On: Python-Based Tools for the Space Science Community

[siddboots]

Somewhat related, I just discovered PyEphem, and have been using it to pin down a time and location from the stars that appear in XKCD #1190

http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&p=3395021#...

http://rhodesmill.org/pyephem/

[maxerickson → siddboots]

I wonder if Randall Munroe also used it to calculate the positions of those stars? He has mentioned it in some other places.

(I did not wade into that 970 page thread to see if someone had already made a similar suggestion)

[siddboots → maxerickson]

If you save down one of the images and up the gamma a little, you can see a tremendous amount of detail. Far more than could practically be done by hand, and afaict, more than PyEphem has in its catalogue of "bright stars".

I suspect he used something like Stellarium and then ran the images though some filters.