About the atlas

What is Cosmic Atlas / SkyChart?

Cosmic Atlas (SkyChart) is a public, browser-based 2D interactive celestial atlas for astronomy learners, educators, and researchers who want to inspect and compare named objects in one heliocentric ecliptic map. It combines selected records and visualization layers derived from real catalogs and ephemerides—including Gaia, Hipparcos, JPL, DESI, SIMBAD, OpenNGC, eROSITA, and SDSS—and keeps source provenance visible.

The map is useful for visual orientation, education, source discovery, and comparing objects across physical scales. It is not a replacement for upstream archives, observatory planning software, or peer-reviewed quantitative analysis.

What can I explore?

Users can search, inspect, center, measure, and compare Solar System bodies, confirmed exoplanet systems, nearby and bright stars, small bodies, galaxies, quasars, X-ray sources, compact objects, and deep-sky landmarks that are present in the loaded atlas releases. Survey-scale catalogs use level-of-detail point layers, while selected objects expose bounded records and provenance.

Which catalogs and ephemerides does it use?

Catalog identifiers below are the identifiers exposed by the read-only agent API. Coverage statements describe the atlas selection, not the full upstream archive.

Additional image, frame, and classification sources

Source credits in the atlas include NASA Exoplanet Archive, SIMBAD / CDS, BASS DR2 / VizieR, OpenNGC, and JPL SSD / Horizons; the catalog ledger above links to each upstream source and states the atlas selection.

ESA / Gaia / DPAC: Gaia data are processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium. DESI DR1 records retain the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument acknowledgments. Coordinate-centered imagery can use DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys DR11, curated or DSS2 context, and a labeled all-sky AllWISE infrared field from CDS/Aladin; imagery supplies angular context and does not determine atlas distances. Dwarf-planet labels follow International Astronomical Union classifications. Reference frames and kernels use NASA's NAIF resources.

Third-party records retain their upstream licenses, citation requirements, and terms. See the project scientific data notice.

How do shared links preserve a view?

Atlas share links encode the map-plane center, zoom, epoch, selected object, display layers, and filters that the browser currently supports. Object pages at /o/<key> provide stable named-object entry points. Object-centered sky links at /sky/<observer-key> preserve a UTC epoch, camera direction, field of view, and supported sky filters. Parameters are versioned and bounded; use the documented link builder instead of inventing parameters.

How do 4K and 8K exports work?

The browser can export the current atlas view as a PNG at 3840 pixels wide (4K) or up to 8000 pixels wide (the 8K option). Export requires WebGL and enough browser and GPU memory, renders in bounded tiles, follows the viewport aspect ratio, and adds an atlas provenance footer. A successful export is a visualization, not a calibrated survey image or a substitute for publication data from the cited source archive.

Do I need an account, payment, or installation?

No. The public atlas runs in a modern browser and does not require signup, installation, or payment. Its source code is available under the MIT license at github.com/Ferdev/skychart; scientific data keep their upstream terms.

What are the limits and data-freshness caveats?

Cosmic Atlas combines snapshots, selected subsets, generated tiles, and epoch-dependent ephemerides. It does not promise live or complete coverage of an upstream catalog. Displayed density reflects selection rules, measurement quality, and level-of-detail rendering. Missing uncertainty, epoch, completeness, or distance semantics means not supplied, never zero. Follow provenance links and consult upstream archives for current measurements, uncertainty analysis, observing decisions, redistribution rights, and scientific citation.

Page reviewed: 2026-08-31.