Charting the Stars

Some reason G+ discussion last week got into resources for real world star maps for science fiction gaming. Not everyone will find this necessary, and still fewer will be concerned with "accurate" habitable systems and planets, but for those that are here are some links I've found useful:

The Internet Stellar Database allows to to search for a star and find out its various catalog names, spectral data, coordinates, and distance from Sol. Very handy.

If you're interested in calculating the habitable zone around a star, this page is a quick and (relatively) easy reference. Sol Station has got that calculated for you for many stars and has some decent online star maps.

Maybe you want someone else to put in a lot of the work for you. Winchell Chung makes great real world star maps and you can purchase in print on demand a few varieties here at the aptly named 3-D Star Maps.

I haven't presented a map of the Strange Stars yet, but I intend to do so eventually. I will reveal a few of the modern designations of some of the locations I've already written about:

• The green ssraad, as mentioned in the post about them live around the white main sequence star Sirius A. The blue ssraad call the white dwarf Sirius B home.
• The Library of Atoz-Theln is in the Lalande 25372 system. Its primary is a red main sequence dwarf (M1.5 Ve).
• Gogmagog, the site of giant robot battles, orbits β Comae Berenices, a yellow main sequence dwarf some 9.13 parsecs from Sol.
• Aygo, the homeworld of the inverterbrate zhmun, and its co-orbital world of Erg are in the 82 Eridani system--which also has 3 super-earths we already know about.