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Thread: The Alpha Interstellar Chart

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    Guild Apprentice Astrocartician's Avatar
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    Wip The Alpha Interstellar Chart

    I wanted to see if I could get some opinions about this star chart before I finish it. It is designed like an elevation map. The thicker the line the higher the elevation. The z elevation is from +20 to -20 light-years. It shows all star systems within 26 light-years of Earth that that has at least a K class star mass in it.
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    Community Leader mearrin69's Avatar
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    It's cool. I don't fully grok it...but it's cool.
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    Guild Apprentice Astrocartician's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ravells View Post
    I love it. Really clever concept....should it be circular though?
    I started making the elevation lines circular. But, because some stars are close together I would have had to make oval and pie section shapes to get around everything. I felt it looked better using rectangular shapes.

    But perhaps you might be interested in doing one that way. I think we could use some more star charts around here.

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    Guild Artisan töff's Avatar
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    Why not color coded? With thin/thick lines, the information is there, but hard to read.

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    Guild Apprentice Astrocartician's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by töff View Post
    Why not color coded? With thin/thick lines, the information is there, but hard to read.
    I plan to add more elevation levels numbers in various areas to make them hopefully more clearer. I could have done colors as well, perhaps going from red to blue, but I wanted the stars to stand out from the elevation lines. I thought this looked good although I also considered grayscale.

    Like fantasy maps, star charts can be done in many different styles.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Astrocartician View Post
    I started making the elevation lines circular. But, because some stars are close together I would have had to make oval and pie section shapes to get around everything. I felt it looked better using rectangular shapes.

    But perhaps you might be interested in doing one that way. I think we could use some more star charts around here.
    I just don't have / don't remember my astronomy that well, but I may give it a go. I wonder if the old 'radio dials' site is back up, I'd love to use some of retro radio dials as inspiration.

  8. #8

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    Very interesting idea. I like it!
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  9. #9
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    It's an approach I've not seen before to render this type of 3D information. I'm not partial to it, but it is the first new way I've seen to represent 3D data in 2D in a long, long time.
    “Maps encourage boldness. They're like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible.”
    -Mark Jenkins

  10. #10

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    I like it. Totally original and easy to understand. Much better than your first star chart.

    One thing I would suggest is finding some way to make z=0 stand out. Perhaps you should colour the contour lines on that plane red or (or some other colour that makes it more visible the centre).
    Last edited by euio; 12-03-2009 at 08:22 PM.
    One of those Alternate Earth History people.

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