The 3-D Visualization of Star Distribution Based on UCAC2 Catalog

The UCAC2 (The Second U.S. Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog) is a high density, highly accurate, astrometric catalog of 48,330,571 stars covering the sky from -90 to +40 degrees in declination and going up to +52 degrees in some areas. It is a free star database that can be shared all over the world for astronomers and stargazers to do various research work, such as photometric calibration, orientation correction, asteroid detection, and so on. For statistic and intuitionistic purpose, it is necessary sometimes to locate and show the dedicated stars in the molded celestial sphere. This paper designs and implements a 3-D star distribution visualization system. Any stars meeting the given criteria, such as right ascension scope and declination scope and magnitude threshold, will be displayed on the 3-D celestial sphere, and related information of stars can be obtained interactively. In this way, a convenient tool will be provided for astronomical researchers.