Star Database Search

The Star Database tool allows you to identify and insert specific stars into the current scenario. Depending on the selected data source, you can sub-select from thousands to millions of stars based on visual magnitude, star catalog ID, common name, etc. Inserting stars into STK is useful for cases where you are interested in a relatively small number of stars (< 1000). For cases where large numbers of stars are of interest, the deck access capability may be more useful.

If you load a star using the star database tool, information for the inserted star appears on the Description page of its Basic properties.

To load one or more stars:

  1. Select one of the available star catalogs from the catalog pull-down list. The selected catalog determines the number of stars displayed. For a more detailed description of the available catalogs, refer to Construction of the STK Star Catalogs.
  2. In the Initialize From field, select (None) or one of the star collections created from the selected star catalog.
  3. You can use constraints to further define the number of stars displayed:
Constraint Description
Visual Magnitude Min/Max The minimum and/or maximum search limits for visual magnitude.
Right Ascension Min/Max The minimum and/or maximum search limits for right ascension.
Declination Min/Max The minimum and/or maximum search limits for declination.
Common Name The common name of the star.
Catalog Specific Identifier Each star catalog uses a unique primary identifier to identify stars. The Bright Star Catalogue (BSC) used the Harvard Revised (HR) number (Ex: 2491). The Hipparcos catalogs use the Hipparcos identifier which like the HR number is simply an integer (Ex: 32349). The Tycho catalogs use the Tycho identifier which is constructed of 3 parts: the Guide Star Catalog region number, the count within the region and component of the star system (Ex: 5949-2777-1).
Constellation Specify the name of the constellation in which the star is located, such as Andromeda.

Search Results

All stars that meet the search criteria are listed. The results are sorted by the catalog specific identifier by default. To sort the results by a different column, double-click the column heading. The content of the results grid may be modified including displaying additional columns by right clicking on the column header of the grid.

If there are a number of items resulting from the search, you can select one or more items in the list to be inserted into your scenario. Use the SHIFT or CTRL key to select more than one item or click Select All Results.

Defining a Constellation of Stars

You can group stars into a single unit called a constellation object. To create a constellation of stars:

  1. Select one or more stars or use the Select All Results button to identify stars to be added to the constellation.
  2. Select Create a constellation from selected stars and enter a name for the constellation.
  3. Click Insert Selected Stars to create the constellation. The constellation object is added to the object browser.