Just got Celestia, but wondering..

[Woot]

Hi, im new to this forum and i just got Celestia yesterday and today i downloaded the star database version 2.1c and after hours of exploring the universe, i just wonder if all of it is real? like the position of stars and distances, did someone take real information from telescopes and databases and map out evey star one by one, or is it just fake made up stars?, am i actually seeing a actual tiny 3D model of a part of the universe?.

[ElChristou]

Don't know about version 2.1c but from what I know the Celestia databases are from real data, no fake stuff here.

[selden]

Celestia v1.5.1 uses the original Hipparcos database plus some corrections. Its positions are correct to a few milli-arc-seconds. Accuracy of distances varies. In general, more distant stars have less accurate distances.

Celestia v1.6 will use the updated Hipparcos database released earlier this year. Its distance estimates are better.

[Reiko]

I don't know how real that star.dat download is from the mother lode but there are errors. Sometimes you will come across stars sitting right next to each other that shouldn't be.