The Sky Over the Current SETI Net Station

for the Current Sky Map

Cas - Cassiopeia Cyg - Cygnus the swan Phe - Phoenix And - Andromeda daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia Pcs - Pisces fishes Scl - Sculptor Cet - Cetus the sea monster Hyi - Hydurs lesser water snake Hor - Horologium pendulum clock Per - Perseus Eri - Eridanus river Ret - Reticulum the eyepiece Men - Mensa the table maountain Dor - Dorado the gold fish Cae - Caelum the chisel Tau - Taurus the bull Aur - Auriga the charioteer Lep - Lepus the hare Ori - Orion Cam - Camelopardalis the giraffe Col - Columba the dove Gen - Gemini the twins Pic - Pictor the easel CMi - Canis Minor the lesser dog Lyn - Lynx Pup - Puppis the poop deck Pyx - Pyxis the compass Cnc - Cancer the crab Vel - Vela the sails Vol - Volans flying fish Car - Carina the keel Cha - Chamaeleon Mus - Musca the fly Mon - Monoceros the unicorn CMa - Canis Major big dog Ari - Aries the ram Tri - Triangulum (triangle) For - Fornax brazier Cen - Centaurus (centaur) Ant - Antlia the air pump Hya - Hydra Cvr - Corvus the crow Leo - Leo the lion Com - Coma Berenices her hair CVn - Canes Venatici hunting dogs LMi - Leo Minor lesser lion UMa - Ursa Major great bear Cir - Circinus the compass Vir - Virgo the virgin Lup - Lupus the wolf Lib - Libra balance beam Ser - Serpens the snake Boo - Bootes the herdsman CrB - Corona Borealis northern crown UMi - Ursa Minor lesser bear Aps - Apus bird of paradise Tri - Triangulum Australe southern triamgle Nor - Norma carpenter's level Ara - Ara the alter Sco - Scorpius the scorpion Oph Ophiuchus the serpent bearer Her - Hercules Dra - Draco the dragon Lyr - Lyra the harp Sct - Scutum the shield Sgr - Sagittarius the archer Pav - Pavo Tel - telescopium CrA - Corona Australi Aql - Aquila the eagle Sge - Sagitta the archer Del - Delphinus dolphin Vul - Vulpecula the fox Equ - Equuleus the pony Oct - Octans octant Ind - Indus the American Indian Mic - Microscopium microscope Tuc - Tucana Gru - Gurs the crain PsA - Piscis Austrinus southern fish Aqr - Aquarius the water bearer Peg - Pegasus winged horse Lac - Lacerta the lizard Cep - Cepheus Cap - Capricorus the sea goat Sex - Sextans

Symbology:

  • White Curve - The local horizon
  • Blue Band - The Milky Way
  • White Spike - Antenna Stop
  • Constellations - 3 letter abbreviation
  • 'X' - The Current Target location
  • 'O' - The Current Antenna location
  • L4/L5 - Lagrange points. You cannot click on these
  • 22h - Hours of Right Ascension (0 to 23)
  • +30 - Degrees of Declination (-90 to +90)
  • Mercator Projection - Type of map

Local Horizon:

This curve represents the horizon at SETI Net. Everything above the line is visible to the station. Targets below the line cannot be pointed at.

During the day (and the night) this curve moves across the display, from right to left, showing which targets are viewable. Its shape and position are calculated by the station and displayed here in real time during operation.

To see why it is curved follow "Mercator Projection" below..

Make sure to see the latest position by refreshing your browser

The Milky Way

This Milky Way is our home. It contains roughly 300,000,000,000 stars. Current estimates of planets around those stars is about 1,500,000,000,000 and about ten percent of these in the "Goldly Locks Zone".

Antenna Stop

The Azimuth rotor has a mechanical stop that shuts down the motor when reached from either direction.

The width of the stop shows up as a large vertical spike that moves along with the local horizon curve.

Constellation Abbreviations

There are 89 constellations used by SETI Net. You can see the complete list here:

Current Target

The white "+" sign is the current location being searched.

It is rather hard to find and will be on top of the "O" sign of the antenna when the system is tracking.

Antenna Location

The white "O" sign is the current antenna location. It's diameter represents the Half Power Beam Width (HPBW). HPBW is calculated from the antenna size and the current receiving frequency. Normally its about 3.5 degrees.

The size of the "O" changes depending on position on the map. The HPBW stays the same but the Mercator Projection distorts the symbol.

When the antenna is locked and tracking a target the 'O' and the 'X' over lay each other and produce a bulls eye.

Lagrange Points L4 and L5

The Lagrange points are a special search area watched closley by SETI Net.

The two symbols do not follow the local horizon line because there locations are calculated from the position of the Sun.

You may click here to learn more about these two facinating points.

Right Ascension (hours)

Hours of right ascension are *nearly* the same as the normal 24 hours in a day they are, however, sidereal hours.

The white boxes in the center of the map go from zero (far right) to 23 (far left) for a total of 24 hours.

Declination (degrees)

Degrees of declination correspond to the up/down movement of the antenna.

DEC goes from -90 to +90 degrees as marked by the white boxes in the center of the map.

Mercator Projection

This figure is a Mercator Projection map of the heavens. A map like this is easer to calculate the various positions but it does distort the actual distances between items on the map.