HNSKY + Gaia star database

[2Dragons8Buddhas]

Hi there everybody, can any one tell me in simple steps how to connect Hnsky to the online Gaia star database please ?

Carl.

Ps. I do have wired internet inside my observatory

[han59]

Hello Carl,

See screenshots below. You have to select and activate the secondary database. It will kick in if you zoom in. Every time you move around it will download and store the stars in the cache.

Note that the Gaia DR1 is incomplete so many stars about 10-20% are missing. For astrometric purposes fine but less for star maps.

 

You could also try the online Nomad or the URAT for northern hemisphere only. They go  up to magnitude 20 or more.

The best star database is the local U16 database with is a hybrid of Tycho and UCAC4 up to magnitude 16. Only 413 mbytes download so very compact.

 

Gaia DR2 wil come at 25 th April but is still not complete at the bright side:  https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dr2  I will make a hybrid again with some bright stars from Tycho2

 

Note that HNSKY is at version 4.0.0 RC2. Final version is imminent.

Han

 

[2Dragons8Buddhas]

Cheers Han, thankyou for a fast reply, i will try to do it when i get home from work late tonight

Carl.

[han59]

I will add the online PPMXL this afternoon. Like NOMAD it is an overkill of stars but you could compare visually the catalogs. For myself I typically use the U16 and online DSS2 images as background. My interest is deep sky fuzzies but others are interested in minor planets.

If you find any (minor) problem with HNSKY please report to the HNSKY forum or send me an email so I can correct it in the final 4.0.0 version.

Clear skies, Han