Celestia Forums

I recently wanted to make an xyz for a little probe I made, and relised I had no idea how to do it. I looked into the Uylsses xyz, and still dont get it. I found a guide by Thomas Guilpain, but that didn't really help. all i got out of that was an explanation of what the sets of numbers meant, and that the first number was the julian date. I tried to find a converter online, and when I did a little experimenting, I was supposed to get the date 1970, but I ended up somewhere in the 4000's. So what I need to know:

1) How to take a normal date and put it into the julian version

2) How do you get the xyz coordinates used in the file? Is there a button that copies it to the clipboard depending on where you are, or do you just have to guess and check? If it's the second one, how am I going to get even a rough idea of what the coordinates would be for a star other than sol?

Thanks for your help

Ok, I pretty much figured out everything thanks to a really old conversation between Chris and Rass. the only think I need to know now is about the beginning and ending code. If you put the beginning code in without the ending, will it just stay there forever?

billybob884 wrote:If you put the beginning code in without the ending, will it just stay there forever?

yes.

billybob884 wrote:Ok, I pretty much figured out everything thanks to a really old conversation between Chris and Rass. the only think I need to know now is about the beginning and ending code. If you put the beginning code in without the ending, will it just stay there forever?

Don't suppose you could post a link to that conversation could you? I'm kinda curious to know how it all works myself. ta muchly.
Consty