Star Chart is an astronomical data mashup that can produce accurate star positions for any time and location.
The inception of Star Chart resulted from a prior project aimed at rendering the positions of approximately 120,000 stars found in the HYG 3.0 database in three-dimensional space, with the camera location anchored at the position of the sun.
In the latest iteration, we endeavored to enable users to generate a view of the night sky from any date/time and latitude/longitude coordinates. This feature permits individuals to view the arrangement of stars at the time of their birth or identify the constellation that was overhead during a significant event.
To achieve this goal, we had to adopt planar projection techniques, and after experimenting with orthographic projection, we ultimately settled on stereographic projection, which is more prevalent in star charts.
We were able to include additional details like constellation lines and boundary regions by consulting various databases, including the Catalogue of Constellation Boundary Data (1989) for constellation boundaries and the Stellarium Github repository for constellation lines and names.
