The Gliese 581 system

[bobdolesrevenge1]

This is an addon of the Gliese 581 system, which has three planets orbiting a red dwarf, the second of which may be capable of supporting life. More information about the system can be found at http://www.solstation.com/stars/gl581.htm

Here are the links to some screenshots I have of the system, namely of Gliese 581 c, the planet that may support life.

http://www.imageuploads.net/ims/pic.php?u=18219BHv9m&i=123316
http://www.imageuploads.net/ims/pic.php?u=18219BHv9m&i=123317
http://www.imageuploads.net/ims/pic.php?u=18219BHv9m&i=123318

I got most of my planetary data from Jean Schneider's Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia. Some information, such as rotational periods, etc. are unknown and can only be conjectured, so some of the information may not be entirely accurate.

Some notes about the file: Gliese 581 c orbits its parent star at a distance of only 0.073 AUs. Astronomers are unsure whether "C" is tidally locked to its star or not, I just assumed it was. I also calculated its diameter based on the idea that it is a rocky planet like Earth, as opposed to a mix of ice and rock like the Kuiper Belt objects.

The download is available here:
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=a331cba6bbc8ee120a4c508f60f3e9d7

I am also submitting it to the Motherlode, but it may be awhile before it's available from there.

[ElChristou]

This is an addon of the Gliese 581 system, which has three planets orbiting a red dwarf, the second of which may be capable of supporting life. More information about the system can be found at http://www.solstation.com/stars/gl581.htm

But Gliese 581 with its planets is already part of Celestia distribution...
Why not just modify c to add your texture? Is there something wrong with Grant's datas? concerning your shots, the blue atmosphere is a bit disturbing... is it supposed to be blue?

[Hungry4info]

ElChristou

Gliese 581 b is in the catalog, but c and d aren't, since they were just discovered.

I think the atmosphere is blue. This is, of course, an assumption, but not a far-out one. The systemic blog as a post about the atmosphere of c, and theoretical models they used suggest blue reyleigh (spelling?) scattering.

[Aphyle2007]

ElChristou

Gliese 581 b is in the catalog, but c and d aren't, since they were just discovered.

I think the atmosphere is blue. This is, of course, an assumption, but not a far-out one. The systemic blog as a post about the atmosphere of c, and theoretical models they used suggest blue reyleigh (spelling?) scattering.

I'm pretty sure they were added on tuesday, found on the physics & astronomy subforum:

http://celestia.cvs.sourceforge.net/cel ... asolar.ssc

Of course, I felt compelled to change the texture, using Frank Gregorio's Earth Mk 1 texture for fun.

Aphyle2007

[bobdolesrevenge1]

But Gliese 581 with its planets is already part of Celestia distribution...
Why not just modify c to add your texture? Is there something wrong with Grant's datas? concerning your shots, the blue atmosphere is a bit disturbing... is it supposed to be blue?

The default Celestia distribution has only Gliese 581 b, the first planet in the system, which was discovered in 2005. The discovery of planets "c" and "d"
was only announced three days ago. This adds them into the system.

As for the atmosphere: yes, it is far too blue. I gave the planet an Earth-like atmosphere (actually, I just copied the info from the solarsys.ssc file) and assumed that the program would correct the color of the atmosphere like it does for the textures. I've adjusted the ssc file so the atmosphere has a more ruddy tone to it, to match the color of light illuminating it. The link in my first post contains this correction.

[Cham]

All the newly discovered planets are already in CVS Celestia. You just need to update your extrasolar.ssc file.

[bobdolesrevenge1]

Okay, I'm going to post the texture for Gliese 581 c in the Textures thread, so those of you who already have the updated extrasolar.ssc file won't have to download this. I may just remove the addon from the forum and only have the texture, if people would prefer that.

[LordFerret]

None-the-less a nice effort.

[bobdolesrevenge1]

Well, I'm glad to see someone appreciates my hard work and talent!

Jk. Had I known there was already ssc data available for this system, I would have merely created an AltSurface addon for "c." I laugh at myself for my lack of foresight. As it is, though, I'm glad I was given an excuse to spend the day learning about my new favorite planet instead of studying for finals.

[fsgregs]

I would also suggest we modify Gliese 581 to reflect its Red Dwarf status. There is a great red dwarf add-on available. Here is a screenshot of it.



I will create a Gliese 581 Red Dwarf add-on in the next week or so, and post it on the motherlode, if anyone wants me to.



Frank

[tech2000]

I will create a Gliese 581 Red Dwarf add-on in the next week or so, and post it on the motherlode, if anyone wants me to.



Frank

I for one would be glad Frank, please do so.

Bye, Anders

[tech2000]

Well, I'm glad to see someone appreciates my hard work and talent!

Jk. Had I known there was already ssc data available for this system, I would have merely created an AltSurface addon for "c." I laugh at myself for my lack of foresight. As it is, though, I'm glad I was given an excuse to spend the day learning about my new favorite planet instead of studying for finals.

I like it too. I have it installed..

Bye, Anders

[bobdolesrevenge1]

Fsgregs, please post the red dwarf texture. It looks great.

Also, since the Gliese system addon has consistently had twice the number of downloads as the texture addon, it will probably remain available for a long time to come.

[fsgregs]

OK, I have just uploaded the Red Dwarf texture for Gliese 581 to Motherlode. It should appear in a few days under the category, "Extrasolar - Stars".

Note that I have not included any planets with the texture.

Also note that since the texture is a new spherical object enveloping Gliese 581, right-clicking on it will select it, not the parent star. As a result, you will not see a list of "satellites" associated with the object if you right-click on it.

To see the planets around Gliese 581, either zoom out so you can see them and click on them to select them, or use the Navigation/Solar System Browser menu in Celestia. All the planets will be listed and easily selectable.

Enjoy

Frank

[LordFerret]

All the newly discovered planets are already in CVS Celestia. You just need to update your extrasolar.ssc file.

I guess I have a bit of confusion about that. It was my understanding that CVS now contains all new stuff for the new version, and that problems could arise trying to use the new data files with v1.4.1 (because of new declarations) - is this correct?

I'm not ready to move up to the new version yet, but I'd love to update as much of the data for v1.4.1 as possible. Any warnings someone could pass on as to which files are safe to use and which are for new version use only?

My apologies in advance if there's a thread on this already and I've missed it.

[selden]

Unfortunately, I don't recall if the latest extrasolar catalogs include directives that require Celestia v1.5. However, don't forget that prerelease versions of v1.5 are available for both Windows and MacOS.

http://216.231.48.101/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10528&

[ajtribick]

I'm using Celestia 1.4.1 and am having no problems using the extrasolar planet files (extrasolar.ssc and extrasolar.stc).

[Cham]

I can't see how the extrasolar.ssc could be broken under 1.4. It should work without any problems in Celestia 1.4.

[LordFerret]

I can't see how the extrasolar.ssc could be broken under 1.4. It should work without any problems in Celestia 1.4.

Sorry, I wasn't implying it was broken - it was just that I was hesitant to use the new files out of concern there would be incompatibility.

As new discoveries are made frequently these days, and then being entered into Celestia's data files, I'm hoping there will be continued backward-compatibility maintained - at least until the final v1.5 release. I look forward to making an update now, Chaos and Cham!

Thank you for the link Selden. {edit: I've just now scanned through to completion. Quite interesting discussion, but I didn't see anything specific about data compatibility between the two versions.}

[selden]

{edit: I've just now scanned through to completion. Quite interesting discussion, but I didn't see anything specific about data compatibility between the two versions.}

There have been quite a few new features added for use in STC files for v1.5, most notably SPICE trajectories and Frame coordinate declarations. They aren't needed for the traditional definitions of planetary orbits, though.