Patent ID: 7310578

Claim:
A star pair database for use with a database having a star catalog comprising: a reference table, wherein the reference table comprises a plurality of reference table entries, each directly or indirectly specifying a bucket, said bucket defining a plurality of memory locations in the pair catalog, for which pair catalog entries corresponding to star pairs with certain properties reside, wherein each of the plurality of reference table entries comprises a starting star pair catalog index of the associated pair catalog bucket and a number of pair records in the associated pair catalog bucket, and wherein each of the plurality of reference table entries comprises a total number of available memory locations, each capable of storing a representation of a star pair, in the associated pair catalog bucket, said reference table describing the specified locations in the star pair catalog of entries representing star pairs meeting specific criteria; and a star pair catalog containing references to pairs of stars based on the reference table and on properties of stars listed in the star database, wherein the star pair catalog comprises an ordered list of a plurality of entries, such that: each entry comprises a reference to a first star, selected from stars represented in the star catalog; each entry comprises a reference to a second star, selected from stars represented in the star catalog; an ordering of the entries is based on the value of a metric associated with each entry, where the value of the said metric may optionally be included in the entry.