Stellar map of the near galactic environment, comprising the 2000 brightest stars (absolute magnitude below -1) located less than 500 pc away from the sun, after measurements by Hipparcos (HIP2 catalog), seen from outside the galaxy 1500 pc away. The observer is moving along 90° galactic longitude, from latitude 0° (plane of the galactic disk, "edge-on" view) to latitude 90° (facing the galactic disk, "face-on" view). The galactic center would be 8000 pc on the right. The Sun is symbolized by the blue dot. The local Orion Arm is materialized by a rough stream of bright stars on an axis slightly tilted from the vertical, for a face-on view. Gould's Belt is the name given to the incomplete ring of bright stars around the less dense solar neighborhood. The closest red star to the Sun is Betelgeuse.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Kilohn_limahn" title="User:Kilohn limahn">Kilohn limahn</a>
CC BY-SA 4.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>