3D Space Map

This is a simple applet that displays a 3D map of objects in space, mainly open clusters, nebulas and stars within a few hundred lightyears.

How to use it:

On the top, there are checkboxes allowing you to select what kind of objects to include in the view. The coordinate box enables or disables circles showing the distance 100, 1000 and 10000 lightyears from the sun, as well as the coordinate axes in a heliocentric coordinate system with the X axis pointing at the galactic center.

To the left are three sliders that allow you to rotate the view along different axes.

To the right is a single slider that allows you to zoom in and out. At the lowest setting it shows roughly 100 lightyear vicinity of the Sun, at the highest it is at infinity.

Misfeatures and bugs: whenever one of the boxes is checked or unchecked the database is reloaded; this should be fixed. Also, the rotations are rather confusing. The projection os orthonormal, so sometimes remote objects might appear in the middle of a zoom and look like they are close to the sun; when the scene is rotated this will be quickly revealed.