretely”. And the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy is nothing, 30 kiloparsecs. You can even show with a finger where our Sun is there:



But, I'm afraid, there will be little confusion from such a finger. Surely in a few thousand stars will get. No one of us in such a tour for nothing out of luck, and we will be bent down the road. Much more likely (like meeting a blonde with a dinosaur) looks like another option: load from our mobile phone (or draw from memory) the location of the nearest brightest luminaries, a skinny green humanoid introduces them with a mental image into an analogue angle with the letter “G” - and voila, our Sun is search results on the first page ...

Posting links to specialized and popular astronomical software (God forbid, not astrological!), Screenshots thereof, games in the theme, screensavers, wallpapers, posters, models, books, movies, etc. - rewarded with the word “thank you”.



Finally, the idea (for a startup?) For those who decide to make a model in the image and likeness. At the moment I am inclined to believe that vertical sticks are not the best way to create a spatial representation of the structure of the surrounding space. Something like a molecular constructor would be better (and thus a patent can be circumvented, I hope; another option is a crystal, where the stars are vertices of polyhedra, with adjacent faces and / or nested).

If we connect the nearest stars by the shortest paths, at the same time we get very probable routes of the first interstellar expeditions. And do not interfere with the backlight of the LEDs (or optical fibers), selected in absolute magnitude and spectral class. The whole "molecule" can be shoved into the ill-fated celestial sphere of transparent plastic. Orders can be taken here. I'm first in line!

UPD 2009-01-04 18:33

To help those who still decide to make a model - I found the ChView program, written under a 16-bit Windows. About any OpenGL and there is no talk, of course, a solid GDI without any signs of smoothing. But Celestia, which I was advised a couple of times, cannot connect the nearest stars with lines, or show rectangular coordinates (only spherical around the observer). ChView, however, does not show the galactic coordinates either, and it doesn’t know what it binds to the rectangular grid, but at least there it is, you can rotate it in various projections.

UPD 2009-01-04 21:45

I tried to visually demonstrate the “harm of heliocentric astronomy” to those who lack spatial imagination a little. This is how familiar constellations from a distance of half a kilo of a parsec look from childhood. Who is not weak to find here Big Dipper? But our constellations are pulled out into a tube much earlier, with a barely noticeable distance. Because at home from the window we are from generation to generation and look at them in this very tube, in the telescopic one. Not bothering to even imagine the real situation. Although we have all the possibilities for this.

The difference with the picture above speaks for itself. Therefore, when you read in science fiction about routes like “up the Dragon's tongue”, you are slightly disappointed in the author. After all, almost no one understands that when we climb so far from the Earth, the old earthly constellations will have the same practical significance as the mythical characters in whose honor they are named.

UPD 2009-01-06 2:35

http://kisd.de/~krystian/starmap/
Flash card like the desired model. 32 nearest stars Clickable One click - a selection and a short info, double - on Wikipedia. I do not like the coordinate system - the direction to the galactic center of the degrees under 30 down. The sun in the zero plane. More precisely, this plane is aligned on the ecliptic - again a continuous geocentrism. Align 32 stars according to the characteristic of one of the planets of one of the stars, and even according to a very non-constant characteristic, subject to complex long-period and even very short-period oscillations. No, our civilization is clearly still a baby in a crib - the crib is swinging, but we are ready to align the whole world with it! What surprises me the most is that it doesn’t surprise anyone anymore :)