Moving through the Stars

The Viewing Cube and a new neighborhood south of the Hyades cluster.

1) The Starting Point

In this example, we start at Omega Eridani, the site of a possble black hole—possibly the closest to home. Notice the cluster of stars above and behind the current Focus Star. This is the Hyades cluster, in Taurus.

From here, let us say we want to go to the Coma cluster—one of the "open" or "galactic" clusters near Sol (and Earth).

The Locator Cube and clicking on the Coma cluster.

2) Choosing a Destination

In the Locator Cube, five clusters are shown—Coma, Ursa Major, Hyades, Pleiades and Praesepe. Clicking on an item in the Locator Cube reveals a label for that item. Once we have confirmed the location of the Coma cluster (our destination), we prepare for the move.

The Locator Cube aligned along X-axis showing Y and Z directions to move.

3) First Alignment

Rotate the Locator Cube until the blue Viewing Cube appears as a simple square. Here, we are looking right down the X-axis at the nearest face of the Viewing Cube. Red arrows show the direction we must go with the Viewing Cube to approach the Coma Cluster.

To make fast work of the maneuver, we adjust the "Move" setting in the Viewing Cube Controls to its highest value—32 parsecs.

For the X and Y axes, left is the negative direction; right is positive. And naturally, for the Z-axis, down is negative and up is positive. So, we will be using the left Y-axis scroll button and the right Z-axis button.

The Locator Cube with Viewing Cube positioned toward Coma cluster.

4) First Moves

One click each is all it takes to position the Viewing Cube square to overlap the Coma cluster.

The Locator Cube rotated to align along Y-axis, showing X-axis distance.

5) Second Alignment

Next, we need to rotate the Locator Cube, again. This time to align along the Y-axis so that the blue Viewing Cube appears as a square. As you can see, we still have many parsecs (light years) to go.

The Locator Cube with Viewing Cube surrounding the Coma cluster and Move setting at 8 parsecs.

6) Second Moves

Three clicks get us close, but we need to reduce the Move setting to center the Coma cluster within the Viewing Cube square.

And we're done!

The Viewing Cube with Focus star in the Coma cluster and with inset, the "Center On" button.

Moving to the Focus Star

Another way to move across the Solar Vicinity of the galaxy is to Center On the Focus star. Simply ensure you have a current Focus star, and click on the "Center On" button in Hood Tools.

In this example, we have selected a star near the center of the Coma cluster. And, in this example, clicking the Center On button centers the cluster more perfectly within the Viewing Cube.

There are a few exceptions. A few stars just outside the Solar Vicinity have been included in the software. "Center On" works only for stars within the Vicinity (Locator Cube).

The Viewing Cube Controls with "Jump" mode.

Moving to Coordinates

As you become familiar with the various locations around the Solar Vicinity, you might also become familiar with the XYZ-coordinates of those locations. Then again, perhaps not. But there is one set of coordinates you cannot easily forget—those of home, the Solar system. These coordinates are simply (0,0,0).

Simply double click on any of the X, Y or Z display windows, and this converts the coordinates display to text boxes. You can either type in the desired coordinates, or use the scroll buttons to select the desired values. Any numbers between -96 and 96 will work. Hit "Enter" or click on the "Jump" button, and you're there. It's that easy.