Use Cases

Built for everyone who looks up.

From a high school science class to a professional observatory, TheStarDB scales to fit every level of curiosity and every professional need.

🎓
Classroom Mode
Educators & Students

Bring astrophysics to life in the classroom.

Abstract concepts become concrete when students can interact with actual stellar data. Show stellar evolution by loading a main-sequence star, then a red giant, then a white dwarf - all rendered accurately in real time.

  • Visualize the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram with live renders for each star class
  • Compare spectral classes side-by-side - see why Rigel is blue and Betelgeuse is red
  • Demonstrate black hole physics without specialized software or hardware
  • Embed the STEN viewer directly into your course website or LMS
View Education Plans →
🔭
Exhibit Display
Observatories & Planetariums

Kiosk-ready, embed-ready, exhibit-ready.

TheStarDB's STEN viewer is designed to run continuously on touchscreen kiosks and exhibit displays. No app store. No install. Just open a browser - Chrome, Firefox, Safari - and it runs.

  • Full-screen Explorer mode with no distracting UI chrome
  • URL-driven object loading: /explorer.html?obj=Sgr+A*
  • Institutional plans include SLA, custom branding options, and API access
  • Link specific stars to your printed exhibits via QR codes
Talk to our team →
🌌
Tonight's Sky
Amateur Astronomers

Look up any object you can see tonight.

You see a bright point of light in Orion. With TheStarDB, you can look it up in seconds, see exactly what it looks like physically, and learn everything about it - its temperature, distance, mass, and spectral class.

  • Search 500k+ objects by name, constellation, or Bayer designation
  • Filter by magnitude to find what is visible to the naked eye tonight
  • Discover which stars host confirmed exoplanets
  • Save favorites to your personal bookmark list
Create a free account →
⚙️
REST API
Developers & Researchers

Query 500k+ stellar objects. Clean JSON. No fuss.

The TheStarDB REST API gives you full access to every object in the catalog. Filter, paginate, sort. Get full physical parameters in one call. Build your own astronomy tools on top of the most comprehensive open stellar database on the web.

  • Filter by spectral class, magnitude, distance, constellation, or type
  • Real ATNF period data for every pulsar in the catalog
  • NASA Exoplanet Archive data included for all exoplanet hosts
  • Consistent JSON schema, versioned endpoints, generous rate limits
# Search all named G-type stars within 100 light years
GET https://thestardb.org/api/v1/stars
  ?stellar_class=G&is_named=true&max_dist_ly=100

# Response
{
  "count": 14,
  "stars": [
    { "name": "Sol", "spectral_class": "G2V",
      "temperature": 5778, "dist_ly": 0.000016 },
    { "name": "Tau Ceti", "spectral_class": "G8.5V",
      "temperature": 5344, "dist_ly": 11.9 },
    ...
  ]
}
Full API docs →
Why TheStarDB

The difference is in the rendering.

Most databases give you a table of numbers. TheStarDB gives you the star itself - something students can actually see and react to.
High School Astronomy Teacher
Texas, USA
The API is genuinely the cleanest stellar data API I have worked with. Schema is consistent, pagination works, and the physical parameters are complete.
Independent Developer
Building a sky chart app
We run the Explorer in full-screen mode on two kiosks in our hall of astronomy. Visitors spend more time on those than any other exhibit.
Science Museum Curator
Pacific Northwest

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