Create Star Collection
You can create a new star collection in the following ways:
Celestial properties - Go to the 3D Graphics window and open its properties. Go to the Celestial page and click , which opens the Create a Star Collection dialog box. In this dialog box, you can create a brand new collection or you can modify an existing collection. The sections below provide the details for setting parameters in this box.
Component Browser - In the Utilities menu, select Component Browser and its window will appear. On the left, select Star Collections to view the existing ones available. You can then make a duplicate of an existing collection in the list and modify the collection properties. You can also import a collection file external to STK.
Once you define a new star collection, you can select it for use in 3D graphical displays and deck access operations.
Create a Star Collection dialog box details
If you clicked to open the Create a Star Collection dialog box, you can then set the parameters described in the following sections.
Selecting a catalog and collection
Go to the Select a catalog field and select one of the star catalogs from the pull-down list. The selected catalog determines the number of stars available for display. For a more detailed description of the catalogs available to you in STK, refer to Construction of the STK Star Catalogs.
In the Initialize from field, select (None) or one of the star collections already created from the selected star catalog.
Constraints
You can use constraints to further define the number of stars displayed. If you select to start with an existing star collection, STK will display the constraints on that collection; you can then modify the collection if it is not designated as read-only (i.e., delivered with STK).
Specify a set of constraints for STK to apply to the contents of the selected star collection or catalog.
| Constraint | Description |
|---|---|
| Visual Magnitude Min/Max | Specify minimum and maximum search limits for visual magnitude. |
| Right Ascension Min/Max | Specify minimum and maximum search limits for right ascension. |
| Declination Min/Max | Specify minimum and maximum search limits for declination. |
| Common Name | Specify the common name of the star. |
| Catalog Specific Identifier | Each star catalog uses a unique primary identifier to identify stars. The Bright Star Catalogue (BSC) used the Harvard Revised (HR) number (e.g., 2491). The Hipparcos catalogs use the Hipparcos identifier, which like the HR number is simply an integer (e.g., 32349). The Tycho catalogs use the Tycho identifier, which has three parts: the Guide Star Catalog region number, the count within the region, and component of the star system. An example is 5949-2777-1. |
| Constellation | Specify the name of the constellation in which the star is located, such as Andromeda. |
Collection creation
The selection of the data source and constraints completes the definition of the collection. You can preview the content of the collection and save it for use in STK.
Click to generate a preview of the contents of the collection. You can either view a summary that provides the number of stars and the range of visual magnitudes, or you can see a listing of the stars.
In the text box next to Name, enter a name to which the currently displayed collection definition will be saved. If you use the same name as the Initialize from name, STK will only save the modified collection if it is not an STK-delivered collection.
To save the collection definition for use in STK, click .