Gaia DR3
36 909 365
G ≤ 15Sources with G ≤ 15 available on demand. ESA · Gaia DPAC · CDS/VizieR.
Gaia DR3 →The sky catalogues.
One sky, many references.
Understand object names, trace their sources and choose the catalogues in your planetarium.
Open the planetarium →The counts cannot be added together.
One star may have HIP, TYC, HD and Gaia identifiers. Messier, NGC and IC mainly describe galaxies, nebulae and clusters: a cluster entry does not list all its individual stars. Survey sources are not all confirmed stars.
One star may have HIP, TYC, HD and Gaia identifiers. Messier, NGC and IC mainly describe galaxies, nebulae and clusters: a cluster entry does not list all its individual stars. Survey sources are not all confirmed stars.
Individual stars
Hipparcos · HIP
118 218
ESA · CDS/VizieR5,044 bright stars included, to V ≈ 6.
Explore →Tycho-2 · TYC
2 539 913
Høg et al. · mission ESA Hipparcos · CDS/VizieR930,327 stars to estimated V ≤ 11, loaded by sky region and magnitude.
Explore →Deep sky and Solar system
Messier · M
110
Charles Messier · Pierre Méchain · UniversumGalaxies, nebulae and clusters. All 110 entries and their images are included.
Explore →NGC
7 840
Historical catalogues by J. L. E. Dreyer; current data maintained by Mattia Verga / OpenNGC and also distributed by CDS.7,840 historical numbers; 8,373 OpenNGC entries including components and cross-references.
Explore →IC I & II
5 386
Historical catalogues by J. L. E. Dreyer; current data maintained by Mattia Verga / OpenNGC and also distributed by CDS.5,386 historical numbers; 5,597 OpenNGC entries. Duplicates and unconfirmed objects do not create additional targets.
Explore →Solar system
8 + ☉ + ☾
Universum · Astronomy Engine8 planets in the atlas; from Earth the planetarium displays the Sun, Moon and the other 7 planets. This group is not a stellar catalogue.
Explore →The 88 constellations
88
International Astronomical Union (IAU) · official boundaries; display geometry from d3-celestial.88 regions of the celestial sphere, rather than 88 physical objects. Lines, boundaries and names can be toggled in the planetarium.
Explore →UNI · Universum
Our common registry assigns a stable identifier to each included object and retains its source identifiers. One entry can belong to several catalogues: confirmed matches are merged, distinct components remain separate.
Explore →A sky revealed by zooming.
All catalogues start enabled. Choose them in the Catalogues planetarium tab. The limit gradually increases from magnitude 6 in a wide view to 15 at high zoom, capped by your magnitude slider. Natural lighting and ground settings still affect visibility. Deep-sky markers also become denser as you zoom; markers do not imply naked-eye visibility.
Explore further
This guide presents major references. The CDS VizieR service provides access to many more specialist catalogues.
| Catalogue / edition | Original catalogue size | Origin and archive | In Universum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaia DR3 ↗ | 1 811 709 771 sources | ESA · Gaia DPAC · ESA archive | Online Gaia DR3 layer: all sources with G ≤ 15, loaded by region. |
| Bright Star Catalogue · HR · V/50 ↗ | 9 110 | Yale University Observatory · CDS | Reference only · not loaded in the planetarium. |
| Henry Draper + Extension · HD/HDE ↗ | 272 150 | Harvard College Observatory · CDS | Reference only · not loaded in the planetarium. |
| UCAC4 ↗ | 113 780 093 | US Naval Observatory · CDS | Reference only · not loaded in the planetarium. |
Sources and licences
Source licences remain in force. UNI does not replace the rights of the source catalogues. Tycho-2 and Hipparcos: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO, requiring attribution and non-commercial use. OpenNGC: CC BY-SA 4.0. Commercial distribution needs a separate assessment.
Tycho-2 · Høg et al. 2000 · Hipparcos · ESA 1997 · OpenNGC · Mattia Verga · CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO · CC BY-SA 4.0