The Universe within 250 Light Years
The Solar Neighbourhood
 Number of stars within 250 light years = 260 000 |
About the Map
This map is a plot of the 1500 most luminous stars within
250 light years. All of these stars are much more luminous than the Sun and most
of them can be seen with the naked eye. About one third of the stars visible with
the naked eye lie within 250 light years, even though this is only a tiny part of
our galaxy.
| Additional Maps |
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There are 133 stars visible with the naked eye within 50 light years of us, and here
is a map showing all of these stars. |
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This page contains some templates which you can print-out and glue together, to
create a twenty-six-sided skyglobe, showing all of the naked-eye stars in the
night-sky. |
| Data and Catalogs |
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Here is a concise diagram showing most of the different types of stars
that exist together with some basic data on sizes, masses, temperatures
etc of all the different star types. |
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All of the major types of stars have a location on the Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram which is a plot of the luminosity of stars against their colour. |
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This is a list of the 300 brightest stars together with the distances
taken from the Hipparcos catalogue. |
The Hyades Star Cluster
The Hyades cluster is the nearest major star cluster and the only one close enough
to be mapped in three dimensions. The Hyades cluster is a bright object in Taurus,
but the view is partially ruined by Aldebaran - a brilliant orange giant star that
lies in front of the cluster at less than half the distance. The cluster itself is
151 light years from us. It was formed about 660 million years ago and the cluster has
probably travelled around the Galaxy three times since then. Like most open star
clusters, the stars in the cluster are slowly moving apart.
The Hyades - a bright star cluster in Taurus
