Small planets replaced by asteroids?

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Topic author
Malenfant
Posts: 1412
Joined: 24.08.2005
With us: 19 years 3 months

Small planets replaced by asteroids?

Post #1by Malenfant » 26.05.2006, 05:49

I'm not sure if this is a feature or a bug... I just created a small planet as follows:

Code: Select all

"P1" "S4"
{
Texture "moon.*"
Radius 352

   EllipticalOrbit {             
      Period          0.041
      SemiMajorAxis   0.1
      Eccentricity    0
      ArgOfPericenter 0
   }
Albedo 0.30
}


Much to my surprise, Celestia 1.4.1 rendered that as an asteroid, not a planet (ie with a brown label and orbit only visible when asteroid orbits are turned on, not a blue orbit). Is there a default radius below which an object is automatically classified as a planet in Celestia? I can override it by explicitly setting the Class as "planet", but is this assumption that it's an asteroid if not stated otherwise intentional or is it a bug?

I guess you could call this an 'asteroid', but it's not part of a belt at all, it's on its own independent orbit around the star.
My Celestia page: Spica system, planetary magnitudes script, updated demo.cel, Quad system

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selden
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Posts: 10192
Joined: 04.09.2002
With us: 22 years 2 months
Location: NY, USA

Post #2by selden » 26.05.2006, 11:46

If the Class isn't specified, then
If the radius is < 1000 km, it's considered an asteroid, otherwise a planet. If it's orbiting around another object, and the radius is < 0.1 km, it's considered a spacecraft, otherwise a moon.
Selden

Topic author
Malenfant
Posts: 1412
Joined: 24.08.2005
With us: 19 years 3 months

Post #3by Malenfant » 26.05.2006, 14:10

selden wrote:If the Class isn't specified, then
If the radius is < 1000 km, it's considered an asteroid, otherwise a planet. If it's orbiting around another object, and the radius is < 0.1 km, it's considered a spacecraft, otherwise a moon.


OK, so I guess the solution is to explicitly specify the class if you have a small object and want it to be shown as a planet or moon. Thanks!
My Celestia page: Spica system, planetary magnitudes script, updated demo.cel, Quad system


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