WISE Data Groups
The WISE simulation consists of 14 data groups; some are 3-D data others are graphical elements like spheres and grids that give you a sense of scale. We describe these in the order in which they appear in Partiview.
| Group Name | Description |
|---|---|
| NearStars | A catalog of all currently known stars within 25 light-years. These number 196, including the Sun. It is not fully complete, particularly below a declination of -30°. Each star is labeled in green and many are in multiple systems (which artificially brightens them). The stars have a large range in brightness and; therefore, you will need to increase the "slum" value in Partiview to see the dimmest, red stars.
Provided by Dr. J. Davy Kirkpatrick (CalTech) |
| Tdwarfs | The brown dwarfs that WISE will detect. These number 264 and are represented as a dark red star. The brightness on these stars is artificially enhanced since they are almost invisible if rendered at their actual brightness. Each of these are labeled; you'll notice WISE-81 is the closest object to the Sun.
Provided by Dr. J. Davy Kirkpatrick (CalTech) |
| TdwarfsPoly | Turn on this group to display an image by Robert Hurt of a T dwarf star as seen in the optical. The size of the texture is greatly exaggerated. If Tdwarfs is on, then this group should be on as well.
Provided by Dr. J. Davy Kirkpatrick (CalTech) |
| Labels | Two "global" labels that provide a legend for the NearStars and the Tdwarfs. Best viewed when you're seeing the entire data set.
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| DistMarker | A graphical representation pointing out the nearest star we now know (Proxima Cen at 4.2 light-years) and the nearest WISE brown dwarf that may be found (WISE-81 at 2.9 light-years).
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| OortCloud | A sphere representing the size of the Oort Cloud. The sphere has a radius of 50,000 AUs and it is labeled. More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| Stars | The Digital Universe star catalog. Some of these NearStars also appear in this group, but you may notice they are not exactly on the same spot. These two groups come from different source catalogs, so there may be a discrepincy between a single star that appears in both catalogs. More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| AltStarLabels | In addition to the common names for stars that are in the Stars data group, we provide alternate star labels, such as Greek names and Bayer stars. You must be fairly close to the stars to see these labels though (or increase their label size). More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| Constellations | Constellation connectivity lines and labels. More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| VisibleMW | The visible all-sky Milky Way image. More >>
Provided by Axel Mellinger |
| radec | A wire-frame sphere transformed to Celestial Coordinates (right ascension and declination). More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| eclip | A wire-frame sphere transformed to Ecliptic Coordinates. More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| galac | A wire-frame sphere transformed to Galactic Coordinates. More >>
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |
| 40LYmesh | A 80 light-year, square coordinate grid centered on the Sun with lines every 5 light-years.
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/Hayden) |