ASTROPAZ
  • Latest
  • Pictures
  • About
  • Tutorials
  • Reviews
  • Useful Links
  • Chat

How to add Comets to Stellarium

11/26/2013

0 Comments

 
Today I thought I would share a little "How to" guide I have written on a couple of forums on how to add comets to show up in Stellarium which is a free planetarium software that can show you the location of stars, galaxies and various other celestial objects.
The free Stellarium software can be found by following this link and is simple to install and set up.
 http://www.stellarium.org/

With all the current interest in Comets ISON, Lovejoy, Enke etc.. gracing our skies at the moment now seems like a good a time as any to make these easier for people to locate in the night sky.

Once the software has been installed there is a relatively straight forward process to follow below and you can add the name of any comet, asteroid or small solar system body to appear in the software.
Hopefully these steps are easy to follow and if there are any questions ask away.

I'm going to use comet C/2012 S1 ISON as the example comet here as that is the one that is garnering the most attention right now.

1. Press F2 to open the "configuration" window. Under the
"Plugins" tab in the "Configuration" window, select "Solar System Editor". Under "options" at the bottom
of the tab, click the "Configure" button. A
window for "Solar System; objects" will open. Under the "Solar System tab" of
the "Solar System objects" window, click the "Import orbital elements in MPC
format" button at the bottom
of the tab. An "import data" window will open.

2.Under the "lists" tab of the "Import data" window,
Select the "type" as "comets"; select the
"source" as "download a list of objects from the internet"; under "or select
from the list" click on "Select bookmark" and select "MPC's list of observable
comets," and then click the button
"get orbital elements."

A list of objects found
will load. Scroll down and check the box next to 
C/2012 S1 ISON , then click the "Add; objects". C/2012 S1 ISON
will then be added
to your solar system. Close the Solar System
editor and Configuration
window.


3.
If you want to see where ISON will be in the
sky, you'll need to update your location and
time.


4.
Find ISON. Press F3 to open the "Find object"
window. Type in "C/2012 S1 ISON " and you should only see one choice "C/2012 S1 ISON
" below the search box. Click the magnifying glass at the right of the
search box to lock in onISON. It will
automatically give you a view of the sky where 
 ISON is located.


So there you go, that should enable you to locate any comet you wish in Stellarium.
I hope this is of help to somebody.

In keeping with the Comet theme I have attached my first ever pic of a comet, C/2013 R1 Lovejoy.
The comet has since gone on and brightened considerably becoming observable to the naked eye and is currently visible in the early morning skies towards the East.
Picture
0 Comments

Partial Solar eclipse from Spain!

11/7/2013

0 Comments

 
On Sunday the 3rd of November there was a total hybrid solar eclipse that was best visible throughout middle Africa however here in Spain we were able to see a partial eclipse of the Sun and had great weather for the display with temps of 28°C and cloudless skies.
I had a couple of telescopes set up ready to go, one being a Ha pst mod and the other a white light filter on my Newtonian which is the telescope I used to capture some images with.

We had a great afternoon as a family viewing this event and as I could spend some scope time with my kids it always makes things a better experience.

I have included a couple of pics and a small gif animation of the partial eclipse, all in all it was a great day rounded off by a quick trip to the beach.
Not bad for first week of November. :)
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Some pictures added!

11/7/2013

0 Comments

 
Just a quick post to say that I have now added a few pictures under the "Pictures" link in the sidebar, all the links have been updated as well.
For the moment there are just a few but I will add more as time goes by.
http://astropaz.weebly.com/pictures.html
0 Comments

    Archives

    February 2015
    October 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    300mm
    50mm
    Animation
    AR1944
    ASI120mm
    C/2012 K1 PANSTARRS
    C/2012 S1 ISON
    C/2013 R1 Lovejoy
    Comet
    Comets
    DMK41
    Faroe Islands
    Flickr
    Free
    Guide
    Jupiter
    Lightning
    Moon
    Norway
    Occultation
    Partial Eclipse
    Pictures
    Polarie
    Public Group
    Review
    Saturn
    Solar
    Solar Eclipse
    Solar Images
    Sun
    Sunspot
    Svalbard
    Total Eclipse
    Transit
    Venus
    Venus Transit
    Vixen
    Vixen Polarie
    White Light
    White Light
    Widefield

    RSS Feed

    Flag Counter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.