SKY-MAP.ORG
Encyclopedia
SKY-MAP.ORG is a wiki
and interactive sky map
that covers more than half a billion celestial objects. Users can view the whole star sky at once and zoom in to view areas in greater detail. WikiSky includes many stars, galaxies, constellations, and planets but is still in development. Users can also edit information about different stars by writing articles, adding Internet links, uploading images, or create a special interest group for a specific task.
-mode. In either mode, the user can access the name and a brief description of visible objects. This can be used to access more detailed information, including articles and different photo images.
SKY-MAP.ORG also has its on API so that code can be written to access maps, objects’ information and SDSS
data. The API that has more functionality than the interactive part of the website currently uses.
(DSS2) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS) images are "non-commercial use". The DSS datarights are held by multiple institutions. SDSS data is also non-commercial use. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope
(HST), Spitzer Space Telescope
(infrared
) or GALEX
space telescope (ultraviolet
) are "PD
-NASA
-USgov
".
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
and interactive sky map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
that covers more than half a billion celestial objects. Users can view the whole star sky at once and zoom in to view areas in greater detail. WikiSky includes many stars, galaxies, constellations, and planets but is still in development. Users can also edit information about different stars by writing articles, adding Internet links, uploading images, or create a special interest group for a specific task.
Software
The user can browse the sky either in Map-Mode or in SDSSSloan Digital Sky Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey or SDSS is a major multi-filter imaging and spectroscopic redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States. The project was named after the Alfred P...
-mode. In either mode, the user can access the name and a brief description of visible objects. This can be used to access more detailed information, including articles and different photo images.
SKY-MAP.ORG also has its on API so that code can be written to access maps, objects’ information and SDSS
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey or SDSS is a major multi-filter imaging and spectroscopic redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States. The project was named after the Alfred P...
data. The API that has more functionality than the interactive part of the website currently uses.
Wikisky image copyrights
Some images from Wikisky, such as Digitized Sky SurveyDigitized Sky Survey
The Digitized Sky Survey is a digital version of several photographic atlases of the night sky, and an ongoing project to produce more digital versions of photographic astronomical datasets.- Versions and source material :...
(DSS2) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey or SDSS is a major multi-filter imaging and spectroscopic redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States. The project was named after the Alfred P...
(SDSS) images are "non-commercial use". The DSS datarights are held by multiple institutions. SDSS data is also non-commercial use. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
(HST), Spitzer Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
The Spitzer Space Telescope , formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility is an infrared space observatory launched in 2003...
(infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
) or GALEX
GALEX
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer is an orbiting ultraviolet space telescope launched on April 28, 2003. A Pegasus rocket placed the craft into a nearly circular orbit at an altitude of and an inclination to the Earth's equator of 29 degrees....
space telescope (ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
) are "PD
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
-NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
-USgov
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
".
General references
- "WikiSky brings sky gazing to the (online) masses" by Hazel Muir, New Scientist writer, March 22, 2007
- "Sky-Map Site To Show The Beauty Of The Universe To Everybody" - article in Sky Nightly, Feb 01, 2007
- WikiSky - Publications
- People talking about SKY-MAP.ORG