Titan Skies
Scripts for Stellarium
1 File
1) Jupiter - Events from Titan.ssc
Version 2.0
Date: 2/24/2013
Stellarium 12.0
New in Version 2.0
- Works with Stellarium Version 0.12.0
- Unfortunately in Version
0.12.0 of Stellarium when the event portion is running you have also hold down
the Alt key when pressing - = [ or ] to switch between events. Yes this is lame,
but it is a limitation of Stellarium 0.12.0. I hope it is fixed in future
versions so I can change it back.
New in Version 1.2
- Fixed Some errors
New in Version 1.1
- Flagged Jupiter orbit
- Fixed Degree Sign
- Improved FAQ
Instructions:
1) Download file
2) Extract the file into script directory
3) Run Stellarium
4) Open script
5) Run file
6) Up comes the title screen/main menu. Jupiter is displayed big on a purple background. There's a list of events to choose from running down on the right side of the screen. There is a red arrow --> pointing to the top event - "Everything".
7) If you want to see only a specific type of events you press = or – to move the arrow up or down next to the type of event.
8) When the arrow is next to the type of events you want you press either [ for keypress mode or ] for screensaver mode
9) The purple background goes away and it becomes black and it zooms out to 37° and the 1st event displays. There should be the name of event displayed in green top center of the screen and bottom left with Magnitude & Elongation also displayed. The directions are displayed in red center right.
10) Unfortunately in Version 0.12.0 of Stellarium when the event portion is running you have to use the Alt key when pressing - = [ or ] to switch between events.
11) If you chose keypress mode you press Alt = or Alt – to go to the next/previous event, if you chose screensaver mode after 3 seconds the next event will automatically display. To avoid cluttering the screen the directions are only displayed on the 1st event then go away for following events.
11) Pressing Alt ] will stop the script and return you to the title screen/main menu in step 6.
Instead of the - = [ ] keys I would prefer to use the arrow keys, enter and the spacebar instead or even better I would love to use the mouse to select the events like 99.9% of every other program out there since 1990, but unfortunately I limited by the current script engine and have to use these keys.
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There are two modes to select Key Press Mode and Screensaver Mode
Key press mode, the conjunction will display until you press one of the + - [ ] keys
Screen Saver Mode the script will behave LIKE a screensaver.
Keyword LIKE, it doesn't work exactly like a screensaver,
When you select screensaver mode, up will pop the 1st event, the program will hold for 3 seconds (This is the default time, you can edit this time in the script file if you wish) and then go to the next conjunction and again hold for 3 seconds and then the next conjunction and on and on.
To leave the screen saver, unlike "real" screensavers pressing any key or moving the mouse will not cause the screensaver to end, with these scripts only changing the date by pressing the dates keys will cause the screensaver to end.
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All these scripts will start at the next up coming event.
For example Jupiter events script file, if you select everything
On
1/1/2013 it should start with the next event which is the Greatest Brilliancy on
10/08/2013
On 10/08/2013 it should still start with the Greatest Brilliancy
on 10/08/2013
But on 10/09/2013 the program will then start with the next
event which is the Jupiter - Aldebaran conjunction on 11/6/2014
If you want to start on a different date, just adjust the date to where you want to start in the main menu
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Description:
1) Jupiter Events from Titan.ssc
Script will display the selected planet's (currently Jupiter ) events from Saturn's moon Titan like Greatest Elongations, Greatest Brilliancies, Start and Stop Retrograde, CoQuadratures, Superior and Inferior Conjunctions, Top & bottom of Zodiac, equator crossings, conjunctions of bright stars and outer planets and more.
The script will show what Jupiter will looks like from longitude 108.4W and latitude 30.2N. Longitude 108.4W was chosen because Saturn is always in the evening western sky at that longitude and Jupiter can dance around it. Though surprisingly visible night time Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions are quite rare on Titan.
The script shows the best time at night to view Jupiter closest to the event. However being that 1 day on Titan last 15.9 days the best time to view Jupiter may be up to 8 days before or after the event.
The Magnitude & Elongation shown are at the time of the event, not the viewing time
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Coquadrature: Jupiter and Saturn are at a right angle to each other from the sun. It's essentially the border when Jupiter and Saturn or on the same or opposite side on the sun.
Elongation: The separation in degrees between the planet and sun. Jupiter's greatest elongation from Titan ranges from 29.6° to 36.8°
Greatest Brilliancy: When the planet is brightest. From Titan Jupiter Greatest Brilliancy doesn't always work the same way Venus' Greatest Brilliancy works here on Earth. Due to the eccentricity of Jupiter and Saturn's orbits, unlike with Venus on Earth where Venus' Greatest Brilliancy always occurs about a month before (mornings) or after (evenings) it's Greatest Elongation, Jupiter is much more variable. Jupiter's greatest brilliancy can occur before or after it's Greatest Elongation both mornings & evenings and at varying times.
Sometimes Jupiter doesn't technically have a Greatest Brilliancy, it's brightest during Superior Conjunction and dims consistently right up until it's Inferior Conjunction or the reverse, that is Jupiter is dimmest during Inferior Conjunction and consistently brightens up to Superior Conjunction. When this happens I use Jupiter when it's at 18° Elongation from the sun as it's Greatest Brilliancy. The reason I chose 18° is because that's when Jupiter will be either visible for the first or last time after Astronomical Twilight (Of course assuming dusk & dawn work the same way on Titan as it does here on Earth).
Magnitude: The brightness of the planet. Depending on what source you use, magnitude values vary widely. I use the JPL and my calculations for Jupiter seem to come close to Stellarium's with some minor differences.
Retrograde Motions: These were a &#*! to calculate. Jupiter from Titan goes through constant retrograde motions as Titan goes around Saturn. Separating the "true" start and stop of retrograde motion was a pain but I someone wrote another script to produce the accurate values.
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No I didn't type all these years and times out. I wrote computer programs
based on Paul Schlyter's work at
http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/comp/ppcomp.html
which produced all these values.
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My dates I calculated do seem to match other dates from a wide variety of sources, but I make no guarantee on accuracy.
I'm sure accuracy decreases the further back or forward in time any given
script goes.
I can be emailed at qam1@aol.com