| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Falconer
Commander
Joined: 08 Dec 2014
Posts: 316
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:25 pm Post subject: Galactic Coordinates |
 |
|
Hey, guys—
The Essential Atlas has this interesting tidbit the introductory matter:
| Quote: | GALACTIC COORDINATES
Every star system in the known galaxy (and many more that have been imaged but not properly surveyed) is located by its XYZ coordinates: X measures the system’s “east–west” location, Y measures its “north–south” location, and Z indicates its distance above or below the galactic plane.
Apprentice navigators must remember, however, that coordinates 0,0,0 (Triple Zero, in military-speak) mark the location of Coruscant, even though in galactic terms the Imperial capital is slightly northwest of the true galactic center, as well as slightly above the galactic ecliptic. (This discrepancy has irritated astrocartographers—particularly those not Core-born—for millennia.)
The Coruscant coordinates system is based on parsecs. A parsec is 3.26 light-years, with fifteen parsecs (just shy of 49 light-years) corresponding to one unit on the coordinates scale. A negative number for an X, Y, or Z coordinate indicates that the star system is west of, south of, or below Coruscant’s position.
A starship’s navicomputer contains XYZ coordinates for billions of systems and carries those coordinates to hundreds of decimal places. Galactic atlases don’t need that level of detail; coordinates are rounded up or down to the nearest whole number, and only supplied for sub-sector capitals. |
Now, it would have been VERY helpful (for gamers and for future mappers) if the Atlas had supplied some of these coordinates—any of them! But alas, no. All that was actually supplied is general grid locations (eg., K-4), which is, of course, helpful for casual use.
Luckily, there is a way to find out at least the X,Y coordinates for at least most systems. The maps in the Atlas were made by Modi, who, previous to working on that publication, ran a fan website at starwarsatlas.uw.hu. If you go to his main map, it states, “1 PIXEL = 1 GALACTIC COORDINATE = 15 PARSECS = 48,9 LIGHT-YEARS.” This, then, is clearly the genesis of the galactic coordinates system stated in the published Atlas.
So I have begun to “mine” Modi’s maps for coordinates. It’s pretty tedious, but I think it will pay off in the long run. Here are my efforts so far:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tYqJPJHZwkX-psS8D9XBHiMir9jdENErxQKU7EbqgmI/edit?usp=sharing
I thought this might interest others… Perhaps others might even be willing to join in, or have already done this. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10434
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Falconer
Commander
Joined: 08 Dec 2014
Posts: 316
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I just… for all intents and purposes… handwave the Z-axis! Ignore it. I don’t think a single map in the entire Essential Atlas takes it into account. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10434
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 11:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Falconer wrote: | | I just… for all intents and purposes… handwave the Z-axis! Ignore it. I don’t think a single map in the entire Essential Atlas takes it into account. |
I've corresponded with Jason Fry, project leader for The Essential Atlas, about some errors (that he felt really bad about), and his MO become clear. It's not that the Z-axis was completely ignored in the "reality" of the Star Wars galaxy, but it is true that he hand waved system and route placement to be conducive for two-dimensional graphical presentation for us real world humans.
This is why the inner regions of the galaxy never got sector maps, because they would necessitate layers of sectors on top of each other to add up to the correct total number of sectors in the galaxy (Republic or Empire). The inner galaxy is "deeper" so there is room for these layers, but only as you go far enough away from the center does the galaxy become "shallow" enough to have single layers of sectors.
Coruscant may be slightly above Z=0, but in reality, the galaxy's systems, especially the inner galaxy ones, would be all over the Z axis, so two system that look close together on a map could actually be very far apart.
But OK, ignore the z axis. How do you envision using the X-Y coordinates in your game? Do you envision hyperspace as just traveling directly from point to point without the use of the hyperroutes in the Atlas.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dr. Bidlo
Commander
Joined: 24 Nov 2021
Posts: 440
Location: Arizona, USA
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Whill wrote: | | This is why the inner regions of the galaxy never got sector maps, because they would necessitate layers of sectors on top of each other to add up to the correct total number of sectors in the galaxy (Republic or Empire). The inner galaxy is "deeper" so there is room for these layers, but only as you go far enough away from the center does the galaxy become "shallow" enough to have single layers of sectors. |
Huh... wouldn't the Outer Rim territories be deeper than the inner regions by many degrees? Oh yeah, the galaxy is assumed to be condensed stars clustered in the center and long thinning tendrils the father it gets from the center. I corrected myself there. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Falconer
Commander
Joined: 08 Dec 2014
Posts: 316
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Whill wrote: | | How do you envision using the X-Y coordinates in your game? Do you envision hyperspace as just traveling directly from point to point without the use of the hyperroutes in the Atlas. |
I’m not really sure what I’m going to “do” with it yet, TBH. Just been doing a deep dive into the whole question of speeds and travel times. I looked at the Astrogation Gazetteer from WEG 1e and WEG 2e and the Fact File. I worked out Timothy Zahn’s speed formula. I’ve thought about how big the Galaxy should be and how closely the stars should be positioned. I’m listening to my favorite Star Wars fiction and taking notes on transit times and trying to pick up on perceptions of distance and speed. I’m looking at every fan and published map I can get my hands on. I’m wondering how cartography can be employed effectively without losing the sense of the vastness of space. I’m crawling the five super-hyperlanes on Wookiepedia. I’m thinking about speeds in hyperspace vs. regular space, in major lanes vs. not. I’m trying to keep in mind how and where I imagined things before I started digging into the “official” versions.
So I really just have a lot more questions than answers; my creative process involves a lot of investigation and ingestion and gestation before things really start to gel. With regard to the coordinates, well, I feel like a lot of travel will involve going from planet A to planet Z, and ultimately the easiest way is going to be to just calculate the distance with the Pythagroean Theorem. If you have the coordinates, that’s easy. Maybe it’s a thing where you want to go from planet A to planet B which is along the Corellian Run and that can help you get to planet Z faster. But ultimately having those coordinates will be a lot less work and be much easier to grok than inventing an exhaustive Astrogation Gazetteer. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
