I think celestia would really benefit from an alt-az grid in addition to the celestial sphere projection. An alt-az projection would be useful for orienting oneself with respect to the their viewing location and the object in the sky.
Also object info should include alt/az. What about assigning ra and dec to planets too (dynamically of course). Why aren't there tickers that pop up from the horizon that display the direction (or azimuth degrees or at least N, NE, E, etc)
Finally, I would like to see more complicated motions put in (at least for earth). ...chandler wobble and, nutation, and especially precession!
But thank you for what you've done because this is simply an amazing product. I just would like to see it become even more "useful" in terms of doing (minor) astronomy .
Need an Alt-Az Grid and a little more...
Need an Alt-Az Grid and a little more...
Just do what makes you happy provided you do not infringe on another's happiness for there is no point in living if you do not have happiness.
[tex]Happiness = \[\int_a^b \int_c^d \int_e^f \int_g^h U(x,y,z,t)\,dx dy dz dt\] = 42[/tex]
If only we knew U!
[tex]Happiness = \[\int_a^b \int_c^d \int_e^f \int_g^h U(x,y,z,t)\,dx dy dz dt\] = 42[/tex]
If only we knew U!
"The" alternate azimuth system for our general vicinity in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy is based upon galactic coordinates with galactic center and Sun as two points on a line with a third point opposite galactic center or "anticenter". Earthbound folk tend to think of "up" as toward Earth's north pole, so "up" above the Sun (roughly perpendicular to the galactic plane) is a point in Coma Berenices while "down" is a point near Sculptor. With these points established, if one "faces" galactic center with galactic plane on the horizontal, left is "behind the tail of Cygnus the Swan", and right is toward the Vela Nebula.
Familiarization with these "in/out, up/down, left/right" axes enables one to readily orient within our near vicinity of the galaxy. Most of the planets of our Solar System orbit the Sun on a somewhat common ecliptic plane which is inclined at roughly 60 degrees to the galactic plane with intersection of the two planes generally aligned to galactic center and anticenter. At winter solstice, Earth is aligned between the Sun and Galactic Anticenter (a point just above Orion's upraised sword). The "view" from Earth's location looking toward the Sun and on toward galactic center with galactic plane on the horizontal, Earth's ecliptic plane appears to rise on the right to 60 degrees above the galactic plane and drop 60 degrees on the left below galactic plane.
Other alternate azimuths for each planet can be oriented within this overall scheme when one knows individual planet spin and orbit orientation.
Interesting to note that Earth's surface coordinate system projected onto the surrounding sky changes with precession so that it requires updating every 50 years (epoch) while the galactic coordinates are relatively unchanging over thousands of years.
Even more interesting to me is the fact that this information has been preserved from antiquity as handed down by the Anunnaki, but the "experts" won't touch that with a ten foot pole.
Once you have the basic dynamics committed to memory, you won't need much else for general orientation within the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy near our Sun.
Familiarization with these "in/out, up/down, left/right" axes enables one to readily orient within our near vicinity of the galaxy. Most of the planets of our Solar System orbit the Sun on a somewhat common ecliptic plane which is inclined at roughly 60 degrees to the galactic plane with intersection of the two planes generally aligned to galactic center and anticenter. At winter solstice, Earth is aligned between the Sun and Galactic Anticenter (a point just above Orion's upraised sword). The "view" from Earth's location looking toward the Sun and on toward galactic center with galactic plane on the horizontal, Earth's ecliptic plane appears to rise on the right to 60 degrees above the galactic plane and drop 60 degrees on the left below galactic plane.
Other alternate azimuths for each planet can be oriented within this overall scheme when one knows individual planet spin and orbit orientation.
Interesting to note that Earth's surface coordinate system projected onto the surrounding sky changes with precession so that it requires updating every 50 years (epoch) while the galactic coordinates are relatively unchanging over thousands of years.
Even more interesting to me is the fact that this information has been preserved from antiquity as handed down by the Anunnaki, but the "experts" won't touch that with a ten foot pole.
Once you have the basic dynamics committed to memory, you won't need much else for general orientation within the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy near our Sun.