Animating orbits using timesteps?

[Malenfant]

I've got some output files for orbits from Gravity Simulator ( http://www.orbitsimulator.com ) that look like lots of rows of numbers like this:

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306100, 747990966.25826, .12174328971626, 128.95816653494, 256.920487068911, 308.764140502418, 74.6582898441838
306200, 747992244.113765, .12161833652493, 128.956211097811, 256.9176950343, 308.767331970064, 56.1691246213322
306300, 747991186.352602, .121534669452866, 128.953891777822, 256.912650825081, 308.770879705018, 37.6876622561771
306400, 747989260.495626, .121473234485095, 128.951526374437, 256.907116350646, 308.774299360486, 19.2095335705694


where the numbers are: current year,semimajor axis (km), eccentricity, inclination (degrees), Argument of pericentre (degrees), Longitude of Ascending Node (degrees), Mean Anomaly (degrees).

Is there any way I can show these orbits evolving in Celestia as a kind of timelapse/animation (assuming I can translate the data into an STC format)? So at the time shown in the table, the orbit shown in Celestia will have the properties shown in that row, and at the next timestep in the table the orbit will change to have the properties for the next row (maybe animating gradually in the time between them?) and so on? Could I do this with "Modify" commands or a script or something?

[chris]

Is there any way I can show these orbits evolving in Celestia as a kind of timelapse/animation (assuming I can translate the data into an STC format)? So at the time shown in the table, the orbit shown in Celestia will have the properties shown in that row, and at the next timestep in the table the orbit will change to have the properties for the next row (maybe animating gradually in the time between them?) and so on? Could I do this with "Modify" commands or a script or something?

I don't believe that this is possible now. About all you could do is define an object for every orbit, then write a script that selects them in sequence while orbits are turned on. I will be significantly updating the plotting abilities of Celestia in a post-1.5.0 version.

--Chris

[symaski62]

[quote="Malenfant"]I've got some output files for orbits from Gravity Simulator ( http://www.orbitsimulator.com ) that look like lots of rows of numbers like this:

Code: Select all

306100,747990966.25826 , .12174328971626, 128.95816653494, 256.920487068911, 308.764140502418, 74.6582898441838
306200, 747992244.113765, .12161833652493, 128.956211097811, 256.9176950343, 308.767331970064, 56.1691246213322
306300, 747991186.352602, .121534669452866, 128.953891777822, 256.912650825081, 308.770879705018, 37.6876622561771
306400, 747989260.495626, .121473234485095, 128.951526374437, 256.907116350646, 308.774299360486, 19.2095335705694


current year: 306100
semimajor axis (km) : 747990966.25826 = 5.0000098 UA
eccentricity : 0.12174328971626
inclination (degrees) : 128.95816653494
Argument of pericentre (degrees) : 256.920487068911
Longitude of Ascending Node (degrees) : 308.764140502418
Mean Anomaly (degrees) : 74.6582898441838

UA^3 = year^2

5.0000098 ^ 3 = 125.000735 year

i am french ? math !

[Malenfant]

As usual, I have absolutely no idea what you're trying to say Symaski. In fact, I think if you said it in french I'd understand you better

Thanks for the info, Chris. Oh well.