Excel spreadsheet and SSC generation

All about writing scripts for Celestia in Lua and the .cel system
Topic author
MKruer
Posts: 501
Joined: 18.09.2002
With us: 21 years 8 months

Excel spreadsheet and SSC generation

Post #1by MKruer » 23.10.2008, 22:37

I am working on updating an Excel spreadsheet that I have used to create systems. Part of the file is dedicated to calculating the anything from mean orbital velocity and period to surface area and density. I would like some feed back and help converting the template to the newer 1.6 format and if there are any excel wiz's out there help with the formatting. Anyway take a look.

File Updated/Simplified
Last edited by MKruer on 13.11.2008, 07:18, edited 1 time in total.

Topic author
MKruer
Posts: 501
Joined: 18.09.2002
With us: 21 years 8 months

Re: Excel spreadsheet and SSC generation

Post #2by MKruer » 30.10.2008, 05:20

Given Period, SemiMajorAxis, Eccentricity, Inclination, AscendingNode

how do you, or can you calculate the

ArgOfPericenter, LongOfPericenter, MeanLongitude, MeanAnomaly

If someone can walk me though it i would like to add it to my calc sheet.

Thanks

ajtribick
Developer
Posts: 1855
Joined: 11.08.2003
With us: 20 years 10 months

Re: Excel spreadsheet and SSC generation

Post #3by ajtribick » 01.11.2008, 12:04

You can't calculate those quantities from the first set. They are extra parameters which are required to fully specify the orientation in 3D space, and also to specify the position of the planet on its orbit.

To orient the ellipse you need three numbers (these correspond to the Euler angles for the rotation). One of these is the inclination (i). The remaining two are chosen from the following set of three: longitude of the ascending node (AscendingNode, ?), argument of pericenter (ArgOfPericenter, ?) and longitude of pericenter (LongOfPericenter ?=?+?).

The position of the planet in its orbit at a given time (by default, J2000.0=JD2451545.0, this can be changed by specifying the Epoch parameter) is specified either by the mean anomaly (MeanAnomaly, M) or the mean longitude (MeanLongitude, L=M+?).

bdm
Posts: 461
Joined: 22.07.2005
With us: 18 years 10 months
Location: Australia

Re: Excel spreadsheet and SSC generation

Post #4by bdm » 12.11.2008, 03:38

Mean anomaly is probably better than mean longitude if you wish to generate them randomly. Mean anomaly increases uniformly with time, and can thus be generated with RAND()*360, whereas mean longitude is dependent on the eccentricity and a simple RAND()*360 is insufficient to create a uniform distribution. Mean anomaly is equal to 0 at perihelion, and increases by exactly 360 degrees in a time equal to the Period.

Topic author
MKruer
Posts: 501
Joined: 18.09.2002
With us: 21 years 8 months

Re: Excel spreadsheet and SSC generation

Post #5by MKruer » 13.11.2008, 07:33

I been meaning to get back to everyone one this, i was working on calculating the values after the second reply, but got stuck on the calculating the following.

Eccentricity Vector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentricity_vector
Eccentric Anomaly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentric_anomaly
Orbital state vectors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_position_vector

I update the document above to get rid of some of the garbage and simplify it. (Download from the first post) This is driving me a little bit loopy, it should be much easier then i am making it out. anyone will to take a stab. I also came across an interesting post on getting the precession rate of a planet http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=65185 naturally this assumes only a 2 body system, but the formula seems to work extremely well.

Thanks for the help


Return to “Scripting”