starfield

Starfield refers to the visible distribution of stars in a region of the night sky. In astronomy, star fields are characterized by the number, brightness, colors, and apparent motions of stars within a given patch of sky. Their appearance varies with direction and wavelength; dense fields occur along the Milky Way plane, while high-latitude fields are sparser. Star fields are used to study stellar populations, Galactic structure, and extinction, as well as to calibrate instruments and verify astrometric measurements.

Large-scale surveys, such as the Gaia mission, produce precise positions, parallaxes, and proper motions for hundreds of millions of stars, enabling three-dimensional mapping of the Galaxy and detailed analyses of star clusters and tidal streams. Star-field images are influenced by telescope aperture, exposure time, atmospheric conditions, and light pollution, and are often processed to separate point sources from extended objects and to correct for optical distortions.

In popular culture, Starfield is the title of a 2023 space exploration role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios. The game uses a fictional, richly detailed starfield as a backdrop for its universe, rather than a specific astronomical catalog.