diff --git a/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.spec.ts b/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.spec.ts
index d165b1c..b01499c 100644
--- a/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.spec.ts
@@ -211,6 +211,30 @@ describe('GalaxySystemSceneComponent camera-flight transitions', () => {
     expect(navigationStore.viewLevel()).toBe('galaxy');
   });
 
+  it('asks for no more label candidates once the last label it will show is placed', () => {
+    // Near the Sun a label candidate past the fifteenth can sit at the far end of the catalogue's
+    // brightness order, so asking for one more than is used can cost a walk of the whole order.
+    const component = fixture.componentInstance as unknown as {
+      spreadLabels(candidates: Iterable<{ id: number; name: string; x: number; y: number; z: number }>, camera: THREE.Camera, keepId: null): unknown[];
+    };
+    const camera = engine.getCamera();
+    camera.updateMatrixWorld(true);
+    camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
+    let pulled = 0;
+    const grid = function* () {
+      for (let row = 0; row < 5; row++) {
+        for (let column = 0; column < 5; column++) {
+          pulled++;
+          const point = new THREE.Vector3(-0.8 + column * 0.4, -0.8 + row * 0.4, 0.5).unproject(camera);
+          yield { id: row * 5 + column, name: `label-${pulled}`, x: point.x, y: point.y, z: point.z };
+        }
+      }
+    };
+
+    expect(component.spreadLabels(grid(), camera, null)).toHaveLength(15);
+    expect(pulled).toBe(15);
+  });
+
   it('flies the camera into a selected star system: hides the galaxy group, shows the system group, and switches to AU-scale near/far planes', async () => {
     navigationStore.selectStar(SUN.id);
     await flushAsync();
diff --git a/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.ts b/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.ts
index 63bf8a0..8b20638 100644
--- a/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/features/galaxy-system/galaxy-system-scene.component.ts
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ import { StarmapHudComponent } from './starmap-hud.component';
 import { SystemObjectCardComponent } from './system-object-card.component';
 import { colorIndexToRgb, StarFieldRenderer, starRenderBudgetFromUrl } from './star-field-renderer';
 import { collectJumpLinks, minimumRangeBetween, routeBetween } from '../../shared/astro/jump-links';
-import { brightestWithin, brightnessOrder } from '../../shared/astro/brightest';
+import { BrightnessIndex, brightestWithin, brightnessIndex } from '../../shared/astro/brightest';
 import { StarNeighbourhood } from '../../shared/astro/star-neighbourhood';
 import { MAX_JUMP_RANGE_PC } from '../hud/routes-panel.component';
 import { HostStarRings } from './host-star-rings';
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ export class GalaxySystemSceneComponent implements AfterViewInit, OnDestroy {
   /** Stars with at least one catalogued body, which are the ones the map can be flown into. */
   private starIdsWithBodies = new Set<number>();
   /** Catalogue indices, brightest first, for the labels to walk rather than sort. See `brightestWithin`. */
-  private starsByBrightness: Uint32Array = new Uint32Array(0);
+  private starsByBrightness: BrightnessIndex = brightnessIndex([]);
   /** Stars alone, normalised once, for the two routing fields. Empty until the catalogue lands. */
   private readonly starSearchIndex = signal<IndexedSearchEntry[]>([]);
   private milkyWay?: MilkyWayRenderer;
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ export class GalaxySystemSceneComponent implements AfterViewInit, OnDestroy {
     this.stars = stars;
     this.starsById = new Map(stars.map((star) => [star.id, star]));
     this.neighbourhood = new StarNeighbourhood(stars);
-    this.starsByBrightness = brightnessOrder(stars);
+    this.starsByBrightness = brightnessIndex(stars);
     this.starSearchIndex.set(
       buildSearchIndex(stars.map((star) => ({ kind: 'star' as const, name: star.name, subtitle: star.spectralType, starId: star.id })))
     );
@@ -785,8 +785,8 @@ export class GalaxySystemSceneComponent implements AfterViewInit, OnDestroy {
     // for anything with catalogued bodies: it is the one distinction the second line can draw that
     // the map cannot otherwise show, since it says which of these points is somewhere you can go.
     const starIdsWithBodies = this.starIdsWithBodies;
-    const candidates = function* (stars: readonly StarRecord[], order: Uint32Array): Generator<LabeledPoint> {
-      for (const star of brightestWithin(stars, order, target, labelRadius, selectedId)) {
+    const candidates = function* (stars: readonly StarRecord[], index: BrightnessIndex): Generator<LabeledPoint> {
+      for (const star of brightestWithin(stars, index, target, labelRadius, selectedId)) {
         yield { id: star.id, name: star.name, kind: starIdsWithBodies.has(star.id) ? 'System' : 'Star', x: star.x, y: star.y, z: star.z };
       }
     };
@@ -821,10 +821,6 @@ export class GalaxySystemSceneComponent implements AfterViewInit, OnDestroy {
     const projected = new THREE.Vector3();
 
     for (const candidate of candidates) {
-      if (chosen.length >= LABEL_MAX_COUNT) {
-        break;
-      }
-
       projected.set(candidate.x, candidate.y, candidate.z).project(camera);
       const isKept = candidate.id === keepId;
       // Offscreen or behind the camera.
@@ -851,6 +847,11 @@ export class GalaxySystemSceneComponent implements AfterViewInit, OnDestroy {
 
       placed.push(point);
       chosen.push({ ...candidate, side });
+      // Here rather than at the top of the loop: there, taking the fifteenth label asked the
+      // candidates for a sixteenth first, and near the Sun finding one walks most of the catalogue.
+      if (chosen.length >= LABEL_MAX_COUNT) {
+        break;
+      }
     }
 
     return chosen;
diff --git a/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.spec.ts b/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.spec.ts
index 7264a9f..a196160 100644
--- a/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 
-import { brightestWithin, brightnessOrder } from './brightest';
+import { brightestWithin, brightnessIndex, brightnessOrder } from './brightest';
 
 interface TestStar {
   id: number;
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ describe('brightestWithin', () => {
 
   it('yields exactly what filtering and then sorting the catalogue did, in the same order', () => {
     const stars = cloud(3000);
-    const order = brightnessOrder(stars);
+    const index = brightnessIndex(stars);
     const centre = { x: 12, y: -30, z: 5 };
 
     for (const [radius, alwaysId] of [[40, null], [15, 7 * 2999], [0, 7 * 11], [500, null]] as const) {
-      const lazy = Array.from(brightestWithin(stars, order, centre, radius, alwaysId), (star) => star.id);
+      const lazy = Array.from(brightestWithin(stars, index, centre, radius, alwaysId), (star) => star.id);
       expect(lazy).toEqual(filterThenSort(stars, centre, radius, alwaysId));
     }
   });
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ describe('brightestWithin', () => {
       { id: 2, x: 3, y: 4.001, z: 0, magnitude: 0 }
     ];
 
-    expect(Array.from(brightestWithin(stars, brightnessOrder(stars), { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }, 5, null), (star) => star.id)).toEqual([1]);
+    expect(Array.from(brightestWithin(stars, brightnessIndex(stars), { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }, 5, null), (star) => star.id)).toEqual([1]);
   });
 
   it('reads no further than the caller takes', () => {
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ describe('brightestWithin', () => {
     });
 
     const taken: number[] = [];
-    for (const star of brightestWithin(counted, brightnessOrder(stars), { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }, 1000, null)) {
+    for (const star of brightestWithin(counted, brightnessIndex(stars), { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }, 1000, null)) {
       taken.push(star.id);
       if (taken.length === 15) {
         break;
diff --git a/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.ts b/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.ts
index 9b38d04..141f916 100644
--- a/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.ts
+++ b/src/app/shared/astro/brightest.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,38 @@ export function brightnessOrder(stars: readonly BrightnessRanked[]): Uint32Array
   return Uint32Array.from(stars.keys()).sort((a, b) => stars[a].magnitude - stars[b].magnitude);
 }
 
+/**
+ * The brightness order, with each star's position and id laid out beside it in that order.
+ *
+ * A walk has to test every star it passes, and near the Sun it passes nearly all of them: a 4 pc
+ * label radius holds a few dozen stars, faint dwarfs deep in the order, so the walk rarely finds
+ * fifteen to name before the end. Reading the stars themselves in brightness order jumps all over
+ * the catalogue, and a full walk took 19-23 ms — slower than the scan and sort it replaced. Read
+ * from these arrays, laid out in the order they are walked, the same walk touches memory in
+ * sequence and reads a star only when it yields one.
+ */
+export interface BrightnessIndex {
+  /** Indices into the catalogue, brightest first. */
+  readonly order: Uint32Array;
+  /** Positions in the same order, three to a star, at full precision so a star on a radius stays on it. */
+  readonly positions: Float64Array;
+  readonly ids: Float64Array;
+}
+
+export function brightnessIndex<T extends BrightnessRanked & Positioned & { readonly id: number }>(stars: readonly T[]): BrightnessIndex {
+  const order = brightnessOrder(stars);
+  const positions = new Float64Array(order.length * 3);
+  const ids = new Float64Array(order.length);
+  order.forEach((index, at) => {
+    const star = stars[index];
+    positions[at * 3] = star.x;
+    positions[at * 3 + 1] = star.y;
+    positions[at * 3 + 2] = star.z;
+    ids[at] = star.id;
+  });
+  return { order, positions, ids };
+}
+
 /**
  * The stars within `radiusPc` of `centre`, brightest first, plus the one star `alwaysId` names
  * wherever it is — handed over lazily, so a caller that stops after the first few pays for no
@@ -34,19 +66,19 @@ export function brightnessOrder(stars: readonly BrightnessRanked[]): Uint32Array
  */
 export function* brightestWithin<T extends BrightnessRanked & Positioned & { readonly id: number }>(
   stars: readonly T[],
-  order: Uint32Array,
+  index: BrightnessIndex,
   centre: Positioned,
   radiusPc: number,
   alwaysId: number | null
 ): Generator<T> {
+  const { order, positions, ids } = index;
   const radiusSq = radiusPc * radiusPc;
-  for (const index of order) {
-    const star = stars[index];
-    const dx = star.x - centre.x;
-    const dy = star.y - centre.y;
-    const dz = star.z - centre.z;
-    if (dx * dx + dy * dy + dz * dz <= radiusSq || star.id === alwaysId) {
-      yield star;
+  for (let at = 0; at < order.length; at++) {
+    const dx = positions[at * 3] - centre.x;
+    const dy = positions[at * 3 + 1] - centre.y;
+    const dz = positions[at * 3 + 2] - centre.z;
+    if (dx * dx + dy * dy + dz * dz <= radiusSq || ids[at] === alwaysId) {
+      yield stars[order[at]];
     }
   }
 }