Celestia Forums

Is it possible to simulate the view of another planet or one of its moons from a ground based telescope? Always from the same location on Earth and also at high magnification? Thanks

To go to a specific location on Earth:

• "Navigation" menu -> "Goto Object"
• Go to Earth at the latitude and longitude you want
• Press Ctrl+G to land
• Press Ctrl+F to enable alt-azimuth mode

To view a planet or other object at high magnification:

• Select the object and press T to track it (keep it centered on the screen)
• Use the , key to decrease the field of view (you can also use . to increase the field of view)

Way cool. Thanks much, Seven Spheres. In that case, I believe that the Celestia Controls file should read:

, ........ Narrow Field Of View [Shift+Up Drag]
. ........ Widen Field Of View [Shift+Down Drag]

and not:

, ........ Narrow Field Of View [Shift+Left Drag]
. ........ Widen Field Of View [Shift+Left Drag]

as it currently does. It also appears to be wrong on page 49 of the User Guide (4.2Mb) and page 48 (8.0Mb) under Mouse Functions. I gave up after trying to Shift+Left Drag, thinking that I didn't know what I was doing or something. Should have kept trying with ',' and '.', as you suggest. Shall I report that as a bug?

I notice that at max magnification, Io jiggles in the view from Earth. Is that atmospheric, zero point energy or tiny vibrations from a simulated train rolling past some miles away? Or just the limits of the algorithm?

TJackson wrote:In that case, I believe that the Celestia Controls file should read:

, ........ Narrow Field Of View [Shift+Up Drag]
. ........ Widen Field Of View [Shift+Down Drag]

and not:

, ........ Narrow Field Of View [Shift+Left Drag]
. ........ Widen Field Of View [Shift+Left Drag]

as it currently does. I gave up after trying to Shift+Left Drag, thinking that I didn't know what I was doing or something. Should have kept trying with ',' and '.', as you suggest. Shall I report that as a bug?

It looks like you're correct here; that should indeed be changed in the controls file. I had never used Shift+Drag before, just the comma and period keys.

TJackson wrote:I notice that at max magnification, Io jiggles in the view from Earth. Is that atmospheric, zero point energy or tiny vibrations from a simulated train rolling past some miles away? Or just the limits of the algorithm?

Most likely the last. Celestia doesn't simulate zero-point energy or trains!