Website announce: Consolidated DSO Catalogues - Clark, Herschel 400, Messier and Caldwell
Website announce: Consolidated DSO Catalogues - Clark, Herschel 400, Messier and Caldwell http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/ClarkXrefProject.... This amatuer astronomy site contains 3D VRML and 2D renderings of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Virgo local supercluster based on a consolidated catalogue of 823 deep sky objects. Distances to objects used in the catalogue are supported by reference to professional astronomical journals and catalogues. This amatuer astronomy site contains sortable cross-referenced lists for an 823 object consolidated catalogue based on a non-duplicative set of the astronomical deep sky objects in the catalogues of Clark, Herschel400, Messier and Caldwell. Cross-referencing to Barnard, Lynds, Arp, NGC and PGC catalogues are provided. These cross-referencing lists may be of interest to intermediate amateurs interested in reducing duplication of effort when working through the Messier, Caldwell and Herschel 400 lists. A catalogue file for Cartes du Ciel is provided to aid in plotting and locating the 823 objects. An index of approx. 450 entries is provided to astronomical journal literature. The index is hyperlinked to the NASA ADS journal service. Therefore, amateurs and students can quickly review the underlying article. The index is suitable for studying key topics in astronomical history and the discovery of the structure of the Milky Way and supergalactic structure be a casereader method. The site includes a narrative, loosely based on the Powers of Ten analogy, which walks beginner and intermediate amateurs through the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, the local Virgo Supercluster to 40 megaparsecs from Sol based on the 823 objects in the consolidated catalogue. Users study can plan observing sessions by groups of objects, for example open clusters in the Perseus Arm. A partial set of stars in various constellations are rendered in 3D. Links to major sky surveys beyond the limits of amateur telescopes to z=6.3 and 3D renderings of the bounaries of those major surveys are included as an introduction to supergalactic space and cosmology. In this regard, the structure of the narrative is similar in content to Powell's popular _Atlas of the Universe_ site. The intended audiences for this site are intermediate amateur astronomers, secondary and college students and teachers, and astronomy club education coordinators. The 3D renderings, the consolidated catalogue lists, may be of use in demonstrating the answers to Milky Way structural and observing questions. 3D renderings are generated over the internet using the Parallegraphic Cortona VRML plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. An example of the 2D vs. the 3D approach is Shapley's 1919 plot of Milky Way Globular Clusters in 2D - http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/img/ShapleyFig1.j... vs. a 3D rendering of 81 nearby, observable globular clusters in the consolidated catalogue - http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/img/GlobClusClr.j... http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/vrml/World_GalHal... Another example is a rendering of 423 galaxies in consolidated catalogue out to 40 megaparsecs - first in 2D - http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/img/MNight2.jpg - and then in 3D - http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/img/3DUniv40Mpc2A... http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/vrml/WorldClarkGa... Keywords: astronomy, 3D, milky way, schematic, DSO, deep sky object, catalogue, Clark, Messier, Caldwell, Barnard, Lynds, Virgo supercluster, VRML Site author: fisherka@csolutions.net 3/2006 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
--- Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Website announce: Consolidated DSO Catalogues - Clark, Herschel 400, Messier and Caldwell http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/ClarkXrefProject.... <snip all>
Added the following 3D renderings in self-loading Cortona VRML with MS-Internet Explorer. These may be of use for general public astronomy education: Jpg sample screen shot: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/img/EclipticGalPl... 3D Earth and the Ecliptic Plane (VRML) http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/vrml/WorldClarkSo... 3D Earth and the Ecliptic Plane and the Milky Way Galaxy (VRML) http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/vrml/WorldClarkSo... 3D Earth and the Ecliptic Plane, rotated to the Milky Way Galaxy plane (VRML) http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/vrml/WorldClarkSo... in: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/Clarkxref/ClarkXrefProject.... - Canopus56 =================== Narrative description of the 3D renderings: Visualizing the Earth's orbit - the ecliptic - with respect to the Milky Way's galactic plane can be difficult. The following 3D renderings provide a supplemental visual aid. In the 3D renderings, the orbit of the Earth is greatly exaggerated in size. If drawn to scale, the entire solar system would be a minisule point at the intersection of the axes. The Earth is shown at the equinoxes and solstices. Two sticks pierce each Earth. The black stick shows the orientation of the Earth's axis and runs through the Earth's North and South poles. The second red stick piercing each Earth shows the geographic location of an observer at 40 degrees North latitude in North America. The Earth is rotated to its relative position at midnight. The direction of the tilt of the Earth's axis is fixed and remains the same regardless of its orbital position as the Earth revolves around the Sun in a counterclockwise direction. This results in some visual anomalies. On the day of the vernal or spring equinox at midnight, the Earth is tilted away from the direction of the Earth's travel in its orbit. On the day of the summer solstice at midnight, the Earth is tilted perpendicular to direction of orbit but pointed towards the Sun. On the autumnal equinox at midnight, the Earth is tilted towards the direction of orbital travel; and, at the winter solstice, perpendicular to its orbital travel, but away from the Sun. In the 3D renderings, next to each Earth globe are floating panels that show the corresponding view of the night sky at 12AM and 9PM local time. The user can rotate the 3D renderings in order to build a better map of the relationship of the Earth's orbit to the Milky Way's plane and structure. A bright green line that extends from the origin of the axes in the 3D renderings represents the solar apex, or the apparent direction that the Solar System is moving. The solar apex is in the constellation Hercules (J164605.13+100731.9, G027.70+32.40). __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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Canopus56