hi!

I am in the process of trying to take local space (up to 250 light-years,
300 to 500 light-years would be great) and make a 2D or 3D "map" of it.

I have a nice spreadsheet of stars out to 150 light years, and they've
actually converted the Right Ascension and Declination to an X, Y & Z
cartesian cooridinate system with Earth/Sol as 0,0,0.

I have a java applet for the internet/web browser that, if given the x, y, &
z coordinates, it will display the points/stars. That's why I need to be
able to convert RA and DEC to x,y,&z.

Can someone point me to such a database/spreadsheet online, or to a souce
where I can buy it in electronic format?

If someone could also point me in the right direction to a formula to
convert RA and DEC to a cartesian X, Y & Z cooridnate system, I'd also be
forever in your debt.

Thanking you...

-Lucy

lucyh at dhimaging dot com dot au