Writing: Read Only Programs to help with stellar cartography

[sbrothy]

Recently saw a discussion on this topic somewhere on here. Just to get it out of the way not I’m affiliated in any way.

For Windoze there seems to be a non-free program called Astrosynthesis:

With AstroSynthesis, you can can map out large portions of space - plotting stars, interstellar routes, and subsectors. And best of all, you do it completely in 3D space! Zoom in and out on your sector, pan and rotate around stars, follow routes, and watch fantastic animation effects - all in 3D.

EDIT: “[…] interstellar routes […]”? “Shipping lanes in space”! Seems like a trope that just wont go away.

I was wondering if there are any open source POSIX contenders and stumbled across this:

ISIS:

Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers (ISIS) is free and open-source software (FOSS) developed by the USGS Astrogeology Science Center for NASA and the planetary community. ISIS is a fundamental tool for processing raw archival data into analysis ready products and includes standard image processing tools such as contrast, stretch, image algebra, filters, and statistical analysis. However, ISIS's key feature is the ability to place different types of data in the correct cartographic locations on extraterrestrial bodies. The cartographically located data can then be used to create archives, topographic or cartographic maps, digital elevation models, and other scientific products.

I bet there are some astrology programs out there that might even be somewhat accurate but obviosly I’m gonna skip those.

I expected a plethora of these but that was apparently naive.

 

[sbrothy]

For would-be starmap-makers: a part of the Atomic Rockets website which seems to have escaped my attention so far:

Welcome to the improved 3-D Starmaps!

Make sure you check the links menu.

Hope linking to this site is OK in here. Again, I'm not affilitated.