Type of site | Web mapping |
---|---|
Available in | Multilingual |
URL | Sky-Map.org |
Commercial | No |
Registration | Yes |
Current status | Active |
Sky-Map.org (or WikiSky.org) is a wiki and interactive sky map that covers over half a billion known celestial bodies. [1] WikiSky is designed, in part, as a wiki. As such users can edit information about different stars by writing articles, adding Internet links, uploading images, or creating a special interest group for a specific task. [2] [3]
The website, although still available for users to visit, has shown little activity since 2010.
Wikisky can represents the sky with several surveys, including GALEX, DSS, and SDSS. In either mode, the user can access the name and a brief description of visible space objects. This can be used to access more detailed information, including articles and different photo images. It also has its own API so that code can be written to access maps, objects’ information and SDSS data.
Some images from Wikisky, such as Digitized Sky Survey (DSS2), are "non-commercial use". [4] The DSS data rights are held by multiple institutions. [5] Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images are now in the public domain, although earlier data releases were for non-commercial use only. [6] Images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared), or GALEX space telescope (ultraviolet) are "PD-NASA-USgov".
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey or SDSS is a major multi-spectral 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 began in 2000 and was named after the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which contributed significant funding.
Messier 65 is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo, within its highly equatorial southern half. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. With M66 and NGC 3628, it forms the Leo Triplet, a small close group of galaxies.
The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a digitized version of several photographic astronomical surveys of the night sky, produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute between 1983 and 2006.
The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.
NGC 3132 is a bright and extensively studied planetary nebula in the constellation Vela. Its distance from Earth is estimated at about 613 pc or 2,000 light-years.
NGC 3596 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by William Herschel 1784. It is located below the star Theta Leonis (Chertan). It is a member of the Leo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the right edge of the Virgo Supercluster.
NGC 3877 is a type Sc spiral galaxy that was discovered by William Herschel on February 5, 1788. It is located below the magnitude 3.7 star Chi Ursae Majoris in Ursa Major.
NGC 57 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It was discovered on 8 October 1784 by astronomer William Herschel.
NGC 5964 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Serpens Caput. NGC 5964 is also known by the names IC 4551 and PGC 55637.
NGC 3242 is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Hydra.
NGC 7 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the Sculptor constellation. It was discovered by English astronomer John Herschel in 1834, who was using an 18.7 inch reflector telescope at the time. Astronomer Steve Gottlieb described the galaxy as faint, albeit large, and edge-on from the perspective of the Milky Way; he also noted how the galaxy could only be observed clearly with peripheral vision, not by looking directly at it.
NGC 5792 is a barred spiral galaxy about 70 million light-years away in the constellation Libra. There is a magnitude 9.6 star on the northwestern edge of the galaxy. It was discovered on April 11, 1787, by the astronomer William Herschel. It is a member of the Virgo III Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out to the east of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies.
NGC 5177 is a lenticular galaxy. Based on a redshift of 6467 km/s the galaxy is crudely estimated to be about 300 million light-years away.
NGC 4697 is an elliptical galaxy some 40 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It is a member of the NGC 4697 Group, a group of galaxies also containing NGC 4731 and several generally much smaller galaxies. This group is about 55 million light-years away; it is one of the many Virgo II Groups, which form a southern extension of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies.
GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS) is a large targeted survey at Arecibo Observatory that has been underway since 2008 to measure the neutral hydrogen content of a representative sample of approximately 1000 massive galaxies selected using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and GALEX imaging surveys. The telescope being used is the world's largest single-dish radio telescope and can receive signals from distant objects.
NGC 54 is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cetus. The galaxy was discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in 1886, and he defined it as "very faint, pretty small, round." The galaxy is 90,000 light years in diameter, making it slightly smaller than the Milky Way.
NGC 5640 is a spiral galaxy approximately 660 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Camelopardalis. It was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel on December 20, 1797.
NGC 3315 is a lenticular galaxy located about 185 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. It was discovered by astronomer Edward Austin on March 24, 1870. It is a member of the Hydra Cluster.
NGC 3317is a barred lenticular galaxy located about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on March 26, 1835. NGC 3316 is a member of the Hydra Cluster, and appears to have a small companion galaxy known as HCC 15.
NGC 3336 is a barred spiral galaxy located about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. It was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on March 24, 1835. NGC 3336 is a member of the Hydra Cluster.