Surface, activity, and colors are illustrative.
Constant-velocity extrapolation in fixed J2000 axes; incomplete radial velocities remain uncertain.
David Nash / Astronexus. Hipparcos, Yale Bright Star, and Gliese catalogs. All 119,626 entries searchable; 109,401 have usable nominal distances. The 100,000 pc sentinel is excluded from 3D. Distances are heterogeneous and are not uniformly precise. J2000 positions with HYG Cartesian space velocities. Time controls linearly extrapolate in fixed heliocentric Galactic axes up to ±1 million years. Galactic gravity, encounters, and stellar evolution are omitted, so long-range views are illustrative. Zero HYG radial velocities are unverified, not measured zeros. Unmatched NASA hosts, the Bubble, and deep-sky objects remain static. Readable Bayer and Flamsteed names use the IAU constellation names and genitives; Greek and component forms are supported in search.
Mattia Verga’s OpenNGC and addendum supply sky positions and classifications. Duplicate and nonexistent designations are omitted. The catalog includes external galaxies and satellite-system objects; these remain searchable. Only 51 objects have adopted distances here, from NASA. Remaining entries have no 3D marker. “Not placed” means no distance imported, not necessarily unknown to science.
Thirteen nebulae with imported distances have 3D gas and dust fields. Catalog positions and angular footprints are preserved; available position angles set the sky orientation. Line-of-sight depth, missing-axis defaults, internal gas, dust, lighting, and colors are artistic. These are explorable interpretations, not observed 3D reconstructions or photographs. No volumes are created for unplaced objects.
The dust-traced shell at the A′0.5 edge threshold, reconstructed from Edenhofer et al.’s 3D dust map. 49,150 actual samples are displayed using seeded sampling to avoid regular stripes. The blue wire outline is retained. The translucent mesh averages samples into 2.5° angular bins and omits large gaps. Colors are display styling, not temperature or chemical composition. This is a model of the shell, not a photograph or a rigid boundary.
HYG spectral types determine the illustrated color family and surface character. Catalog B−V colors add bounded hue shifts. Each star has repeatable variations in its surface texture, glow, and illustrative size. Luminosity classes distinguish dwarfs, giants, and supergiants; white dwarfs and Wolf–Rayet stars have separate profiles. Temperature bands are broad SDSS class ranges, not measurements of individual stars. Unsupported classifications use a neutral illustration. Composite spectra illustrate the primary classification.
Granulation, spots, coronae, winds, rotation, and prominence loops are artistic and enhanced for visibility. They do not show current activity. Apparent sizes use compressed stellar-class templates, not measured radii or physical size ratios. The ruler uses each star’s own illustrated radius (R★), independent of parsec coordinates. Confirmed planets come from NASA Exoplanet Archive. Their system view uses archive periods, semimajor axes, and eccentricities where available; reference phases, orbital orientation, surfaces, and display sizes are illustrative. Zooming back out restores catalog space.
The large-scale disk, bar, and spiral-arm particles are illustrative, not catalog objects. They fade in at wider scales and can be disabled. The central-region anchor adopts 8,178 pc from GRAVITY (2019), along Galactic longitude 0°, latitude 0°; it does not mark the exact position of Sagittarius A*. The origin is Sol. Solar-system planets are not included. Confirmed exoplanets are searchable and linked to host systems. Exact HIP/HD identifiers and unique host names match HYG; unmatched hosts retain NASA positions without invented velocities.
Search includes entries without 3D distances. Select them to inspect their sky coordinates and source coverage.
Semimajor axes, periods, and eccentricities use NASA composite estimates where supplied. Missing eccentricity is illustrated as circular; missing semimajor axis has no orbit. Coplanar orientation, starting phase, colors, surface detail, and enlarged body sizes are illustrative. Sky inclination is listed but cannot determine 3D orientation without a node angle. Orbit time is independent of the stellar epoch.