Renaming stars

[PlutonianEmpire]

A while back, I attempted to upload a patch for my Delta Trianguli addon on the ML, but was rejected, and one of the reasons they stated was a concern about my attempt to replace the spectbins.stc file in the data directory. The reason I attempted that was a previous rejection letter indicated that editing files in text editors is pretty much prohibited for addons on the ML, but that's another story.

Anyways, the reason for their concern about replacing spectbins.stc was that I was adding fictitious names to the stars. The problem is, if I do it just the old fashioned way, a modify or replace declaration in a separate .stc in the extras directory, the fictitious names for the stars don't appear when I toggle the star labels with the "B" key, and instead show whichever names come up first in the name lines.

So, my question is, might it be possible to implement a way to allow Celestia to display the fictitious labels given to real stars in "extras/<addon>.stc" when labels are toggled, without having to manually edit the existing .stc files in Celestia/data?

[selden]

To rename a star, the method I use is to completely replace its definition, using its HIP number. The name you want to show up as the star's label should be first in the new list of its names.

e.g. to rename DEL Tri, you could use an STC file similar to the one below, although with correct position information. You'll also have to provide appropriate definitions for its members.

Code: Select all

Barycenter 10644 "Renamed:DEL Tri"
{ RA 0
  Dec 0
  Distance 100
}



I hope this helps a little.

[PlutonianEmpire]

To rename a star, the method I use is to completely replace its definition, using its HIP number. The name you want to show up as the star's label should be first in the new list of its names.

e.g. to rename DEL Tri, you could use an STC file similar to the one below, although with correct position information. You'll also have to provide appropriate definitions for its members.

Code: Select all

Barycenter 10644 "Renamed:DEL Tri"
{ RA 0
  Dec 0
  Distance 100
}



I hope this helps a little.

Yep, I double checked this method, and while it works for the main "body", the barycenter in this case, I've yet to figure out a way to make the names I want to use to appear for the stars themselves, when I hit "B", since they're not using HIP numbers, which right now forces me to re-write spectbins.stc for my names to appear on the labels of the visible stars.

[selden]

Unfortunately, this is a case a Delete editing declaration would help a lot so previous star definitions could be eliminated.

The best I've come up with is to use primary names for the stars with lots of spaces (or maybe underscores) at the beginning for display purposes, and include the name again without a prefix so you can use it for selection purposes. It makes the HUD display of the star's names rather ugly, though. Sorry.

Code: Select all

 Barycenter 10644 "MyBarycenter:DEL Tri:8 Tri:GJ 92:ADS 1739 A:CCDM J02170+3414A"
 {
     RA        34.260073
     Dec       34.224830
     Distance  35.173838
 }
 
 "               MyStarname A:MyStarname A:DEL Tri A:8 Tri A:GJ 92 A:ADS 1739 Aa:CCDM J02170+3414Aa"
 {
     OrbitBarycenter "DEL Tri"
     SpectralType    "G0V"                                           
     AppMag          4.87                                             
 
     EllipticalOrbit {
         Period               0.027
         SemiMajorAxis        0.036 # mass ratio 0.20 : 0.20
         Eccentricity         0.011
         Inclination         56.714
         AscendingNode      122.736
         ArgOfPericenter     28.474
         MeanAnomaly          7.270
     }
 }

 "               MyStarname B:MyStarname B:DEL Tri B:8 Tri B:GJ 92 B:ADS 1739 Ab:CCDM J02170+3414Ab"
 {
     OrbitBarycenter "DEL Tri"
     SpectralType    "G0V"    # lacking, used HIP data of the entire system!
     AppMag          6.87     # mentioned in D.Pourbaix's paper (discussion)
 
     EllipticalOrbit {
         Period               0.027
         SemiMajorAxis        0.036 # mass ratio 0.20 : 0.20
         Eccentricity         0.011
         Inclination         56.714
         AscendingNode      122.736
         ArgOfPericenter    208.474
         MeanAnomaly          7.270
     }
 }