Pythagoras Star Map

An interactive 3D map of all known star systems within 50 light-years. Systems are ranked as interstellar destinations by distance, planet habitability and the interstellar medium along the route. Each system has a sourced findings log (55,781 findings across 1,111 systems).

Disclaimer: this is design and reference data, not flight-certified software or navigation. Statuses on literature findings are partly keyword-derived from abstracts (only rows marked "curated" were checked against quoted text). The data may contain errors; check the cited sources.

Maps

Star map v6 (latest, new interface)

Same data as v5, with an easier interface. The sky fills the screen and a dock holds everything else. Press ⌘K or / to search stars, planets, clusters, routes and commands. A ranked side list has filter chips and j/k keys. Each system has a tabbed page: Summary, Planets, Findings (with verification badges), Hazards, Images and Data sheet. Breadcrumbs, Esc to go back, deep links, an onboarding tour and a mobile layout are included. Heavy data loads after the map appears. v7 extends the map to 200 light-years: 50,044 more star systems from 50 to 200 ly (6,207 within 100 ly, 15,471 from 100 to 150 ly, 28,366 from 150 to 200 ly), searchable with ⌘K and listed under “Within 200 ly”, with brightness-based level of detail (Gaia DR3, ESA; SIMBAD, CDS France; NASA Exoplanet Archive, Caltech/IPAC USA; Gaia cuts parallax/error > 10 and RUWE < 1.4), loaded lazily as compact tiles; tap one for its summary. v6.4 darkens the background for legibility (WCAG AA contrast) and scales cleanly from phones to 4K, including the system view and menus. v6.3 loads faster (data split into cached, versioned files; offline repeat visits over http) and adds the sky from Earth (horizon, Chicago by default, any date, 2032 preset, “visible tonight” list), a lighter label style choice, long-press cards on touch screens, and a JWST tour built from observation papers. Screenshots: Earth sky, halo labels. v6.2 adds guided tours (nearest neighbours, best destinations, JWST results, hazards), camera presets (top-down, night sky), label density and declutter, hover cards and 5/10/20/50 ly rings. Plain-language summary line on each star page, compare mode (pin up to 3 systems), print and share. Examples: compare · α Cen findings · Pleiades · α Cen route hazards · screenshots: star page, search, mobile.

Star map v5 (3D)

Everything in v4, plus per-star data sheets from 8 catalogues (about 32,000 sourced values), real DSS2 sky images for every system, and 695 Gaia star clusters out to 1,630 ly. 119 of them have real images, with ESO and NOIRLab photos of the Pleiades, Hyades, NGC 3532 and NGC 2547. Cluster panel · star data sheet · notes · sources.

Star map v4 (3D)

Real star colours from measured Teff, Hipparcos background sky, constellation lines. Click a star to fly into its system: real orbits, habitable zones, debris disks. System views: Alpha Cen (image), Teegarden (image). What is real vs assumed.

Star map v3

v3 ranking. Click a star for its sourced findings. Filters: JWST, HST, debris disks, disputed planets.

Star map v2 (50 ly)

The previous ranking, without the findings log.

Navigation flight simulator

Trajectory and aim-point visualisation (design data).

v3 top 10

#1 alf Cen — 4.34 ly, best planet Proxima Cen b

#2 Teegarden's Star — 12.50 ly, best planet Teegarden's Star c

#3 HD 173739 (GJ 725 A) — 11.49 ly, best planet Gl 725 B c

#4 Luyten's star — 12.35 ly, best planet GJ 273 b

#5 Ross 128 (GJ 447) — 11.01 ly, best planet Ross 128 b

#6 L 372-58 (GJ 1061) — 11.98 ly, best planet GJ 1061 d

#7 Lacaille 9352 — 10.72 ly, best planet GJ 887 d

#8 G 158-27 (GJ 1002) — 15.81 ly, best planet GJ 1002 b

#9 HD 156384 (GJ 667) — 22.30 ly, best planet GJ 667 C c

#10 BD-12 4523 (GJ 628) — 14.05 ly, best planet Wolf 1061 c

Data credits

v5e/v6 additions: NASA Image and Video Library (NASA, USA), Hubble image of α Cen A/B credited ESA/NASA (public domain); hand-verified findings checked against the cited papers via NASA ADS (SAO/NASA, USA) and arXiv (Cornell University, USA)

v5 additions: LAMOST DR11 LRS/MRS and LAMOST M-dwarf catalogue (NAOC, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); CARMENES survey tables Schweitzer+2019, Marfil+2021, Reiners+2022, Ribas+2023, Fuhrmeister+2023, Shan+2024 (CAHA, Spain/Germany) via CDS VizieR; JWST observation log from MAST (STScI/NASA); JWST images: ESA/Webb (CC BY 4.0) and NASA; JWST results cited with DOIs

v5 clusters: Hunt & Reffert 2023, A&A 673, A114 (Heidelberg University, Germany) via CDS VizieR (Strasbourg, France)

v5 star sheets: ESA Gaia DR3 (Apsis, NSS, variability, rotation), TIC v8.2 (NASA/MIT/Vanderbilt, USA), 2MASS (UMass/IPAC, USA), AllWISE (NASA/JPL/IPAC, USA), GALEX AIS (NASA/Caltech, USA), eROSITA eRASS1 (MPE, Germany), Washington Double Star Catalog (USNO, USA), ExoFOP TOIs (NASA/IPAC, USA), NASA Exoplanet Archive

v5 images: DSS2 (STScI/AURA, Caltech-Palomar, AAO/UK Schmidt) via CDS hips2fits; ESO/S. Brunier, ESO, NOIRLab/NSF/AURA (CC BY 4.0)

NASA Exoplanet Archive — Caltech/IPAC, NASA (USA)

Gaia DR3 — ESA / Gaia DPAC (Europe)

SIMBAD, VizieR, XMatch — CDS, Université de Strasbourg / CNRS (France)

Washington Double Star Catalog — US Naval Observatory (USA)

arXiv — Cornell University (USA)

RECONS — Georgia State University (USA)

LISM Kinematic Calculator (Redfield & Linsky 2008) — Wesleyan Univ. / CU Boulder (USA)

Catalogues: DUNES / Herschel (ESA, Europe); Spitzer IRS (NASA/JPL, USA); CARMENES (CAHA, Spain/Germany); CHARA Array (GSU, USA); MEarth (Harvard CfA, USA); Breakthrough Listen target list (UC Berkeley, USA); ESO HARPS/ESPRESSO/NIRPS (Europe/Chile); JWST (NASA/ESA/CSA) and HST (NASA/ESA) via the archive

Hipparcos catalogue — ESA (Europe), via VizieR I/239

Constellation figures — Stellarium "modern" sky culture (GPL-2.0)

Blackbody colours — Mitchell Charity, "What colour is a blackbody?" (vendian.org)

Rendering: three.js (MIT licence)

Full per-source tables: Sources.

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