Celestia Forums

Looking at Earth tonight I noticed a nearby comet, 2P P/Encke.


Does Celestia display comets much bigger than reality or what?

I found this page which seems to give a real image of it http://www.usenet.com/newsgroups/sci.astro.ccd-imaging/msg00230.html

Can something be added to comet definitions to allow their tails to be drawn more realistically.

I'll second that... Comet tails in Celestia are far, FAR bigger and brighter than they should be!

I think it's the A1, A2, and A3 components in Horizons ephemeridies that give data on the comet's tail..?

Yes, something needs to be done about comet tails . . . At the very least, the comet tail brightness should be adjusted based on the amount of received radiation and the size of the comet. I suppose it could be further modified by some sort of cometary activity field, but since it would involve invention of data--probably a bad idea.

I think that Encke is faint because it orbits so close to the Sun that its volatiles have been depleted. I suspect it's also quite a small comet.

--Chris