Celestial exploration support program

Abstract

A celestial exploration support program is disclosed. The program can execute, on a computing device, a hopping-path providing function that generates and provides to a user a hopping-path image in which hopping information including a hopping direction and an angular distance from a guiding star to a specific celestial object is reflected on a basic star chart image.

Description

Celestial Exploration Support Program

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for celestial observation, and particularly to a technique for assisting the exploration of celestial bodies such as nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies.

[0002] The night sky is home to thousands of celestial objects, including nebulae, clusters, and galaxies, and there are various catalogs of these objects. Well-known catalogs include the NGC (New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars), the IC (Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars), the Abell Cluster Catalog, the Herschel Catalog, the Messier Catalog, the Caldwell Catalog, and the Hickson Catalog. For reference, the NGC Catalog consists of 7,840 objects, but it also includes most other catalogs, each with a different name.

[0003] Meanwhile, the method of observing celestial objects such as nebulae, clusters, and galaxies involves directly comparing the stars visible in a star map with those in a telescope's finder. For example, when observing the Messier catalog, a user would stand next to a telescope on a dark night, turn on a red lantern, and look at the stars near the path from the star map to the Messier catalog, then look at the stars visible in the finder, and check if they match, and so on, repeatedly.

[0004] In other words, it can only be found through visual observation, which involves looking at the star chart and looking through the finder countless times to compare the shapes of the stars to see if they match. However, this visual observation cannot provide any explanation or education about 'Messier's position' to someone who is just beginning to observe the stars.

[0005] Accordingly, even beginners and amateurs will inevitably face considerable difficulties in celestial observation as they will end up repeating the observation method of 'looking at the stars and looking at the finder', just as experts did.

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method that can assist a user in celestial exploration.

[0007] A celestial navigation support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium according to an aspect of the present invention can execute a hopping path provision function on a computing device that provides a user with a hopping path image that reflects hopping information including a hopping direction and angular distance for exploring a specific celestial object from a guiding star to a basic star chart image.

[0008] The celestial navigation support program can further enable a computing device to execute a peripheral shape provision function that provides a user with a peripheral shape image that reflects one or more peripheral shape information including a peripheral shape object used as a tool for celestial navigation by connecting two or more stars among the stars in the basic star map image and a shape name assigned to the peripheral shape object, in the basic star map image.

[0009] The celestial navigation support program can further implement a celestial navigation guidance function on a computing device that provides the user with a navigation guidance image that reflects both hopping information and surrounding shape information in the basic star map image.

[0010] The present invention creates the effect of enabling a user to easily determine the location of a celestial body to be searched for, and to easily understand and search for a route to find the celestial body using a guide star as a starting point.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a celestial navigation support system according to one embodiment.

[0012] Figure 2 is an example of a basic star map image for the M1 celestial body.

[0013] Figure 3 is an example of a hopping path image for the M1 celestial body.

[0014] Figure 4 is an example of a peripheral shape image for the M1 celestial body.

[0015] Figure 5 is an example of a navigation guidance image for the M1 celestial body.

[0016] Figure 6 is an example of a wide-angle image of the M1 object.

[0017] Figure 7 is an example of a basic star map image for the object M81 or M82.

[0018] Figure 8 is an example of a hopping path image for the object M81 or M82.

[0019] Figure 9 is an example image of the surrounding features for the celestial bodies M81 or M82.

[0020] Figure 10 is an example of a navigation guidance image for the object M81 or M82.

[0021] Figure 11 is an example of a wide-angle image of the object M81 or M82.

[0022] Figures 12 to 19 are examples of user interfaces for supporting celestial exploration.

[0023] Figure 20 is an example image of checking each distance through a finder.

[0024] The aforementioned and additional aspects of the present invention will become more apparent through preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention will be described in detail below, using these embodiments, so that those skilled in the art can easily understand and reproduce the invention.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a celestial navigation support device according to one embodiment. The celestial navigation support device is a computing device that can provide a function to support the user's celestial navigation when the user actually explores a celestial body using a finder, and may be a user device or a server. That is, the function to support the user's celestial navigation may be executed and provided on the user device, or may be executed on the server and provided to the user device. This celestial navigation support device includes at least some of the components illustrated in FIG. 1. The user input / output unit (100) provides a user input interface and a user output interface. Examples of the user input interface include a touch panel and buttons, and examples of the user output interface include a display such as an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) or a TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor - Liquid Crystal Display). In addition, the touch panel and the display may be integrated into a touch screen form.

[0026] The storage unit (200) is a medium for storing commands, data, programs, etc., and may be configured to include one or more memories. In the storage unit (200), a celestial body exploration support program, which is a computer program (application) that can help a user explore celestial bodies such as nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies, may be installed and executed. In addition, the storage unit (200) may have pre-mapped and stored exploration support images for each celestial body, and the exploration support images mapped to each celestial body may include at least some of a basic star map image, a hopping path image, a surrounding shape image, a exploration guide image, and a wide-angle image. In addition, the control unit (300) may be configured to include hardware including one or more processors and an operating system. In addition, the celestial body exploration support device may include hardware and software resources essential for a personal or server computing device, such as a communication module for data communication with the outside.

[0027] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the control unit (300) includes a celestial body search support unit (400). The celestial body search support unit (400) is a software configuration that can be implemented with program code, and refers to the celestial body search support program mentioned above. The celestial body search support unit (400) is loaded and executed by one or more processors to perform functions to assist the user in celestial body search. For example, when a user specifies a celestial body to be searched from a list of celestial bodies, the celestial body search support unit (400) can provide the user with at least some of a basic star map provision function, a hopping path provision function, a surrounding shape provision function, and a celestial body search guidance function in relation to the specified celestial body, and the user can select any one of the above functions and receive the corresponding function. Alternatively, two or more functions can be selected and received simultaneously. Examples of celestial object catalogs include the NGC (New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Cluster of Stars) catalog, the IC (Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Cluster of Stars) catalog, the Abell Cluster catalog, the Herschel catalog, the Messier catalog, the Caldwell catalog, and the Hickson catalog.

[0028] Below, each function is explained, assuming that the target celestial body is Messier 1 (M1) to aid understanding.

[0029] ■ Basic saint-provided features

[0030] The celestial navigation support unit (400) provides the user with a star map image (basic star map image) in which Messier 1 (M1) is located. In other words, the basic star map image is provided to the user among the navigation support images mapped to M1. The basic star map image identifies and displays the search target celestial body and one or more guiding stars. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the search target celestial body M1 and the guiding stars 132 Tau, οTau, and ζTau are each identified and displayed.

[0031] ■ Hopping route provision function

[0032] The celestial navigation support unit (400) provides the user with hopping information for finding a specific celestial body (M1) from a single guide star by reflecting it on the basic star map image. At this time, the guide star for celestial navigation may be predetermined for each celestial body, and in the case of M1, the guide star may be zeta (ζ). In addition, the hopping information may include the hopping direction and angular distance for finding a specific celestial body (M1) from the guide star (ζ).

[0033] In one embodiment, the hopping information may be information that allows a user to directly navigate from the hopping start node, zeta (ζ), to the hopping end node, M1, with just one hop. In this regard, FIG. 3 illustrates an example hopping path image, through which a user can determine the hopping direction and angular distance for navigating from the hopping start node (point 1), zeta (ζ), to the hopping end node, M1. The hopping direction may be expressed as an arrow object, as shown in FIG. 3. In another embodiment, the hopping information may be information that allows a user to navigate to a specific celestial body through multiple hops. This will be described later.

[0034] ■ Function to provide surrounding shape

[0035] The celestial navigation support unit (400) provides the user with one or more pieces of peripheral shape information, including peripheral shape objects in which two or more stars are connected, by reflecting them on the basic star chart image. The peripheral shape information can be used as an auxiliary tool for the user's celestial navigation, and this information can include the angular distances between at least some of the stars that make up the peripheral shape objects, and can also include object shape names assigned to the peripheral shape objects.

[0036] The surrounding shape objects and their shape names can be freely created and named by the service provider. It is desirable to name them so that the shapes, such as figures, animals, and people, can be identified by connecting the stars arranged on the star map and the shapes can be easily associated with each other when searching for celestial bodies. In this regard, Fig. 4 shows an example of a surrounding shape image. Looking at Fig. 4, two surrounding shape objects can be confirmed, namely, a surrounding shape object with a shape name of “3-star ‘ㄴ’” and a surrounding shape object with a shape name of “2-star ‘ㅡ’”. Among these, the “2-star ‘ㅡ’” object is located closer to the search target celestial body, so that the user can search by referring to the “2-star ‘ㅡ’” object when finding M1 from the guide star ζTau.

[0037] ■ Celestial exploration guidance function

[0038] The celestial navigation support unit (400) reflects the aforementioned hopping information and surrounding shape information into the basic star map image and provides it to the user. Additionally, the celestial navigation support unit (400) can also reflect guide information for searching for specific celestial bodies using surrounding shape objects into the basic star map image. The guide information includes guidance text for celestial navigation and may also include other information.

[0039] In this regard, FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a navigation guidance image, and the user can use the navigation guidance image to find M1 using zeta (ζ) and the two-star 'ㅡ' object during actual observation using a finder. In particular, the user can find M1 by referring to the celestial object navigation guidance text, "Go straight 1 degree from Zeta to a point 0.5 times the angular distance of the two-star 'ㅡ'." To elaborate on the guidance text of FIG. 5, M1 can be found by going straight from ζTau by an angular distance of 1 degree and extending the two-star 'ㅡ' by 20', which is 0.5 times the angular distance of 40'. Meanwhile, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a wide-angle image when the search target celestial object is M1.

[0040] Hereinafter, a description will be given of the case where the search target celestial body is Messier 81 (M81) or Messier 82 (M82). FIGS. 7 to 11 illustrate search support images for M81 or M82. FIG. 7 shows a basic star map image, FIG. 8 shows a hopping path image, and FIG. 9 shows a surrounding shape image for the M81 or M82 celestial body. Since FIGS. 7 and 9 are not different from those described based on the premise of M1 search, a description thereof will be omitted, and a description of the hopping path provision function will be given with respect to the hopping path image of FIG. 8.

[0041] In the case of searching for M81 (or M82), direct hopping (one hop) from the guide star (h star) to M81 is not appropriate because direct search may be difficult due to reasons such as too far distance. Therefore, the celestial body search support unit (400) can provide hopping information to support searching for M81 through multiple hoppings. The hopping information at this time also includes the hopping direction and angular distance. Specifically, the guide star and one or more stars and specific celestial bodies belonging to at least one surrounding shape object may each be configured as a hopping start node, one or more hopping intermediate nodes, and a hopping end node, and may include the hopping direction and angular distance between the nodes. Referring to FIG. 8, it can be confirmed that the hopping direction and angular distance between each node are included so that multiple hoppings via the hopping intermediate nodes are performed rather than one hop from the h star, which is the hopping start node (point 1), to the M81, which is the hopping end node. Accordingly, users can refer to this hopping information and find M81 through multiple hops starting from point 1 (h star).

[0042] Next, Figure 10 illustrates a navigation guidance image, which reflects both hopping information and surrounding shape information in the basic star map image. Note that, although not illustrated in Figure 10, guidance information including celestial navigation guidance text may also be included. Figure 11 illustrates a wide-angle image.

[0043] FIGS. 12 to 19 are examples of user interface screens for supporting celestial body exploration. FIG. 12 illustrates the first screen of the celestial body exploration support unit (400), and FIGS. 13, 14, and 15 sequentially illustrate the process of specifying M1 as a search target celestial body. FIG. 16 illustrates a screen displaying a basic star chart image on the left side of the screen when a user selects “(1) Star chart_(corresponding point)”, FIG. 17 illustrates a screen displaying a surrounding shape image on the left side of the screen when a user selects “(2) Geometric shapes”, FIG. 18 illustrates a screen displaying a hopping path image on the left side of the screen when a user selects “(3) Hopping direction”, and FIG. 19 illustrates a screen displaying a navigation guide image on the left side of the screen when a user selects “(4) Hopping method”.

[0044] Meanwhile, in the present invention, the angular distance can be easily confirmed by the scale provided on the finder, as in Fig. 20, for example. Fig. 20 illustrates a celestial body visible in the finder, in which a crosshair is provided to easily capture the observation target at the center, and scale marks are marked on this crosshair at regular intervals. At this time, the interval between scale marks represents a specific angular distance, so that, for example, if one scale mark is equal to one angular distance, a celestial body at a distance of two scale marks can be easily recognized as being at two angular distances.

[0045] Meanwhile, as described above, the celestial exploration support unit can be written as a computer program, and the codes and / or code segments constituting the program can be easily inferred by a computer programmer in the relevant field. Furthermore, such a program can be stored on a computer-readable recording medium, read, and executed by a PC, thereby implementing the method for providing a photographic guide. Such a recording medium may be a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, or the like.

[0046] The present invention has been described above, focusing on preferred embodiments thereof. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in modified forms without departing from its essential characteristics. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered illustrative rather than restrictive. The scope of the present invention is set forth in the claims, not the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope equivalent thereto should be construed as being encompassed by the present invention.

[0047] [Explanation of symbols]

[0048] 100: User input / output section 200: Storage section

[0049] 300: Control Unit 400: Celestial Exploration Support Unit

Claims

1. A hopping path provision function that provides the user with a hopping path image that reflects hopping information including the hopping direction and angular distance for exploring a specific celestial body from a guiding star to a basic star chart image; A celestial exploration support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium for executing on a computing device.

2. In paragraph 1, A peripheral shape provision function that provides a user with a peripheral shape image that reflects one or more peripheral shape information including a shape name assigned to the peripheral shape object and a peripheral shape object used as a tool for celestial exploration by connecting two or more stars among the stars on the basic star image, in the basic star image; A celestial exploration support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium for further execution on the computing device.

3. In paragraph 2, A celestial navigation support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium, wherein the surrounding shape information includes angular distances between at least some stars of the surrounding shape object.

4. In paragraph 2, A celestial navigation support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium, wherein the hopping information comprises a guide star and one or more stars belonging to at least one surrounding shape object and a specific celestial body, each of which is composed of a hopping start node, one or more hopping intermediate nodes, and a hopping end node, and includes a hopping direction and an angular distance between the nodes.

5. In any one of paragraphs 1 to 4, A celestial navigation guidance function that provides users with a navigation guidance image that reflects both hopping information and surrounding shape information on the basic star image; A celestial exploration support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium for further execution on the computing device.

6. In paragraph 5, The celestial navigation guidance function is a celestial navigation support program stored on a computing device-readable recording medium that provides users with a navigation guidance image that also reflects guide information including guidance text for exploring a specific celestial body using surrounding shape information.

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