Celestia Forums

No, unfortunately it's not true.

Although this seems like dark matter, it's possibly just a strange and mildly annoying bug...

This happens in 1.4.1. Haven't tested in 1.5.x

Basically, if I start here at an overview of the solar system...

I can select stars...

but if I click on any empty space...

...then an apparently invisible object is marked (nowhere near where I clicked) ...however there's no actual object selected and I can't goto it... It's the red marker in the screenshot below. (Any comments? Does this happen for anyone else?)

For 1.5.0 we have strongly improved the selection quality of extended deep-space objects, notably galaxies. But you really have to descibe /precisely/ what object was selected! If you got a selection then its name should also appear in the top left corner (provided you have activated that display)

Bye Fridger

Verbosity WAS activated in all cases.

If you use the celURL's (in particular the third one) you will see precisely what was selected in each case. The problem is with the third case, when nothing is selected except empty space.

...there's no actual object selected ...

... however there IS a red marker displayed as shown in the screenshot. This marker always seems to appear in the same position regardless of where I click.

This is a very trivial issue, but if you really would like to debug it, I would suggest you try it in 1.4.1 first, in order to replicate it (as it may already be fixed in 1.5.x...

Firstly, use the first URL above, then secondly, click on anywhere that there isn't an object. If you've got markers enabled you should see the red marker appear, but nothing is actually selected where the red marker is.

If you click on a star, it will be selected and marked, however if you click on "empty space" then nothing will be selected, yet this rogue marker will be displayed. (I don't believe there actually is an invisible object there as you may have inferred from my first post, but there is the "appearance" of an object because of the marker.) ie. the problem's in the marking, not in the selection.

I hope that's clear enough for you.

Having done a few tests myself, it looks like when no object is selected, the marker returns to Sol.

Also, the colour of that marker doesn't look like the "selected" colour, which is more of a bright red, than the kind of muddy brown shown there. Looks like an object marker - so you've got something there that's marked.

Perhaps you could try flying towards it using A/Z to find what it is that is marked.

The muddy brown is due to poor quality screencap...it's actually exactly the same as the selection marker, except nothin is selected.

No object is selected or marked,... it's simply marking an empty spot in space somewhere in the solar system.

eg. Try selecting Spica, then click just to one side of Spica. See if that does it for you.
(BTW: what version are you using of celestia?... it maybe fixed already in CVS. )

I'm using Celestia 1.4.1 on Windows XP, and still not seeing this problem. I click to one side of Spica and the selection marker returns to Sol, with nothing selected. Sorry, got no idea what's going on here.

I made tests on Celestia 1.5.xCVS under Linux(KDE) and cannot provoke the effekt. Everything looks fine. In any case we wont be applying any further fixes to 1.4.1.

Rather, we are in the (advanced) testing phase of 1.5.0

Bye Fridger

chaos syndrome wrote:I'm using Celestia 1.4.1 on Windows XP, and still not seeing this problem. I click to one side of Spica and the selection marker returns to Sol, with nothing selected. Sorry, got no idea what's going on here.

Strange... maybe some conflict with some addon I have, or something specific to my install. Anyway, I'm not going to expend any time worrying about this, and of course I never expected you to fix it in 1.4.1 fridger (esp. if you cannot replicate in 1.4 or 1.5)... just bringing it to your attention in case it also occurred in 1.5.x.

Bye

The bug happens with my v1.4.1 too. From any view, I clicked just below Spica and the marker came up. No text information was displayed. Nor do G or C (default commands) work on it. However, I could get pretty close to it using the mouse and speed settings (F1 to F7). It seems to be just outside the outermost asteroid orbit (brown). It doesn't show any visible object. Possibly an artifact?

I am using Pascal Hartmann's star catalogue modified by Grant Hutchison. It is an add-on available on the Motherlode for extra stars. Could it be the cause? Are you using this add-on too, starfleetengineer?

Arnavion wrote:The bug happens with my v1.4.1 too. From any view, I clicked just below Spica and the marker came up. No text information was displayed. Nor do G or C (default commands) work on it. However, I could get pretty close to it using the mouse and speed settings (F1 to F7). It seems to be just outside the outermost asteroid orbit (brown). It doesn't show any visible object. Possibly an artifact?

Exactly the symptoms I experienced.

Arnavion wrote:I am using Pascal Hartmann's star catalogue modified by Grant Hutchison. It is an add-on available on the Motherlode for extra stars. Could it be the cause? Are you using this add-on too, starfleetengineer?

No, just the standard stars.

Hi starfleetengineer,

I can easily duplicate that spurious mark and I'm using v1.4.1.0 and I think I know what it is. I think it is the start mark (sun) projected out. I can easily get it to circle around our solar system either vertically or horizontally by simply pulling my mouse toward me or moving it left or right. The mark stays locked on our solar system but since we have nothing selected the only mark that could show up is the start mark.

I haven't been using marks until I read your bug post on dark matter and I was curious and so I duplicated the mark. I don't accept the idea of dark matter as it is being used for an explanation or that the universe is missing matter. Galaxies have dark matter but it is made up of dust and many other things that make up the stars and obscures background objects. One of the best examples is the Horsehead Nebula.

Anyways that is my solution for your spurious mark.


Kel
*****