Comets into Stellarium

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by Liz

thanks guys, no tried all that.
Nothing for comet/2p/encke?

Hi Liz

Your picture shows that you don't have the "new" ssystem.ini file where it should be.

1. Download the ssystem.txt file I posted a few threads back.
2. Rename it ssystem.ini
3. Start stellarium normally.
Press F1 (help window), click on log
The first entry will show where the stellarium user file is
in my case J:\documents and settings\barry\application data\stellarium\log.txt
This will show exactly where the stellarium user files are.
3. Open Documents and settings and navigate to the stellarium folder. Don't forget application data is a hidden file. Make it visible from the Windows tools menu.- folder options - view (untick view hidden files)
There may or may not be a folder "data" if not create one.
4. Copy the new ssystem.ini into this folder
close stellarium
5. From the user area you have now found open the config.ini file (with wordpad). Look for the sub heading [astro] and locate flag_planets_hints and make it "true"

6. Start stellarium and open the menu F4 to see labels and markers planets. Drag the slider to at least the middle.

7. Open search window F3 and enter 2P/Encke

If this does not work PM me

Barry





your

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

I have one I will attach but it needs some extra textures for best use. Rename it ssystem.ini and use it to replace the existing one. eg add it to Documents and settings\yourname\application data\stellarium\data. In this position it will override the default in the main stellarium\data folder

Great, thanks Barry. I now have the Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope included!

[Liz]

Have severe headache coming on .. information overload.

Ended up emailing eric the ssytem folder, and he popped it in, easy!!
Bit worried that I wouldnt be able to put it back in, and it said access denied again, but I must have forced it in, cos its there, as is Encke!!

Many thanks Everyone for your help and patience, youre a great lot.

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by erick

Great, thanks Barry. I now have the Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope included!

Hi Erik

Don't be too impressed by Hubble and ISS they are only simulations that look good orbiting the earth when viewed from the moon. The accuracy is poor because the comet algorithm in stellarium is not suitable for fast near earth objects.

To get the extra textures to complete the display for that new ssystem.ini try:

http://sarcasmogerdes.dyndns.org/ste...iumtexture.ZIP

in about 20 minutes after I put it there.
Barry

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

All this f**ting around to achieve what should be automatic!

It's like buying a brand new shiny car and having to carry around a screw driver and a hammer to get fuel into it!

Sorry Barry, but that's how it seems to me, great programme visually, but the wheels wobble a bit every third revolution!

Cheers
Chris

[erick (Eric)]

Chris - it's free.

Thanks Barry, I have the textures installed.

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Originally Posted by erick

Chris - it's free.

I know Eric, I just reckon that this good program could be better, if issues like comet data/updates were fixed, rather than working on the next 'coat of paint'.

The car analogy applies, looks great, but it's a bugger to drive!

Cheers
Chris

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

All this f**ting around to achieve what should be automatic!

It's like buying a brand new shiny car and having to carry around a screw driver and a hammer to get fuel into it!

Sorry Barry, but that's how it seems to me, great programme visually, but the wheels wobble a bit every third revolution!

Cheers
Chris

Now come on Chris. It not that bad. If you want to use the car anaolgy its more like buying a new car and then finding you need to put petrol in it! Incidently in my old car I find the most useful tool is a hammer. A little knocking in the right place rejuvenates the starter!

I started in computers years ago because like you I did not understand them so I taught myself because I was not going to let a bit of junk beat me!

I have progressed a little since then but I still can't program in the modern graphics languages.

Baz

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

I know Barry, I drive an old car too! Maybe I overstate things now and then!

Stellarium is not an old car though, it's a good looking program with lots of good features.
Just needs the basics, like comet data downloads, to be simple.
I don't think that's a big ask?

I think I've said this before re Stellarium, updating .ini files with text editors went out with the DOS command line.

In Carte du Ciel, I just click on Setup, Solar System, Comets, and then click the download button. Couldn't be much simpler!

When you look at the trouble/headaches Liz has had getting comets to display in Stellarium, don't you wish there was an easier way?

Cheers
Chris

[Barrykgerdes]

There you are Chris. I have tried to run cartes de ciel a number of times but I can never make much sense out of it. I had trouble even making it display stars. But many swear by it.

I use Command line programing all the time. I does those things that Windows doesn't. Like most of the computer gurus from my era We were brought up on DOS (or CPM) because it was so much easier than programming with dip switches.

Compiling stellarium is done from the command line and I access my Website via command line. If you have the latest version of stellarium and run from the start menu you are actually using a DOS type batch program (that can take modifiers) that simulates command line programing.

Barry

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

There you are Chris. I have tried to run cartes de ciel a number of times but I can never make much sense out of it. I had trouble even making it display stars. But many swear by it.

I use Command line programing all the time. I does those things that Windows doesn't. Like most of the computer gurus from my era We were brought up on DOS (or CPM) because it was so much easier than programming with dip switches.

Compiling stellarium is done from the command line and I access my Website via command line. If you have the latest version of stellarium and run from the start menu you are actually using a DOS type batch program (that can take modifiers) that simulates command line programing.

Barry

Those days are long gone Barry, and thank goodness!

You didn't answer my question though...

'When you look at the trouble/headaches Liz has had getting comets to display in Stellarium, don't you wish there was an easier way?'

Liz and many others should not have to go through this tortuous process, simply to display comets on their computer screens?


Cheers
Chris

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Liz

Have severe headache coming on .. information overload.

Ended up emailing eric the ssytem folder, and he popped it in, easy!!
Bit worried that I wouldnt be able to put it back in, and it said access denied again, but I must have forced it in, cos its there, as is Encke!!

Many thanks Everyone for your help and patience, youre a great lot.

In the settings I put up you would have to hit f3 and type "comet 2" to select it.

If you change the name line to

name = 2P/Encke Comet

you can just type "2p" and it will find it

Liz and many others should not have to go through this tortuous process, simply to display comets on their computer screens?

I've written some perl to convert the output of Horizons into the right format for Stellarium. If I could figure out the mapping of the comets.txt used by TheSky or CdC to Horizons' fields, I could do it that way.

Even if you use the batch interface to Horizons it only produces one object per emailed response, and it is a real pain to work with.

[Barrykgerdes]

Stellarium initially was not designed to show comets or many of the add-ons we now have. It is to simulate the sky as near possible on a computer screen to what you can see when look at the sky at night (unless you live in Melbourne ) It had the major planets and some of the planet moons.

It was also made to run from a script for use in planetariums. This script feature is now broken and needs to be rebuilt. This is of major concern and is a priority task. In addition the ESO contracted Fabien to develop the program to display data that they wished to display. So for three years they called the tune as to the direction of the program. See the Virgo version

Later the display algorithm was improved and it made the display of comets possible. As the program developed It was modified to do many things by means of plugins. The fact that many of the features of Stellarium like comets, telescope control, Earth satellites etc are now included is that the basic program allows plugins to be loaded as part of the main program. These plugins have been developed by various people to suit there individual requirements and included in the distributed version.

Quite a few people have sought instructions for making plug ins and the details are in the wiki but you need to be proficient in C++ to write a program.

Some day there will be many of the features regularly requested but at the moment they are waiting on someone to develop them.

Barry

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Those days are long gone Barry, and thank goodness!

You didn't answer my question though...

'When you look at the trouble/headaches Liz has had getting comets to display in Stellarium, don't you wish there was an easier way?'

Liz and many others should not have to go through this tortuous process, simply to display comets on their computer screens?


Cheers
Chris

Hi Chris
I like command line programming and I am glad it is still available. It allows much more control over your computer than Windows does.

Also I have never seen any problem in adapting data to use in any programs I write. I find it a stimulating challenge and very satisfying when it works. I can't program in C but I can in Qbasic. Qbasic does not have the graphics interface of the more modern programs but it is great for coding mathmatical algorithms, filters and conversions.

I know everyone expects things to "work out of the box" these days without any effort on their part but you can't make every variation work that way. That is why people like Andrew, Erick and I are quite happy to try to help with these little extras.

Barry

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Hi Barry,

Fair enough, for those who have some experience of doing these things.
Unfortunately, and realistically, there would be many people like Liz who struggle to get these things sorted out.
Think of the folk who run Stellarium, but don't have the help that we can get at IIS.

I too have an IT background, programming in Cobol, PLI, and SAS on IBM mainframes, Basic with the old TRS 80 at home, and most recently VBA for inventory applications in MS Excel.
I remember doing a lot of stuff with 4Dos, menu systems etc., but I'm glad to see the back of the command line.

Cheers
Chris

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Hi Barry,

I too have an IT background, programming in Cobol, PLI, and SAS on IBM mainframes, Basic with the old TRS 80 at home, and most recently VBA for inventory applications in MS Excel.
I remember doing a lot of stuff with 4Dos, menu systems etc., but I'm glad to see the back of the command line.

Cheers
Chris

hI Chris
Incidently I do not have a background in IT. In fact I did not even have any paper qualifications for my position in electronics till I decided to do the E & C. I learnt by trial and error in my occupation because they needed someone to maintain dataflex and symphony when the programmer left (without passing on his procedures). I just did it as a part time task. It was fun except when I applied for a redundancy package they said "no way" and two years later when I "took my pension" They also said "no way" and coaxed me to work part time for another two years.

Barry

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by mithrandir

If I could figure out the mapping of the comets.txt used by TheSky or CdC to Horizons' fields, I could do it that way.

Finally it works. Here are the complete set of observable comets according to http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau.../Soft00Cmt.txt.

Paste on the end of your ssystem.ini after checking for duplicates.

Barry, it's not that complex if you want to host the process somewhere.

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by mithrandir

Finally it works. Here are the complete set of observable comets according to http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau.../Soft00Cmt.txt.

Paste on the end of your ssystem.ini after checking for duplicates.

Barry, it's not that complex if you want to host the process somewhere.

Hi Andrew
Looks OK to me. I think we already have some of the comets in other files but that is of no consequence.

The file is rather large however and may slow down stellarium on some platforms However I patched it onto my standard ssystem.ini to make a new one with the planets etc (127Kb) and it worked OK FPS only dropped to 9. Filled the screen up with comets. It may be difficult for some to use unless they know the full title of the comet.

I will add the file to the web site for you and its address will be
http://sarcasmogerdes.dyndns.org/ste...ds/ssystem.zip

The file will need to be downloaded , unzipped and renamed ssystem.ini and placed in the Stellarium user data area.

PS. give me a few minutes to upload it

Barry

[Barrykgerdes]

OK Andrew
Uploaded
Try it out for me

Barry

[luigi]

I guess some people like to see the glass half empty.

I like stellarium a lot, I can´t use Cartes du Ciel for stars, it´s cryptic.

In a commercial app you wouldn´t have comets,because the interface is not ready yet. In Stellarium you have comets in a dirty way. Instead of complaining we should accept that´s better than not having comets at all.

It´s free, anything you get from it is an infinite return to your ivestment.