[Pegasus V]

Over the past couple of months in my spare time, I have compiled a list of the closest 300 star systems to Earth (that's 415 stars). I compliled information such as distance from Earth, spectral type, variable type, habitable zone, etc.

To download the spreadsheet go to the Download Page.

All of the data in my spreadsheet is real scientific facts current to 2002.

• The closest giant star to Earth is Procyon A (well, it's really a subgiant)
  
• The closest white dwarf to Earth is Sirius B
• The closest white dwarf that's in a system of its own to Earth is van Maanen's Star
• The closest Sun-like star to Sol is in the closest star star system to Sol - Alpha Centauri
• The second closest Sun-like star to Sol is Tau Ceti
• Altair spins so fast that it's an oblate spheroid (bulges out toward the equator)
• The closest 4-star system to Earth is Gliese 338
• The closest Bright Giant to Earth is Pollux
• The closest Red Giant to Earth is Arcturus

[Tiara]

Meh, download Celestia!

[CP5670]

Some very interesting stuff here...

The closest giant star to Earth is Procyon A (well, it's really a subgiant)

This one is important for my purposes, since my FS2 campaign primarily takes place here.

Altair spins so fast that it's an oblate spheroid (bulges out toward the equator)

Is this a neutron star? Those spin around quite fast, over 6000 revolutions per second.

[Ulundel]

Wow, impressive work.
I dunno but all things I've heard today remids me the stupid "Gotta collect em' all" (don't ask)

[wEvil]

but what about Polaris??

Is there anything out there that gives a good spacial representation of known galactic clusters, BTW?

[Zeronet]

Cant remember the name, but theres a prog talked about months back that lets you explore the galaxy. I put on constellations, few to another star and they all turned into a big mess of lines that went everywhere

[Tiara]

Originally posted by Tiara
Meh, download Celestia!

With this program you can explore space. hundreds of stars...etc...

[Kazashi]

Celestia was discussed a while ago here, (at least, that's when I found it) and continues to be a very impressive program. I urge everyone to at least try it out

Altair's a regular star, that just happens to have a fast rotation period. The closest neutron star is on the order of 200 light years away, with the rather elegant name of RX J185635-3754. Though this might have changed recently and would need further searching, and as neutron stars go, it spins rather slowly and doesn't emit enormous amounts of radio waves.

IIRC, Polaris is the closest known cephied variable, sitting over 600 ly away. Last I checked, it was still too far away to judge its distance accurately by means of parallax, so they used the timing of its periods.

[CP5670]

Has there been a (reasonably) accurate calculation for the distance to the Cygnus X-1 xray source? (very likely a black hole)

[Tiara]

Cygnus X-1 was discovered as an X-ray source 30 years ago. This binary system, distant of 2.5 kpc, consists of the O9.7 Iab type supergiant HDE 226868 and a compact object orbiting around with a period of 5.6 days.

Many of the spectral features have been also found in the spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei . Both in the case of the Cygnus X-1 and an AGN an X-ray emission seems to origin from the accretion onto black hole. We observe a power-law intrinsic spectrum, a disk reflection feature and an iron line. We are convinced that research on this "miniature AGN" can turn out a significant contribution to the understanding of AGNs.

[Carl]

Originally posted by CP5670
Is this a neutron star? Those spin around quite fast, over 6000 revolutions per second.

yeah, but it wouldn't bulge out because it'd be too dense.

[Levyathan]

Originally posted by Pegasus V
.

• The second closest Sun-like star to Earth is Tau Ceti

[/B]

Oh my God, we're all screwed!

[an0n]

Originally posted by Levyathan
Oh my God, we're all screwed!

Firstly: *smack* Melodrama is still drama. Save it for Warpstorm
Secondly: *smack*
Thirdly: Yes, he's wrong, we know he's wrong. Shush
Fourthly: *smack*
Fifthly: *nukes Greenland*

[Pegasus V]

Originally posted by Tiara
Meh, download Celestia!

That's an excellent program. But this spreadsheet gets rid of the visual and makes use of the practical.

Originally posted by wEvil
but what about Polaris??

What about Polaris?

Originally posted by CP5670
Has there been a (reasonably) accurate calculation for the distance to the Cygnus X-1 xray source? (very likely a black hole)

As of 9-October-1999 this system is calculated to be 7200 light-years away.

Professor Roger M. Wilcox says:
No anthology of popular science-fiction stars would be complete without the first suspected black hole to be discovered._ The name Cygnus X-1 properly only refers to the B star of this pair, as it's the X-ray source. The "diameter" of Cygnus X-1 (72 kilometres) is actually twice its Schwarzchild Radius, the distance from the center of a black hole at which its escape velocity equals the speed of light (also called the Event Horizon). The less interesting A star is a rotating ellipsoidal variable, perhaps in part due to its close proximity to its small-but-massive companion.

Originally posted by Tiara
...O9.7 Iab type supergiant...

Sorry, but it's actually a B0Ib star, which is a bright blue-white supergiant (a very, very big, hot star).

[CP5670]

Very interesting; thanks for the information. But the object is only the same size as its Schwarzschild radius? What if you could somehow go inside that radius (just hypothetically thinking), would it not be a single point of zero volume from that frame of reference? I have heard that after an object collapses to its Schwarzschild radius, it condenses to a mathematical singularity in less than a nanosecond.

I don't know any physics so I could be babbling nonsense, but I was just wondering.

yeah, but it wouldn't bulge out because it'd be too dense.

Still, there would still be a slight (but noticeable) oblateness. (the intense gravity and surface pressure are balanced out by the equally intense angular momentum )