Star maps

[Droflet]

I'm sure this must have been covered somewhere on Chrons but my extensive investigation has gleaned no tangible results. I have star maps but they're sh, ah I mean, not very good. I'd like to translate them into something a little more professional. These are not galactic or solar system maps but something that does not, as yet, exist.
Any thoughts from my fellow Chronites would be very much appreciated.

 

[Mad Alice]

Are you saying you need a map done for you, or are you inquiring as to how others have coped with the need for maps? Or did you wish to know how to make the maps you have look a bit snappier? What are your resources you have to work with? Computer? Tablet? Apple product?
Do you have any type of photo manipulation apps or programs? Paint and drawing programs? If so, which ones would they be? Can you give a rough estimate of the time frame that you require the map within?

Do you want them designed as graphics, consisting of elemental shapes to represent cosmological objects? Or as supposedly real life images? Or both?

 

[Droflet]

Holy cow, Alice, when you ask a question you don't mess around do you? Okay, I have almost zero artistic skill yet, by using a primitive paint and drawing program have knocked some rough maps together. Resources, apps etc are minimal and my ability to use them, if available, is questionable. Time, at this stage, is unknown. These maps would be part of a novel, a blueprint to this new region of space. So, one dimensional, black and write.
I knocked these maps together for my own reference but I believe they would add to the novel if presented in a less crude form.
Hope you like a challenge. Thanks so much for your reply.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

at least look at some Bonestell art for inspiration

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Free Planetarium SW
Celestia
Cartes du Ciel

There are loads of images in Wikipedia and on Nasa, but these may not be usable commercially.

as our not really mad Mad Alice says, exactly what sort of imagery do you need and for what purpose?

 

[Droflet]

Good point, Ray, I shall have to give it a think.

 

[Mad Alice]

Can you give me a basic description of what is on the map? Is it meant to be a nagivational aid for a star-vehicle? Perhaps a part of a three demensional census of areas included within a certain principality's territory? Or a sort of a sight-seeing points of interest thing?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

@Mad Alice
Only if you tell us what your weapons capability is and what side you support first!

 

[Mad Alice]

Bamboo graphics tablet with pen and stylus brush
Complete adobe paintshop and photoshop programs 2nd level.
Tablet with graphic interface photomanipulation apps including cosmological effect maps.
3-D modeling program

Alliance within the forces of chaotic good as a generality, though has suspicious ties with that factional paramilitary rebel group, "('We-Who-Think-We-Know-Best'-(but are really just a bunch of ignorant gits))" with their threat over the rest of mankind, holding their ultimate weapon for the disruption of the universe and all life as we know it, the 'unreasoning bomb'. (Though some have suggested that Mad Alice may be a covert observer gone undercover in that fell horde.)

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Anything in this thread useful, Telford?

https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/551330/#post-1884415

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

maps how
Holographic,stereographic?
Projection:behrmann,Mercator,Eckert Lambert conformal conic,Goode's homolosine'?
Who uses them?
the military?
Merchant navy?
Aliens?
Equidistant?
Equal Area?
tell us more,please

 

[Serendipity]

Whatever you assume for the laws of physics will dictate overall density distribution of your stars...

 

[Droflet]

Thanks everyone, I have a lot to look at. Really, I'm just after a roadmap, to a system and major (contained) area of space.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

The Pulsars are a wonderful navigation resource for any Galaxy. We are mapping them already and now can use them to navigate in the Solar System.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/413615/how-to-use-pulsars-for-interstellar-navigation/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnfarrell/2012/04/02/pulsars-could-support-an-interstellar-gps/
http://www.universetoday.com/103035/navigating-the-solar-system-using-pulsars-as-gps/

Ironic that we don't have Starships but already have figured out Navigation.

 

[Droflet]

Thanks for that, Ray. Jolly interesting. And yes, such a pity we don't have starships. Or, do we? Cue government conspiracy.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

such a pity we don't have starships. Or, do we?

No, it's the Frog Prince level of fantasy to think that visiting Aliens or our own Starships could be secret. Too many amateurs & hobbyists with Optical Telescopes and even Radio Telescopes. Too much internet.
Even secret stuff isn't very secret any more. Though while launches and existence of say X37B are known, we don't really know what it's actually doing. Some sort of spying.
http://www.space.com/29221-x37b-military-space-plane-fourth-mission.html

No matter how "stealthed" the ship design, any normal space propulsion system is going to be very visible. Even if a Starship has some kind of Warp / Hyperspace / Jump / Stargate / Wormhole drive, it's still going to have a massive conventional set of engines flinging out reaction mass for "in system" navigation. The method used by our probes to the Planets and Sun is far too slow and limited in destinations. There is a mathematical model though of the Solar System for low energy (mostly coasting) routes to visit various planets. But the travel time can be years compare to weeks of a decent on board propulsion system.

Edit:
Even a Generation Ship will have a big propulsion system for the destination(s). It would be a city in space and probably spend hundreds to thousands of years coasting between stars. At each destination it would need deceleration, pick up fuel for reaction mass and fusion power from gas giants etc. Then accelerate to coasting velocity if the destination is unsuitable. Or it might be spreading / gathering culture and tech rather than a colony transport. If no kind of "Interstellar drive" is possible, then it's the only possible Starship method apart from the variation of a smaller crew in suspended animation / hibernation / deep sleep.

 

[Serendipity]

Um... regarding interstellar spaceships chucking out stuff to propel themselves... this one is different and being designed now!

http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/project-dragonfly-sail-to-the-stars/

Yes, I did say NOW!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

It's still using energy and chucking stuff out. It can only coast for interstellar part of a journey.
Solar powered and Solar Sail craft are very slow, for probes in the Solar System. A Solar sail has recently been tested.
Project Dragonfly isn't feasible at all for Interstellar flight. Not enough light even at the edge of the Solar system for much propulsion.

 

[Wanderlog]

I have star maps but they're sh, ah I mean, not very good. I'd like to translate them into something a little more professional

The problem is, professional star maps require a professional to read them. They are overloaded with mysterious signs and incomprehensible symbols. I doubt many readers would take a second look at them.

Another problem is, star maps should be three-dimensional, and all modern book readers are 2D. Even a primitive 3D map cannot be properly displayed on them.

So if you write SF, drawing such maps could be a major overkill.

 

[JG Martin]

You could try the cartographer's guild website. I don't have enough posts for a link but you can google it.

I posted asking for someone to make my maps for a fantasy series I'm working on and I got lots of responses. The person who made my map was excellent and reasonable in price.