Stellarium 0.15.2 User Guide: Georg Zotti, Alexander Wolf, Matthew Gates, Barry Gerdes 2017

Stellarium 0.15.
2 User Guide
Georg Zotti, Alexander Wolf, Matthew Gates, Barry Gerdes
2017
Copyright
c 2006-2009 Matthew Gates.
Copyright
c 2014-2017 Georg Zotti.
Copyright 2011-2017 Alexander Wolf.
c
Copyright
c 2013-2014 Barry Gerdes ( 2014).
STELLARIUM . ORG
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms
of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by
the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no
Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in appendix G entitled GNU Free
Documentation License.
All trademarks, third party brands, product names, trade names, corporate names and company
names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners or registered trademarks of other
companies and are used for purposes of explanation and to the readers benefit, without implying a
violation of copyright law.
Version 0.15.2-1, March 21, 2017

Contents
I Basic Use
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.1 Historical notes 17
2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 System Requirements 21
2.1.1 Minimum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.2 Recommended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 Downloading 22
2.3 Installation 22
2.3.1 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.2 OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.3 Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 Running Stellarium 22
2.4.1 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4.2 OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.3 Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5 Troubleshooting 23
3 A First Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.1 Time Travel 26
3.2 Moving Around the Sky 27
3.3 The Main Tool Bar 28
3.4 Taking Screenshots 30
4 The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4.1 Setting the Date and Time 31
4.2 Setting Your Location 32
4.3 The Configuration Window 33
4.3.1 The Main Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.2 The Information Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.3 The Navigation Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.4 The Tools Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.5 The Scripts Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3.6 The Plugins Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4 The View Settings Window 37
4.4.1 Sky Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4.2 DSO Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.4.3 Markings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.4.4 Landscape Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.4.5 Starlore Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.5 The Object Search Window 42
4.6 The Astronomical Calculations Window 43
4.6.1 Planet Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.6.2 Ephemeris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.6.3 Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.6.4 Altitude vs Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.7 Help Window 47
4.7.1 Editing Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
II Advanced Use
5 Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.1 Directories 51
5.1.1 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.1.2 Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.1.3 Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.2 Directory Structure 52
5.3 The Main Configuration File 53
5.4 Getting Extra Data 53
5.4.1 Alternative Planet Ephemerides: DE430, DE431 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6 Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

6.1 Examples 57
6.2 Special Options 57
6.2.1 Spout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7 Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.1 Stellarium Landscapes 59
7.1.1 Location information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.1.2 Polygonal landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.1.3 Spherical landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.1.4 High resolution (Old Style) landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7.1.5 Fisheye landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.1.6 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.1.7 Gazetteer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.2 Creating Panorama Photographs for Stellarium 70
7.2.1 Panorama Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7.2.2 Hugin Panorama Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.2.3 Regular creation of panoramas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7.3 Panorama Postprocessing 75
7.3.1 The GIMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.3.2 ImageMagick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
7.3.3 Final Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.3.4 Artificial Panoramas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
7.3.5 Nightscape Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
7.4 Other recommended software 81
7.4.1 IrfanView . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.4.2 FSPViewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.4.3 Clink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.4.4 Cygwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
7.4.5 GNUWin32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8 Deep-Sky Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.1 Stellarium DSO Catalog 83
8.1.1 Modifying catalog.dat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
8.1.2 Modifying names.dat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.1.3 Modifying textures.json . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.2 Adding Extra Nebulae Images 87
8.2.1 Preparing a photo for inclusion to the textures.json file . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
8.2.2 Plate Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.2.3 Processing into a textures.json insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
9 Adding Sky Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

9.1 Basic Information 91
9.2 Skyculture Description Files 92
9.3 Constellation Names 92
9.4 Star Names 92
9.5 Planet Names 93
9.6 Deep-Sky Objects Names 93
9.7 Stick Figures 93
9.8 Constellation Borders 93
9.9 Constellation Artwork 94
9.10 Seasonal Rules 94
9.11 References 94
9.12 Publish Your Work 95
III Extending Stellarium

10 Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
10.1 Enabling plugins 99
10.2 Data for plugins 99
11 Interface Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

11.1 Angle Measure Plugin 101
11.2 Compass Marks Plugin 102
11.3 Equation of Time Plugin 103

11.3.1 Section EquationOfTime in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
11.4 Field of View Plugin 104

11.4.1 Section FOV in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
11.5 Pointer Coordinates Plugin 105

11.5.1 Section PointerCoordinates in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
11.6 Text User Interface 106
11.6.1 Using the Text User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
11.6.2 TUI Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

11.6.3 Section tui in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
11.7 Remote Control 110
11.7.1 Using the plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
11.7.2 Remote Control Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
11.7.3 Remote Control Commandline API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
11.7.4 Developer information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
11.8 Solar System Editor Plugin 112
12 Object Catalog Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

12.1 Bright Novae Plugin 113

12.1.1 Section Novae in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
12.1.2 Format of bright novae catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
12.1.3 Light curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
12.2 Historical Supernovae Plugin 116
12.2.1 List of supernovae in default catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
12.2.2 Light curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

12.2.3 Section Supernovae in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.2.4 Format of historical supernovae catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12.3 Exoplanets Plugin 120
12.3.1 Potential habitable exoplanets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
12.3.2 Proper names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

12.3.3 Section Exoplanets in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12.3.4 Format of exoplanets catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
12.4 Pulsars Plugin 126

12.4.1 Section Pulsars in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
12.4.2 Format of pulsars catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
12.5 Quasars Plugin 128

12.5.1 Section Quasars in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
12.5.2 Format of quasars catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
12.6 Meteor Showers Plugin 130
12.6.1 Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

12.6.2 Section MeteorShowers in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
12.6.3 Format of Meteor Showers catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
12.6.4 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
12.7 Navigational Stars Plugin 134

12.7.1 Section NavigationalStars in config.ini file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
12.8 Satellites Plugin 135
12.8.1 Satellite Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
12.8.2 Satellite Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
12.8.3 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
12.8.4 Sources for TLE data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
12.9 ArchaeoLines Plugin 137
12.9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
12.9.2 Characteristic Declinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
12.9.3 Azimuth Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
12.9.4 Arbitrary Declination Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
12.9.5 Configuration Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
13 Scenery3d 3D Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

13.1 Introduction 141
13.2 Usage 141
13.3 Hardware Requirements & Performance 142
13.3.1 Performance notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
13.4 Model Configuration 143
13.4.1 Exporting OBJ from Sketchup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
13.4.2 Notes on OBJ file format limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
13.4.3 Configuring OBJ for Scenery3d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
13.4.4 Concatenating OBJ files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
13.4.5 Working with non-georeferenced OBJ files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
13.4.6 Rotating OBJs with recognized survey points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
13.5 Predefined views 150
14 Stellarium at the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

14.1 Oculars Plugin 153
14.1.1 Using the Ocular plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
14.1.2 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
14.1.3 Scaling the eyepiece view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
14.2 TelescopeControl Plugin 166
14.2.1 Abilities and limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14.2.2 Using this plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14.2.3 Main window (Telescopes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14.2.4 Telescope configuration window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
14.2.5 Supported devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
14.3 StellariumScope 170
14.4 Other telescope servers and Stellarium 170
14.5 Observability Plugin 172
15 Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15.1 Introduction 175
15.2 Script Console 176
15.3 Includes 176
15.4 Minimal Scripts 176
15.5 Example: Retrograde motion of Mars 176
15.5.1 Script header... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
15.5.2 A body of script... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
15.6 More Examples 179
IV Practical Astronomy
16 Astronomical Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
16.1 The Celestial Sphere 183
16.2 Coordinate Systems 184
16.2.1 Altitude/Azimuth Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
16.2.2 Right Ascension/Declination Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
16.2.3 Ecliptical Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
16.2.4 Galactic Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
16.3 Distance 188
16.4 Time 188
16.4.1 Sidereal Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
16.4.2 Julian Day Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
16.4.3 Delta T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
16.5 Angles 193
16.5.1 Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
16.5.2 Handy Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
16.6 The Magnitude Scale 194
16.7 Luminosity 195
16.8 Precession 195
16.9 Parallax 197
16.9.1 Geocentric and Topocentric Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
16.9.2 Stellar Parallax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
16.10 Proper Motion 198
17 Astronomical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

17.1 The Sun 199
17.2 Stars 199
17.2.1 Multiple Star Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
17.2.2 Constellations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
17.2.3 Star Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
17.2.4 Spectral Type & Luminosity Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
17.2.5 Variable Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
17.3 Our Moon 205
17.3.1 Phases of the Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
17.4 The Major Planets 206
17.4.1 Terrestrial Planets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
17.4.2 Jovian Planets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
17.5 The Minor Bodies 207
17.5.1 Asteroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
17.5.2 Comets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
17.6 Meteoroids 207
17.7 Zodiacal Light and Gegenschein 208
17.8 The Milky Way 208
17.9 Nebulae 208
17.9.1 The Messier Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
17.10 Galaxies 209
17.11 Eclipses 209
17.11.1 Solar Eclipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
17.11.2 Lunar Eclipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
17.12 Observing Hints 210
17.13 Atmospheric effects 211
17.13.1 Atmospheric Refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
17.13.2 Atmospheric Extinction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
17.13.3 Light Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
18 A Little Sky Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

18.1 Dubhe and Merak, The Pointers 215
18.2 M31, Messier 31, The Andromeda Galaxy 215
18.3 The Garnet Star, Cephei 216
18.4 4 and 5 Lyrae, Lyrae 216
18.5 M13, Hercules Cluster 216
18.6 M45, The Pleiades, The Seven Sisters 216
18.7 Algol, The Demon Star, Persei 217
18.8 Sirius, Canis Majoris 217
18.9 M44, The Beehive, Praesepe 217
18.10 27 Cephei, Cephei 217
18.11 M42, The Great Orion Nebula 217
18.12 La Superba, Y Canum Venaticorum, HIP 62223 218
18.13 52 and 53 Bootis, 1 and 2 Bootis 218
18.14 PZ Cas, HIP 117078 218
18.15 VV Cephei, HIP 108317 218
18.16 AH Scorpii, HIP 84071 218
18.17 Albireo, Cygni 219
18.18 31 and 32 Cygni, o1 and o2 Cygni 219
18.19 The Coathanger, Brocchis Cluster, Cr 399 219
18.20 Kembles Cascade 220
18.21 The Double Cluster, and h Persei, NGC 884 and NGC 869 220
18.22 Large Magellanic Cloud, PGC 17223 220
18.23 Tarantula Nebula, C 103, NGC 2070 220
18.24 Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 292, PGC 3085 221
18.25 Centauri cluster, C 80, NGC 5139 221
18.26 47 Tucanae, C 106, NGC 104 222
18.27 The Coalsack Nebula, C 99 222
18.28 Mira, o Ceti, 68 Cet 222
18.29 Persei Cluster, Cr 39, Mel 20 222
18.30 M7, The Ptolemy Cluster 223
18.31 M24, The Sagittarius Star Cloud 223
18.32 IC 4665, The Summer Beehive Cluster 224
18.33 The E Nebula, Barnard 142 and 143 224
19 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
19.1 Find M31 in Binoculars 225
19.1.1 Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
19.1.2 For Real . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
19.2 Handy Angles 225
19.3 Find a Lunar Eclipse 226
19.4 Find a Solar Eclipse 226
19.5 Find a retrograde motion of Mars 226
19.6 Analemma 226
19.7 Transit of Venus 226
19.8 Transit of Mercury 227
19.9 Triple shadows on Jupiter 227
19.10 Jupiter without satellites 227
19.11 Mutual occultations of planets 227
19.12 The proper motion of stars 227
V Appendices
A Default Hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
A.1 Mouse actions with combination of the keyboard keys 231
A.2 Display Options 231
A.3 Miscellaneous 232
A.4 Movement and Selection 233
A.5 Date and Time 233
A.6 Scripts 233
A.7 Windows 234
A.8 Plugins 234
A.8.1 Angle Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
A.8.2 ArchaeoLines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
A.8.3 Compass Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
A.8.4 Equation of Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
A.8.5 Exoplanets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
A.8.6 Field of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
A.8.7 Meteor Showers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
A.8.8 Oculars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
A.8.9 Pulsars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
A.8.10 Quasars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
A.8.11 Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
A.8.12 Scenery3d: 3D landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
A.8.13 Solar System Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
A.8.14 Telescope Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
B The Bortle Scale of Light Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
B.1 Excellent dark sky site 239
B.2 Typical truly dark site 239
B.3 Rural sky 239
B.4 Rural/suburban transition 240
B.5 Suburban sky 240
B.6 Bright suburban sky 240
B.7 Suburban/urban transition 240
B.8 City sky 240
B.9 Inner City sky 241
C Star Catalogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

C.1 Stellariums Sky Model 243
C.1.1 Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
C.2 Star Catalogue File Format 243
C.2.1 General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
C.2.2 File Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
C.2.3 Record Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
C.3 Variable Stars 248
C.3.1 Variable Star Catalog File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
C.3.2 GCVS Variability Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
C.4 Double Stars 263
C.4.1 Double Star Catalog File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
C.5 Cross-Identification Data 264
C.5.1 Cross-Identification Catalog File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
D Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

D.1
Program Configuration 265
D.1.1 astro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

D.1.2 color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

D.1.3 custom_selected_info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

D.1.4 custom_time_correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

D.1.5 devel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

D.1.6 dso_catalog_filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

D.1.7 dso_type_filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

D.1.8 gui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

D.1.9 init_location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

D.1.10 landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

D.1.11 localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

D.1.12 main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

D.1.13 navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

D.1.14 plugins_load_at_startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

D.1.15 projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

D.1.16 proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

D.1.17 scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

D.1.18 search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

D.1.19 spheric_mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

D.1.20 stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

D.1.21 tui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

D.1.22 video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

D.1.23 viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

D.1.24 DialogPositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

D.1.25 DialogSizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
D.2 Solar System Configuration File 286
D.2.1 Planet section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
D.2.2 Moon section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
D.2.3 Minor Planet section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
D.2.4 Comet section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
D.2.5 Solar System Observer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
E Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
E.1 Planetary Positions 293
E.2 Minor Bodies 294
E.3 Precession and Nutation 294
E.4 Planet Axes 294
F Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
F.1 How you can help 295
G GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

G.1 PREAMBLE 297
G.2 APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS 297
G.3 VERBATIM COPYING 299
G.4 COPYING IN QUANTITY 299
G.5 MODIFICATIONS 299
G.6 COMBINING DOCUMENTS 301
G.7 COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS 301
G.8 AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS 301
G.9 TRANSLATION 301
G.10 TERMINATION 302
G.11 FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE 302
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
I
Basic Use
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.1 Historical notes
2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 System Requirements
2.2 Downloading
2.3 Installation
2.4 Running Stellarium
2.5 Troubleshooting
3 A First Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.1 Time Travel
3.2 Moving Around the Sky
3.3 The Main Tool Bar
3.4 Taking Screenshots
4 The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4.1 Setting the Date and Time
4.2 Setting Your Location
4.3 The Configuration Window
4.4 The View Settings Window
4.5 The Object Search Window
4.6 The Astronomical Calculations Window
4.7 Help Window
1. Introduction
Stellarium is a software project that allows people to use their home computer as a virtual plan-
etarium. It calculates the positions of the Sun and Moon, planets and stars, and draws how the
sky would look to an observer depending on their location and the time. It can also draw the
constellations and simulate astronomical phenomena such as meteor showers or comets, and solar
or lunar eclipses.
Stellarium may be used as an educational tool for teaching about the night sky, as an ob-
servational aid for amateur astronomers wishing to plan a nights observing or even drive their
telescopes to observing targets, or simply as a curiosity (its fun!). Because of the high quality
of the graphics that Stellarium produces, it is used in some real planetarium projector products
and museum projection setups. Some amateur astronomy groups use it to create sky maps for
describing regions of the sky in articles for newsletters and magazines, and the exchangeable sky
cultures feature invites its use in the field of Cultural Astronomy research and outreach.
Stellarium is still under development, and by the time you read this guide, a newer version may
have been released with even more features than those documented here. Check for updates to
Stellarium at the Stellarium website1 .
If you have questions and/or comments about this guide, or about Stellarium itself, visit the
Stellarium site at LaunchPad2 or our SourceForge forums3 .
1.1 Historical notes

Fabien Chreau started the project during the summer 2000, and throughout the years found
continuous support by a small team of enthusiastic developers.
Here is a list of past and present major contributors sorted roughly by date of arrival on the
project:
1 http://stellarium.org
2 https://launchpad.net/stellarium
3 https://sourceforge.net/p/stellarium/discussion/278769/
18 Chapter 1. Introduction
Fabien Chreau original creator, maintainer, general development

Matthew Gates maintainer, original user guide, user support, general development
Johannes Gajdosik astronomical computations, large star catalogs support
Johan Meuris GUI design, website creation, drawings of our 88 Western constellations
Nigel Kerr Mac OSX port
Rob Spearman funding for planetarium support
Barry Gerdes user support, tester, Windows support. Barry passed away in October 2014 at age
80. He was a major contributor on the forums, wiki pages and mailing list where his good
will and enthusiasm is strongly missed. RIP Barry.
Timothy Reaves ocular plugin
Bogdan Marinov GUI, telescope control, other plugins
Diego Marcos SVMT plugin
Guillaume Chreau display, optimization, Qt upgrades
Alexander Wolf maintainer, DSO catalogs, user guide, general development
Georg Zotti astronomical computations, Scenery 3D and ArchaeoLines plugins, general develop-
ment, user guide, user support
Marcos Cardinot MeteorShowers plugin
Florian Schaukowitsch Scenery 3D plugin, Remote Control plugin, Qt/OpenGL internals
Unfortunately time is evolving, and most members of the original development team are no
longer able to devote most of their spare time to the project (some are still available for limited
work which requires specific knowledge about the project).
As of 2017, the projects maintainer is Alexander Wolf, doing most maintenance and regular
releases. Major new features are contributed mostly by Georg Zotti and his team focussing on
extensions of Stellariums applicability in the fields of historical and cultural astronomy research
(which means Stellarium is getting more accurate), but also on graphic items like comet tails or the
Zodiacal Light.
A detailed track of development can be found in the ChangeLog file in the installation folder. A
few important milestones for the project:
2000 first lines of code for the project
2001-06 first public mention (and users feedbacks!) of the software on the French newsgroup
fr.sci.astronomie.amateur 4
2003-01 Stellarium reviewed by Astronomy magazine
2003-07 funding for developing planetarium features (fisheye projection and other features)
2005-12 use accurate (and fast) planetary model
2006-05 Stellarium Project Of the Month on SourceForge
2006-08 large stars catalogs
2007-01 funding by ESO for development of professional astronomy extensions (VirGO)
2007-04 developers meeting near Munich, Germany
2007-05 switch to the Qt library as main GUI and general purpose library
2009-09 plugin system, enabling a lot of new development
2010-07 Stellarium ported on Maemo mobile device
2010-11 artificial satellites plugin
2014-06 high quality satellites and Saturn rings shadows, normal mapping for moon craters
2014-07 V0.13: adapt to OpenGL evolutions in the Qt framework, now requires more modern
graphic hardware than earlier versions
2015-04 V0.13.3: Scenery 3D plugin
4 https://groups.google.com/d/topic/fr.sci.astronomie.amateur/OT7K8yogRlI/
discussion
1.1 Historical notes 19
2015-10 V0.14.0: Accurate precession

2016-07 V0.15: Remote Control plugin
2016-12 V0.15.1: DE430&DE431, AstroCalc, DSS layer, and Stellarium acting as SpoutSender
Stellarium has been kindly supported by ESA in their Summer of Code in Space initiatives,
which resulted in better planetary rendering (2012), the Meteor Showers plugin (2013) and the web-
based remote control and an alternative solution for planetary positions based on the DE430/DE431
ephemeris (2015).
This guide is based on the user guide written by Matthew Gates for version 0.10 around 2008.
The guide was then ported to the Stellarium wiki and continuously updated by Barry Gerdes and
Alexander Wolf up to version 0.12.
The user documentation has been developed further on the Stellarium wiki for some time, but
without Barry started to fall out of sync with the actual program. We (Alexander and Georg) have
ported the texts back to LATEX and updated and added information where necessary. We feel now
that a single book may be the better format for offline reading. The PDF version of this guide has a
clickable table of contents and clickable hyperlinks.
This new edition of the guide will not contain notes about using earlier versions than 0.13
or using very outdated hardware. Some references to previous version may still be made for
completeness, but if you are using earlier versions for particular reasons, please use the older
guides.
2. Getting Started
2.1 System Requirements

Stellarium has been seen to run on most systems where Qt5 is available, from tiny ARM computers
like the Raspberry Pi 21 or Odroid C1 to big museum installations with multiple projectors. The
most important hardware requirement is a contemporary graphics subsystem.
2.1.1 Minimum
Linux/Unix; Windows 7 and later (It may run on Vista, but unsupported. A special version
for XP is still available); OS X 10.8.5 and later
3D graphics card which supports OpenGL 3.0 and GLSL 1.3 (2008 GeForce 8xxx and
later, ATI/AMD Radeon HD-2xxx and later; Intel HD graphics (Core-i 2xxx and later)) or
OpenGL ES 2.0 and GLSL ES 1.0 (e.g., ARM SBCs like Raspberry Pi 2). On Windows,
some older cards may be supported via ANGLE when they support DirectX10.
512 MB RAM
250 MB free on disk
2.1.2 Recommended
Linux/Unix; Windows 7 and later; OS X 10.8.5 and later
3D graphics card which supports OpenGL 3.3 and above and GLSL1.3 and later
1 GB RAM or more
1.5 GB free on disk (About 3GB extra required for the optional DE430/DE431 files).
A dark room for realistic rendering details like the Milky Way, Zodiacal Light or star twinkling
cant be seen in a bright room.
1 As of spring 2016, you need to enable the experimental OpenGL driver and compile Stellarium from
sources.
22 Chapter 2. Getting Started
2.2 Downloading
Download the correct package for your operating system directly from the main page,
http://stellarium.org.
2.3 Installation
2.3.1 Windows
1. Double click on the installer file you downloaded:
stellarium-0.15.2-win64.exe for 64-bit Windows 7 and later.
stellarium-0.15.2-win32.exe for 32-bit Windows 7 and later.
stellarium-0.15.2-classic-win32.exe for Windows XP and later.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions.
2.3.2 OS X
1. Locate the Stellarium-0.15.2.dmg file in Finder and double click on it or open it using
the Disk Utility application. Now, a new disk appears on your desktop and Stellarium is in it.
2. Open the new disk and please take a moment to read the ReadMe file. Then drag Stellarium
to the Applications folder.
3. Note: You should copy Stellarium to the Applications folder before running it some users
have reported problems running it directly from the disk image (.dmg).
2.3.3 Linux
Check if your distribution has a package for Stellarium already if so youre probably best off
using it. If not, you can download and build the source.
For Ubuntu we provide a package repository with the latest stable releases. Open a terminal
and type:
sudo add - apt - repository ppa : stellarium / stellarium - releases
sudo apt - get update
sudo apt - get install stellarium
2.4 Running Stellarium

2.4.1 Windows
The Stellarium installer creates a whole list of items in the Start Menu under the Programs/Stel-
larium section. The list evolves over time, not all entries listed here may be installed on your
system. Select one of these to run Stellarium:
Stellarium OpenGL version. This is the most efficient for modern PCs and should be used
when you have installed appropriate OpenGL drivers. Note that some graphics cards are
blacklisted by Qt to immediately run via ANGLE (Direct3D), you cannot force OpenGL in
this case. This should not bother you.
Stellarium (ANGLE mode) Uses Direct3D translation of the OpenGL rendering via ANGLE
library. Forces Direct3D version 9.
Stellarium (MESA mode) Uses software rendering via MESA library. This should work on any
PC without dedicated graphics card.
On startup, a diagnostic check is performed to test whether the graphics hardware is capable of
running. If all is fine, you will see nothing of it. Else you may see an error panel informing you
that your computer is not capable of running Stellarium (No OpenGL 2 found), or a warning
2.5 Troubleshooting 23
that there is only OpenGL 2.1 support. The latter means you will be able to see some graphics,
but depending on the type of issue you will have some bad graphics. For example, on an Intel
GMA4500 there is only a minor issue in Night Mode, while on other systems we had reports of
missing planets or even crashes as soon as a planet comes into view. If you see this, try running in
Direct3D 9 or MESA mode, or upgrade your system. The warning, once ignored, will not show
again.
When you have found a mode that works on your system, you can delete the other links.
2.4.2 OS X
Double click on the Stellarium application. Add it to your Dock for quick access.
2.4.3 Linux
If your distribution had a package youll probably already have an item in the GNOME or KDE
application menus. If not, just open a terminal and type stellarium.
2.5 Troubleshooting
Stellarium writes startup and other diagnostic messages into a logfile. Please see section 5 where
this file is located on your system. This file is essential in case when you feel you need to report a
problem with your system which has not been found before.
If you dont succeed in running Stellarium, please see the online forum2 . It includes FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions, also Frequently Answered Questions) and a general question section
which may include further hints. Please make sure you have read and understood the FAQ before
asking the same questions again.
2 https://launchpad.net/stellarium
3. A First Tour
Figure 3.1: Stellarium main view. (Combination of day and night views.)
When Stellarium first starts, we see a green meadow under a sky. Depending on the time of day, it
is either a day or night scene. If you are connected to the Internet, an automatic lookup will attempt
to detect your approximate position.1
1 See section 4.2 if you want to switch this off.
26 Chapter 3. A First Tour
At the bottom left of the screen, you can see the status bar. This shows the current observer
location, field of view (FOV), graphics performance in frames per second (FPS) and the current
simulation date and time. If you move the mouse over the status bar, it will move up to reveal a tool
bar which gives quick control over the program.
The rest of the view is devoted to rendering a realistic scene including a panoramic landscape
and the sky. If the simulation time and observer location are such that it is night time, you will see
stars, planets and the moon in the sky, all in the correct positions.
You can drag with the mouse on the sky to look around or use the cursor keys. You can zoom
with the mouse wheel or the Page or Page keys.
Much of Stellarium can be controlled very intuitively with the mouse. Many settings can
additionally be switched with shortcut keys (hotkeys). Advanced users will learn to use these
shortcut keys. Sometimes a key combination will be used. For example, you can quit Stellarium by
pressing Ctrl + Q on Windows and Linux, and + Q on Mac OS X. For simplicity, we will
show only the Windows/Linux version. We will present the default hotkeys in this guide. However,
almost all hotkeys can be reconfigured to match your taste. Note that some listed shortkeys are only
available as key combinations on international keyboard layouts, e.g., keys which require pressing
AltGr on a German keyboard. These must be reconfigured, please see 4.7.1 for details.
The way Stellarium is shown on the screen is primarily governed by the menus. These are
accessed by dragging the mouse to the left or bottom edge of the screen, where the menus will slide
out. In case you want to see the menu bars permanently, you can press the small buttons right in the
lower left corner to keep them visible.
3.1 Time Travel

When Stellarium starts up, it sets its clock to the same time and date as the system clock. However,
Stellariums clock is not fixed to the same time and date as the system clock, or indeed to the
same speed. We may tell Stellarium to change how fast time should pass, and even make time
go backwards! So the first thing we shall do is to travel into the future! Lets take a look at the
time control buttons on the right hand ride of the tool-bar. If you hover the mouse cursor over the
buttons, a short description of the buttons purpose and keyboard shortcut will appear.
Button Shortcut key Description
J Decrease the rate at which time passes
K Make time pass as normal
L Increase the rate at which time passes
8 Return to the current time & date
Table 3.1: Time Travel
OK, so lets go see the future! Click the mouse once on the increase time speed button .
Not a whole lot seems to happen. However, take a look at the clock in the status bar. You should
see the time going by faster than a normal clock! Click the button a second time. Now the time is
going by faster than before. If its night time, you might also notice that the stars have started to
3.2 Moving Around the Sky 27
move slightly across the sky. If its daytime you might be able to see the sun moving (but its less
apparent than the movement of the stars). Increase the rate at which time passes again by clicking
on the button a third time. Now time is really flying!
Let time move on at this fast speed for a little while. Notice how the stars move across the sky.
If you wait a little while, youll see the Sun rising and setting. Its a bit like a time-lapse movie.
Stellarium not only allows for moving forward through time you can go backwards too! Click
on the real time speed button . The stars and/or the Sun should stop scooting across the sky.
Now press the decrease time speed button once. Look at the clock. Time has stopped. Click
the decrease time speed button four or five more times. Now were falling back through time at
quite a rate (about one day every ten seconds!).
Time Dragging, Time Scrolling

Another way to quickly change time is time dragging. Press Ctrl and slide the mouse along the
direction of daily motion to go forward, or to the other direction to go backward. 0.15.1
Similarly, pressing Ctrl and scrolling the mouse wheel will advance time by minutes, pressing
Ctrl + and scrolling the mouse wheel will advance time by hours, Ctrl + Alt by days, and finally
Ctrl + + Alt by calendar years.
Enough time travel for now. Wait until its night time, and then click the real time speed button
. With a little luck you will now be looking at the night sky.
3.2 Moving Around the Sky
Key Description
Cursor keys Pan the view left, right, up and down
Page / Page , Ctrl + / Ctrl + Zoom in and out
Left mouse button Select an object in the sky
Right mouse button Clear selected object
Centre mouse button (wheel press) Centre selected object and start tracking
Mouse wheel Zoom in and out
Centre view on selected object
Forward-slash ( / ) Auto-zoom in to selected object
Backslash ( \ ) Auto-zoom out to original field of view
Table 3.2: Moving Around the Sky
As well as travelling through time, Stellarium lets to look around the sky freely, and zoom in
and out. There are several ways to accomplish this listed in table 3.2.
Lets try it. Use the cursors to move around left, right, up and down. Zoom in a little using
the Page key, and back out again using the Page . Press the \ key and see how Stellarium
returns to the original field of view (how zoomed in the view is), and direction of view.
Its also possible to move around using the mouse. If you left-click and drag somewhere on the
sky, you can pull the view around.
Another method of moving is to select some object in the sky (left-click on the object), and
press the Space key to centre the view on that object. Similarly, selecting an object and pressing
the forward-slash key / will centre on the object and zoom right in on it.
The forward-slash / and backslash \ keys auto-zoom in an out to different zoom levels
depending on what is selected. If the object selected is a planet or moon in a sub-system with a lot of
moons (e.g. Jupiter), the initial zoom in will go to an intermediate level where the whole sub-system
should be visible. A second zoom will go to the full zoom level on the selected object. Similarly, if
you are fully zoomed in on a moon of Jupiter, the first auto-zoom out will go to the sub-system
zoom level. Subsequent auto-zoom out will fully zoom out and return the initial direction of view.
For objects that are not part of a sub-system, the initial auto-zoom in will zoom right in on the
selected object (the exact field of view depending on the size/type of the selected object), and the
initial auto-zoom out will return to the initial FOV and direction of view.
3.3 The Main Tool Bar
Figure 3.2: Night scene with constellation artwork and moon.
Stellarium can do a whole lot more than just draw the stars. Figure 3.2 shows some of
Stellariums visual effects including constellation line and boundary drawing, constellation art,
planet hints, and atmospheric halo around the bright Moon. The controls in the main tool-bar
provide a mechanism for turning on and off the visual effects.
When the mouse if moved to the bottom left of the screen, a second tool-bar becomes visible.
All the buttons in this side tool-bar open and close dialog boxes which contain controls for further
configuration of the program. The dialogs will be described in the next chapter.
Table 3.3 describes the operations of buttons on the main tool-bar and the side tool-bar, and
gives their default keyboard shortcuts.
3.3 The Main Tool Bar 29
Feature Button Key Description
Constellations C Draw constellations as stick figures
Constellation Names V Draw name of the constellations
Constellation Art R Superimpose artistic representations of

the constellations
Equatorial Grid E Draw grid lines for the equatorial coor-
dinate system (RA/Dec)
Azimuth Grid Z Draw grid lines for the horizontal coor-

dinate system (Alt/Azi)
Toggle Ground G Toggle drawing of the ground. Turn

this off to see objects that are below the
horizon.
Toggle Cardinal Points Q Toggle marking of the North, South,
East and West points on the horizon.
Toggle Atmosphere A Toggle atmospheric effects. Most no-

tably makes the stars visible in the day-
time.
Deep-Sky Objects D Toggle marking the positions of Deep-
Sky Objects.
Planet Hints P Toggle indicators to show the position

of planets.
Nebula images I Toggle nebula images. This button

must be enabled first, see section 4.3.4
Digitized Sky Survey Ctrl + Alt + D Toggle Digitized Sky Survey. This
button must be enabled first, see sec-
tion 4.3.4
Coordinate System Ctrl + M Toggle between horizontal (Alt/Azi)
& equatorial (RA/Dec) coordinate sys-
tems.
Goto Center the view on the selected object
Night Mode Ctrl + N Toggle night mode, which applies a

red-only filter to the view to be easier
on the dark-adapted eye.
Full Screen Mode F11 Toggle full screen mode.

Bookmarks Alt + B Toggle bookmarks window. This but-

ton must be enabled first, see sec-
tion 4.3.4
Flip view (horizontal) Ctrl + Shift + H Flip the image in the horizontal plane.
This button must be enabled first, see
section 4.3.4
Flip view (vertical) Ctrl + Shift + V Flip the image in the vertical plane.
This button must be enabled first, see
section 4.3.4
Quit Stellarium Ctrl + Q Close Stellarium.
Help Window F1 Show the help window, with key bind-

ings and other useful information
Configuration Window F2 Show the configuration window
Search Window F3 or Ctrl + F Show the object search window
View Window F4 Show the view window
Time Window F5 Show the time window
Location Window F6 Show the observer location window

(map)
AstroCalc Window F10 Show the astronomical calculations

window
Table 3.3: Stellariums standard menu buttons
3.4 Taking Screenshots

You can save what is on the screen to a file by pressing Ctrl + S . Screenshots are taken in
.png format, and have filenames like stellarium-000.png, stellarium-001.png (the number
increments to prevent overwriting existing files).
Stellarium creates screenshots in a directory depending on your operating system, see section
5.1 Files and Directories.
4. The User Interface
This chapter describes the dialog windows which can be accessed from the left menu bar.
Most of Stellariums settings can be changed using the view window (press or F4 ) and
the configuration window ( or F2 ). Most settings have short labels. To learn more about
some settings, more information is available as tooltips, small text boxes which appear when you
hover the mouse cursor over a button.1 0.15
You can drag the windows around, and the position will be used again when you restart
Stellarium. If this would mean the window is off-screen (because you start in windowed mode, or
with a different screen), the window will be moved so that at least a part is visible.
Some options are really rarely changed and therefore may only be configured by editing the
configuration file. See 5.3 The Main Configuration File for more details.
4.1 Setting the Date and Time
Figure 4.1: Date and Time dialog
In addition to the time rate control buttons on the main toolbar, you can use the date and time
1 Unfortunately, on Windows 7 and later, with NVidia and AMD GPUs, these tooltips often do not work.
32 Chapter 4. The User Interface
window (open with the button or F5 ) to set the simulation time. The values for year, month,
day, hour, minutes and seconds may be modified by typing new values, by clicking the up and down
arrows above and below the values, and by using the mouse wheel.
The other tab in this window allows you to see or set Julian Day and/or Modified Julian Day
numbers (see 16.4.2).
4.2 Setting Your Location
Figure 4.2: Location window
The positions of the stars in the sky is dependent on your location on Earth (or other planet) as
well as the time and date. For Stellarium to show accurately what is (or will be/was) in the sky, you
must tell it where you are. You only need to do this once Stellarium can save your location so
3.1 you wont need to set it again until you move.
After installation, Stellarium uses an online service which tries to find your approximate
location based on the IP address you are using. This seems very practical, but if you feel this causes
privacy issues, you may want to switch this feature off. You should also consider switching it off
on a computer which does not move, to save network bandwidth.
To set your location more accurately, or if the lookup service fails, press F6 to open the
location window. There are a few ways you can set your location:
1. Just click on the map.
2. Search for a city where you live using the search edit box at the top right of the window, and
select the right city from the list.
3. Click on the map to filter the list of cities in the vicinity of your click, then choose from the
shortlist.
4. Enter a new location using the longitude, latitude and other data.
If you want to use this location permanently, click on the use as default checkbox, disable Get
location from Network, and close the location window.
4.3 The Configuration Window

The configuration window contains general program settings, and many other settings which do not
concern specific display options. Press the tool button or F2 to open.
4.3.1 The Main Tab

The Main tab in the configuration window provides controls for changing separately the program
and sky culture languages.
The next setting group allows to enable using DE430/DE431 ephemeris files. Most users do
not require this. Thes files have to be installed separately. See section 5.4.1 if you are interested.
The tab also provides a button for saving the current program configuration. Most display
settings have to be explicitly stored to make a setting change permanent.
4.3.2 The Information Tab

The Information tab allows you to set the type and amount of information displayed about a selected
object.
Ticking or unticking the relevant boxes will control this.
The information displays in various colours depending on the type and level of the stored
data
4.3.3 The Navigation Tab

The Navigation tab (Fig. 4.5) allows for enabling/disabling of keyboard shortcuts for panning and
zooming the main view, and also how to specify what simulation time should be used when the
program starts:
System date and time Stellarium will start with the simulation time equal to the operating system
clock.
System date at Stellarium will start with the same date as the operating system clock, but the
time will be fixed at the specified value. This is a useful setting for those people who use
Stellarium during the day to plan observing sessions for the upcoming evening.
Other some fixed time can be chosen which will be used every time Stellarium starts.
The lowest field allows selection of the correction model for the time correction T (see
section 16.4.3). Default is Espenak and Meeus (2006). Please use other values only if you know
what you are doing.
4.3.4 The Tools Tab

The Tools tab (Fig. 4.6) contains miscellaneous utility features:
Spheric mirror distortion This option pre-warps the main view such that it may be projected
onto a spherical mirror using a projector. The resulting image will be refected up from the
spherical mirror in such a way that it may be shone onto a small planetarium dome, making
a cheap planetarium projection system.
Figure 4.3: Configuration Window: Main Tab
Figure 4.4: Configuration Window: Information Tab

Figure 4.5: Configuration Window: Navigation Tab
Figure 4.6: Configuration Window: Tools Tab

Figure 4.7: Configuration Window: Scripts Tab
Figure 4.8: Configuration Window: Plugins Tab

Select single constellation When active, clicking on a star that is member in the constellation
lines will make the constellation stand out. You can select several constellations, but clicking
onto a star which is not member of a constellation line will display all constellations.
Show nebula background button You can disable display of DSO photographs with this button.
Auto-enabling for the atmosphere When changing planet during location change, atmosphere
will be switched as required.
Include nutation Compute the slight wobble of earths axis. This feature is active only about 500
years around J2000.0.
Azimuth from South Some users may be used to counting azimuth from south.
Disc viewport This option masks the main view producing the effect of a telescope eyepiece. It is
also useful when projecting Stellariums output with a fish-eye lens planetarium projector.
Gravity labels This option makes labels of objects in the main view align with the nearest horizon.
This means that labels projected onto a dome are always aligned properly.
Show flip buttons When enabled, two buttons will be added to the main tool bar which allow
the main view to be mirrored in the vertical and horizontal directions. This is useful when
observing through telecopes which may cause the image to be mirrored.
Use decimal degrees
Topocentric coordinates If you require planetocentric coordinates, you may switch this off. Usu-
ally it should be enabled.
Auto select landscapes When changing the planet in the location panel, a fitting landscape
panorama will be shown when available.
Auto zoom out returns to initial field of view When enabled, this option changes the behaviour
of the zoom out key (\) so that it resets the initial direction of view in addition to the field of
view.
4.3.5 The Scripts Tab

The Scripts tab (Fig. 4.7) allows the selection of pre-assembled scripts bundled with Stellarium that
can be run (See chapter 15 for an introduction to the scripting capabilities and language). This list
can be expanded by your own scripts as required. See section 5.2 where to store your own scripts.
When a script is selected it can be run by pressing the arrow button and stopped with the stop
button. With some scripts the stop button is inhibited until the script is finished.
Scripts that use sound or embedded videos will need a version of Stellarium configured at
compile time with multimedia support enabled. It must be pointed out here that sound or video
codecs available depends on the sound and video capabilities of you computer platform and may
not work.
4.3.6 The Plugins Tab

Plugins (see chapter 10 for an introduction) can be enabled here (Fig. 4.8) to be loaded the next
time you start Stellarium. When loaded, many plugins allow additional configuration which is
available by pressing the configure button on this tab.
4.4 The View Settings Window

The View settings window controls many display features of Stellarium which are not available via
the main toolbar.
4.4.1 Sky Tab

The Sky tab of the View window (Fig. 4.9) contains settings for changing the general appearance of
the main sky view. Some hightlights:
Figure 4.9: View Settings Window: Sky Tab
Absolute scale is the size of stars as rendered by Stellarium. If you increase this value, all stars
will appear larger than before.
Relative scale determines the difference in size of bright stars compared to faint stars. Values
higher than 1.00 will make the brightest stars appear much larger than they do in the sky.
This is useful for creating star charts, or when learning the basic constellations.
Twinkle controls how much the stars twinkle when atmosphere is enabled. Since V0.15, the
twinkling is reduced in higher altitudes, where the star light passes the atmosphere in a
steeper angle and is less distorted.
Limit magnitude Inhibits automatic addition of fainter stars when zooming in. This may be
helpful if you are interested in naked eye stars only.
Dynamic eye adaptation When enabled this feature reduces the brightness of faint objects when
a bright object is in the field of view. This simulates how the eye can be dazzled by a bright
object such as the moon, making it harder to see faint stars and galaxies.
Light pollution In urban and suburban areas, the sky is brightned by terrestrial light pollution
reflected in the atmophere. Stellarium simulates light pollution and is calibrated to the Bortle
Dark Sky Scale where 1 means a good dark sky, and 9 is a very badly light-polluted sky. See
Appendix B for more information.
Solar System objects this group of options lets you turn on and off various features related to
the planets. Simulation of light speed will give more precise positions for planetary bodies
which move rapidly against backround stars (e.g. the moons of Jupiter). The Scale Moon
option will increase the apparent size of the moon in the sky, which can be nice for wide
field of view shots.
Labels and markers you can independantly change the amount of labels displayed for planets,
stars and nebuulae. The further to the right the sliders are set, the more labels you will see.
Note that more labels will also appear as you zoom in.
Shooting stars Stellarium has a simple meteor simulation option. This setting controls how many
shooting stars will be shown. Note that shooting stars are only visible when the time rate is 1,
Figure 4.10: View Settings Window: DSO Tab
and might not be visiable at some times of day. Meteor showers are not currently simulated.
Atmosphere settings
An auxiliary dialog contains detail settings for the atmosphere. Here you can set atmospheric
pressure and temperature which influence refraction (see section 17.13.1), and the opacity factor
for extinction, magnitude loss per airmass k (see section 17.13.2).
4.4.2 DSO Tab

Deep-sky objects or DSO are extended objects which are external to the solar system, and are not
point-sources like stars. DSO include galaxies, planetary nebulae and star clusters. These objects
may or may not have images associated with them. Stellarium comes with a catalogue with over
50,000 extended objects containing the combined data from many catalogues, with 200 images. The
DSO tab (Fig. 4.10) allows you to specify which catalogs or which object types you are interested
in. See chapter 8 for details about the catalog, and how to extend it with your own photographs.
4.4.3 Markings Tab

The Markings tab of the View window (Fig. 4.11) controls the following features:
Celestial sphere this group of options makes it possible to plot various grids and lines in the main
view.
Projection Selecting items in this list changes the projection method which Stellarium uses to
draw the sky [61]. Options are:
Perspective Perspective projection maps the horizon and other great circles like equator,
ecliptic, hour lines, etc. into straight lines. The maximum field of view is 150 . The
mathematical name for this projection method is gnomonic projection.
Stereographic Stereographic projection has been known since antiquity and was originally
known as the planisphere projection. It preserves the angles at which curves cross each
Figure 4.11: View Settings Window: Markings Tab
other but it does not preserve area. Else it is similar to fish-eye projection mode. The
maximum field of view in this mode is 235 .
Fish-Eye Stellarium draws the sky using azimuthal equidistant projection. In fish-eye
projection, straight lines become curves when they appear a large angular distance
from the centre of the field of view (like the distortions seen with very wide angle
camera lenses). This is more pronounced as the user zooms out. The maximum field
of view in this mode is 180 .
Orthographic Orthographic projection is related to perspective projection, but the point of
perspective is set to an infinite distance. The maximum field of view is 180 .
Equal Area The full name of this projection method is Lambert azimuthal equal-area
projection. It preserves the area but not the angle. The maximum field of view is 360 .
Hammer-Aitoff The Hammer projection is an equal-area map projection, described by
E RNST H AMMER in 1892 and directly inspired by the Aitoff projection. The maximum
field of view in this mode is 360 .
Sinusoidal The sinusoidal projection is a pseudocylindrical equal-area map projection,
sometimes called the SansonFlamsteed or the Mercator equal-area projection. Merid-
ians are mapped to sine curves.
Mercator Mercator projection is a cylindrical projection which preserves the angles be-
tween objects, and the scale around an object is the same in all directions. The poles
are mapped to infinity. The maximum field of view in this mode is 233 .
Figure 4.12: View Settings Window: Landscape Tab
Miller cylindrical The Miller cylindrical projection is a modified Mercator projection,

proposed by O SBORN M AITLAND M ILLER (18971979) in 1942. The poles are no
longer mapped to infinity.
Cylinder The full name of this simple projection mode is cylindrical equidistant projection
or Plate Carre. The maximum field of view in this mode is 233 .
4.4.4 Landscape Tab

The Landscape tab of the View window (Fig. 4.12) controls the landscape graphics (the horizon
which surrounds you). To change the landscape graphics, select a landscape from the list on the left
side of the window. A description of the landscape will be shown on the right.
Note that while a landscape can include information about where the landscape graphics were
taken (planet, longitude, latitude and altitude), this location does not have to be the same as the
location selected in the Location window, although you can set up Stellarium such that selection of
a new landscape will alter the location for you.
The controls at the bottom right of the window operate as follows:
Show ground This turns on and off landscape rendering (same as the button in the main
tool-bar).
Show_fog This turns on and off rendering of a band of fog/haze along the horizon, when available
in this landscape.
Use associated planet and position When enabled, selecting a new landscape will automatically
update the observer location.
Use this landscape as default Selecting this option will save the landscape into the program
configuration file so that the current landscape will be the one used when Stellarium starts.
Minimal brightness Use some minimal brightness setting. Moonless night on very dark locations
may appear too dark on your screen. You may want to configure some minimal brightness
here.
from landscape, if given Landscape authors may decide to provide such a minimal brightness
value in the landscape.ini file.
Show landscape labels Landscapes can be configured with a gazetteer of interesting points, e.g.,
mountain peaks, which can be labeled with this option.
Show illumination to reflect the ugly developments of our civilisation, landscapes can be config-
ured with a layer of light pollution, e.g., streetlamps, bright windows, or the sky glow of a
nearby city. This layer, if present, will be mixed in when it is dark enough.
Using the button Add/remove landscapes. . . , you can also install new landscapes from ZIP files
which you can download e.g. from the Stellarium website2 or create yourself (see ch. 7 Landscapes),
15.2 or remove these custom landscapes.
Loading large landscapes may take several seconds. If you like to switch rapidly between
several landscapes and have enough memory, you can increase the default cache size to keep more
landscapes loaded previously available in memory. Note that a large landscape can take up 200MB
or more! See section D.1.10.
4.4.5 Starlore Tab

The Starlore tab of the View window (Fig. 4.13) controls what cultures constellations and bright
star names will be used in the main display. Some cultures have constellation art (e.g., Western and
Inuit), and the rest do not. Configurable options include
Use this skyculture as default Activate this option to load this skyculture when Stellarium starts.
Show labels Activate display of constellation labels, like or V . You can further select
whether you want to display abbreviated, original or translated names.
Show lines with thickness. . . Activate display of stick figures, like or C , and you can
configure line thickness here.
Show boundaries Activate display of constellation boundaries, like B . Currently, boundaries
have been defined only for Western skycultures.
Use native names for planets If provided, show the planet names as used in this skyculture (also
shows modern planet name for reference).
Show art in brightness. . . Activate display of constellation art (if available), like or R .
You can also select the brightness here.
4.5 The Object Search Window

The Object Search window provides a convenient way to locate objects in the sky. Simply type in
the name of an object to find, and press . Stellarium will point you at that object in the sky.
As you type, Stellarium will make a list of objects which contains what you have typed so far.
The first of the list of matching objects will be highlighted. If you press the key, the selection
will change to the next item in the list. Hitting the key will go to the currently highlighted
object and close the search dialog.
For example, suppose we want to locate Mimas (a moon of Saturn). After typing the first letter
of the name, m, Stellarium makes a list of objects whose name contains M: Haumea, Miranda,
2 http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Landscapes
Figure 4.13: View Settings Window: Starlore Tab
Umbriel, . . .
You may want at this point to have Stellarium rather propose object names with start with the
string you enter. Do that in the Options tab of this panel. Now repeat searching (delete, and re-enter
M to start over). Now the list is shorter and contains only objects which start with M: Maia, Mars,
. . . The first item in this list, Maia, is highlighted. Pressing now would go to Maia, but we
want Mimas. We can either press a few times to highlight Mimas and then hit , or we can
continue to type the name until it is the first/only object in the list.
The Position tab provides a convenient way to enter a set of coordinates.
The List Search tab allows selection of an object from predefined sets. The number of choices
is governed by the loaded plug ins. Simply scroll down the first window to select the type. The
name of an object can then be selected from the list. Press and Stellarium will go to that object.
The Options tab provides a few settings to fine-tune your search experience. When the name of
an object to find is typed in the object window and you are connected to the internet and Extend
search is ticked, Stellarium will search the SIMBAD on-line data bases for its coordinates. You
can then click the go button or press return. Stellarium will point you at that object in the sky even
if there is no object displayed on the screen. The SIMBAD server being used can be selected from
the scroll window.
4.6 The Astronomical Calculations Window V0.15

This window provides advanced functionality and is still in an experimental phase. You can call it by
pressing F10 . The Astronomical Calculations window shows four tabs with different functionality.
Figure 4.14: The Search Window: Objects
Figure 4.15: The Search Window: Positions
Figure 4.16: The Search Window: Lists

Figure 4.17: The Search Window: Options
4.6.1 Planet Positions

Shows J2000.0 positions and magnitudes for all installed planets, planet moons, minor bodies
(asteroids, comets, etc.). Clicking on an entry brings the object into focus (Figure 4.18).
Figure 4.18: Astronomical Calculations (AstroCalc): Planetary positions.
4.6.2 Ephemeris
Select an object and start and end time, and compute an ephemeris (list of positions and magnitude
evolving over time) for that object. The positions are marked in the sky with yellow circles
(Figure 4.19). When you click on a date, an orange circle indicates this date. Double-clicking sets
the respective date and brings object to focus. You can export the calculated ephemeris into CSV
file.
4.6.3 Phenomena
Compute phenomena like conjunctions, oppositions, occultations and eclipses (in special cases)
between planetary objects (Figure 4.20). You can export the calculated conjunctions and oppositions
into CSV file.
Figure 4.19: Astronomical Calculations (AstroCalc): Plot traces of planets.
Figure 4.20: Astronomical Calculations (AstroCalc): Phenomena.

4.7 Help Window 47
4.6.4 Altitude vs Time V0.15.1

Compute horizontal positions of object and draw it as a graph (Figure 4.21).
Figure 4.21: Astronomical Calculations (AstroCalc): Altitude vs Time.
4.7 Help Window
Figure 4.22: Help Window
The Help window lists all of Stellariums keystrokes. Note that some features are only available as
keystrokes, so its a good idea to have a browse of the information in this window.
4.7.1 Editing Keyboard Shortcuts

You can edit the shortcut keys here. Each available function can be configured with up to two key
combinations. You may want to reconfigure keys for example if you have a non-English keyboard
layout and some keys either do not work at all, or feel unintuitive for you, or if you are familiar with
other software and want to use the same hotkeys for similar functions. Simply select the function
and click with the mouse into the edit field, then press your key of choice. If the key has been taken
already, a message will tell you.
Figure 4.23: Help Window: About
The About tab (Fig. 4.23) shows version and licensing information, and a list of people who
helped to produce the program.
Figure 4.24: Help Window: Logfile
The log tab (Fig. 4.24) shows messages like the loading confirmations carried out when
stellarium runs. It is useful to locate the files that stellarium writes to your computer. The same
information is written to the file log.txt that you will find in your user directory (see 5.1).
II
Advanced Use
5 Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.1 Directories
5.2 Directory Structure
5.3 The Main Configuration File
5.4 Getting Extra Data
6 Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

6.1 Examples
6.2 Special Options
7 Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.1 Stellarium Landscapes
7.2 Creating Panorama Photographs for Stellarium
7.3 Panorama Postprocessing
7.4 Other recommended software
8 Deep-Sky Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.1 Stellarium DSO Catalog
8.2 Adding Extra Nebulae Images
9 Adding Sky Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

9.1 Basic Information
9.2 Skyculture Description Files
9.3 Constellation Names
9.4 Star Names
9.5 Planet Names
9.6 Deep-Sky Objects Names
9.7 Stick Figures
9.8 Constellation Borders
9.9 Constellation Artwork
9.10 Seasonal Rules
9.11 References
9.12 Publish Your Work
5. Files and Directories
5.1 Directories
Stellarium has many data files containing such things as star catalogue data, nebula images, button
icons, font files and configuration files. When Stellarium looks for a file, it looks in two places.
First, it looks in the user directory for the account which is running Stellarium. If the file is not
found there, Stellarium looks in the installation directory1 . Thus it is possible for Stellarium to be
installed by an administrative user and yet have a writable configuration file for non-administrative
users. Another benefit of this method is on multi-user systems: Stellarium can be installed by
the administrator, and different users can maintain their own configuration and other files in their
personal user accounts.
In addition to the main search path, Stellarium saves some files in other locations, for example
screens shots and recorded scripts.
The locations of the user directory, installation directory, screenshot save directory and script
save directory vary according to the operating system and installation options used. The following
sections describe the locations for various operating systems.
5.1.1 Windows
installation directory By default this is C:\Program Files\Stellarium\, although this can
be adjusted during the installation process.
user directory This is the Stellarium sub-folder in the Application Data folder for the user account
which is used to run Stellarium. Depending on the version of Windows and its configuration,
this could be any of the following (each of these is tried, if it fails, the next in the list if tried).
% APPDATA %\ Stellarium \
% USERPROFILE %\ Stellarium \
% HOMEDRIVE %\% HOMEPATH %\ Stellarium \
% HOME %\ Stellarium \
Stellarium s installation directory
1 The installation directory was referred to as the config root directory in previous versions of this guide
52 Chapter 5. Files and Directories
Thus, on a typical Windows Vista/7/10 system with user Bob Dobbs, the user directory
will be:
C :\ Users \ Bob Dobbs \ AppData \ Roaming \ Stellarium \
The user data directory is unfortunately hidden by default. To make it accessible in the Win-
dows file explorer, open an Explorer window and select Organize... Folder and search options .
Make sure folders marked as hidden are now displayed. Also, deselect the checkbox to hide
known file name endings.2
screenshot save directory Screenshots will be saved to the Pictures/Stellarium directory,
although this can be changed with a command line option (see section 63 ).
5.1.2 Mac OS X
installation directory This is found inside the application bundle, Stellarium.app. See Inside
Application Bundles4 for more information.
user directory This is the sub-directory Library/Preferences/Stellarium/ (or
~/Library/Application Support/Stellarium on newest versions of Mac OS X) of
the users home directory.
screenshot save directory Screenshots are saved to the users Desktop.
5.1.3 Linux
installation directory This is in the share/stellarium sub-directory of the installation prefix,
i.e., usually /usr/share/stellarium or /usr/local/share/stellarium/.
user directory This is the .stellarium sub-directory of users home directory, i.e., ~/.stellarium/.
This is a hidden folder, so if you are using a graphical file browser, you may want to change
its settings to display hidden folders.
screenshot save directory Screenshots are saved to the users home directory.
5.2 Directory Structure

Within the installation directory and user directory defined in section 5.1, files are arranged in the
following sub-directories.
landscapes/ contains data files and textures used for Stellariums various landscapes. Each
landscape has its own sub-directory. The name of this sub-directory is called the landscape
ID, which is used to specify the default landscape in the main configuration file, or in script
commands.
skycultures/ contains constellations, common star names and constellation artwork for Stel-
lariums many sky cultures. Each culture has its own sub-directory in the skycultures
directory.
nebulae/ contains data and image files for nebula textures. In the future Stellarium may be able
to support multiple sets of nebula images and switch between them at runtime. This feature
is not implemented for version 0.15.2, although the directory structure is in place - each set
of nebula textures has its own sub-directory in the nebulae directory.
2 Thisis a very confusing default setting and in fact a security risk: Consider you receive an email
with some file funny.png.exe attached. Your explorer displays this as funny.png. You double-click it,
expecting to open some image browser with a funny image. However, you start some unknown program
instead, and running this .exe executable program may turn out to be anything but funny!
3 Windows Vista users who do not run Stellarium with administrator privileges should adjust the shortcut
in the start menu to specify a different directory for screenshots as the Desktop directory is not writable for
normal programs. Stellarium includes a GUI option to specify the screenshot directory.
4 http://www.mactipsandtricks.com/articles/Wiley_HT_appBundles.lasso
5.3 The Main Configuration File 53
stars/ contains Stellariums star catalogues. In the future Stellarium may be able to support
multiple star catalogues and switch between them at runtime. This feature is not implemented
for version 0.15.2, although the directory structure is in place each star catalogue has its
own sub-directory in the stars directory.
data/ contains miscellaneous data files including fonts, solar system data, city locations, etc.
textures/ contains miscellaneous texture files, such as the graphics for the toolbar buttons, planet
texture maps, etc.
ephem/ (optional) may contain data files for planetary ephemerides DE430 and DE431 (see 5.4.1).
If any file exists in both the installation directory and user directory, the version in the user
directory will be used. Thus it is possible to override settings which are part of the main Stellarium
installation by copying the relevant file to the user area and modifying it there.
It is recommended to add new landscapes or sky cultures by creating the relevant files and
directories within the user directory, leaving the installation directory unchanged. In this manner
different users on a multi-user system can customise Stellarium without affecting the other users.
5.3 The Main Configuration File

The main configuration file is read each time Stellarium starts, and settings such as the observers
location and display preferences are taken from it. Ideally this mechanism should be totally
transparent to the user anything that is configurable should be configured in the program GUI.
However, at time of writing Stellarium isnt quite complete in this respect, despite improvements in
each version. Some settings, esp. color values for lines, grids, etc. can only be changed by directly
editing the configuration file.5 This section describes some of the settings a user may wish to
modify in this way, and how to do it.
If the configuration file does not exist in the user directory when Stellarium is started (e.g., the
first time the user starts the program), one will be created with default values for all settings (refer
to section 5 Files and Directories for the location of the user directory on your operating system).
The name of the configuration file is config.ini6 .
The configuration file is a regular text file, so all you need to edit it is a text editor like Notepad
on Windows, Text Edit on the Mac, or nano/vi/gedit/emacs/leafpad etc. on Linux.
A complete list of configuration file options and values may be found in appendix D.1 Configu-
ration File.
5.4 Getting Extra Data

Stellarium is packaged with over 600 thousand stars in the normal program download, but much
larger star catalogues may be downloaded in the Tools tab of the Configuration dialog.
5.4.1 Alternative Planet Ephemerides: DE430, DE431 0.15

By default, Stellarium uses the VSOP87 planetary theory, an analytical solution which is able to
deliver planetary positions for any input date. However, its use is recommended only for the year
range 4000 . . . + 8000. Outside this range, it seems to be usable for a few more millennia without
too great errors, but with degrading accuracy.
Since V0.15 you can install extra data files which allow access to the numerical integration
runs DE430 and DE431 from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The data files have to be
5 Color
values can be edited interactively by the Text User Interface plugin (see 11.6).
6 It
is possible to specify a different name for the main configuration file using the --config-file
command line option. See section 6 Command Line Options for details.
54 Chapter 5. Files and Directories
downloaded separately, and most users will likely not need them. DE430 provides highly accurate
data for the years +1550 . . . + 2650, while DE431 covers years 13000 . . . + 17000, which allows
e.g. archaeoastronomical research on Mesolithic landscapes. Outside these year ranges, positional
computation falls back to VSOP87.
The integration of this feature is still experimental. As of V0.15, solar eclipses in antiquity
seem to be slightly off. Please use JPL Horizon for quotable results.
To enable use of these data, download the files from JPL7 :
Ephemeris Filename MD5 hash
DE430 linux_p1550p2650.430 707c4262533d52d59abaaaa5e69c5738
DE431 lnxm13000p17000.431 fad0f432ae18c330f9e14915fbf8960a
The files can be placed in a folder named ephem inside either the installation directory or the
user directory (see 5.2). Alternatively, if you have them already stored elsewhere, you may add the
path to config.ini like:
[ astro ]
de430_path = C :/ Astrodata / JPL_DE43x / linux_p1550p2650 .430
de431_path = C :/ Astrodata / JPL_DE43x / lnxm13000p17000 .431
For fast access avoid storing them on a network drive or USB pendrive!
You activate use of either ephemeris in the configuration panel ( F2 ). If you activate both,
preference will be given for DE430 if the simulation time allows it. Outside of the valid times,
VSOP87 will always be used.
Acknowledgement
The optional use of DE430/431 has been supported by the ESA Summer of Code 2015 initiative.
7 ftp://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/eph/planets/Linux/. (Also download from this directory if you

are not running Linux!)
6. Command Line Options
Stellariums behaviour can be modified by providing parameters to the program when it is called
via the command line. See table for a full list:
Option Option Parameter Description

--help or -h [none] Print a quick command line help message,
and exit.
--version or -v [none] Print the program name and version infor-
mation, and exit.
--config-file or -c config file name Specify the configuration file name. The
default value is config.ini.
The parameter can be a full path (which will
be used verbatim) or a partial path.
Partial paths will be searched for inside the
regular search paths unless they start with a
., which may be used to explicitly specify
a file in the current directory or similar.
For example, using the option -c
my_config.ini would resolve to the
file <user directory>/my_config.ini
whereas -c ./my_config.ini can
be used to explicitly say the file
my_config.ini in the current work-
ing directory.
--restore-defaults [none] Stellarium will start with the default config-
uration. Note: The old configuration file
will be overwritten.
--user-dir path Specify the user data directory.
56 Chapter 6. Command Line Options
--screenshot-dir path Specify the directory to which screenshots

will be saved.
--full-screen yes or no Over-rides the full screen setting in the con-
fig file.
--home-planet planet Specify observer planet (English name).
--altitude altitude Specify observer altitude in meters.
--longitude longitude Specify latitude, e.g. +53d5816.65"
--latitude latitude Specify longitude, e.g. -1d427.48"
--list-landscapes [none] Print a list of available landscape IDs and
exit.
--landscape landscape ID Start using landscape whose ID matches the
passed parameter (dir name of landscape).
--sky-date date The initial date in yyyymmdd format.
--sky-time time The initial time in hh:mm:ss format.
--startup-script script name The name of a script to run after the program
has started.
--fov angle The initial field of view in degrees.
--projection-type ptype The initial projection type (e.g.
perspective).
--spout or -S all or sky Act as Spout sender (See section 6.2.1).12
--spout-name name Use name as name of the Spout sender. De-
fault name: Stellarium.1
--dump-opengl-details or -d [none] Dump information about OpenGL support
to logfile. Use this is you have graphics
problems and want to send a bug report.
--angle-mode or -a [none] Use ANGLE as OpenGL ES2 rendering en-
gine (autodetect Direct3D version).1
--angle-d3d9 or -9 [none] Force use Direct3D 9 for ANGLE OpenGL
ES2 rendering engine.1
--angle-d3d11 [none] Force use Direct3D 11 for ANGLE OpenGL
ES2 rendering engine.1
--angle-warp [none] Force use the Direct3D 11 software raster-
izer for ANGLE OpenGL ES2 rendering
engine.1
--mesa-mode or -m [none] Use MESA as software OpenGL rendering
engine.1
--safe-mode or -s [none] Synonymous to --mesa-mode.1
1 On Windows only
2 This function requires running in OpenGL mode.
6.1 Examples 57
--fix-text or -t [none] Alternative way of creating the Info text,

required on some systems.3
If you want to avoid adding the same switch every time when you start Stellarium from the 0.15
command line, you can also set an environment variable STEL_OPTS with your default options.
6.1 Examples
To start Stellarium using the configuration file, configuration_one.ini situated in the
user directory (use either of these):
stellarium -- config - file = configuration_one . ini
stellarium -c configuration_one . ini
To list the available landscapes, and then start using the landscape with the ID ocean
stellarium -- list - landscapes
stellarium -- landscape = ocean
Note that console output (like --list-landscapes) on Windows is not possible.
6.2 Special Options

6.2.1 Spout 0.15.1
Apart from stand-alone use, Stellarium can be used as multimedia source in larger installations,
in museums or science exhibitions. Spout4 is a technology which enables use of Stellariums
output window as texture in DirectX applications on Windows. Simply start Stellarium with the
--spout=sky command line option. (Currently Spout output is limited to the main window without
GUI panels, but this may change in future versions.) Your master application must obviously embed
a Spout receiver. The default name of the Spout sender is Stellarium. If you need more than
one instance of Stellarium acting as source, you can use option --spout-name=StelSpout2 in
addition to create another Spout sender without a name conflict. In such cases, it may be useful to
also have separate user data directories and use option --user-dir.
This mode does not work in ANGLE mode and requires modern graphics hardware with
the WGL_NV_DX_interop driver extension running in OpenGL mode. Some NVidia GPUs work
without this extension listed explicitly. On a notebook with NVidia Optimus technology, make sure
to launch Stellarium on the NVidia hardware. For permanent setting, use the NVidia configuration
dialog to configure Stellarium explicitly to run always on the NVidia card.
3 E.g.,
Raspberry Pi 2 with Raspbian Jessie and VC4 drivers from February 2016. A driver update which
makes this unnecessary should be available later in 2016.
4 http://spout.zeal.co/
7. Landscapes
G EORG Z OTTI
Landscapes are one of the key features that make Stellarium popular. Originally just used for
decoration, since version 10.6 they can be configured accurately for research and demonstration in
skyscape astronomy, a term which describes the connection of landscape and the sky above [12].
Configured properly, they can act as reliable proxies of the real landscapes, so that you can take e.g.
measurements of sunrise or stellar alignments [81], or prepare your next moonrise photograph, as
though you were on-site.
In this chapter you can find relevant information required to accurately configure Stellarium
landscapes, using panoramas created from photographs taken on-site, optionally supported by
horizon measurements with a theodolite.
Creating an accurate panorama requires some experience with photography and image process-
ing. However, great open-source tools have been developed to help you on the job. If you already
know other tools, you should be able to easily transfer the presented concepts to those other tools.
7.1 Stellarium Landscapes

As of version 0.15, the available landscape types are:
polygonal A point list of measured azimuth/altitude pairs, used to define a sharp horizon polygon.
The area below the horizon line is colored in a single color (Section 7.1.2).
spherical The simple form to configure a photo-based panorama: A single image is used as texture
map for the horizon (Section 7.1.3).
old_style The original photo panorama. This is the most difficult to configure, but allows highest
resolution by using several texture maps (Section 7.1.4).
fisheye Another 1-texture approach, utilizing an image made with a fisheye lens. This land-
scape suffers from calibration uncertainties and can only be recommended for decoration
(Section 7.1.5).
A landscape consists of a landscape.ini plus the data files that are referenced from there,
60 Chapter 7. Landscapes
like a coordinate list or the textures. Those reside in a subdirectory of the landscape folder inside
the Stellarium program directory, or, for own work, in a subdirectory of the landscape folder
inside your Stellarium user data directory (see section 5.1).
Let us ssume we want to create a landscape for a place called Rosenburg. The location for the
files of our new custom landscape Rosenburg depends on the operating system (see 5.1). Create a
new subdirectory, and for maximum compatibility, use small letters and no spaces:
Windows C:/Users/YOU/AppData/Roaming/Stellarium/landscapes/rosenburg
Linux ~/.stellarium/landscapes/rosenburg
Mac $HOME/Library/Preferences/Stellarium/landscapes/rosenburg
7.1.1 Location information

This optional section in landscape.ini allows automatic loading of site coordinates if this option
is activated in the program GUI (see 4.4.4). For our purposes we should consider especially the
coordinates in the location section mandatory!
[ location ]
planet = Earth
country = Austria
name = KGA Rosenburg
latitude = +48 d38 3.3 "
longitude = +15 d38 2.8 "
altitude = 266
light_pollution = 1
at mo sp h e r i c _ e x t i n c t i o n _ c o e f f i c i e n t = 0.2
display_fog = 0
atmospheric_tempe rature = 10.0
atmospheric_pressure = 1013.0
Where:
planet Is the English name of the solar system body for the landscape.
latitude Is the latitude of site of the landscape in degrees, minutes and seconds. Positive values
represent North of the equator, negative values South of the equator.
longitude Is the longitude of site of the landscape. Positive values represent East of the Green-
wich Meridian on Earth (or equivalent on other bodies), Negative values represent Western
longitude.
altitude Is the altitude of the site of the landscape in meters.
country (optional) Name of the country the location is in.
state (optional) Name of the state the location is in.
name (optional) Name of the location. This may contain spaces, but keep it short to have it fully
visible in the selection box.
Since V0.11, there are a few more optional parameters that can be loaded if the according switch
is active in the landscape selection panel. If they are missing, the parameters do not change to
defaults.
light_pollution (optional) Light pollution of the site, given on the Bortle Scale (1: none . . . 9:
metropolitan; see Appendix B). If negative or absent, no change will be made.
atmospheric_extinction_coefficient (optional, no change if absent.) Extinction coefficient
(mag/airmass) for this site.
atmospheric_temperature (optional, no change if absent.) Surface air temperature (Degrees
Celsius). Used for refraction. Set to -1000 to explicitly declare "no change".
atmospheric_pressure (optional, no change if absent.) Surface air pressure (mbar; would be

1013 for "normal" sea-level conditions). Used for refraction. Set to -2 to declare "no change",
or -1 to compute from altitude.
display_fog (optional, -1/0/1, default=-1) You may want to preconfigure setting 0 for a landscape
on the Moon. Set -1 to declare "no change".
7.1.2 Polygonal landscape

This landscape type has been added only recently (since 0.13) to allow the use of measured horizons.
Users of Cartes du Ciel1 will be happy to hear that the format of the list of measurements is
compatible.
This is the technically simplest of the landscapes, but may be used to describe accurately
measured horizon lines. The file that encodes horizon altitudes can also be used in all other
landscape types. If present there, it will be used to define object visibility (instead of the opacity of
the landscape photo textures) and, if horizon_line_color is defined, will be plotted.
There is a small caveat: Sometimes, there may appear vertical lines from some corners towards
the zenith or the mathematical horizon, e.g. if there is a vertex including azimuth 0 or 180. If this
irritates you, just offset this azimuth minimally (e.g., 180.00001).
The landscape.ini file for a polygonal type landscape looks like this (this example is based
on the Geneve landscape which was borrowed from Cartes du Ciel and comes with Stellarium):
[ landscape ]
name = Geneve
type = polygonal
author = Georg Zotti ; Horizon definition by Patrick Chevalley
description = Horizon line of Geneve .
Demonstrates compatibility with
horizon descriptions from Cartes du Ciel .
polygonal_horizon_list = horizon_Geneve . txt
polygonal_angle_r otatez = 0
ground_color = .15 ,.45 ,.45
horizon_line_color = .75 ,.45 ,.45
Where:
name appears in the landscape tab of the configuration window.
type identifies the method used for this landscape. polygonal in this case.
author lists the author(s) responsible for images and composition.
description gives a short description visible in the selection panel. The text can be superseded
by optional description.<lang>.utf8 files.
polygonal_horizon_list is the name of the horizon data file for this landscape.
polygonal_horizon_list_mode (optional) the two first columns in the list are numbers: az-
imuth and altitude or zenith distance, in either degrees or radians or gradians(gon). The value
must be one of azDeg_altDeg, azDeg_zdDeg, azRad_altRad, azRad_zdRad, azGrad_altGrad,
azGrad_zdGrad. Default: azDeg_altDeg
polygonal_angle_rotatez (optional, default=0) Angle (degrees) to adjust azimuth. This may
be used to apply a (usually) small offset rotation, e.g. when you have measured the horizon
in a grid-based coordinate system like UTM and have to compensate for the meridian
convergence.
1 SkyChart / Cartes du Ciel planetarium: http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start

ground_color (optional, default=0,0,0, i.e., black) Color for the area below the horizon line.
Each R,G,B component is a float within 0..1.
horizon_line_color (optional, default: invisible) used to draw a polygonal horizon line. Each
R,G,B component is a float within 0..1.
minimal_brightness (optional) Some minimum brightness to keep landscape visible. Default=-
1, i.e., use minimal_brightness from the [landscape] section in the global config.ini.
minimal_altitude (optional, default=-2) Some sky elements, e.g. stars, are not drawn below
this altitude to increase performance. Under certain circumstances you may want to specify
something else here. (since V0.14)
polygonal_horizon_inverted (optional, default=false) In rare cases like horizon lines for high
mountain peaks with many negative horizon values this should be set to true. (since V0.15)
7.1.3 Spherical landscape

This method uses a more usual type of panorama the kind which is produced directly from
software such as autostitch or Hugin2 . The Moon landscape which comes with Stellarium
provides a minimal example of a landscape.ini file for a spherical type landscape:
[ landscape ]
name = Moon
type = spherical
maptex = apollo17 . png
A more elaborate example is found with the Grossmugl landscape:

[ landscape ]
name = Grossmugl
type = spherical
author = Guenther Wuchterl , Kuffner - Sternwarte . at ;
Lightscape : Georg Zotti
description = Field near Leeberg , Grossmugl ( Riesentumulus ) ,
Austria - Primary Observing Spot of the Grossmugl
Starlight Oasis - http :// starlightoasis . org
maptex = gros smug l_l eebe rg_c rop1 1 .25. png
maptex_top =11.25
maptex_fog = g r o s s mu g l _ l ee b e r g _ fo g _ c r op 2 2 .5. png
maptex_fog_top = 22.5
maptex_fog_bottom = -22.5
maptex_illum = g r o s s m u g l _l e e b e r g _ i l l u m _ c r o p 0 . png
maptex_illum_bottom = 0
angle_rotatez = -89.1
minimal_brightness = 0.0075
polygonal_horizon_list = horizon_grossmugl . txt
polygonal_angle_r otatez =0
horizon_line_color = .75 ,.45 ,.45
minimal_altitude = -1
Where:
name appears in the landscape tab of the configuration window. This name may be translated.
type identifies the method used for this landscape. spherical in this case.
2 http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

description gives a short description visible in the selection panel. The text will be superseded
maptex is the name of the image file for this landscape.
maptex_top (optional; default=90) is the altitude angle of the top edge.
maptex_bottom (optional; default=-90) is the altitude angle of the bottom edge. Usually you will
not require this, or else there will be a hole at your feet. ;-)
maptex_fog (optional; default: no fog) is the name of the fog image file for this landscape.
maptex_fog_top (optional; default=90) is the altitude angle of the top edge of the fog texture.
Useful to crop away parts of the image to conserve texture memory.
maptex_fog_bottom (optional; default=-90) is the altitude angle of the bottom edge.
maptex_illum (optional; default: no illumination layer) is the name of the nocturnal illumina-
tion/light pollution image file for this landscape.
maptex_illum_top (optional; default=90) is the altitude angle of the top edge, if you have light
pollution only close to the horizon.
maptex_illum_bottom (optional; default=-90) is the altitude angle of the bottom edge.
angle_rotatez (optional, default=0) Angle (degrees) to adjust azimuth. If 0, the left/right edge
is due east.
tesselate_rows (optional, default=20) This is the number of rows for the maptex. If straight
vertical edges in your landscape appear broken, try increasing this value, but higher values
require more computing power. Fog and illumination textures will have a similar vertical
resolution.
tesselate_cols (optional, default=40) If straight horizontal edges in your landscape appear
broken, try increasing.
polygonal_horizon_list (optional) is the name of the (measured) horizon data file for this
landscape. Can be used to define the exact position of the horizon. If missing, the texture
can be queried for horizon transparency (for accurate object rising/setting times)
polygonal_horizon_list_mode (optional) see 7.1.2
polygonal_angle_rotatez (optional, default=0) see 7.1.2
horizon_line_color see 7.1.2
minimal_brightness see 7.1.2
minimal_altitude (optional, default=-2) Some sky elements, e.g. stars, are not drawn below
this altitude for efficiency. Under certain circumstances (e.g. for space station panoramas
where you may have sky below your feet, or for deep valleys/high mountains, you may want
to specify something else here. (since V0.14)
To save texture memory, you can trim away the transparent sky and define the angle maptex_top.
Likewise, fogtex_top, fogtex_bottom, maptex_illum_top and maptex_illum_top. You
should then stretch the texture to a full power of 2, like 4096 1024 (but note that some hardware
is even limited to 2048 pixels). The easiest method to create perfectly aligned fog and illumination
layers is with an image editor that supports layers like the GIMP or Photoshop. Fog and Light
images should have black background.
7.1.4 High resolution (Old Style) landscape

The old_style or multiple image method works by having the 360 panorama of the horizon
(without wasting too much texture memory with the sky) split into a number of reasonably small
side textures, and a separate ground texture. This has the advantage over the single-image method
that the detail level of the horizon can be increased without ending up with a single very large image
file, so this is usable for either very high-resolution panoramas or for older hardware with limited
capabilities. The ground texture can be a different resolution than the side textures. Memory usage
Figure 7.1: Old_style landscape: eight parts delivering a high-resolution panorama. The
bottom (ground) texture, drawn on a flat plane, is not shown here.
may be more efficient because there are no unused texture parts like the corners of the texture file
in the fish-eye method. It is even possible to repeat the horizon several times (for purely decorative
purpose). The side textures are mapped onto curved (spherical ring or cylinder) walls (Fig. 7.1).
On the negative side, it is more difficult to create this type of landscape merging the ground
texture with the side textures can prove tricky. (Hugin can be used to create also this file, though.
And on the other hand, you can replace this by something else like a site map.) The contents of
the landscape.ini file for this landscape type is also somewhat more complicated than for other
landscape types. Here is the landscape.ini file which describes our Rosenburg landscape3 :
[ landscape ]
name = KGA Rosenburg
author = Georg Zotti , VIAS / ASTROSIM
description = KGA Rosenburg
type = old_style
nbsidetex = 8
tex0 = Horiz -0. png
nbside = 8
side0 = tex0 :0:0:1:1
side1 = tex1 :0:0:1:1
side2 = tex2 :0:0:1:1
3 the groundtex grassground.png mentioned here has been taken from the Guereins landscape.
side3 = tex3 :0:0:1:1

side4 = tex4 :0:0:1:1
side5 = tex5 :0:0:1:1
side6 = tex6 :0:0:1:1
side7 = tex7 :0:0:1:1
groundtex = grassground . png
ground = groundtex :0:0:1:1
nb_decor_repeat = 1
decor_alt_angle = 82
decor_angle_shift = -62
; Rotatez deviates from -90 by the Meridian Convergence .
; The original landscape pano is grid - aligned , not north - aligned !
decor_angle_rotatez = -90.525837223
ground_angle_shift = -62
ground_angle_rotatez = 44.474162777
draw_ground_first = 1
fogtex = fog . png
fog_alt_angle = 20
fog_angle_shift = -3
fog = fogtex :0:0:1:1
calibrated = true
[ location ]
planet = Earth
latitude = +48 d38 3.3 "
longitude = +15 d38 2.8 "
altitude = 266
light_pollution = 1
at mo sp h e r i c _ e x t i n c t i o n _ c o e f f i c i e n t = 0.2
display_fog = 0
atmospheric_tempe rature = 10.0
atmospheric_pressure = 1013.0
Where:
name is the name that will appear in the landscape tab of the configuration window for this
landscape
type should be old_style for the multiple image method.
nbsidetex is the number of side textures for the landscape.
tex0 ... tex<nbsidetex-1> are the side texture file names. These should exist in the
textures / landscapes / landscape directory in PNG format.
light0 ... light<nbsidetex-1> are optional textures. If they exist, they are used as overlays
on top of the respective tex<...> files and represent nocturnal illumination, e.g. street
lamps, lit windows, red dots on towers, sky glow by city light pollution, . . . Empty (black)
panels can be omitted. They are rendered exactly over the tex<...> files even when the
PNG files have different size. If you need your light pollution higher in the sky, you must
use a spherical or fisheye landscape.
nbside is the number of side textures
side0 ...side<nbside-1> are the descriptions of how the side textures should be arranged in
the program. Each description contains five fields separated by colon characters (:). The
first field is the ID of the texture (e.g. tex0), the remaining fields are the texture coordinates
(x0:y0:x1:y1) used to place the texture in the scene. If you want to use all of the image,
this will just be 0:0:1:1.
groundtex is the name of the ground texture file. (This could also be a diagram e.g. indicating
the mountain peaks!)
fogtex is the name of the texture file for fog in this landscape. Fog is mapped onto a simple
cylinder.4 Note that for this landscape, accurate overlay of fog and landscape is only
guaranteed if calibrated=true and tan_mode=true.
nb_decor_repeat is the number of times to repeat the side textures in the 360 panorama. (Useful
photo panoramas should have 1 here)
decor_alt_angle (degrees) is the vertical angular extent of the textures (i.e. how many degrees
of the full altitude range they span).
decor_angle_shift (degrees) vertical angular offset of the scenery textures, at which height the
bottom line of the side textures is placed.
decor_angle_rotatez (degrees) angular rotation of the panorama around the vertical axis. This
is handy for rotating the landscape so North is in the correct direction. Note that for historical
reasons, a landscape with this value set to zero degrees has its leftmost edge pointing towards
east.
ground_angle_shift (degrees) vertical angular offset of the ground texture, at which height the
ground texture is placed.
ground_angle_rotatez (degrees) angular rotation of the ground texture around the vertical axis.
When the sides are rotated, the ground texture may need to be rotated as well to match up
with the sides.
fog_alt_angle (degrees) vertical angular size of the fog cylinder - how fog looks. Accurate
vertical size requires calibrated=true.
fog_angle_shift (degrees) vertical angular offset of the fog texture - at what height is it drawn.
Accurate vertical placement requires calibrated=true.
draw_ground_first if 1 the ground is drawn in front of the scenery, i.e. the side textures will
overlap over the ground texture.
calibrated (optional). New since V0.10.6: Only if true, decor_alt_angle etc. really work as
documented above. The (buggy) old code was left to work with the landscapes already exist-
ing. Note that with uncalibrated landscapes, sunrise computations and similar functionality
which requires an accurate horizon line will not work.
tan_mode (optional, not used in this file). If true, the panorama image must be in in cylindrical,
not equirectangular projection. Finding decor_alt_angle and decor_angle_shift may
be a bit more difficult with this, but now (V0.13) works also with calibrated. A fog image
created as overlay on the pano will be perfectly placed.
decor_angle_rotatez angular rotation of the scenery around the vertical axis. This is handy for
rotating the landscape so North is in the correct direction. If 0, the left edge of tex0 is due
east.
ground_angle_shift vertical angular offset of the ground texture, at which height the ground
texture is placed. Values above -10 are not recommended for non-photographic content (e.g.,
a map) due to high distortion.
ground_angle_rotatez angular rotation of the ground texture around the vertical axis. When
the sides are rotated, the ground texture may need to be rotated as well to match up with the
sides. If 0, east is up. if North is up in your image, set this to 90. Note that adjustments of
4 In very wide-angle views, the fog cylinder may become visible in the corners.
decor_angle_rotatez require adjustments of this angle in the opposite direction!

fog_alt_angle vertical angular size of the fog cylinder.
fog_angle_shift vertical angular offset of the fog cylinder.
draw_ground_first if 1, the ground is drawn before the sides, i.e. the side textures may overlap
the ground texture if ground_angle_shift > decor_angle_shift.
polygonal_horizon_list (optional) see 7.1.2
minimal_altitude see 7.1.2
7.1.5 Fisheye landscape

The Trees landscape that is provided with Stellarium is an example of the single fish-eye method,
and provides a good illustration. The centre of the image is the spot directly above the observer
(the zenith). The point below the observer (the nadir) becomes a circle that just touches the edges
of the image. The remaining areas of the image (the corners outside the circle) are not used.
The image file (Fig. 7.2) should be saved in PNG format with alpha transparency. Whereever
the image is transparent Stellarium will render the sky.
The landscape.ini file for a fish-eye type landscape looks like this (this example is based on
the Trees landscape which comes with Stellarium):
[ landscape ]
name = Trees
type = fisheye
author = Robert Spearman . Light pollution image : Georg Zotti
description = Trees in Greenlake Park , Seattle
maptex = trees_512 . png
maptex_illum = trees_illum_512 . png
maptex_fog = trees_fog_512 . png
texturefov = 210
angle_rotatez = 17
tesselate_rows = 28
tesselate_cols = 60
Where:
name appears in the landscape tab of the configuration window.
type identifies the method used for this landscape. fisheye in this case.
maptex is the name of the image file for this landscape.
maptex_fog (optional) is the name of the fog image file for this landscape.
maptex_illum (optional) is the name of the nocturnal illumination/light pollution image file for
this landscape.
texturefov is the field of view that the image covers in degrees.
angle_rotatez (optional) Angle (degrees) to adjust azimuth.
tesselate_rows (optional, default=20) If straight edges in your landscape appear broken, try
increasing.
Figure 7.2: Texture for the Trees Fisheye landscape.
tesselate_cols (optional, default=40) If straight edges in your landscape appear broken, try
increasing.
polygonal_horizon_list (optional) see 7.1.2
minimal_altitude see 7.1.2
7.1.6 Description
The short description entry in landscape.ini will be replaced by the contents of an optional
file description.<LANG>.utf8. <LANG> is the ISO 639-1 language code, or its extension which
contains language and country code, like pt_BR for Brazilian Portuguese. The long description
requires the file description.en.utf8, this is en=english text with optional HTML tags for
sections, tables, etc. You can also have embedded images in the HTML (Views of sacred landscapes,
other informative images, . . . ?), just make them PNG format please. The length of the description
texts is not limited, you have room for a good description, links to external resources, whatever
seems suitable.
If you can provide other languages supported by Stellarium, you can provide translations
yourself, else Stellarium translators may translate the English version for you. (It may take years
though.) The file ending .utf8 indicates that for special characters like you should use
UTF8 encoding. If you write only English/ASCII, this may not be relevant.
7.1.7 Gazetteer 0.14

An optional feature for landscapes is a gazetteer function, i.e., labels for landscape features. The
Grossmugl landscape demonstrates an example and should be self-explanatory. This is again
multilingual, so the files are called gazetteer.<LANG>.utf8.
# demo gazetteer for Grossmugl landscape .
# Can be used to better describe the landscape ,
# i . e . show labels on landscape features .
# Fields must be separated by vertical line ,
# label must not have such a vertical line .
# Comments have this hash mark in first column .
# coordinates in degrees from true North .
# line towards zenith draws a single line strictly upward .
# label is centered on line endpoint .
# Azimuth | Altitude | degrees | azimuth | label
# | | towards zenith | shift |
113.66 | 5.5 | 4 | -6 | Leeberg
35 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0 | Grossmugl
335 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Steinabrunn
305 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Ringendorf
180 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Vienna (30 km )
135 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | Wind power plant Strasshof
Figure 7.3: Zenit Horizon 202 panorama camera with rotating lens for 35mm film.
(Source: Wikipedia, Horizon202 by BillC - Own Work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horizon202.jpg#mediaviewer/File:
Horizon202.jpg)
7.2 Creating Panorama Photographs for Stellarium

7.2.1 Panorama Photography
Traditional film-based panorama photography required dedicated cameras with curved film holders
and specialized lenses (Figure 7.3).
Digital photography has brought a revolution also in this field, and it has become quite easy to
create panoramas simply by taking a series of photographs with a regular camera on the same spot
and combining them with dedicated software.
A complete panorama photo visually encloses the observer like the mental image that as-
tronomers have been using for millennia: the celestial sphere. If we want to document the view,
say, in a big hall like a church, optimal results will be gained with a camera on a tripod with a
specialized panorama head (Figure 7.4) which assures the camera rotates around the entrance
pupil5 of the lens in order to avoid errors by the parallax shift observed on photographs taken on
adjacent but separate positions.
Often however, both the upper half of the observers environment (the sky) and the ground
the photographer is standing on, are regarded of lesser importance, and only a series of laterally
adjacent photographs is taken and combined into a cylindrical or spherical ring that shows the
landscape horizon, i.e., where ground and sky meet. If the closest object of interest is farther
away that a few metres, requirements on parallax avoidance are far less critical, and the author has
taken lots of landscape panoramas with a camera on the usual tripod screw, and even more entirely
without a tripod. However, any visible errors that are caused by a shifted camera will require more
effort in postprocessing.
When you have no tripod, note that you must not rotate the camera on your outstretched arm!
Rather, the cameras entrance pupil must be rotated, so you should appear to dance around the
5 In
many references you will find Nodal Point mentioned here. But see these: http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_point_%28optics%29#Nodal_points, http://web.archive.
org/web/20060513074042/http://doug.kerr.home.att.net/pumpkin/Pivot_Point.pdf,
http://www.janrik.net/PanoPostings/NoParallaxPoint/TheoryOfTheNoParallaxPoint.pdf
Figure 7.4: Automated panorama head. (Source: Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Panoramakamera#mediaviewer/File:Rodeon_vr_head_01.jpg)
camera!
The images should match in brightness and white balance. If you can shoot in RAW, do so to
be able to change white balance later. If the camera can only create JPG, ensure you have set the
camera to a suitable white balance before taking the photos and not to auto, because this may
find different settings and thus give colour mismatches. Exposure brightness differences can be
largely removed during stitching, but good, well-exposed original shots always give better results.
As a general recommendation, the images of a panorama should be taken from left to right,
else please accordingly invert some of the instructions given below.
There are several panorama making programs. Often they are included in the software that
comes with a digital camera and allow the creation of simple panoramas. Other software titles are
available for purchase. However, there is one cost-free open-source program that does everything
we need for our task, and much more:
7.2.2 Hugin Panorama Software

Hugin6 , named after one of the ravens that sits on Odins shoulder and tells him about the world,
is a user-friendly catch-all package with graphical user interface that allows creating panoramas
with a single application. Actually, Hugin is a GUI application which calls several specialized
sub-programs with fitting parameters. The instructions are based on Hugin V2014.0 and 2015.0.
Typically digital images come in JPG format with information about camera, lens, and settings
stored in invisible metadata in the EXIF format. When Hugin reads such images, it can automati-
cally derive focal length, field of view, and exposure differences (exposure time, aperture, color
balance) to create panoramas as easily as possible.
After starting Hugin for the first time, select Interface Expert to release several options not
visible to beginners. In the Preferences dialog ( Files Preferences ), edit number of CPU to
6 http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
match the number of cores in your computer and allow parallel processing. E.g., if you have an
Intel Core-i7, you usually can set up to 8 cores (4 cores with hyperthreading; but maybe leave
one core for your other tasks while you wait for a processing job?). If your PC is equipped with a
modern programmable graphics card, you can enable its use in the Programs tab with activating
Use GPU for remapping.
After that, we are ready for creating our panoramas.
7.2.3 Regular creation of panoramas

The graphical user interface (GUI) consists of a main menu, symbols, and 4 tabs. We start on the
tab Photos.
Add images. . . Opens a file browser. Select the images which you want to stitch. Usually,
lens data (focal length, field of view, . . . ) are read from the EXIF data. If those are not
available (e.g. cheap cameras, images scanned from film), you can enter those data on
loading or later. The images are now listed in the file list, and you can edit image parameters
by marking one or more, and then choosing from the context menu which you get from
pressing the right mouse button. In case you have used different lenses (or inadvertently
used different focal lengths of a zoom lens), you can assign separate lenses to the images.
Caveat: If you have resized the images, or produced copied on your RAW converter with
non-native resolution, the Field of View (FoV) in Hugin may be misidentified. You must
edit lens parameters and fill in the field of view from a full-size image. Else the first round
of optimisation will run into unsolvable trouble.
Select one image as position anchor (usually the center image), and one as exposure anchor
(this can be the same image). For our purpose, the anchor image should face south.
Next, we must find common feature points. The next field below provides the required
settings. It is recommended to use the CPFind command. To avoid finding control points
in (moving) clouds, select setting Hugins CPFind + Celeste 7 . Then press Create control points .
This opens a dialog box in which you can see output of the selected feature point extractor.
It should finish with a box telling you the number of identified points. In rare cases some
images cannot be linked to others, you will have to manually add or edit feature points in
those cases.
Now its time to start optimisations. On the Geometric Optimimisation combo, start with
the button Positions, incremental from anchor , and press Calculate . Moments later, a first
rough match is available for inspection.
First open the Preview window (press Ctrl + P or click the blue icon). Assumed your
images cover the full horizon, the window shows an equirectangular area (360 degrees along
the horizon and 180 degrees from zenith to nadir). The anchor image should be close to the
image center, and the other images should be already well-aligned to both sides. You can set
the exact center point by clicking it in the image. If the horizon appears badly warped, use
the right mouse key and click on the horizon roughly near 90 or +90 degrees (halfway to
the left or right).
Open the OpenGL preview window (press Ctrl + Shift + P or click the blue icon with GL
inside). This panel provides several important views:
The Preview tab is similar to the non-OpenGL preview. You can display an overlay of
the control points, which are colored according to match quality. Also, with button
Identify activated, you see the overlapping image frames when you move the mouse
over the image.
The Layout tab helps finding links between images.
The Move/Drag dialog may help to interactively adjust a panorama.
7 If you forget this, you can remove cloud points by calling Celeste in the control point editor later
Sometimes the preview image may however be distorted and unusable.

Open the Control Points Table dialog (press F3 or click the table button). Here you see
the points listed which link two images. Clicking a column label sorts by this column. It is
recommended that only neighboring overlapping images should be included here. If you
have very large overlap, it is possible that points are found between two images which are
not directly adjacent. In the OpenGL preview window, you can use the Preview or the
Layout tabs to identify those image pairs. Such points should be deleted. In the point table,
click on columns Right Img., then Left Img., and then find pairs like 0/2, 1/3, 2/4 etc.
Mark those lines, and delete the points.
To re-run the optimisation, press the double-arrow icon or the calculate button in the
Optimise/Geometric area.
Preliminary Geometric Optimisation

Now the (usually) longest part begins: Iterative optimisation of the photo matchpoints. If your
images were taken on a panorama tripod head, there should only be very few bad matchpoints, e.g.
those found on persons or clouds8 which have moved between photos. For handheld photos, the
following considerations should be observed.
The most important line which we want to create in all perfection is the visible horizon, where
sky and earth meet. The foreground, usually grassy or rocky, is of lesser interest, and stitching
errors in those areas may not even be relevant.
Therefore, matchpoints with large errors in the foreground can be safely removed, while, if
necessary, points on the horizon should be added manually. Use the Control Points tab, select
adjacent images (start with 0 on the left and 1 on the right side), and delete the worst-fitting
matchpoints closest to the camera (near the bottom of the images). We now start a long phase of
re-optimizing and deletion of ill-matching points as long as those are far from the horizon. When
all near matchpoints are deleted, the result should already look not too bad.
For continued optimisation, the number of parameters to optimize can be extended. To begin, I
recommend Positions and View (y, p, r, v) , which may find a new focal length slightly different from
the data in the EXIF tags. Again, delete further foreground points. If after a few rounds you
still have bad point distances, try Positions and Barrel Distortion (y, p, r, b) to balance distortion by bad
optics, or even go up to Everything without translation . Optimisation can only reach perfect results if
you did not move between exposures. Else, find a solution which shows the least error.
In case you took your photos not on a tripod and moved too much, you may even want to play
with the translation options, but errors will be increasingly hard to avoid.
Using Straight Edges as Guides

If the panorama contains straight lines like vertical edges of buildings, these can be used to
automatically get a correctly levelled horizon: Vertical lines are mapped to vertical lines in
equirectangular panos! In the Control Points tab, select the image with the vertical edge in both
subframes, and mark points on the vertical edge. (switch off auto-estimate!). Likewise, horizontal
lines may help, but make sure lines like rooves are perpendicular to your line of view, else the
perspective effect causes an inclination.
Multi-ring Panoramas
If you are trying to create a panorama with several rings (horizon, one or two rings below, and
nadir area), you must try to create/keep control points that best give a result without visible seams.
In this case, and esp. if you have only used a regular tripod or even dared to go for a free-handed
panorama, you may observe that it is best to remove control points in neighboring photos in the
8 You should have created control points with the Celeste option!
lower rings, but keep only the vertical links between images with similar azimuth.
In total, and if the foreground is not important but only grassy or sandy, the rule of thumb is
that the horizon images must be strongly linked with good quality (small errors), while images in
the lower rings should be linked mostly to their respective upper photos, but not necessarily to the
images to its sides. The resulting panorama will then show a good horizon line, while stitching
artifacts in a grassy or otherwise only decorative ground will usually be acceptable and can, if
needed, be camouflaged in postprocessing.
This optimisation and editing of control points is likely a longish iterative process, and these
are the late night hours where you will finally wish you had used a panorama head. . .
Masking
If you have images with overlapping areas, you can usually not force Hugin to take pixels from the
image which you find best. you can however mask off an area from an image which you dont want
to see in the output under any circumstances, e.g. a persons arm or foot in one image. Just open
the image in the Mask tab and either press Add new mask and draw the mask polygon covering
the unwanted area, or use the crop settings to define rectangular areas to use.
Exposure disbalance
In the Photos tab, select Photometric parameters on the right side. The EV column lists the
Exposure Value. If you see disbalance here and in the preview window, you can run a photometric
optimisation with the lowest button on the Photos tab. Simply select Low dynamic range and press
Calculate . The preview should now show a seamless image. If all else fails, you can edit the EV
values directly.
Advanced photographers may want to correct exposures in their RAW images before creating
JPG or TIF images to combine with Hugin. This unfortunately may create exposure disbalance
because the EXIF tags may not be adjusted accordingly, so based on different exposure/f-stop
conbinations Hugin may think it has to re-balance the values. In these cases, dont run the
photometric optimiser. Some image exposure values have to be changed manually, and the effect
supervised in the preview window. Usually the smooth blending in the subprogam enblend called
by Hugin will hide remaining differences.
Stitching
When you are happy with the panorama in the preview window and the matchpoints promise a good
fit, it is time to finally create the panorama image. Hugin can create a large number of different
projections which all have their application. For Stellarium, we can only use the equirectangular
projection. You still have 2 options:
spherical landscapes (see 7.1.3) require single equirectangular images, the maximum size depends
on your graphics hardware and Qt limitations and is likely not larger than 8192 4096
pixels.
old_style landscapes (see 7.1.4) can use several textures for the ring along the horizon, and one
image for the nadir zone. If you need high resolution, you should aim for creating this one.
Sometimes, creating the nadir zone is difficult: this is where usually the view is blocked by the
tripod, and we are not interested in views of tripod or our own feet. For our purpose it is usually
enough to fill in the feet area using the clone stamp, or a monochrome color, or, for old_style
landscapes, you can instead insert an oriented site map or wind rose.
There is a button create optimal size in Hugin. It may recommend a panorama width around
13.000 pixels for an average camera and photos taken with a wide-angle lens. Increasing this
size will most likely not lead to higher optical resolution! The panorama width which you can
most usefully create depends on the resolution of the source images (which leads to the result
given by Hugin) and on your needs. If you need arcminute resolution, you would aim for
360 60 = 21600 pixels, which cannot be loaded into graphics memory in a single piece, i.e.,
is too large for Stellarium, and must be configured as old_style landscape. In this case, 10 or
11 tiles of 2048 2048 pixels (totalling 20480 or 22528 pixels) is the closest meaningful setting,
i.e., you could create an image of 20480 pixels width and cut this into usable pieces. Usually, a
size of 4096 2048 or 8192 4096 pixels (for better computers) is enough, and can be used in a
spherical landscape.
We have to edit the file after stitching, therefore select creation of an image in the TIFF format.
LZW compression is non-lossy, so use this to keep file size reasonably small.
For regular images, it is enough to create Exposure corrected, low dynamic range. If you
have a problem with persons that have moved between your images, you may want to post-process
the final result with import of the distorted sub-images and manually defining the best blending line.
For this, find the Remapped Images group and again activate Exposure corrected, low dynamic
range.
Now, press the Stitch! button in the lower right corner. This opens a helper program which
supervises the stitching process. Depending on your computer and size of the image, it will require
a few minutes of processing.
In case stitching fails with a cryptic error message, try to add the option --fine-mask to the
enblend options.
Store a copy of the Hugin project file to always be able to go back to the settings you used to
create the last panorama. We will get back to it when we want to make a truly calibrated panorama
(see 7.3.3).
7.3 Panorama Postprocessing

The image created has to be further processed to be used in Stellarium. The most obvious change is
the need for a transparent sky, which we can easily create in programs like Adobe Photoshop
or the free and open-source GIMP. I will describe only the free and open-source solution.
After that, we have to bring the image into shape for Stellarium, which may include some
trimming. While we could also slice an image with interactive tools, higher accuracy and repeatable
results can be achieved with command-line programs, which makes the ImageMagick suite the
tool of our choice.
7.3.1 The GIMP

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) has been developed as free alternative to the
leading commercial product, Adobe Photoshop. While it may look a bit different, basic concepts
are similar. Not everybody can (or wants to) afford Photoshop, therefore lets use the GIMP.
Like Photoshop, the GIMP is a layer-aware image editor. To understand the concept, it is
easiest to imagine you operate on a growing stack of overhead slides. You can put a new transparent
slide (layer) on top of the stack and paint on this without modifying the lower layers.
A few important commands:
Zooming Ctrl + Mouse Wheel
Layer visibility and transparency Make sure to have layer dialog shown ( Windows Dockable Dialogs ).
A gray bar indicates opacity for the currently active layer. Note the mouse cursor in this
opacity bar (often also called transparency bar): near the top of the bar the upward pointer
immediately sets percentage. A bit lower the pointer looks different and can be used for
fine-tuning.
The most obvious postprocessing need for our panorama is making the sky transparent. The
optimal tool usually is the Fuzzy Select, which is equivalent to the Magic Wand tool in
Photoshop. Simply mark the sky, and then delete it. The checkerboard background indicates
transparent pixels.
It sometimes helps to put an intensive bright red or blue background layer under the panorama
photo to see the last remaining clouds and other specks. In the layer dialog, create a new layer,
bucket-fill with blue or red, and drag it in the layer dialog below the pano layer. Write-protect this
layer, work on the image layer, and before exporting the image layer with transparent sky to PNG,
dont forget to switch off the background.
We need this layer functionality especially to align the panorama on a calibration grid, see
section 7.3.3.
7.3.2 ImageMagick
ImageMagick (IM)9 can be described as Swiss Army Knife of image manipulation. It can do
most operations usually applied to images in a GUI program, but is called from the command line.
This allows also to include IM in your own command scripts10 . We will use it to do our final cut
and resize operations. I cannot give an exhaustive tutorial about more than a few of IMs functions,
but the commands given here should be enough for our purpose.
To open a command window (console, a.k.a. DOS window), press the Windows key and enter
cmd, then press . (On Linux and Mac, you surely know how to open a console window.)
There are some things you might need to know:
The command line is not your enemy, but a way to call expert tools.
The Windows command line processor cmd.exe is far from user friendly.
There are remedies and alternatives. See notes on clink (7.4.3) for a considerable improve-
ment, and Cygwin (7.4.4) for experts.
Command-line magick for spherical landscapes

Lets start with the commands for final dressing of an equirectangular panorama to be used as
spherical landscape which has been created in size 4096 2048, but where you have seen that
nothing interesting is in the image above 11.25 . This means we can cut away the sky area and
compress the image to 4096 1024 to save graphics memory.11
To understand the numbers in the example, consider that in a panorama image of 4096 2048
pixels, 1024 pixels represent 90 , 512px = 45 , 256px = 22.5 , 128px = 11.25 . To keep a top
line of 11.25 , we keep an image height of 1024 + 128 = 1152px, but the crop starts at pixel
Y = 1024 128 = 896.
convert landscape . png - crop 4096 x1152 +0+896
- resize 4096 x1024 ! landscape_cropped . png
Note the exclamation mark in the -resize argument, which is required to stretch the image in a
non-proportional way.
Alternatively, you can operate with IMs gravity, which indicates the corner or edge geometric
offsets are referred to. Given that we want the lower part of the image to exist completely, you only
need to compute the size of the cropped image:
convert landscape . png - gravity SouthWest - crop 4096 x1152 +0+0
- resize 4096 x1024 ! landscape_cropped . png
You still need the addition +0+0 in the -crop option, else the image will be cut into several pieces.
In the file landscape.ini, you then have to set maptex_top=11.25.
9 http://www.imagemagick.org/
10 These may typically be .BAT files on Windows, or various shell scripts on Linux or Mac.
11 Most modern graphics cards no longer require the powers of two image sizes, but we keep this practice
to increase compatibility.
Command-line magick for old_style landscapes

Let us assume we want to create a high-resolution landscape from a pano image of width 16384
which we have carefully aligned and calibrated on an oversized grid template that also shows a
measured horizon line (see 7.3.3). Usually it is not necessary to create the full-size image, but only
the horizon range, in this high resolution. Assume this image has been aligned and justified on
our grid image and is HEIGHT pixels high, the left border is at pixel X_LEFT, and top border (i.e.,
the point where relevant content like the highest tree is visible) is on pixel Y_TOP. Assume our
graphics card is a bit oldish or you aim for maximum compatibility, so we can load only textures of
at most 2048 pixels in size. Given that the horizon area usually only covers a few degrees, a vertical
extent of 2048px seem a pretty good range for that most interesting zone. The ground can then be
filled with some low-resolution image of grass, soil, or a properly oriented site map, or you can use
Hugin to create a ground image (and using the maximum of 2048 2048 also here usually is far
more than enough).
In GIMP (or Photoshop, . . . ), we must find the values for X_LEFT, Y_TOP and HEIGHT.
HEIGHT is being resized to 2048, strictly, by the exclamation mark in the resize command. We can
create our image tiles now with this singular beast of a command line (write all in 1 line!), which
puts our files directly into STELLARIUM_LANDSCAPEPATH/LANDSCAPE_NAME:
convert PANO . png - crop 16384 xHEIGHT + X_LEFT + Y_TOP + repage
- resize 16384 x2048 !
- type TrueColorMatte - depth 8
- crop 2048 x2048 + repage
png : S TELL ARIU M_L ANDS CAPE PATH / LANDSCAPE_NAME / Horiz -% d . png
This creates 8 images. See section 7.1.4 for the landscape.ini where these images can be
referenced. Dont forget to read off top and bottom lines (altitudes in degrees) from your grid,
the vertical extent will form the decor_alt_angle, and the bottom line the decor_angle_shift
entries in this file.
Creating a ground image for old_style landscapes

When you want a good ground image for an old_style landscape from your panorama and not
just fill the groundtex with a monochrome texture or a map, you have to create a ground view in
Hugin. But you may have already created a huge pano! This can also be used as source image,
and a ground shot can be extracted with a reversed operation. In principle, all you need to know is
the field of view around the nadir. Figure 7.5 shows a simple configuration file.
# hugin project file

# hugin_ptoversion 2
p f0 w2048 h2048 v92 E0 R0 n " TIFF_m c : LZW r : CROP "
m g1 i0 f0 m2 p0 .00784314
# image lines
# - hugin cropFactor =1
i w16384 h8192 f4 v360 Ra0 Rb0 Rc0 Rd0 Re0 Eev0 Er1 Eb1 r0
p90 y0 TrX0 TrY0 TrZ0 Tpy0 Tpp0 j0 a0 b0 c0 d0 e0 g0 t0
Va1 Vb0 Vc0 Vd0 Vx0 Vy0 Vm5 n " Eqirect_Pano360 . png "
Figure 7.5: Project file ground.pto usable to create the ground image with Hugin or, on
the command line, its nona stitcher. The last line, starting with i, has been wrapped, but
must be 1 line.
Say, the side panels extend down to decor_angle_shift=-44 degrees, which means you
must close the ground with a Nadir FoV = 2 (90 44) = 92. For maximum compatibility, we
will again make an image of width and height both 2048px. These values can be found in the p line
in Figure 7.5. The i line describes the input image, which is our full equirectangular pano of width
w= 16384 and height h= 8192. The last argument of that line is the image file name.
For processing, we do not use the Hugin GUI, but simply the command line. The actual
program to call is nona. If your stitched panorama is a 16-bit TIFF, nona will also make a 16-bit
image, but our textures are limited to 8-bit PNGs. We apply our most useful tool, convert from
the ImageMagick suite.
nona -v -m PNG ground . pto -o ground . png
convert ground . png - depth 8 ground_8bit . png
The file ground_8bit.png is then used in the groundtex field on landscape.ini.
7.3.3 Final Calibration

The creation of a calibrated panorama (which can be regarded as dependable proxy for further
measurements taken inside Stellarium) requires reference measurements to match the photos against.
We must take azimuth/altitude measurements with a theodolite or total station, in the optimal case
along the full horizon, and in addition I recommend to take azimuth and altitudes of some distinct
features along the horizon which must also be visible in the photographs: mountain summits,
electrical towers, church towers, . . .
I recommend you create grid templates of the sizes you are going to create, e.g. 4096, 8192,
16386 and 20480 pixels wide with some diagram tool. On these, you can then also draw the
measured horizon line.
Now, load a panorama on top of this in the GIMP, i.e., copy it into a separate layer over the
grid image, and set it semi-transparent.
Try to align the center of the image (where the geometric anchor has been defined; remember:
this should be the image pointing south!) with the measured horizon line or the distinct features.
The optimal solution consists of a photo panorama which aligns perfectly with the measured
line and features. We now have to iteratively bring deviations to a minimum. The process depends
on processor speed, image size, your training and most of all your requirements in accuracy!
In the GIMP, load your grid image with horizon line. Now select File Open as Layers. . . ,
load your photo panorama, and then set layer transparency in the Layers dialog to about 50%.
Select the double-arrow tool to move the panorama via mouse drag and cursor keys over the
grid, and align the outline of the photo horizons southern point with the measured line. Now its
time to estimate the quality of the panorama.
In Hugins Photos tab, select the Positions view on the right side. Now you see Yaw, Pitch
and Roll values of camera-to-world orientation listed in the photos list. It should now be possible,
by changing the values only for the anchor image and re-optimizing, to come to a panorama with
only minimal error. In the process, start with Optimising Positions incremental from anchor ,
then go for view and barrel optimisation, and so on. Always try to remove foreground match points
which have large error and are irrelevant for the task to match the horizon. Those are especially
cross-matches of horizon and subhorizon rows of images. Only vertically and horizontally adjacent
images should be required to match. For handheld panoramas, also links between adjacent images
in the non-horizontal rows are usually too erroneous to be useful, just remove these match points.
Use the Layout tab in the Fast Panorama Preview to see the relations between images (Fig. 7.6):
Red lines have big errors, green lines are good, thin gray lines indicate possible overlap without
specified match points. After each optimisation step, export a new pano image, load as layer in
GIMP, and check again.
Figure 7.6: Hugins Fast Panorama Preview can be used to check which images are
connected to its neighbours. Most important are good matches along the horizon, the
images in the lower rows are clearly less important. If captured on a tripod, they should
still match.
Basic rules to observe (use obvious inverses).

If image aligns well in azimuth but overshoots the grid to the right: Increase yaw accord-
ingly (0.022 /pixel if image is 16384 pixels wide).
If the north end (left and right borders) is higher than the southern contact point: Increase
pitch angle.
If north and south points are OK, but the western (right) half is higher than the eastern
(left) half: Increase Roll angle.
The corrections required for pitch and roll may be surprisingly small!
Within a few rounds of adjustments, panorama creation, adding as layer in the image editor,
and comparing to the reference data, you should achieve a match to fit your needs.
In case you have taken photographs in several rings but without a panorama tripod, you
may have to first align only the horizontal images (deselect the lower images to exclude from
optimisation), and when the horizon ring is aligned perfectly, deactivate further optimisation in
Hugin for those photos while attaching (optimising) the lower photos. In Hugins Photos tab,
select Optimise Geometric Custom Parameters . This opens an extra tab Optimiser , where
you can fine-tune your needs: Switch off all variables for the photos in the horizon ring, and make
sure the lower photos fit in the preview after optimisation.
It may even help to define that the lower rows have been taken with a different Lens, so the
field of view and distortion settings of the horizon row will be used as it had been found during the
horizon-only match.
By now you should have enough experience what level of error may be acceptable for you.
7.3.4 Artificial Panoramas

I have created a website12 where you can enter geographical coordinates and download a file
pano.kml which helps with image creation from Google Earth imagery. Store this file for a site,
let us call it MYPLACE , into a new directory GE_MYPLACE inside your landscapes directory.
Store all scenes visible from the respective viewpoint MYPLACE as picture into one common
folder in your landscapes/GE_MYPLACE under the viewpoint name, e.g., 75-30.jpg, which
means 75 degrees from Nadir, azimuth 30 degrees. Also, double-click the pano entry or the marker
in Google Earth to open a window with the basic content of your landscape.ini. Copy and
paste from there into a new file landscape.ini and adjust the obvious entries. Complete as
required with the entries described in section 7.1.3.
On loading of the images, Hugin will not be able to detect any EXIF lens data and ask you
for the horizontal field of view. Enter 60 degrees, which is the standard value for Google Earth
screenshots13 .
The viewpoint names translate almost directly to the yaw and pitch angles which you can enter
in the image list in Hugins Photos tab. For example, switch to the Positions display on the right
window edge in the Photo tab, mark all images that start with 25- and assign a pitch angle of
90 + 25 = 65. The second part of the names is directly the azimuth. In this case, dont run
the optimizer, but you can immediately set an output resolution and stitch (see 7.2.3). To get rid
of the image decorations (compass etc), apply masks14 . Postprocessing steps are the same as for
photo-panoramas: make sky invisible, crop, etc.
It is also interesting to switch on the 3D buildings layer before creating the images. If temples
or other buildings are accurate, this will give an even closer approximation to what would be visible
on-site. Note however that not every building will be modelled in usable quality, and that usually
vegetation is not included in the 3D buildings layer. Also, if you are too close to buildings, they
may be cut away by the near clipping plane of the rendering.
These images, based on Google Earth imagery and the SRTM topographic model, seem
usable as first rough approximation to a photo-based or surveyed panorama. Note that it is definitely
not accurate enough for representing nearby horizon features or critically important mountain peaks,
and please note that Google has image copyright which at least requires you to acknowledge when
displaying these pictures.
7.3.5 Nightscape Layer

Since version 0.13, Stellarium can simulate artificial illumination, like streetlamps, bright windows,
or the skyglow over cities[82]. One way to create this layer is to make 2 panorama series during the
day and night and process these in the same Hugin project to align those photos, and then stitch
two separate images by selecting either the daylight or the nighttime shots. The night panorama has
to be processed to remove stars, airplanes, etc.
The other way is a simple layer overpainted in the image processing program. As rough
recommendation, use several layers to prepare this feature:
Put a semitransparent black layer over your daylight image, this helps you to place your
painted pixels.
Paint windows, street lamps, signs, . . . . You may apply a layer style to produce some glow.
To draw an impression of more light in the atmosphere (city skyglow), use a gradient with
some brownish color. Generally the color depends on the appropriate mix of city lights
(sodium, mercury vapour, etc.). Note that on the city outskirts a simple vertical gradient will
12 http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Georg.Zotti/php/panoCam.php
13 Note that if you work with Google Earth Pro, you can create different FoV!
14 There is a wide overlap in the images to allow generous trimming.
7.4 Other recommended software 81
not work, towards the city the horizon is much brighter. Use a huge but weak brush to make
a more spotty sky.
Use the existing landscape as template for the layer mask for this gradient sky layer. (You
want to hide skyglow by leaves in the foreground!)
If you want to add only a few lights to an old_style landscape, you need to provide only
the panels showing those lights. Just load a side panel for reference, place a new layer on top,
and paint the lights on windows, lamps etc. There is no light option for the ground texture.
This makes old_style landscapes best suited for localized light pollution, not city skyglow.
The resulting image is then declared in the maptex_illum line of landscape.ini. Try also
to balance the global strength of light pollution with the light_pollution key, and a probable
minimal brightness with the minimal_brightness key.
Try to match the visual appearance, not necessarily what photographs may have recorded.
E.g., the Grossmugl sky shows horizon glow mostly towards the city of Vienna, where long-time
exposures may already be saturated.
The possibilities seem limited only by your time and skills!
7.4 Other recommended software

Here is a short collection of other useful programs for (panorama) image manipulation and other
tasks on Windows.
7.4.1 IrfanView
IrfanView is a free image viewer for Windows with many options. It can show almost any image
format, including several camera RAW formats, in windowed and full-screen mode. It is definitely
preferrable over any image viewer built into Windows. Unfortunately however, it has no panorama
viewer function!
7.4.2 FSPViewer
FSPViewer15 by Fulvio Senore is an excellent panorama viewer for equirectanglar images. Images
centered along the horizon can be viewed directly, while settings for images with different minimum
and maximum angles, as well as hotspots (similar to hyperlinks) which move to neighboring
panoramas, can be configured in an .FSV text file like figure 7.7.
ImageName = Horizon_Rosenburg . jpg

WindowTitle = Horizon_Rosenburg
hFov =70
# Formula : HP =100*( h /2 - upper )/( lower - upper ) in Hugin crop , or
# HP =100* zeroRow / imgHeight
HorizonPosition =33.8
Figure 7.7: FSP configuration file (example)
7.4.3 Clink
Clink16 is a command line enhancement for Windows developed by Martin Ridgers. If you have
ever worked under a Linux bash-like command line, you will easily feel that Windows cmd.exe
15 Further details are available on its home page http://www.fsoft.it/FSPViewer/.
16 http://mridgers.github.io/clink/
is extremely limited. Clink provides several useful features, most notably a really usable command-
line completion. It is not essential for our tasks, but a general improvement of usability of the
Windows command line which else has not caused me any trouble.
7.4.4 Cygwin
Compared to Linux, the command line of Windows can be a humbling experience. None of the
wonderful helpers taken for granted on Linux are available. Cygwin17 provides a command line
console with bash shell and all the niceties like make, awk, sed, etc. which seem essential for
routine work. If you are used to Linux tools, use inline scripts in your Makefiles and need more
than Clink can offer, you should install Cygwin.
7.4.5 GNUWin32
Alternative to Cygwin, several of those nice tools (sed, awk etc.) have also been made available
as standalone commands for Windows. If you dont need the inline scripting capabilities in
Makefiles which you would get from Cygwin but just want to call awk or sed inside your .BAT
scripts, maybe this is enough.
17 https://cygwin.com/index.html
8. Deep-Sky Objects
Since version 0.10.0 Stellarium uses the json cataloguing system of configuring textures. At
the same time the Simbad online catalogue was added to the search feature, making the catalog
somewhat redundant and used now only as a first search point or if there is no internet connection.
If the object has a name (not just a catalogue number), you should add one or more records to
the .../nebulae/default/names.dat file (where ... is either the installation directory or the
user directory). See section 8.1.2 Modifying names.dat for details of the file format.
If you wish to associate a texture (image) with the object, you must add a record to the
.../nebulae/default/textures.json file. See section 8.1.3 for details of the file format.
8.1 Stellarium DSO Catalog

Stellariums DSO Catalog contains over 50000 objects and is available for end users as collection
of files:
catalog.txt Stellarium DSO Catalog in ASCII format for editing data
catalog.dat Stellarium DSO Catalog in binary format for usage within Stellarium
names.dat List of proper names of the objects from file catalog.dat
ASCII file can be converted into binary format through enabling an option in the file config.ini
(See 5.3):
[ devel ]
convert_dso_catalog = true
The file catalog.txt should be put into the directory .../nebulae/default/.

Stellarium DSO Catalog contains data and supports the designations for follow catalogues:
NGC New General Catalogue
IC Index Catalogue
M Messier Catalog
84 Chapter 8. Deep-Sky Objects
C Caldwell Catalogue
B Barnard Catalogue [6]
SH2 Sharpless Catalogue [60]
VdB Van den Bergh Catalogue of reflection nebulae [70]
RCW A catalogue of H-emission regions in the southern Milky Way [54]
LDN Lynds Catalogue of Dark Nebulae [32]
LBN Lynds Catalogue of Bright Nebulae [33]
Cr Collinder Catalogue [17]
Mel Melotte Catalogue of Deep Sky Objects [43]
PGC HYPERLEDA. I. Catalog of galaxies1
UGC The Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies
Ced Cederblad Catalog of bright diffuse Galactic nebulae [14]
Cross-index data for Stellarium DSO Catalog is partially obtained from Merged catalogue of
reflection nebulae [34] and astronomical database SIMBAD [74].
8.1.1 Modifying catalog.dat

This section describes the inner structure of the files catalog.dat (binary format) and catalog.txt
(ASCII format). Stellarium can convert ASCII file into the binary format file for faster usage within
the program.
Each line contains one record, each record consisting of the following fields with tab char as
delimiter:
Column Type Description

1 integer Deep-Sky Object Identificator
2 float RA (decimal degrees)
3 float Dec (decimal degrees)
4 float B magnitude
5 float V magnitude
6 string Object type (See section 8.1.1 for details).
7 string Morphological type of object
8 float Major axis size or radius (arcmin)
9 float Minor axis size (arcmin)
10 integer Orientation angle (degrees)
11 float Redshift
12 float Error of redshift
13 float Parallax (mas)
14 float Error of parallax (mas)
15 float Non-redshift distance ( Mpc for galaxies, kpc for other objects)
16 float Error of non-redsift distance ( Mpc for galaxies, kpc for other objects)
17 integer NGC number (New General Catalogue)
18 integer IC number (Index Catalogue)
19 integer M number (Messier Catalog)
20 integer C number (Caldwell Catalogue)
21 integer B number (Barnard Catalogue)
22 integer SH2 number (Sharpless Catalogue)
23 integer VdB number (van den Bergh Catalogue of reflection nebulae)
24 integer RCW number (A catalogue of H-emission regions in the southern Milky
Way)
1 The PGC and UGC catalogues have a partial support
8.1 Stellarium DSO Catalog 85
25 integer LDN number (Lynds Catalogue of Dark Nebulae)

26 integer LBN number (Lynds Catalogue of Bright Nebulae)
27 integer Cr number (Collinder Catalogue)
28 integer Mel number (Melotte Catalogue of Deep Sky Objects)
29 integer PGC number (HYPERLEDA. I. Catalog of galaxies); partial
30 integer UGC number (The Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies); partial
31 string Ced number (Cederblad Catalog of bright diffuse Galactic nebulae)
Types of Objects
Possible values for type of objects in the file catalog.dat.
Type Description
G Galaxy
GX Galaxy
AGX Active Galaxy
RG Radio Galaxy
IG Interacting Galaxy
GC Globular Cluster
OC Open Cluster
NB Nebula
PN Planetary Nebula
DN Dark Nebula
RN Reflection Nebula
C+N Cluster associated with nebulosity
HII HII Region
SNR Supernova Remnant
BN Bipolar Nebula
EN Emission Nebula
SA Stellar Association
SC Star Cloud
CL Cluster
IR Infra-Red Object
QSO Quasar
Q? Possible Quasar
ISM Interstellar Matter
EMO Emission Object
LIN LINEAR-type Active Galaxies
BLL BL Lac Object
BLA Blazar
MOC Molecular Cloud
YSO Young Stellar Object
PN? Possible Planetary Nebula
PPN Protoplanetary Nebula
Star
Double Star
MUL Multiple Star
empty Unknown type, catalog errors, Unidentified Southern Objects etc.
8.1.2 Modifying names.dat

Each line in the file names.dat contains one record. A record relates an extended object catalogue
number (from catalog.dat) with a name. A single catalogue number may have more than one
record in this file.
The record structure is as follows:
Offset Length Type Description

0 5 %5s Designator for catalogue (prefix)
5 15 %d Identificator for object in the catalog
20 60 %s Proper name of the object (translatable)
If an object has more than one record in the file names.dat, the last record in the file will be
used for the nebula label.
8.1.3 Modifying textures.json

This file is used to describe each nebula image. The file structure follows the JSON format, a
detailed description of which may be found at www.json.org. The textures.json file which
ships with Stellarium has the following structure:
serverCredits (optional) a structure containing the following key/value pairs:
short a short identifier of a server where the json file is found, e.g. ESO
full a longer description of a server, e.g. ESO Online Digitised Sky Survey Server
infoURL a URL pointing at a page with information about the server
imageCredits a structure containing the same parts as a serverCredits structure but referring to
the image data itself
shortName an identifier for the set of images, to be used inside Stellarium
minResolution minimum resolution, applies to all images in the set, unless otherwise specified at
the image level
maxBrightness the maximum brightness of an image, applies to all images in the set, unless
otherwise specified at the image level
subTiles a list of structures describing indiviual image tiles, or referring to another json file. Each
subTile may contain:
minResolution
maxBrightness
worldCoords
subTiles
imageCredits
imageUrl
textureCoords
shortName (name for the whole set of images, e.g. Nebulae)
miniResolution (applies to all images in set)
alphaBlend (applies to all images in set)
subTiles list of images. Each image record has the following properties:
imageCredits (itself a list of key/pairs)
imageUrl (e.g. file name)
worldCoords (a list of four pairs of coordinates representing the corners of the image)
textureCoords (a list of four pairs of corner descriptions. i.e. which is top left of image
etc)
minResolution (over-rides file-level setting)
maxBrightness
Items enclosed in Quotation marks are strings for use in the program. Syntax is extremely
important. Look at the file with a text editor to see the format. Items in <> are user provided strings
and values to suit the texture and source.
{
" imageCredits " : { " short " : " < author name > " ,
" infoUrl " : " http :// < mysite . org > "
},
" imageUrl " : " < myPhoto . png > " ,
" worldCoords " : [[[ X0 , Y0 ] , [ X1 , Y1 ] , [ X2 , Y2 ] , [ X3 , Y3 ] ]] ,
" textureCoords " : [[[ 0 ,0] ,[1 ,0] ,[1 ,1] ,[0 ,1]]] ,
" MinResolution " : 0.2148810463 ,
" maxBrightness " : <mag >
},
where
worldCoords Decimal numerical values of the J2000 coordinates (RA and dec both in degrees) of
the corners of the texture. These values are usually given to 4 decimal places.
textureCoords Where 0,0 is South Left, 1,0 the South Right, 1,1 North Right, 0,1 North Left
corners of the texture.
MinResolution UNDOCUMENTED VALUE! Sorry!
maxBrightness total object brightness, magnitude
Calculating of the coords of the corners of the images (plate solving) is a time consuming
project and needs to be fine tuned from the screen display. As most images will be two dimensional,
display on a spherical display will limit the size to about 1 degree before distortion becomes evident.
Larger images should be sectioned into a mosaic of smaller textures for a more accurate display.
8.2 Adding Extra Nebulae Images

BARRY G ERDES
8.2.1 Preparing a photo for inclusion to the textures.json file
Figure 8.1: Screen shot of nebula images displayed in Stellarium

The first step is to take a photo of the object you wish to display in Stellarium. When you
have the picture you will need to align it with the equatorial coordinate system so that north is
directly up and not inverted side to side or up and down as can happen with photos taken with a
diagonal mirror in the path. Next you will need to crop the picture, setting the main feature at the
centre and making the cropped size a factor of 2n eg. 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048 pixels square
(or elongated like 512x1024). If this requirement is not met, your textures may not be visible, or
graphics performance may be seriously impacted. Textures larger than 2048 may only be supported
on high-end hardware. Images must be in PNG format. When cropping, make sure you leave at
least six prominent background stars.
The next step is to process your photo to make the background black, really black. This will
ensure that your background will meld with the Stellarium background and not be noticed as gray
square. Suitable programs to do all this are The GIMP2 or Photoshop if you can afford it.
When you have your image prepared you will need to plate solve it using at least 6 known GSC
stars that can be identified. That is why the cropping with plenty of stars was necessary. When
the plate is solved you will need to find the J2000 coordinates of the corners and convert them to
decimal values to form the world coordinates in the textures.json file.
Figure 8.2: Stellarium Textures Generator: A program to convert Equatorial coordinates

into decimal form and write a textures.json insert
The program Stellarium Textures Generator by Peter Vasey (Fig. 8.2) can convert the
corner coordinates of a texture found in your plate solving program into decimal values and write
an insert for the textures.json file.3
There is another program, ReadDSS (Fig. 8.3), written by Barry Gerdes in Qb64(gl), that will
perform the same task but allows manipulation of the epochs.4
2 free
in keeping with the Stellarium spirit; available from http://www.gimp.org
3 It
is available as a freebee from http://www.madpc.co.uk/~peterv/astroplover/equipnbits/
Stellariumtextures.zip.
4 http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stellarium/uploads/writejsoninsert.zip
Figure 8.3: ReadDSS: A program to write a textures.json insert with epoch manipula-
tion.
8.2.2 Plate Solving

Suitable programs that can accept your picture and calculate its corner coordinates are hard to
find. I have only found one that suits our purpose and it is another expensive planetarium program,
TheSky X Pro. However the older versions TheSky 5 and 6 Pro will also do the job if suitably
configured, although I could not solve the test program with TheSky 6 that uses the same procedure
as TheSky 5.
These programs have a link feature that can match your photo to the selected area of the screen
and superimpose it on the display with a box around your photo provided it can match at least 6
stars from the GSC that is included with the program. When this is fitted you can read the corner
coordinates of your texture in the Status bar by selecting them with a mouse. TheSky X can read
these coordinates in J2000 values and uses textures in the FITS format, but the earlier programs
only read the coordinates of the current program date. To read the J2000 coordinates it is necessary
to re-start the program with the date set to 1-1-2000.
To add the picture to TheSky 5 you need first make a mono 8 bit version of the photo and
place it on the clipboard. Run TheSky and centre on the object centre. Look in the Tools menu for
the image link and select setup . Tick show image frame to put a frame around the image.
Paste the clipboard image on the display and use the zoom and position controls to get it as
close to the size and position as possible by visually matching stars. Go to the menu again and click
on link wizard . If you have been successful the window will show the number of stars matched
and the option to accept or continue . Accept and you will now see all the matched stars have
overlaid the picture. You can now read off the corner coordinates from the status bar starting at the
bottom (south) left and continuing counterclockwise to the top (north) left.
8.2.3 Processing into a textures.json insert

Place your image in the *.png format in the .../nebulae/default/ folder. Ensure that the name
matches the textures.json entry.
Once you have the corner coordinates of your photo you can add them to the decimal converter
program and it will write an insert nebula.json as a text file that you can paste directly into the
textures.json file that is in the .../nebulae/default/ folder.
Save the textures.json file with the new insert and run Stellarium. Find the object in the
F3 Object selection window and slew to it. Your image should be there and with a bit of luck
it will nicely overlay the stars in Stellarium. However this only rarely happens, so a little bit of
tweaking of the JSON worldcoords will be needed to get a perfect match. Select equatorial mode
( or Ctrl + M ). This will show the area with north up. Select each corner in sequence and
make small changes to the coordinates. Restart Stellarium each time and check if you have moved
into the right direction. Continue with each corner until all the stars match. With a little bit of
practice this will be done in about 10 minutes.
9. Adding Sky Cultures
G EORG Z OTTI
Stellarium comes with a nice set of skycultures. For ethnographers or historians of science it may
be a worthwile consideration to illustrate the sky culture of the people they are studying. It is not
very hard to do so, but depending on your data, may require some skills in image processing.
Some features regarding translation and multilinguality have evolved over the years, and not
all skycultures currently included in Stellarium adhere to the standards described in the following
sections. If you add a new skyculture, please do so for an optimal result!
In the Stellarium program folder you can see a folder skycultures. Let us assume you work
on Windows and want to create a new Skyculture, say, myCulture.
You can take the inuit directory as template to start with. Just copy the folder C:\Program
Files\Stellarium\skycultures\inuit to C:\Users\[YOU]\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium\
skycultures\myculture
In the folder you see image files for the constellation artwork, and all other files with various
extensions are text files.
9.1 Basic Information

In myculture\info.ini, change the entries to
[ info ]
name = myCulture
author = me
(or what seems best for you). The name is used for the list entry in the Starlore tab in the View
dialog (see 4.4.5).
92 Chapter 9. Adding Sky Cultures
9.2 Skyculture Description Files

In order to have translated texts we have files description.<LANG>.utf8, where <LANG> is
the two-letter ISO 639-1 language code, or its extension which contains language and coun-
try code, like pt_BR for Brazilian Portuguese. A minimum skyculture must contain the file
description.en.utf8, this is en=english text with optional HTML tags for sections, tables,
etc. You can also have embedded images in the HTML (your book cover? Views of sacred land-
scapes/buildings/artwork/. . . ?), just make them PNG format please. The length of the description
texts is not limited, you have room for a good description, tables of names/translations, links to
external resources, whatever seems suitable. When you started from a copied skyculture, delete the
other description.*.utf8 files.
If you can provide other languages supported by Stellarium, you can provide translations
yourself, else Stellarium translators may translate the English version for you. (It may take years
though.) The file ending .utf8 indicates that for special characters like you should use
UTF8 encoding. If you write only English/ASCII, this may not be relevant.
9.3 Constellation Names

The native constellations are listed in constellation_names.eng.fab. It consists of 3 simple
columns: Abbreviation(or just a serial number), native name, and english translation. The writing
_("name") allows automatic translation of the English strings to other languages. These strings
will be used as constellation labels.
The first column (abbreviation) in the Western sky culture provides the canonical 3-letter
abbreviation for constellations as used by the International Astronomical Union. Such abbreviations
may not be available for the skyculture you are working with, so you must invent your own. These
abbreviations are used as keys in the other files, so they must be unique within your skyculture. It
is not necessary to have 3-letter keys.
The keys can be displayed on screen when labels are requested in the Starlore GUI (sec-
tion 4.4.5). If you want to prevent certain abbreviations from being displayed, let them start with a
dot. See the effect in the Western (H.A.Rey) skyculture: In Abbreviated mode, only the official
abbreviations are displayed. In Native mode, the second column of constellation_names.eng.fab
is shown. Only with setting Translated , the text translated from the text shown in the third column
is shown. If your skyculture is a variant of the Western skyculture, please use the canonical Latin
names, they have all been translated already.
If your skyculture is not a variant of the generally known Western skyculture, please include an
English translation to the name given in the native language. Else translators will not be able to
translate the name. See a good example in the Mongolian skyculture.
9.4 Star Names

The file star_names.fab contains a list of HIP catalogue numbers and common names for those
stars. Each line of the file contains one record of two fields (separated by the pipe character (|)) or
three fields (the first pair is separated by the pipe character (|) and the last one separated by the
space character). The first field is the Hipparcos catalogue number of the star, the second is the
common name of the star in a format that enables translation support, the third is an optional list of
references (see 9.11) to the source of the information about this name, e.g:
# Piscis Austrinus ( PsA )
113368| _ ( " Fomalhaut " ) 1 ,2 ,6 ,11 ,12
113368| _ ( " Thalim " )
9.5 Planet Names 93
In the sample you can see 3 lines: the first line is a comment, the second line has 3 fields and
the third line has 2 fields. Both lines with data have the same Hipparcos number of the star
Fomalhaut is the well-known name of HIP 113368, and Thalim is an additional (not well-known)
name of this star.
9.5 Planet Names

The file planet_names.fab contains a list of native names of the planets. Each line of the file
contains one record of 3 fields, separated by the white space or tab character. The first field is
the English name of the planet, the second is the native name of the planet (can be in the native
language, but please for maximum utability use an english transliteration) and the third is the
translatable version of the native name of the planet (translated into English). Here is an example
from the Egyptian skyculture:
Mars " Horus - Desher " _ ( " Red Horus ( Mars ) " )
9.6 Deep-Sky Objects Names

V0.15.1
The file dso_names.fab contains a list of native names for deep-sky objects (DSO). The format
of this file is similar to the star_names.fab format (see 9.4). Each line of the file contains one
record of two fields (separated by the pipe character (|)) or three fields (first pair is separated by the
pipe character (|) and the last one separated by the space character). The first field is an identifier
of the deep-sky object, the second is the native name of the DSO in a format that enables translation
support, the optional third is a list of references (see 9.11) to the source of the information about
this name, e.g.:
PGC 17223| _ ( " Native name for LMC " ) 1 ,2 ,3
NGC 292 | _ ( " Native name for SML " ) 1 ,3
NGC 292 | _ ( " Small Magellanic Cloud " )
9.7 Stick Figures

The modern-style stick figures are coded in constellationship.fab. Lines look like:
Abbr pairs pair1_star1 pair1_star2 pair2_star1 pair2_star2 ...
In this file,
Abbr is the abbreviation defined in constellation_names.eng.fab
pairs is the number of line pairs which follow.
pairN_starA Hipparcos numbers for the stars which form the constellation stick figure. We need
two entries per line, longer line segments are not supported. To find the HIP number, just
have Stellarium open and click on the star in Stellarium while editing this file.
9.8 Constellation Borders

The optional file constellations_boundaries.dat includes data for the border lines drawn
between constellations. The western constellations have been given borders based on B1875.0
coordinates, and all skycultures with names starting in Western_ use these borders automatically.
The format for this file is a bit more dificult than the other files. It contains sections which may
consist of multiple lines, of the format:
94 Chapter 9. Adding Sky Cultures
N RA_1 DE_1 RA_2 DE_2 ... RA_N DE_N 2 CON1 CON2
where
N number of corners
RA_n, DE_n right ascension and declination (degrees) of the corners in J2000 coordinates.
2 CON1 CON2 legacy data. They indicated border between 2 constellations, CON1, CON1 but
are now only required to keep the format.
9.9 Constellation Artwork

Constellation artwork is optional, but may give your skyculture the final touch, if it requires artwork
at all. E.g., H. A. Reys variant of the Western skyculture deliberately does not contain artwork.
Each constellation artwork is linked to 3 stars in its constellation. This is programmed in the
file constellationsart.fab. You have to write lines
Abbr image_name . png x1 y1 HIP1 x2 y2 HIP2 x3 y3 HIP3
where
Abbr is the abbreviation defined in constellation_names.eng.fab
image_name.png is the file name of your texture. It should be sized in a power of two, like
512 512, 1024 2048 etc. Avoid dimensions larger than 2048, they are not supported on
all systems. You can distort images to better exploit the pixels, the texture will be stretched
back. The background of the artwork image must be absolutely black.
xn, yn, HIPn pixel locations of the star in the constellation drawing (find those in any image
editor) and HIPn is the star number in the Hipparcos catalog, which you find when you click
on the star in Stellarium.
In case the artwork is only available in a certain projection (e.g., an all-sky map), or is otherwise
heavily distorted so that the match is not satisfactory, you may have to reproject the image somehow.
For aligning, you should switch Stellarium to Stereographic projection for optimal results.
You dont have to shutdown and restart Stellarium during creation/matching, just switch
skyculture to something else and back to the new one to reload.
9.10 Seasonal Rules

File seasonal_rules.fab (optional) contains possible seasonal rules for the visibility of constel-
lations. There is one rule per line. Each rule contains three elements separated with white space (or
tab character): constellation ID, start of visibility (month) and end of visibility (month), e.g:
Emu 6 3
This specifies that constellation Emu (abbreviated also as Emu) is visible only from June to
March.
15.1 9.11 References

The file reference.fab contains a list of information sources. Each line of the file contains one
record of 3 fields, separated by the pipe character (|) number of source, description of source
and optional URL, e.g.:
9| Kruger 60| https :// en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Kruger_60
9.12 Publish Your Work 95
9.12 Publish Your Work

If you are willing to let other users enjoy the result of your hard work (and we certainly hope you
do!), when you are done, please write a note in the Forum or at Launchpad. Please be prepared to
put the imagery and text under some compatible open-source license (Creative Commons). Else the
skyculture cannot be hosted by us.
III
Extending Stellarium
10 Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
10.1 Enabling plugins
10.2 Data for plugins
11 Interface Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

11.1 Angle Measure Plugin
11.2 Compass Marks Plugin
11.3 Equation of Time Plugin
11.4 Field of View Plugin
11.5 Pointer Coordinates Plugin
11.6 Text User Interface
11.7 Remote Control
11.8 Solar System Editor Plugin
12 Object Catalog Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

12.1 Bright Novae Plugin
12.2 Historical Supernovae Plugin
12.3 Exoplanets Plugin
12.4 Pulsars Plugin
12.5 Quasars Plugin
12.6 Meteor Showers Plugin
12.7 Navigational Stars Plugin
12.8 Satellites Plugin
12.9 ArchaeoLines Plugin
13 Scenery3d 3D Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

13.1 Introduction
13.2 Usage
13.3 Hardware Requirements & Performance
13.4 Model Configuration
13.5 Predefined views
14 Stellarium at the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

14.1 Oculars Plugin
14.2 TelescopeControl Plugin
14.3 StellariumScope
14.4 Other telescope servers and Stellarium
14.5 Observability Plugin
15 Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Script Console
15.3 Includes
15.4 Minimal Scripts
15.5 Example: Retrograde motion of Mars
15.6 More Examples
10. Plugins
Starting with version 0.10.3, Stellariums packages have included a steadily growing number
of plug-ins: Angle Measure, Compass Marks, Oculars, Telescope Control, Text User Interface,
Satellites, Solar System Editor, Historical Novae and Supernovae, Quasars, Pulsars, Exoplanets,
Observability analysis, ArchaeoLines, Scenery3D, RemoteControl. All these plug-ins are built-in
in the standard Stellarium distribution and dont need to be downloaded separately.
10.1 Enabling plugins

To enable a plugin:
1. Open the Configuration dialog (press F2 or use the left tool bar button )
2. Select the Plugins tab
3. Select the plugin you want to enable from the list
4. Check the Load at startup option
5. Restart Stellarium
If the plugin has configuration options, the configuration button will be enabled when the plugin
has been loaded and clicking it will open the plugins configuration dialog. When you only just
activated loading of a plugin, you must restart Stellarium to access the plugins configuration dialog.
10.2 Data for plugins

Some plugins contain files with different data, e.g., catalogs. JSON is a typical format for those
files and you can edit its content manually. Of course, each plugin has a specific format of data for
the own catalogs, and you should read documentation for the plugin before editing of its catalog.
You can read some common instructions for editing catalogs of plugins below. In this example
we use file name catalog.json for identification of catalog for a typical plugin.
You can modify the catalog.json files manually using a text editor. If you are using
100 Chapter 10. Plugins
Windows, it is strongly recommended to use an advanced text editor such as Notepad++1 to

avoid problems with end-of-line characters. (It will also color the JSON code and make it easier
to read.)
Warning: Before editing your catalog.json file, make a backup copy. Leaving out the
smallest detail (such as a comma or forgetting to close a curly bracket) will prevent Stellarium from
starting.
As stated in section 5, the path to the directory2 which contains catalog.json file is something
like:
Windows C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium\modules\PluginName
Mac OS X HomeDirectory/Library/Preferences/Stellarium/modules/PluginName
Linux and UNIX-like OS ~/.stellarium/modules/PluginName
1 http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
2 This is a hidden folder, so in order to find it you may need to change your computers settings to display
hidden files and folders.
11. Interface Extensions
Most users will soon be familiar with the usual user interface. A few plugins are available which
extend the regular user interface with a few small additions which are presented first. However, some
applications and installations of Stellarium require completely different user interfaces. Mostly,
these serve to avoid showing the user interface panels to an audience, be that in your astronomy
club presentations, a domed planetarium or in a museum installation.
11.1 Angle Measure Plugin

goes misty eyed
I recall measuring the size of the Cassini Division when I was a student. It was not
the high academic glamor one might expect. . . It was cloudy. . . It was rainy. . . The
observatory lab had some old scopes set up at one end, pointing at a photograph of
Saturn at the other end of the lab. We measured. We calculated. We wished we were
in Hawaii. A picture is worth a thousand words.
The Angle Measure plugin is a small tool which is used to measure the angular distance between
two points on the sky.
1. Enable the tool by clicking the tool-bar button, or by pressing Ctrl + A . A message will
appear at the bottom of the screen to tell you that the tool is active.
2. Drag a line from the first point to the second point using the left mouse button
3. To clear the measurement, click the right mouse button
4. To deactivate the angle measure tool, press the tool-bar button again, or press Ctrl + A on
the keyboard.
In the configuration dialog, you can configure if you want to have distances given on the rotating
sphere, or in horizontal (alt-azimuthal) coordinates. You can also link one point to the resting
horizon, the other to the sky and observe how angles change.
102 Chapter 11. Interface Extensions
11.2 Compass Marks Plugin

Stellarium helps the user get their bearings using the cardinal point feature the North, South, East
and West markers on the horizon. Compass Marks takes this idea and extends it to add markings
every few degrees along the horizon, and includes compass bearing values in degrees.
When activated (see section 10.1), there is a tool bar button for toggling the compass
markings. Note that when you enable compass marks, the cardinal points will be turned off.
Figure 11.1: Markings of Compass Marks Plugin

11.3 Equation of Time Plugin 103
11.3 Equation of Time Plugin
25 25
Cnc Cnc
20 Leo Gem 20 Leo Gem
15 15
Vir Tau Vir Tau
10 10
5 5
0 Ari Lib 0 Ari Lib
-5 -5
-10 -10
Psc Sco Psc Sco
-15 -15
-20 Aqr Sgr -20 Aqr Sgr
Cap Cap
-25 -25
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 11.2: Figure-8 plots for Equation of Time, for years 1000 (left) and 2000 (right).
These plots, often found on sundials, link solar declination (vertical axis) and its deviation
at mean noon from the meridian, in minutes. Labeled dots indicate when the sun entered
the respective Zodiacal sign (30 section of the ecliptic). Figures by Georg Zotti.
The Equation of Time plugin shows the solution of the equation of time. This describes the
discrepancy between two kinds of solar time:
Apparent solar time directly tracks the motion of the sun. Most sundials show this time.
Mean solar time tracks a fictitious mean sun with noons 24 hours apart.
There is no universally accepted definition of the sign of the equation of time. Some publications
show it as positive when a sundial is ahead of a clock; others when the clock is ahead of the sundial.
In the English-speaking world, the former usage is the more common, but is not always followed.
Anyone who makes use of a published table or graph should first check its sign usage.
If enabled (see section 10.1), click on the Equation of Time button on the bottom toolbar
to display the value for the equation of time on top of the screen.

11.3.1 Section EquationOfTime in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Equation of Time
plugin just make it carefully!
ID Type Description
enable_at_startup bool Display solution of the equation of time at startup of the
planetarium
flag_use_ms_format bool Set format for the displayed solution - minutes and seconds
and decimal minutes
flag_use_inverted_value bool Change sign of the equation of time
flag_show_button bool Enable displaying plugin button on the bottom toolbar
text_color R,G,B Color of font for the displayed solution of the equation of
time
font_size int Font size for the displayed solution of the equation of time
11.4 Field of View Plugin
Figure 11.3: Configuration dialog of Field of View plugin
By default Stellarium uses smooth zooming via mouse wheel or keyboard shortcuts. Some users may
want stepwise zooming to fixed values for field of view like in the Cartes du Ciel1 planetarium
program, and this plugin provides this feature. You can edit values and use the keyboard for
quick-setting of FOV. All values in degrees.
1. Enable the tool by configuring it to Load at startup.
2. Press shortkeys for quick changes of FOV.

11.4.1 Section FOV in config.ini file
You can configure the plugin with its dialog (Fig. 11.3) or edit config.ini file by yourself for
changes of the settings for the Field of View plugin just make it carefully!
ID Type Default Description

fov_quick_0 float 0.5 Value of FOV for the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + 0
fov_quick_1 float 180 Value of FOV for the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + 1
1 SkyChart / Cartes du Ciel planetarium: http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start

11.5 Pointer Coordinates Plugin 105
11.5 Pointer Coordinates Plugin
Figure 11.4: Interface of Pointer Coordinates plugin
The Pointer Coordinates plugin shows the coordinates of the mouse pointer. If enabled, click on the
plugin button on the bottom toolbar to display the coordinates of the mouse pointer.

11.5.1 Section PointerCoordinates in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Pointer Coordinates
ID Type Description
enable_at_startup bool Enable displaying coordinates of the mouse pointer at
startup of the plugin
flag_show_button bool Enable showing the button of the plugin on bottom tool-
bar
text_color R,G,B Color for text with coordinates of the mouse pointer
font_size int Font size for the displayed coordinates of the mouse
pointer
current_displaying_place string Specifies the place of displaying coordinates of
the mouse pointer. Possible values: TopRight,
TopCenter, RightBottomCorner, Custom. Default
value: TopRight.
current_coordinate_system string Specifies the coordinate system. Possible values:
RaDecJ2000, RaDec, HourAngle, Ecliptic, AltAzi,
Galactic. Default value: RaDecJ2000.
custom_coordinates int,int Specifies the screen coordinates of the custom place for
displaying coordinates of the mouse pointer
flag_show_constellation bool Add the 3-letter IAU abbreviation for the constellation
the mouse pointer sits in [55].
11.6 Text User Interface

This plugin re-implements the TUI of the pre-0.10 versions of Stellarium, an unobtrusive menu
used primarily by planetarium system operators to change settings, run scripts and so on.
Given that color configuration for lines and texts cannot be found elsewhere, an interesting part
for general use (at least for extended configuration sessions) is the way to interactively select colors
in this menu.
A full list of the commands for the TUI plugin is given in section 11.6.2.
11.6.1 Using the Text User Interface

1. Activate the text menu using the Alt + T key.2
2. Navigate the menu using the cursors keys.
3. To edit a value, press the right cursor until the value you wish to change it highlighted with
> and < marks, e.g. >3.142<. Then press the cursor keys and to change the value.
You may also type in a new value with the other keys on the keyboard.
11.6.2 TUI Commands
1 Location (menu group)

1.1 Latitude Set the latitude of the observer in degrees
1.2 Longitude Set the longitude of the observer in degrees
1.3 Altitude Set the altitude of the observer in meters
1.4 Solar System Body Select the solar system body on which the
observer is
2 Set Time (menu group)
2.1 Current date/time Set the time and date for which Stellarium
will generate the view
2.2 Set Time Zone (disabled in 0.15)
2.3 Days keys (disabled in 0.15)
2.4 Startup date/time preset Select the time which Stellarium starts with
(if the Sky Time At Start-up setting is Pre-
set Time
2.5 Startup date and time The setting system sets Stellariums time
to the computer clock when Stellarium runs.
The setting preset selects a time set in menu
item 2.4 - Startup date/time preset
2.6 Date Display Format Change how Stellarium formats date values.
system_default takes the format from the
computer settings, or it is possible to select
yyyymmdd, ddmmyyyy or mmddyyyy
modes
2 This
used to be hard-coded to M before version 0.15, but Alt + T is better to remember as it runs
parallel with Ctrl + T for switching the GUI panels, and frees up M for the Milky Way. The Alt + T
keybinding is hardcoded, i.e., cannot be reconfigured by the user, and should not be used for another function.
2.7 Time Display Format Change how Stellarium formats time values.
system_default takes the format from the
computer settings, or it is possible to select
24h or 12h clock modes
3 General (menu group)
3.1 Starlore Select the sky culture to use (changes constel-
lation lines, names, artwork)
3.2 Sky Language Change the language used to describe objects
in the sky
3.3 App Language Change the application language (used in
GUIs)
4 Stars (menu group)
4.1 Show stars Turn on/off star rendering
4.2 Relative Scale Change the relative brightness of the stars.
Larger values make bright stars much larger.
4.3 Absolute Scale Change the absolute brightness of the stars.
Large values show more stars. Leave at 1 for
realistic views.
4.4 Twinkle Sets how strong the star twinkling effect is -
zero is off, the higher the value the more the
stars will twinkle.
5 Colors (menu group)
5.1 Constellation lines Changes the colour of the constellation lines
5.2 Constellation labels Changes the colour of the labels used to name
stars
5.3 Art brightness Changes the brightness of the constellation
art
5.4 Constellation boundaries Changes the colour of the constellation bound-
ary lines
5.5 Cardinal points Changes the colour of the cardinal points
markers
5.6 Planet labels Changes the colour of the labels for planets
5.7 Planet orbits Changes the colour of the orbital guide lines
for planets
5.8 Planet trails Changes the colour of the planet trails lines
5.9 Meridian Line Changes the colour of the meridian line
5.10 Azimuthal Grid Changes the colour of the lines and labels for
the azimuthal grid
5.11 Equatorial Grid Changes the colour of the lines and labels for
the equatorial grid
5.12 Equatorial J2000 Grid Changes the colour of the lines and labels for
the equatorial J2000.0 grid
5.13 Equator Line Changes the colour of the equator line

5.14 Ecliptic Line Changes the colour of the ecliptic line
5.15 Ecliptic Line (J2000) Changes the colour of the J2000 ecliptic line
5.16 Nebula names Changes the colour of the labels for nebulae
5.17 Nebula hints Changes the colour of the circles used to de-
note the positions of unspecified nebulae
5.18 Galaxy hints Changes the colour of the ellipses used to
denote the positions of galaxies
5.19 Bright nebula hints Changes the colour of the squares used to
denote the positions of bright nebulae
5.20 Dark nebula hints Changes the colour of the squares used to
denote the positions of dark nebulae
5.21 Clusters hints Changes the colour of the symbols used to
denote the positions of clusters
5.22 Horizon line Changes the colour of the horizon line
5.23 Galactic grid Changes the colour of the galactic grid
5.24 Galactic equator line Changes the colour of the galactic equator
line
5.25 Opposition/conjunction longitude line Changes the colour of the opposition/conjunc-
tion line
6 Effects (menu group)
6.1 Light Pollution Changes the intensity of the light pollution
(see Appendix B Bortle Scale index)
6.2 Landscape Select the landscape which Stellarium draws
when ground drawing is enabled. Press
to activate.
6.3 Setting Landscape Sets Location If Yes then changing the landscape will
move the observer location to the location
for that landscape (if one is known). Setting
this to No means the observer location is
not modified when the landscape is changed.
6.4 Auto zoom out returns to initial . . . view Changes the behaviour when zooming out
from a selected object. When set to Off,
selected object will stay in center. When set
to On, view will return to startup view.
6.5 Zoom Duration Sets the time for zoom operations to take (in
seconds)
6.6 Milky Way intensity Changes the brightness of the Milky Way
6.7 Zodiacal light intensity Changes the brightness of the Zodiacal light
7 Scripts (menu group)
7.1 Run local script Run a script from the scripts sub-directory of
the User Directory or Installation Directory
(see section 5 (Files and Directories))
7.1 Stop running script Stop execution of a currently running script
8 Administration (menu group)
8.1 Load default configuration Reset all settings according to the main con-
figuration file
8.2 Save current configuration Save the current settings to the main configu-
ration file
8.3 Shutdown Emits a command configured in

11.6.3 Section tui in config.ini file
The section in config.ini for this plugin is named only [tui] for historical reasons. As always,
be careful when editing!
ID Type Description
tui_font_color R,G,B Font color for TUI text
tui_font_size int Font size for the TUI
flag_show_gravity_ui bool Bend menu text around the screen center. May be
useful in planetarium setups, and should then be used
together with Disc viewport in the configuration
menu (see 4.3.4).
flag_show_tui_datetime bool Show date and time in lower center.
flag_show_tui_short_obj_info bool Show some object info in lower right, or (in plane-
tarium setups with Disc viewport active,) wrapped
along the outer circle border.
admin_shutdown_cmd string executable command to shutdown your system. Best
used on Linux or Mac systems. E.g. shutdown -h
now
11.7 Remote Control

The Remote Control plugin was developed in 2015 during the ESA Summer of Code in Space
initiative. It enables the user to control Stellarium through an external web interface using a standard
web browser like Firefox or Chrome, instead of using the main GUI. This works on the same
computer Stellarium runs as well as over the network. Even more, multiple "remote controls" can
access the same Stellarium instance at the same time, without getting in the way of each other.
Much of the functionality the main interface provides is already available through it, and it is still
getting extended.
The plugin may be useful for presentation scenarios, hiding the GUI from the audience and
allowing the presenter to change settings on a separate monitor without showing distracting dialog
windows. It also allows to start and stop scripts remotely. Because the web interface can be
customized (or completely replaced) with some knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, another
possibility is a kiosk mode, where untrusted users can execute a variety of predefined actions (like
starting recorded tours) without having access to all Stellarium settings. The web API can also be
accessed directly (without using a browser and the HTML interface), allowing control of Stellarium
with external programs and scripts using HTTP calls like with the tools wget and curl.
11.7.1 Using the plugin
Figure 11.5: The default remote control web interface
After enabling the plugin, you can set it up through the configuration dialog. When Enable
automatically on startup is checked (it is by default), the web server is automatically started
whenever Stellarium starts. You can also manually start/stop the server using the Server enabled
checkbox and the button in the toolbar.
The plugin starts a HTTP server on the specified port. The default port is 8090, so you can
try to reach the remote control after enabling it by starting a browser on the same computer and
entering http://localhost:8090 in the address bar. When trying to access the remote control
from another computer, you need the IP address or the hostname of the server on which Stellarium
runs. The plugin shows the locally detected address, but depending on your network or if you need
11.7 Remote Control 111
external access you might need to use a different one contact your network administrator if you
need help with that.
The access to the remote control may optionally be restricted with a simple password.
Warning: currently no network encryption is used, meaning that an attacker having access to
your network can easily find out the password by waiting for a user entering it. Access from the
Internet to the plugin should generally be restricted, except if countermeasures such as VPN usage
are taken! If you are in a home network using NAT (network access translation), this should be
enough for basic security except if port forwarding or a DMZ is configured.
11.7.2 Remote Control Web Interface

If you are familiar with the main Stellarium interface, you should easily find your way around the
web interface. Tabs at the top allow access to different settings and controls. The remote control
automatically uses the same language as set in the main program.
The contents of the various tabs:
Main Contains the time controls and most of the buttons of the main bottom toolbar. An additional
control allows moving the view like when dragging the mouse or using the arrow keys in
Stellarium, and a slider enables the changing of the field of view. There are also buttons to
quickly execute time jumps using the commonly used astronomical time intervals.
Selection Allows searching and selecting objects like in section 4.5. SIMBAD search is also
supported. Quick select buttons are available for the primary solar system objects. It also
displays the information text for current selection.
Sky Settings related to the sky display as shown in the View dialog as shown in subsection 4.4.1.
DSO The deep-sky object catalog, filter and display settings like in subsection 4.4.3.
Landscape Changing and configuring the background landscape, see subsection 4.4.4
Actions and scripts Lists all registered actions, and allows starting and stopping of scripts (chap-
ter 15). If there is no button for the action you want in another tab, you can find all actions
which can be configured as a keyboard shortcut (section 4.3) here.
Location Allows changing the location, like in section 4.2. Custom location saving is currently
not supported.
Projection Switch the projection method used, like subsection 4.4.3.
11.7.3 Remote Control Commandline API

It is also possible to send commands via command line, e.g.,
wget -q -- post - data id = show . ssc http :// stella :8090/ api / scripts / run >/ dev / null 2 >&1
curl -- data id = myScript . ssc http :// localhost :8090/ api / scripts / run >/ dev / null 2 >&1
curl -d id = myScript . ssc http :// localhost :8090/ api / scripts / run >/ dev / null 2 >&1
This allows triggering automatic show setups for museums etc. via some centralized schedulers
like cron.
11.7.4 Developer information

If you are a developer and would like to add functionality to the Remote Control API, customize
the web interface or access the API through another program, further information can be found in
the plugins developer documentation.
11.8 Solar System Editor Plugin

Stellarium stores its data (orbital elements and other details) about solar system objects (planets,
their moons, minor bodies) in the file data/ssystem.ini. The file will be taken from the user
data directory if it also exists there, which means, users can add minor planets or comets as they
become observable by editing this file.
This plugin provides a window to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) where the latest Solar System
information can be found. When this plugin is loaded (see section 10.1) the first tab allows to
import, export or reset your ssystem.ini.
The second tab lists all currently loaded objects. It is recommended to remove old entries of last
years comets if you dont need them any longer. If you have a very weak computer, you may want
to reduce the number of minor bodies (and maybe even planetary moons) to improve performance.
On this tab, you find the option to connect to the MPC and download current orbital elements.
12. Object Catalog Plugins
Several plugins provide users with some more object classes.
12.1 Bright Novae Plugin
Figure 12.1: Nova Cygni 1975 (also known as V1500 Cyg)
The Bright Novae plugin provides visualization of some bright novae in the Milky Way galaxy. If
enabled (see section 10.1), bright novae from the past will be presented in the sky at the correct
times. For example, set date and time to 30 August 1975, look at the constellation Cygnus to see
Nova Cygni 19751 (Fig. 12.1).

12.1.1 Section Novae in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Bright Novae plugin
just make it carefully!
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V1500_Cygni
114 Chapter 12. Object Catalog Plugins
ID Type Description
last_update string Date and time of last update
update_frequency_days int Frequency of updates, in days
updates_enable bool Enable updates of bright novae catalog from Internet
url string URL of bright novae catalog
12.1.2 Format of bright novae catalog

To add a new nova, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas and brackets,
they are important:
" Nova designation " :

{
" name " : " name of nova " ,
" type " : " type of nova " ,
" maxMagnitude " : value of maximal visual magnitude ,
" minMagnitude " : value of minimal visual magnitude ,
" peakJD " : JD for maximal visual magnitude ,
" m2 " : Time to decline by 2 mag from maximum ( in days ) ,
" distance " : value of distance between nova and
Earth ( in thousands of Light Years ) ,
" RA " : " Right ascension ( J2000 ) " ,
" Dec " : " Declination ( J2000 ) "
},
For example, the record for Nova Cygni 1975 (V1500 Cyg) looks like:
" V1500 Cyg " :

{
" name " : " Nova Cygni 1975 " ,
" type " : " NA " ,
" maxMagnitude " : 1.69 ,
" minMagnitude " : 21 ,
" peakJD " : 2442655 ,
" m2 " : 2 ,
" m3 " : 4 ,
" m6 " : 32 ,
" m9 " : 263
" distance " : 6.36 ,
" RA " : " 21 h11m36 .6 s " ,
" Dec " : " 48 d09m02s "
},
12.1 Bright Novae Plugin 115
12.1.3 Light curves

This plugin uses a very simple model for calculation of light curves for novae stars. This model is
based on time for decay by N magnitudes from the maximum value, where N is 2, 3, 6 and 9. If a
nova has no values for decay of magnitude then this plugin will use generalized values for it.
12.2 Historical Supernovae Plugin
Figure 12.2: Supernova 1604 (also known as Keplers Supernova, Keplers Nova or
Keplers Star)
Similar to the Historical Novae plugin (section 12.1), the Historical Supernovae plugin provides
visualization of bright historical supernovae (Fig. 12.2) from the table below. If enabled (see
section 10.1), bright supernovae from the past will be presented in the sky at the correct times. For
example, set date and time to 29 April 1006, and look at the constellation Lupus to see SN 1006A.
12.2.1 List of supernovae in default catalog
Supernova Date of max. brightness Max. apparent mag. Type Name

SN 185A2 7 December -6.0 Ia
SN 386A 24 April 1.5 II
SN 1006A3 29 April -7.5 I
SN 1054A4 3 July -6.0 II
SN 1181A5 4 August -2.0 II
SN 1572A6 5 November -4.0 I Tychos Supernova
SN 1604A7 8 October -2.0 I Keplers Supernova
SN 1680A8 15 August 6.0 IIb Cassiopeia A
SN 1885A9 17 August 5.8 IPec S Andromedae
SN 1895B 5 July 8.0 I
SN 1920A 17 December 11.7 II
SN 1921C 11 December 11.0 I
SN 1937C 21 August 8.5 Ia
SN 1960F 21 April 11.6 Ia

SN 1960R 19 December 12.0 I
SN 1961H 8 May 11.8 Ia
SN 1962M 26 November 11.5 II
SN 1966J 2 December 11.3 I
SN 1968L 12 July 11.9 IIP
SN 1970G 30 July 11.4 IIL
SN 1971I 29 May 11.9 Ia
SN 1972E10 8 May 8.4 Ia
SN 1979C 15 April 11.6 IIL
SN 1980K 31 October 11.6 IIL
SN 1981B 9 March 12.0 Ia
SN 1983N 17 July 11.4 Ib
SN 1987A11 24 February 2.9 IIPec
SN 1989B 6 February 11.9 Ia
SN 1991T 26 April 11.6 IaPec
SN 1993J12 30 March 10.8 IIb
SN 1994D 31 March 11.8 Ia
SN 1998bu 21 May 11.9 Ia
SN 2004dj 31 July 11.3 IIP
SN 2011fe13 13 September 10.06 Ia
SN 2013aa 13 February 11.9 Ia
12.2.2 Light curves

In this plugin a simple model of light curves for different supernovae has been implemented. A
typical light curve used in the plugin for supernova type I is shown in Fig. 12.3 (bottom scale in
days).
For supernova type II we use a typical light curve with plateau, which you can see in Fig. 12.4
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_185
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiopeia_A
9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Andromedae
10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN1972e
11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A
12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1993J
13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2011fe
Figure 12.3: Light Curve of Supernova Type I
(bottom scale in days).
Figure 12.4: Light Curve of Supernova Type II
In both images for light curves the maximum brightness is marked as day 0.

12.2.3 Section Supernovae in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Historical Supernovae
ID Type Description
updates_enable bool Enable updates of bright novae catalog from Internet
url string URL of bright novae catalog
12.2.4 Format of historical supernovae catalog

To add a new nova, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas and brackets,
they are important:
" Supernova designation " :
{
" type " : " type of supernova " ,
" maxMagnitude " : value of maximal visual magnitude ,
" peakJD " : JD for maximal visual magnitude ,
" alpha " : " Right ascension ( J2000 ) " ,
" delta " : " Declination ( J2000 ) " ,
" distance " : value of distance between supernova and
Earth ( in thousands of Light Years ) ,
" note " : " notes for supernova "
},
For example, the record for SN 1604A (Keplers Supernova) looks like:
" 1604 A " :
{
" type " : " I " ,
" maxMagnitude " : -2 ,
" peakJD " : 2307190 ,
" alpha " : " 17 h30m36 .00 s " ,
" delta " : " -21 d29m00 .0 s " ,
" distance " : 14 ,
" note " : " Kepler s Supernova "
},
12.3 Exoplanets Plugin
Figure 12.5: Planetary system HD 13808
This plugin plots the position of stars with exoplanets. Exoplanets data is derived from The
Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia14 . List of potential habitable exoplanets and data about them
were taken from The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog15 by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory16 .
If enabled (see section 10.1), just click on the Exoplanet button on the bottom toolbar to
display markers for the stars with known exoplanets. You can then either click on such a marked
star or find the stars with exoplanets by their designation (e.g., 24 Sex) in the F3 dialog (see 4.5).
12.3.1 Potential habitable exoplanets

This plugin can display potential habitable exoplanets (orange marker) and some information about
those planets.
Planetary Class Planet classification from host star spectral type (F, G, K, M; see section 17.2.4),
habitable zone (hot, warm, cold) and size (miniterran, subterran, terran, superterran, jovian,
neptunian) (Earth = G-Warm Terran).
Equilibrium Temperature The planetary equilibrium temperature17 is a theoretical temperature
(in C) that the planet would be at when considered simply as if it were a black body being
heated only by its parent star (assuming a 0.3 bond albedo). As example the planetary
equilibrium temperature of Earth is -18.15 C (255 K).
Earth Similarity Index (ESI) Similarity to Earth18 on a scale from 0 to 1, with 1 being the
most Earth-like. ESI depends on the planets radius, density, escape velocity, and surface
temperature.
12.3.2 Proper names

In December 2015, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has officially approved names for
several exoplanets after a public vote.
14 http://exoplanet.eu/
15 http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog
16 http://phl.upr.edu/home
17 http://lasp.colorado.edu/~bagenal/3720/CLASS6/6EquilibriumTemp.html
18 http://phl.upr.edu/projects/earth-similarity-index-esi
Veritate * (14 And) From the latin Veritas, truth. The ablative form means where there is truth19 .
Spe * (14 And b) From the latin Spes, hope. The ablative form means where there is hope.
Musica (18 Del) Musica is Latin for music.
Arion (18 Del b) Arion was a genius of poetry and music in ancient Greece. According to
legend, his life was saved at sea by dolphins after attracting their attention by the playing of
his kithara.
Fafnir (42 Dra) Fafnir was a Norse mythological dwarf who turned into a dragon.
Orbitar (42 Dra b) Orbitar is a contrived word paying homage to the space launch and orbital
operations of NASA.
Chalawan (47 UMa) Chalawan is a mythological crocodile king from a Thai folktale.
Taphao Thong (47 UMa b) Taphao Thong is one of two sisters associated with the Thai folk
tale of Chalawan.
Taphao Kaew (47 UMa c) Taphao Kae is one of two sisters associated with the Thai folk tale of
Chalawan.
Helvetios (51 Peg) Helvetios is Celtic for the Helvetian and refers to the Celtic tribe that lived in
Switzerland during antiquity.
Dimidium (51 Peg b) Dimidium is Latin for half, referring to the planets mass of at least half
the mass of Jupiter.
Copernicus (55 Cnc) Nicolaus Copernicus or Mikolaj Kopernik (1473-1543) was a Polish
astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system in his book De
revolutionibus orbium coelestium.
Galileo (55 Cnc b) Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian astronomer and physicist often
called the father of observational astronomy and the father of modern physics. Using
a telescope, he discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter, and the reported the first
telescopic observations of the phases of Venus, among other discoveries.
Brahe (55 Cnc c) Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was a Danish astronomer and nobleman who
recorded accurate astronomical observations of the stars and planets. These observations
were critical to Keplers formulation of his three laws of planetary motion.
Lipperhey * (55 Cnc d) Hans Lipperhey (1570-1619) was a German-Dutch lens grinder and
spectacle maker who is often attributed with the invention of the refracting telescope in
160820 .
Janssen (55 Cnc e) Jacharias Janssen (1580s-1630s) was a Dutch spectacle maker who is often
attributed with invention of the microscope, and more controversially with the invention of
the telescope.
Harriot (55 Cnc f) Thomas Harriot (ca. 1560-1621) was an English astronomer, mathematician,
ethnographer, and translator, who is attributed with the first drawing of the Moon through
telescopic observations.
Amateru * ( Tau b) Amateru is a common Japanese appellation for shrines when they enshrine
Amaterasu, the Shinto goddess of the Sun, born from the left eye of the god Izanagi21 .
Hypatia ( Dra b) Hypatia was a famous Greek astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher. She
was head of the Neo-Platonic school at Alexandria in the early 5th century, until murdered
by a Christian mob in 415.
Ran * ( Eri) Ran is the Norse goddess of the sea, who stirs up the waves and captures sailors
with her net.
19 The original name proposed, Veritas, is that of an asteroid important for the study of the solar system.
20 The original spelling of Lippershey was corrected to Lipperhey on 15.01.2016. The commonly seen
spelling Lippershey (with an s) results in fact from a typographical error dating back from 1831, thus should
be avoided.
21 The name originally proposed, Amaterasu, is already used for an asteroid.
AEgir * ( Eri b) AEgir is Rans husband, the personified god of the ocean. AEgir and Ran both
represent the Jotuns who reign in the outer Universe; together they had nine daughters22 .
Tadmor * ( Cep b) Ancient Semitic name and modern Arabic name for the city of Palmyra, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Dagon ( PsA b) Dagon was a Semitic deity, often represented as half-man, half-fish.
Tonatiuh (HD 104985) Tonatiuh was the Aztec god of the Sun.
Meztli (HD 104985 b) Meztli was the Aztec goddess of the Moon.
Ogma * (HD 149026) Ogma was a deity of eloquence, writing, and great physical strength in
the Celtic mythologies of Ireland and Scotland, and may be related to the Gallo-Roman deity
Ogmios23 .
Smertrios (HD 149026 b) Smertrios was a Gallic deity of war.
Intercrus (HD 81688) Intercrus means between the legs in Latin style, referring to the stars
position in the constellation Ursa Major.
Arkas (HD 81688 b) Arkas was the son of Callisto (Ursa Major) in Greek mythology.
Cervantes ( Ara) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was a famous Spanish writer
and author of El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Quijote ( Ara b) Lead fictional character from Cervantess El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote
de la Mancha.
Dulcinea ( Ara c) Fictional character and love interest of Don Quijote (or Quixote) in
Cervantess El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Rocinante ( Ara d) Fictional horse of Don Quijote in Cervantess El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don
Quixote de la Mancha.
Sancho ( Ara e) Fictional squire of Don Quijote in Cervantess El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don
Quixote de la Mancha.
Thestias * ( Gem b) Thestias is the patronym of Leda and her sister Althaea, the daughters of
Thestius. Leda was a Greek queen, mother of Pollux and of his twin Castor, and of Helen
and Clytemnestra24 .
Lich (PSR B1257+12) Lich is a fictional undead creature known for controlling other undead
creatures with magic.
Draugr (PSR B1257+12 b) Draugr refers to undead creatures in Norse mythology.
Poltergeist (PSR B1257+12 c) Poltergeist is a name for supernatural beings that create physical
disturbances, from German for noisy ghost.
Phobetor (PSR B1257+12 d) Phobetor is a Greek mythological deity of nightmares, the son of
Nyx, the primordial deity of night.
Titawin ( And) Titawin (also known as Medina of Tetouan) is a settlement in northern Morocco
and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Historically it was an important point of contact between
two civilizations (Spanish and Arab) and two continents (Europe and Africa) after the 8th
century.
Saffar ( And b) Saffar is named for Abu al-Qasim Ahmed Ibn-Abd Allah Ibn-Omar al Ghafiqi
Ibn-al-Saffar, who taught arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy in 11th century Cordova in
Andalusia (modern Spain), and wrote an influential treatise on the uses of the astrolabe.
Samh ( And c) Samh is named for Abu al-Qasim Asbagh ibn Muhammad ibn al-Samh al-
Mahri (or Ibn al-Samh), a noted 11th century astronomer and mathematician in the school of
al Majriti in Cordova (Andalusia, now modern Spain).
22 Note the typographical difference between AEgir and Aegir, the Norwegian transliteration. The same
name, with the spelling Aegir, has been attributed to one of Saturns satellites, discovered in 2004.
23 Ogmios is a name already attributed to an asteroid.
24 The original proposed name Leda is already attributed to an asteroid and to one of Jupiters satellites.
The name Althaea is also attributed to an asteroid.

Majriti ( And d) Majriti is named for Abu al-Qasim al-Qurtubi al-Majriti, a notable mathe-
matician, astronomer, scholar, and teacher in 10th century and early 11th century Andalusia
(modern Spain).
Libertas * ( Aql) Libertas is Latin for liberty. Liberty refers to social and political freedoms,
and a reminder that there are people deprived of liberty in the world even today. The
constellation Aquila represents an eagle a popular symbol of liberty.
Fortitudo * ( Aql b) Fortitudo is Latin for fortitude. Fortitude means emotional and mental
strength in the face of adversity, as embodied by the eagle (represented by the constellation
Aquila).
All names with asterix mark (*) are modified based on the original proposals, to be consistent
with the IAU rules.

12.3.3 Section Exoplanets in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Exoplanets plugin
just make it carefully!
ID Type Description
update_frequency_hours int Frequency of updates, in hours
updates_enable bool Enable updates of exoplanets catalog from Inter-
net
url string URL of exoplanets catalog
flag_show_exoplanets_button bool Enable showing button of exoplanets on bottom
bar
distribution_enabled bool Enable distribution mode of display
timeline_enabled bool Enable timeline mode of display
habitable_enabled bool Enable habitable mode of display
enable_at_startup bool Enable displaying exoplanets at startup of the
plugin
exoplanet_marker_color R,G,B Color for marker of star with planetary system
habitable_exoplanet_marker_color R,G,B Color for marker of star with planetary system
with potential habitable exoplanets
12.3.4 Format of exoplanets catalog

To add a new exoplanet system, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas
and brackets, they are important:
" Star designation " :
{
" exoplanets " :
[
{
" mass " : mass of exoplanet ( M jup ) ,
" radius " : radius of exoplanet ( R jup ) ,
" period " : period of exoplanet ( days ) ,
" semiAxis " : semi - major axis ( AU ) ,
" eccentricity " : orbit s eccentricity ,
" inclination " : orbit s inclination ( degree ) ,
" angleDistance " : angle distance from star
( arcseconds ) ,
" discovered " : exoplanet discovered year ,
" hclass " : " habitable class " ,
" MSTemp " : mean surface temperature ( K ) ,
" ESI " : Earth Similarity Index (*100) ,
" planetProperName " : " proper name of planet " ,
" planetName " : " designation of planet "
},
{
" mass " : mass of exoplanet ( M jup ) ,
" radius " : radius of exoplanet ( R jup ) ,
" period " : period of exoplanet ( days ) ,
" semiAxis " : semi - major axis ( AU ) ,
" eccentricity " : orbit s eccentricity ,
" inclination " : orbit s inclination ( degree ) ,
" angleDistance " : angle distance from star
( arcseconds ) ,
" discovered " : exoplanet discovered year ,
" hclass " : " habitable class " ,
" MSTemp " : mean surface temperature ( K ) ,
" ESI " : Earth Similarity Index (*100) ,
" planetProperName " : " proper name of planet " ,
" planetName " : " designation of planet "
}
],
" distance " : value of distance to star ( pc ) ,
" stype " : " spectral type of star " ,
" smass " : value of mass of star ( M sun ) ,
" smetal " : value of metallicity of star ,
" Vmag " : value of visual magnitude of star ,
" sradius " : value of radius of star ( R sun ) ,
" effectiveTemp " : value of effective temperature
of star ( K ) ,
" starProperName " : " proper name of the star " ,
" hasHP " : boolean ( has potential habitable planets ) ,

" DE " : " Declination ( J2000 ) "
},
For example, the record for 24 Sex looks like:

" 24 Sex " :
{
" exoplanets " :
[
{
" mass " : 1.99 ,
" period " : 452.8 ,
" semiAxis " : 1.333 ,
" eccentricity " : 0.09 ,
" angleDistance " : 0.017821 ,
" discovered " : 2010 ,
" planetName " : " b "
},
{
" mass " : 0.86 ,
" period " : 883.0 ,
" semiAxis " : 2.08 ,
" eccentricity " : 0.29 ,
" angleDistance " : 0.027807 ,
" discovered " : 2010 ,
" planetName " : " c "
}
],
" distance " : 74.8 ,
" stype " : " G5 " ,
" smass " : 1.54 ,
" smetal " : -0.03 ,
" Vmag " : 7.38 ,
" sradius " : 4.9 ,
" effectiveTemp " : 5098 ,
" RA " : " 10 h23m28s " ,
" DE " : " -00 d54m08s "
},
12.4 Pulsars Plugin
Figure 12.6: PSR J0332-5434
This plugin plots the position of various pulsars, with object information about each one. Pulsar
data is derived from The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue [35].
If enabled (see section 10.1), use the button to activate display of pulsars. The GUI
allows a few configuration options. You can also find a pulsar ( F3 ) by its designation (e.g., PSR
J0437-4715).

12.4.1 Section Pulsars in config.ini file
ID Type Description
updates_enable bool Enable updates of pulsars catalog from Internet
url string URL of pulsars catalog
enable_at_startup bool Enable displaying of pulsars at startup of Stellarium
distribution_enabled bool Enable distribution mode for the pulsars
flag_show_pulsars_button bool Enable displaying pulsars button on toolbar
marker_color R,G,B Color for marker of the pulsars
glitch_color R,G,B Color for marker of the pulsars with glitches
use_separate_colors bool Use separate colors for different types of the pulsars
12.4 Pulsars Plugin 127
12.4.2 Format of pulsars catalog

To add a new pulsar, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas and brackets,
they are important:
" Pulsar designation " :
{
" DE " : " Declination ( J2000 ) " ,
" notes " : " type of pulsar " ,
" distance " : value of distance based on electron density
model ( kpc ) ,
" period " : value of barycentric period of the pulsar ( s ) ,
" parallax " : value of annular parallax ( mas ) ,
" bperiod " : value of binary period of pulsar ( days ) ,
" pderivative " : value of time derivative of barcycentric
period ,
" dmeasure " : value of dispersion measure ( cm ^ -3 pc ) ,
" frequency " : value of barycentric rotation frequency ( Hz ) ,
" pfrequency " : value of time derivative of barycentric
rotation frequency ( s ^ -2)
" eccentricity " : value of eccentricity ,
" w50 " : value of profile width at 50% of peak ( ms ) ,
" s400 " : value of time averaged flux density at
400 MHz ( mJy ) ,
600 MHz ( mJy ) ,
1400 MHz ( mJy )
},
For example, the record for PSR J0014+4746 looks like:

" PSR J0014 +4746 " :
{
" distance " : 1.82 ,
" dmeasure " : 30.85 ,
" frequency " : 0.805997239145 ,
" pfrequency " : -3.6669 E -16 ,
" w50 " : 88.7 ,
" s400 " : 14 ,
" s600 " : 9 ,
" s1400 " : 3 ,
" RA " : " 00 h14m17 .75 s " ,
" DE " : " 47 d46m33 .4 s "
},
12.5 Quasars Plugin

The Quasars plugin provides visualization of some quasars brighter than 16 visual magnitude. A
catalogue of quasars compiled from Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (13th Ed.) [71].
Figure 12.7: 3C 249.1, also known as LEDA 2821945 or 4C 77.09
If enabled (see section 10.1), use the button to activate display of quasars. The GUI allows
a few configuration options. You can also find a quasar ( F3 ) by its designation (e.g., 3C 273).

12.5.1 Section Quasars in config.ini file
ID Type Description
updates_enable bool Enable updates of quasars catalog from Internet
url string URL of quasars catalog
enable_at_startup bool Enable displaying of quasars at startup of Stellarium
distribution_enabled bool Enable distribution mode for the quasars
flag_show_quasars_button bool Enable displaying quasars button on toolbar
marker_color R,G,B Color for marker of the quasars
12.5 Quasars Plugin 129
12.5.2 Format of quasars catalog

To add a new quasar, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas and brackets,
they are important:
" Quasar designation " :
{
" DE " : " Declination ( J2000 ) " ,
" Amag " : value of absolute magnitude ,
" Vmag " : value of visual magnitude ,
" z " : value of Z ( redshift ) ,
" bV " : value of B - V colour
},
For example, the record for 3C 249.1 looks like:

" 3 C 249.1 " :
{
" RA " : " 11 h04m13 .8 s " ,
" DE " : " +76 d58m58s " ,
" Amag " : -25.1 ,
" Vmag " : 15.72 ,
" z " : 0.313 ,
" bV " : -0.02
},
12.6 Meteor Showers Plugin
Figure 12.8: The 1833 Leonids replayed with the Meteor Showers plugin.
In contrast and extension of the random shooting stars feature of Stellarium (see section 17.6),
this plugin provides data for real meteor showers and a marker for each active and inactive radiant,
showing real information about its activity. If enabled (see section 10.1), just click on the Meteor
Showers button on the bottom toolbar to display markers for the radiants.
12.6.1 Terms
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or
originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris
called meteoroids entering Earths atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.
Most meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all of them disintegrate and never hit
the Earths surface. Intense or unusual meteor showers are known as meteor outbursts and meteor
storms, which may produce greater than 1,000 meteors an hour.
Radiant
The radiant or apparent radiant of a meteor shower is the point in the sky from which (to a planetary
observer) meteors appear to originate. The Perseids, for example, are meteors which appear to
come from a point within the constellation of Perseus.
An observer might see such a meteor anywhere in the sky but the direction of motion, when
traced back, will point to the radiant. A meteor that does not point back to the known radiant for a
given shower is known as a sporadic and is not considered part of that shower.
Many showers have a radiant point that changes position during the interval when it appears.
For example, the radiant point for the Delta Aurigids drifts by more than a degree per night.
Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR)

The Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of a meteor shower is the number of meteors a single observer
would see in one hour under a clear, dark sky (limiting apparent magnitude of 6.5) if the radiant
of the shower were at the zenith. The rate that can effectively be seen is nearly always lower and
decreases the closer the radiant is to the horizon.
Population index
The population index indicates the magnitude distribution of the meteor showers. Values below
2.5 correspond to distributions where bright meteors are more frequent than average, while values
above 3.0 mean that the share of faint meteors is larger than usual.

12.6.2 Section MeteorShowers in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Meteor Showers
ID Type Description
update_frequency_hours int Frequency of updates, in hours
updates_enable bool Enable updates of the meteor showers catalog from Internet
url string URL of the meteor showers catalog
flag_show_ms_button bool Enable showing button of the meteor showers on bottom
bar
flag_show_radiants bool Enable displaying markers for the radiants of the meteor
showers
flag_active_radiants bool Flag for displaying markers for the radiants of the active
meteor showers only
enable_at_startup bool Enable displaying meteor showers at starup plugin
show_radiants_labels bool Flag for displaying labels near markers of the radiants of
the meteor showers
font_size int Font size for label of markers of the radiants of the meteor
showers
colorARG R,G,B Color for marker of active meteor showers with generic
data
colorARR R,G,B Color for marker of active meteor showers with real data
colorIR R,G,B Color for marker of inactive meteor showers
12.6.3 Format of Meteor Showers catalog

To add a new meteor shower, you just need to:
1. Copy the code of some valid meteor shower;
2. Paste it in the line 6 (right after the "showers": {) of the showers.json document;
3. Replace the information according with your needs.
Note commas and brackets, they are very important! For example, below is a record for Northern
Taurids:
" NTA " :
{
" designation " : " Northern Taurids " ,
" activity " :
[
{
" year " : " generic " ,
" zhr " : 5 ,
" start " : " 09.25 " ,
" finish " : " 11.25 " ,
" peak " : " 11.12 "
},
{
" year " : " 2014 " ,
" start " : " 10.20 " ,
" finish " : " 12.10 "
},
{
" year " : " 2013 " ,
" start " : " 10.20 " ,
" finish " : " 12.10 "
},
{
" year " : " 2012 " ,
" start " : " 10.20 " ,
" finish " : " 12.10 "
},
{
" year " : " 2011 " ,
" start " : " 10.20 " ,
" finish " : " 12.10 "
}
],
" speed " : 29 ,
" radiantAlpha " : " 58 " ,
" radiantDelta " : " +22 " ,
" driftAlpha " : " 5 " ,
" driftDelta " : " 1 " ,
" colors " :
[
{
" color " : " yellow " ,
" intensity " : 80

},
{
" color " : " white " ,
" intensity " : 20
}
],
" parentObj " : " Comet C /1917 F1 ( Mellish ) " ,
" pidx " : 2.3
},
12.6.4 Further Information

You can get more info about meteor showers here:
Wikipedia about Meteor showers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Showers
International Meteor Organization: http://www.imo.net/
Acknowledgements
This plugin was created as project of ESA Summer of Code in Space 201325 .
25 http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2013/?q=about
12.7 Navigational Stars Plugin
Figure 12.9: Navigational stars on the screen
This plugin marks navigational stars from a selected set:

Anglo-American the 57 "selected stars" that are listed in The Nautical Almanac26 jointly
published by Her Majestys Nautical Almanac Office and the US Naval Observatory since
1958; consequently, these stars are also used in navigational aids such as the 2102-D Star
Finder27 and Identifier.
French the 81 stars that are listed in the Ephmrides Nautiques published by the French
Bureau des Longitudes.
Russian the 160 stars that are listed in the Russian Nautical Almanac.
If enabled (see section 10.1), just click on the Sextant button on the bottom toolbar to display
markers for the navigational stars. This can help you in training your skills in astronomical
navigation before you cruise the ocean in the traditional way, with your sextant and chronometer.

12.7.1 Section NavigationalStars in config.ini file
You can edit config.ini file by yourself for changes of the settings for the Navigational Stars
ID Type Description
navstars_color R,G,B Color of markers of navigational stars
current_ns_set string Current set of navigational stars. Possible values: AngloAmerican,
French and Russian.
26 The
Nautical Almanac website http://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/docs/na.php
27 Rude
Starfinder 2102-D description and usage instruction http://oceannavigation.blogspot.
ru/2008/12/rude-starfinder-2102-d.html
12.8 Satellites Plugin 135
12.8 Satellites Plugin

The Satellites plugin displays the positions of artifical satellites in Earths orbit based on a catalog
of orbital data. It allows automatic updates from online sources and manages a list of update file
URLs.
To calculate satellite positions, the plugin uses an implementation of the SGP4/SDP4 algorithms
(J.L. Canales gsat library), using as its input data in NORADs two-line element set (TLE28 )
format. Lists with TLEs for hundreds of satellites are available online and are regularly updated.
The plugin downloads the lists prepared by http://celestrak.com to keep itself up-to-date, but
the users can specify other sources online or load updates from local files.
If enabled (see section 10.1), just click on the Satellite button on the bottom toolbar to
display markers for the satellites.
It should now be possible to search for artificial satellites using the regular search dialog ( F3 ).
Note that at any given time, most Satellites will be below the horizon.
12.8.1 Satellite Properties

Name and identifiers Each satellite has a name. Its displayed as a label of the satellite hint and
in the list of satellites. Names are not unique though, so they are used only for presentation
purposes.
Satellite Catalog In the Satellite Catalog satellites are uniquely identified by their NORAD
number, which is encoded in TLEs.
Grouping A satellite can belong to one or more groups such as amateur, geostationary or
navigation. They have no other function but to help the user organize the satellite collection.
Group names are arbitrary strings defined in the Satellite Catalog for each satellite and are
more similar to the concept of tags than a hierarchical grouping. A satellite may also not
belong to any group at all.
By convention, group names are in lowercase. The GUI translates some of the groups used
in the default catalog.
12.8.2 Satellite Catalog

The satellite catalog is stored on the disk in JSON29 format, in a file named satellites.json. A
default copy is embedded in the plug-in at compile time. A working copy is kept in the user data
directory.
To add a new satellite, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas and
brackets, they are important:
" NORAD number " :
{
" name " : " name of the satellite "
" description " : " description goes here " ,
" comms " : [
{
" description " : " downlink 1 " ,
" frequency " : 437.49 ,
" modulation " : " AFSK 1200 bps "
},
{
" description " : " downlink 2 " ,
" frequency " : 145.825
}
],
" groups " : [ " group1 " , " group2 " ] ,
28 TLE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set
29 http://www.json.org/
" tle1 " : " 1 12345 U 90005 D 0908 0.8523 6265 .00000014 00000 -0 20602 -4 0 5632 " ,
" tle2 " : " 2 12345 98.2700 53.2702 0011918 71.1776 289.0705 14.31818920 653 " ,
" visible " : true
},
Explanation of the fields:

NORAD number required parameter, surrounded by double quotes ("), followed by a colon (:).
It is used internally to identify the satellite. You should replace the text "NORAD number"
with the first number on both lines of the TLE set (in this case, "12345"). It must match
the number of the satellite in the source you are adding from if you want the TLE to be
automatically updated.
The remaining parameters should be listed between two curly brackets and the closing curly bracket
must be followed by a comma to separate it from the next satellite in the list:
name required parameter. It will be displayed on the screen and used when searching for the
satellite with the Find window. Use the description field for a more readable name if you like.
(The description field can accept HTML tags such as <br/> (new line), <b></b> (bold),
etc.)
description optional parameter, double quoted. Appears when you click on the satellite
comms optional parameter, square bracketed list of curly bracketed communications information.
groups optional parameter, comma separated list of double quoted group names contained in
square brackets. Used for grouping satellites in the drop down box on the config (see above)
tle1 required, line 1 of the TLE, must be contained in double quotes and begin with "1 "
tle2 required, line 2 of the TLE, must be contained in double quotes and begin with "2 "
visible required parameter, set to true if you want to see it, this can be toggled from the configura-
tion window once the satellite is loaded.
You can edit the tags for a satellite, modify the description and comms data, and even add new
satellites.
12.8.3 Configuration
The plug-ins configuration data is stored in Stellariums main configuration file.
12.8.4 Sources for TLE data

Celestrak 30 used as default update source, it also has TLE lists beyond those included by default
in Satellite plug-in
TLE.info 31
Space Track 32 the definitive source, requires signup, operated by United States Department of
Defense
30 http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/
31 http://www.tle.info/joomla/index.php
32 http://www.space-track.org/
12.9 ArchaeoLines Plugin

G EORG Z OTTI
Figure 12.10: Declination Lines provided by the ArchaeoLines plugin
12.9.1 Introduction
In the archaeoastronomical literature, several astronomically derived orientation schemes are
prevalent. Often prehistorical and historical buildings are described as having been built with a
main axis pointing to a sunrise on summer or winter solstice. There can hardly be a better tool than
Scenery3D (see chapter 13) to investigate a 3D model of such a building, and this plugin has been
introduced in version 0.13.3 as a further tool in the archaeoastronomers toolbox[78].
When activated (see section 10.1), you can find a a tool bar button (in the shape of a
trilithon with the sun shining through it). Press this, or Ctrl + U , to display the currently selected
set of characteristical diurnal arcs.
12.9.2 Characteristic Declinations

The ArchaeoLines plugin displays any combination of declination arcs most relevant to archaeo-
or ethnoastronomical studies. Of course, principles used in this context are derived from natural
observations, and many of these declinations are still important in everyday astronomy.
Declinations of equinoxes (i.e., the equator, = 0) and the solstices ( = )
Declinations of the crossquarter days (days between solstices and equinoxes, = / 2)
Declinations of the Major Lunar Standstills ( = ( + i))
Declinations of the Minor Lunar Standstills ( = ( i))
Declination of the Zenith passage ( = )
Declination of the Nadir passage ( = )
Declination of the currently selected object
Current declination of the sun
Current declination of the moon
Current declination P of a naked-eye planet
Rising Azimuths, Year 2000

75 75
70 70
65 65
60 60
55 55
50 50
45 45
40 40
35 35
30 30
25 25
Solstices, Equinoxes
20 20
Solar Crossquarters
15 15
Major Standstills
10 Minor Standstills 10
5 Zenith Passage 5
Nadir Passage
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
Figure 12.11: Rising azimuths of a few important events for sun and moon, and zenith and
nadir passages depending on geographic latitudes (vertical axis).
The principal relation between declinations , geographic latitude , and the rising azimuth A
is computed from
sin
cos A = . (12.1)
cos
This formula does not take into account local horizon elevation nor atmospheric refraction nor
lunar parallax correction. The effect applied to characteristic declinations is shown graphically for
the present time (J2000.0) in figure 12.11. For example, in a latitude of 30 , an object which goes
through the zenith rises at azimuth 55 . Lunar major standstill risings occur at azimuths 56.7 and
123.5 , lunar minor standstill risings at azimuths 69 and 111 . The summer sun rises at 62.6 , the
winter sun at 117.3 . An object which goes through the nadir rises at 125 .
The blue lines seem to vanish at = 45 : while there are still objects going through the zenith
in higher latitudes, they are circumpolar and do not cross the horizon.
For the lunar events, there are two lines each drawn by the plugin, for maximum and minimum
distance of the moon. The lunar extreme declinations are computed taking horizon parallax effects
into account. For technical reasons however, the derived declinations are then used to draw small
circles of constant declinations on the sphere, without taking the change of lunar horizontal parallax
into account. Note that therefore the observed declination of the moon at the major standstill can
exceed the indicated limits if it is high in the sky. The main purpose of this plugin is however to
show an indication of the intersection of the standstill line with the horizon.
It may be very instructive to let the time run quite fast and observe the declination line of
current moon swinging between its north and south limits each month. These limits grow and
shrink between the Major and Minor Standstills in the course of 18.6 years.
The sun likewise swings between the solstices. Over centuries, the solstice declinations very
slightly move as well due to the slightly changing obliquity of the ecliptic.
12.9.3 Azimuth Lines

Some religions, e.g., Islam or Bahai, adhere to a practice of observing a prayer direction towards a
particular location. Azimuth lines for two locations can be shown, these lines indicate the great
circle direction towards the locations which can be edited in the configuration window. Default
locations are Mecca (Kaaba) and Jerusalem. The azimuth q towards a location T = (T , T ) are
computed for an observer at O = (O , O ) based on spherical trigonometry on a spherical Earth [1]:

sin(T O )
q = arctan (12.2)
cos O tan T sinO cos(T O )
In addition, up to two vertical lines with arbitrary azimuth and custom label can be shown.
12.9.4 Arbitrary Declination Lines

Up to two arbitrary declination lines can be shown with a custom label.
12.9.5 Configuration Options

The configuration dialog allows the selection of the lines which are of interest to you. In addition,
you can select the color of the lines by clicking on the color swatches.33

Section ArchaeoLines in config.ini file
Apart from changing settings using the plugin configuration dialog, you can also edit config.ini
file by yourself for changes of the settings for the ArchaeoLines plugin just make it carefully!
ID Type Default
enable_at_startup bool false
color_equinox float R,G,B 1.00,1.00,0.50
color_solstices float R,G,B 1.00,1.00,0.25
color_crossquarters float R,G,B 1.00,0.75,0.25
color_major_standstill float R,G,B 0.25,1.00,0.25
color_minor_standstill float R,G,B 0.20,0.75,0.20
color_zenith_passage float R,G,B 1.00,0.75,0.75
color_nadir_passage float R,G,B 1.00,0.75,0.75
color_selected_object float R,G,B 1.00,1.00,1.00
color_current_sun float R,G,B 1.00,1.00,0.75
color_current_moon float R,G,B 0.50,1.00,0.50
color_current_planet float R,G,B 0.25,0.80,1.00
color_geographic_location_1 float R,G,B 0.25,1.00,0.25
color_geographic_location_2 float R,G,B 0.25,0.25,1.00
color_custom_azimuth_1 float R,G,B 0.25,1.00,0.25
color_custom_azimuth_2 float R,G,B 0.25,0.50,0.75
33 Unfortunately,
on some systems with Windows in OpenGL mode, the color dialog hides behind the
Stellarium window when in fullscreen mode. So, before editing line colors, please leave fullscreen mode!
color_custom_declination_1 float R,G,B 0.45,1.00,0.15

color_custom_declination_2 float R,G,B 0.45,0.50,0.65
show_equinox bool true
show_solstices bool true
show_crossquarters bool true
show_major_standstills bool true
show_minor_standstills bool true
show_zenith_passage bool true
show_nadir_passage bool true
show_selected_object bool true
show_current_sun bool true
show_current_moon bool true
show_current_planet string none
show_geographic_location_1 bool false
show_geographic_location_2 bool false
geographic_location_1_longitude double 39.826175
geographic_location_1_latitude double 21.4276
geographic_location_1_label string Mecca (Qibla)
geographic_location_2_longitude double 35.235774
geographic_location_2_latitude double 31.778087
geographic_location_2_label string Jerusalem
show_custom_azimuth_1 bool false
show_custom_azimuth_2 bool false
custom_azimuth_1_angle double 0.0
custom_azimuth_2_angle double 0.0
custom_azimuth_1_label string custAzi1
custom_azimuth_2_label string custAzi2
custom_altitude_1_angle double 0.0
custom_altitude_2_angle double 0.0
custom_altitude_1_label string custAlt1
custom_altitude_2_label string custAlt2
show_custom_declination_1 bool false
show_custom_declination_2 bool false
custom_declination_1_angle double 0.0
custom_declination_1_label string custDec1
custom_declination_2_angle double 0.0
custom_declination_2_label string custDec2
13. Scenery3d 3D Landscapes
G EORG Z OTTI AND F LORIAN S CHAUKOWITSCH
13.1 Introduction
Have you ever wished to be able to walk through Stonehenge or other ancient building structures de-
scribed as being constructed with astronomical orientation in mind, and experience such orientation
in a 3D virtual environment that also provides a good sky simulation?
The Stellarium Scenery3d plugin allows you to see architectural 3D models embedded in a
landscape combined with the excellent representation of the sky provided by Stellarium. You can
walk around, check for (or demonstrate) possible astronomical alignments of ancient architecture,
see sundials and other shadow casters in action, etc.
13.2 Usage
You activate the plugin with the circular enclosure button at screen bottom or by pressing
Ctrl + W . The other button with circular enclosure and tool icon (or Ctrl + + W ) opens
the settings dialog. Once loaded and displaying, you can walk around pressing Ctrl plus cursor
keys. Change eye height with Ctrl + Page / Ctrl + Page keys. Adding key increases speed
by 10, adding Alt multiplies by 5 (pressing both keys multiplies by 50!). If you release Ctrl before
the cursor key, animation will continue. (Press Ctrl +any cursor key to stop moving.)
Further key bindings exist which can be configured using the Stellarium default key-binding
interface. Some options are also available in the Scenery3d dialog. For example, coordinate display
can be enabled with Ctrl + R + T . If your models are georeferenced in a true geographical
coordinate grid, e.g. UTM or Gauss-Krueger, you will especially like this, and this makes the plugin
usable for scientific purposes. Display shows grid name, Easting, Northing, Altitude of ground, and
eye height above ground.
Other features include a virtual torchlight, which can be enabled with Ctrl + R + L to give
142 Chapter 13. Scenery3d 3D Landscapes
additional local illumination around the viewer to help to see in the dark. Interesting points of view
can be saved and restored later by the user, including a description of the view. Scene authors can
also distribute predefined viewpoints in their scene.
The plugin also simulates the shadows of the scenes objects cast by the Sun, Moon and even
Venus (only 1 shadow caster used at a time, you will never see shadows cast by Venus in moonlight),
so you could use it for examining sundials, or analyze and simulate light-and-shadow interactions
in archaeological structures.
13.3 Hardware Requirements & Performance

In order to work with the non-linear projection models in Stellarium, this plugin uses a trick to
create the foreground renderings: it renders the scene into the six planes of a so-called cubemap,
which is then correctly reprojected onto the sides of a cube, depending on the current projection
settings. Your graphics card must be able to do this, i.e. it must support the OpenGL extension
called EXT_framebuffer_object. Typical modern 3D cards (by NVidia or ATI/AMD) support
this extension. In case your graphics hardware does not suppport it, the plugin will still work, but
you are limited to perspective projection.
You can influence rendering quality, but also speed, using the plugins GUI, which provides
some options such as enabling the use of shadows, bumpmapping (provides more realistic surface
lighting) or configuring the sizes of the textures used for the cubemap or shadowmaps. Larger
values there improve the quality, but require faster hardware and more video memory for smooth
results.
Because the cubemap trick requires quite a large amount of performance (in essence, the
scene has to be rendered 6 times), there are some options available that try to reduce this burden.
The first option is to change the type of the cubemap. The most compatible setting is 6 textures,
which seems to work best on older integrated Intel GPUs. The recommended default is the second
setting, Cubemap, which uses a more modern OpenGL feature and generally works a bit faster
than 6 textures on more modern graphics cards. Finally, the Geometry shader option tries to render
all 6 cube faces at once. This requires a more recent GPU + drivers (at least OpenGL 3.2 must
be supported), the setting is disabled otherwise. Depending on your hardware and the scenes
complexity, this method may give a speedup or may be slower, you must find this out yourself.
Another option prevents re-rendering of the cubemap if nothing relevant has changed. You can
define the interval (in Stellariums simulation time) in which nothing is updated in the GUI. You
can still rotate the camera without causing a re-draw, giving a subjective performance that is close
to Stellariums performance without Scenery3d. When moving, the cubemap will be updated. You
can enable another option that only causes 1 or 2 sides of the cubemap to be updated while you
move, giving a speedup but causing some parts of the image to be outdated and discontinuous. The
cubemap will be completed again when you stop moving.
Shadow rendering may also cause quite a performance impact. The Simple shadows option
can speed this up a lot, at the cost of shadow quality especially in larger scenes. Another perfor-
mance/quality factor is shadow filtering. The sharpest (and fastest) possible shadows are achieved
with filtering Off, but depending on shadowmap resolution and scene size the shadows may look
quite blocky. Hardware shadow filtering is usually very fast, but may not improve appearance
a lot. Therefore, there are additional filter options available, the High filter option is relatively
expensive. Finally, the PCSS option allows to approximate the increase of solar and lunar shadow
penumbras relative to the distance from their shadow casters, i.e. shadows are sharp near contact
points, and more blurred further away. This again requires quite a bit of performance, and only
works if the shadow filter option is set to Low or High (without Hardware).
The configuration GUI shows tooltips for most of its settings, which can explain what a setting
Geometry Yes
Lights Yes
Clay No
Photomatched Yes
DefaultUVs No
Instanced No
Table 13.1: Kerkythea Export Settings
does. All settings are saved automatically, and restored when you reopen Stellarium.
13.3.1 Performance notes

On reasonably good hardware (tested on a notebook PC with NVidia M580 GTS), models with
about 850.000 triangles are working nicely with shadows and bumpmaps. On very small hardware
like single-board computers with native OpenGL ES2, models may be limited to 64k vertices
(points). If display is too slow, switch to perspective projection: all other projections require almost
sixfold effort! You should also prefer the lazy cubemap mode, where the scene is only rendered
in specific timesteps or when movement happens.
13.4 Model Configuration

The model format supported in Scenery3d is Wavefront .OBJ, which is pretty common for 3D
models. You can use several modeling programs to build your models. Software such as Blender,
Maya, 3D Studio Max etc. can export OBJ.
13.4.1 Exporting OBJ from Sketchup

A simple to use and cost-free modeling program is Sketchup, commonly used to create the 3D
buildings seen in Google Earth. It can be used to create georeferenced models. OBJ is not
a native export format for the standard version of Sketchup. If you are not willing to afford
Sketchup Pro, you have to find another way to export a textured OBJ model.
One good exporter is available in the Kerkythea renderer project1 . You need SU2KT 3.17
or better, and KT2OBJ 1.1.0 or better. Deselect any selection, then export your model to the
Kerkythea XML format with settings shown in 13.1. (Or, with selection enabled, make sure
settings are No-Yes-Yes-No-Yes-No-No.) You do not have to launch Kerkythea unless you want
to create nice renderings of your model. Then, use the KT2OBJ converter to create an OBJ. You
can delete the XML after the conversion. Note that some texture coordinates may not be exported
correctly. The setting Photomatched:Yes seems now to have corrected this issue, esp. with
distorted/manually shifted textures.
Another free OBJ exporter has been made available by TIG: OBJexporter.rb2 . This is the
only OBJ exporter tested so far capable of handling large TIN landscapes (> 450.000 triangles).
As of version 2.6 it seems to be the best OBJ exporter available for Sketchup.
This exporter swaps Y/Z coordinates, but you can add a key to the config file to correct swapped
axes, see below. Other exporters may also provide coordinates in any order of X, Y, Z all those
can be properly configured.
1 Available at http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/
2 Available from http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=33448
Another (almost) working alternative: ObjExporter.rb by author Honing. Here, export with
settings 0xxx00. This will not create a TX... folder but dump all textures in the same directory as
the OBJ and MTL files. Unfortunately, currently some material assignments seem to be bad.
Yet another exporter, su2objmtl, does also not provide good texture coordinates and cannot
be recommended at this time.
13.4.2 Notes on OBJ file format limitations

The OBJ format supported is only a subset of the full OBJ format: Only (optionally textured)
triangle meshes are supported, i.e., only lines containing statements: mtllib, usemtl, v, vn, vt, f
(with three elements only!), g. Negative vertex numbers (i.e., a specification of relative positions)
are not supported.
A further recommendation for correct illumination is that all vertices should have vertex
normals. Sketchup models exported with the Kerkythea or TIG plugins should have correct
normals. If your model does not provide them, default normals can be reconstructed from the
triangle edges, resulting in a faceted look.
If possible, the model should also be triangulated, but the current loader may also work with
non-triangle geometry. The correct use of objects (o) and groups (g) will improve performance: it
is best if you pre-combine all objects that use the same material into a single one. The loader will
try to optimize it anyways if this is not the case, but can do this only partly (to combine 2 objects
with the same material into 1, it requires them to follow directly after each other in the OBJ). A
simple guide to use Blender3 for this task follows:
1. File Import Wavefront .obj - you may need to change the forward/up axes for correct
orientation, try -Y forward and Z up
2. Select an object which has a shared material
3. Press + L and select By Material
4. Select Join in the left (main) tool window
5. Repeat for other objects that have shared materials
6. Export the .obj, making sure to select the same forward/up axes as in the import, also make
sure Write Normals, Write Materials and Include UVs are checked
For transparent objects (with a d or Tr value, alpha testing does NOT need this), this recommenda-
tion does NOT hold: for optimal results, each separate transparent object should be exported as a
separate OBJ object. This is because they need to be sorted during rendering to achieve correct
transparency. If the objects are combined already, you can separate them using Blender:
1. Import .obj (see above)
2. Select the combined transparent object
3. Enter Edit mode with and make sure everything is selected (press A if not)
4. Press P and select By loose parts, this should separate the object into its unconnected
regions
5. Export .obj (see above), also check Objects as OBJ Objects
The MTL file specified by mtllib contains the material parameters. The minimum that should
be specified is either map_Kd or a Kd line specifying color values used for the respective faces.
But there are other options in MTL files, and the supported parameters and defaults are listed in
Table 13.2.
If no ambient color is specified, the diffuse color values are taken for the ambient color. An
optional emissive term Ke can be added, which is modulated to only be visible during nighttime.
This also requires the landscapes self-illumination layer to be enabled. It allows to model self-
illuminating objects such as street lights, windows etc. It can optionally also be modulated by the
emissive texture map_Ke.
3 http://www.blender.org
Parameter Default Range Meaning

Ka set to Kd values 0 . . . 1 each R/G/B Ambient color
Kd 0.8 0.8 0.8 0 . . . 1 each R/G/B Diffuse color
Ke 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 . . . 1 each R/G/B Emissive color
Ks 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 . . . 1 each R/G/B Specular color
Ns 8.0 0... shinyness
d or Tr 1.0 0...1 opacity
bAlphatest 0 0 or 1 perform alpha test
bBackface 0 0 or 1 render backface
map_Kd (none) filename texture map to be mixed with Ka, Kd
map_Ke (none) filename texture map to be mixed with Ke
map_bump (none) filename normal map for surface roughness
illum 2 integer illumination mode in the standard MTL format.
Table 13.2: MTL parameters evaluated
If a value for Ks is specified, specularity is evaluated using the Phong reflection model4 with
Ns as the exponential shininess constant. Larger shininess means smaller specular highlights (more
metal-like appearance). Specularity is not modulated by the texture maps. Unfortunately, some 3D
editors export unusable default value combinations for Ks and Ns. Blender may create lines with
Ks=1/1/1 and Ns=0. This creates a look of partial overexposed snow fields. While the values are
allowed in the specification, in most cases the result looks ugly. Make sure to set Ns to 1 or higher,
or disable those two lines.
If a value for d or Tr exists, alpha blending is enabled for this material. This simulates
transparency effects. Transparency can be further controlled using the alpha channel of the map_Kd
texture.
A simpler and usually more performant way to achieve simple cutout transparency effects is
alpha-testing, by setting bAlphatest to 1. This simply discards all pixels of the model where the
alpha value of the map_Kd is below the transparency_threshold value from scenery3d.ini,
making holes in the model. This also produces better shadows for such objects. If required, alpha
testing can be combined with real blending-based transparency.
Sometimes, exported objects only have a single side (paper wall), and are only visible from
one side when looked at in Scenery3d. This is caused by an optimization called back-face culling,
which skips drawing the back sides of objects because they are usually not visible anyway. If
possible, avoid such thin geometry, this will also produce better shadows on the object. As a
workaround, you can also set bBackface to 1 to disable back-face culling for this material.
The optional map_bump enables the use of a tangent-space normal maps5 , which provides a
dramatic improvement in surface detail under illumination.
13.4.3 Configuring OBJ for Scenery3d

The walkaround in your scene can use a ground level (piece of terrain) on which the observer can
walk. The observer eye will always stay eye height above ground. Currently, there is no collision
detection with walls implemented, so you can easily walk through walls, or jump on high towers, if
their platform or roof is exported in the ground layer. If your model has no explicit ground layer,
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_reflection_model
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping
walk will be on the highest surface of the scenery layer. If you use the special name NULL as ground
layer, walk will be above zero_ground_height level.
Technically, if your model has cavities or doors, you should export your model twice. Once,
just the ground plane, i.e. where you will walk. Of course, for a temple or other building, this
includes its socket above soil, and any steps, but pillars should not be included. This plane is
required to compute eye position above ground. Note that it is not possible to walk in several floors
of a building, or in a multi-plane staircase. You may have to export several ground planes and
configure several scenery directories for those rare cases. For optimal performance, the ground
model should consist of as few triangles as you can tolerate.
The second export includes all visible model parts, and will be used for rendering. Of course,
this requires the ground plane again, but also all building elements, walls, roofs, etc.
If you have not done so by yourself, it is recommended to separate ground and buildings into
Sketchup layers (or similar concepts in whichever editor you are using) in order to easily switch the
model to the right state prior to exporting.
Filename recommendations:
<Temple>.skp Name of a Sketchup Model file. (The <> brackets signal use your
own name here!) The SKP file is not used by Scenery3d, but you
may want to leave it in the folder for later improvements.
<Temple>.obj Model in OBJ format.
<Temple>_ground.obj Ground layer, if different from Model file.
OBJ export may also create folders TX_<Temple> and TX_<Temple>_ground. You can delete the
TX_<Temple>_ground folder, <Temple>_ground.obj is just used to compute vertical height.
Put the OBJ, MTL and TX directories into a subdirectory of your user directory (see sec-
tion 5.1), e.g. <USERDATA>/Stellarium/scenery3d/<Temple>, and add a text file into it called
scenery3d.ini (This name is mandatory!) with content described as follows.
[model]
name=<Temple> Unique ID within all models in scenery3d directory. Recom-
mendation: use directory name.
landscape=<landscapename> Name of an available Stellarium landscape.
This is required if the landscape file includes geographical coordinates and your model does not:
First, the location coordinates of the landscape.ini file are used, then location coordinates given
here. The landscape also provides the background image of your scenery. If you want a zero-height
(mathematical) horizon, use the provided landscape called Zero Horizon.
scenery=<Temple>.obj The complete model, including visible ground.

ground=<Temple>_ground.obj Optional: separate ground plane. (NULL for zero altitude.)
description=<Description> A basic scene description (including HTML tags)
The scenery3d.ini may contain a simple scene description, but it is recommended to use the
localizable description format: in the scenes directory (which contains scenery3d.ini) create
files in the format description.<lang>.utf8 which can contain arbitrary UTF-8encoded
HTML content. <lang> stands for the ISO 639 language code.
author=<Your Name yourname@yourplace.com>

copyright=<Copyright Info>
obj_order=XYZ Use this if you have used an exporter which swaps Y/Z coor-
dinates. Defaults to XYZ, other options: XZY, YZX, YXZ, ZXY,
ZYX
camNearZ=0.3 This defines the distance of the camera near plane, default 0.3.
Everything closer than this value to the camera can not be dis-
played. Must be larger than zero. It may seem tempting to set
this very small, but this will lead to accuracy issues. Recommen-
dation is not to go under 0.1
camFarZ=10000 Defines the maximal viewing distance, default 10000.
shadowDistance=<val> The maximal distance shadows are displayed. If left out, the
value from camFarZ is used here. If this is set to a smaller value,
this may increase the quality of the shadows that are still visible.
shadowSplitWeight=0..1 Decimal value for further shadow tweaking. If you require better
shadows up close, try setting this to higher values. The default is
calculated using a heuristic that incorporates scene size.
[general]
The general section defines some further import/rendering options.
transparency_threshold=0.5 Defines the alpha threshold for alpha-testing, as described

in section 13.4.2. Default 0.5
scenery_generate_normals=0 Boolean, if true normals are recalculated by the plugin,
instead of imported. Default false
ground_generate_normals=0 Boolean, same as above, for ground model. Default false.
[location]
Optional section to specify geographic longitude , latitude , and altitude. The secton is required
if coord/convergence_angle=from_grid, else location is inherited from landscape.
planet = Earth
latitude = +48d3130.4" Required if coord/convergence_angle=from_grid
longitude = +16d1225.5" ""
altitude =from_model|<int> altitude (for astronomical computations) can be computed
from the model: if from_model, it is computed as (zmin +
zmax )/2 + orig_H, i.e. from the model bounding box centre
height.
display_fog = 0
atmospheric_extinction_coefficient = 0.2
atmospheric_temperature = 10.0
atmospheric_pressure = -1
light_pollution = 1
[coord]
Entries in the [coord] section are again optional, default to zero when not specified, but are
required if you want to display meaningful eye coordinates in your survey (world) coordinate
system, like UTM or Gauss-Krger.
grid_name=<string> Name of grid coordinates, e.g. "UTM 33 U (WGS 84)",

"Gauss-Krger M34" or "Relative to <Center>"
This name is only displayed, there is no evaluation of its
contents.
orig_E=<double> | (Easting) East-West-distance to zone central meridian
orig_N=<double> | (Northing) North distance from Equator

orig_H=<double> | (Height) Altitude above Mean Sea Level of model origin
These entries describe the offset, in metres, of the model coordinates relative to coordinates in a
geographic grid, like Gauss-Krger or UTM. If you have your model vertices specified in grid
coordinates, do not specify orig_... data, but please definitely add start_... data, below.
Note that using grid coordinates without offset for the vertices is usually a bad idea for real-
world applications like surveyed sites in UTM coordinates. Coordinate values are often very large
numbers (ranging into millions of meters from equator and many thousands from the zone meridian).
If you want to assign millimetre values to model vertices, you will hit numerical problems with the
usual single-precision floating point arithmetic. Therefore we can specify this offset which is only
necessary for coordinate display.
Typically, digital elevation models and building structures built on those are survey-grid aligned,
so true geographical north for a place with geographical longitude and latitude will in general
not coincide with grid north, the difference is known as meridian convergence6 .
( , ) = arctan(tan( 0 ) sin ) (13.1)
This amount can be given in convergence_angle (degrees), so that your model will be rotated
clockwise by this amount around the vertical axis to be aligned with True North7 .
convergence_angle = from_grid | < double >
grid_meridian = < double >|+ < int >d < int > < float > "
grid_meridian is the central meridian 0 of grid zone, e.g. for UTM or Gauss-Krger, and is only
required to compute convergence angle if convergence_angle=from_grid.
zero_ground_height = < double >
height of terrain outside <Temple>_ground.OBJ, or if ground=NULL. Allows smooth approach

from outside. This value is relative to the model origin, or typically close to zero, i.e., use a Z
value in model coordinates, not world coordinates! (If you want the terrain height surrounding your
model to be orig_H, use 0, not the correct mean height above sea level!) Defaults to minimum of
height of ground level (or model, resp.) bounding box.
start_E=<double>
start_N=<double>
start_H=<double> only meaningful if ground==NULL, else H is derived from ground
start_Eye=<double> default: 1.65m
start_az_alt_fov=<az_deg>,<alt_deg>,<fov_deg>
initial view direction and field of view.
start_... defines the view position to be set after loading the scenery. Defaults to center of
model boundingbox.
It is advisable to use the grid coordinates of the location of the panoramic photo (landscape) as
start_... coordinates, or the correct coordinates and some carefully selected start_az_alt_fov
in case of certain view corridors (temple axes, . . . ).
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_Mercator_projection
7 Note
that Sketchups georeferencing dictionary provides a NorthAngle entry, which is 360
convergence_angle.
13.4.4 Concatenating OBJ files

Some automated workflows may involve tiled landscape areas, e.g. to overcome texture limitations
or triangle count limits in simpler tools like Sketchup. In this case you can create separate
meshes in the same coordinate system, but you need to concatenate them. One powerful program
to assemble your parts is again Blender.
In Blender, import the OBJ files File Import Wavefront .obj . If your OBJ coordinates have
Z as vertical axis (common for terrestrial models), use Z up, -Y Forward as import settings for
the coordinate axes. The model will appear south-up. Switch on textured view if required ( Alt +
Z ). If the scene looks almost black now, reconfigure the light to be sunlight. If you have created
a VRML of some structures in ArcScene, export that without shifting to center, and import the
WRL file in Blender with default orientation Y up, Z forward. Models from other sources
may still be different. In the end, all parts should fit neatly together. Blender is a very powerful
program, you can enhance your model as you wish.
In the end, select all relevant parts which you want to have visible in Stellarium (click on
the lines in the outline view containing the object names to light them up gray, then Rightclick-
Select) and press Ctrl + J to optionally join them, then export to a single OBJ File Export
Wavefront .obj . In the export options, apply Selection Only, and -Y Forward and Z Up8 .
Verify the new model loads correctly, e.g. in Meshlab9 !
13.4.5 Working with non-georeferenced OBJ files

There exists modeling software which produces nice models, but without concept of georeference.
One spectacular example is AutoDesk PhotoFly, a cloud application which delivers 3D models
from a bunch of photos uploaded via its program interface. This technological preview is in
version 2 and free of cost as of mid-2011.
The problem with these models is that you cannot assign surveyed coordinates to points in
the model, so either you can georeference the models in other applications, or you must find the
correct transformation matrix. Importing the OBJ in Sketchup may take a long time for detailed
photo-generated models, and the texturing may suffer, so you can cut the model down to the
minimum necessary e.g. in Meshlab, and import just a stub required to georeference the model in
Sketchup.
Now, how would you find the proper orientation? The easiest chance would be with a structure
visible in the photo layer of Google Earth. So, start a new model and immediately add location
from the Google Earth interface. Then you can import the OBJ with TIGs importer plugin. If
the imported model looks perfect, you may just place the model into the Sketchup landscape and
export a complete landscape just like above. If not, or if you had to cut/simplify the OBJ to be
able to import it, you can rotate/scale the OBJ (it must be grouped!). If you see a shadow in the
photos, you may want to set the date/time of the original photos in the scene and verify that the
shadows created by Sketchup illuminating the model match those in the models photo texture.
When you are satisfied with placement/orientation, you create a scenery3d.ini like above with
the command Plugins ASTROSIM/Stellarium scenery3d helpers Create scenery3d.ini .
Then, you select the OBJ group, open the Windows Ruby Console and readout data by calling
Plugins ASTROSIM/Stellarium scenery3d helpers Export transformation of selected group .
On the Ruby console, you will find a line of numbers (the 4 4 transformation matrix) which
you copy/paste (all in one line!) into the [model] section in scenery3d.ini.
obj2grid_trafo = < a11 > , < a12 > , < a13 > , < a14 > , < a21 > , < a22 > , < a23 > , < a24 > ,
<a31 > , < a32 > , < a33 > , < a34 > , < a41 > , < a42 > , < a43 > , < a44 >
8 http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/3352/merging-multiple-obj-files
9 http://www.meshlab.org
You edit the scenery3d.ini to use your full (unmodified) PhotoFly model and, if you dont
have a panorama, take Zero Horizon landscape as (no-)background. It depends on the model if
you want to be able to step on it, or to declare ground=NULL for a constant-height ground. Run
Stellarum once and adjust the start_N, start_E and zero_ground_height.
13.4.6 Rotating OBJs with recognized survey points

If you have survey points measured in a survey grid plus a photomodel with those points visible,
you can use Meshlab to find the model vertex coordinates in the photo model, and some other
program like CoordTrans in the JavaGraticule3D suite to find either the matrix values to enter
in scenery3d.ini or even rotate the OBJ points. However, this involves more math than can be
described here; if you came that far, you likely know the required steps. Here it really helps if you
know how to operate automatic text processors like AWK.
13.5 Predefined views

You can also configure and distribute some predefined views with your model in a viewpoints.ini
file. The viewpoints can be loaded and stored with the viewpoint dialog which you can call with the
button. See the provided Sterngarten scene for an example. These entries are not editable
by the user through the interface. The user can always save his own views, they will be saved into
the file userviews.ini in the users Stellarium user directory, and are editable.
[ StoredViews ]
size = < int > Defines how many entries are in this file .
Prefix each entry with its index !
1/ label = < string > The name of this entry
1/ description = < string > A description of this entry ( can include HTML )
1/ position = <x ,y ,z ,h > The x ,y , z grid coordinates
( like orig_ * or start_ * in scenery3d . ini )
+ the current eye height h
1/ view_fov = < az_deg , alt_deg , fov_deg > The view direction + FOV
( like s t a r t _ a z _ a l t _ f o v in scenery3d . ini )
; an example for a second entry ( note the 2 at the beginning of each line !)
2/ label = Signs
2/ description = Two signs that describe the Sterngarten
2/ position = 593155.2421 ,5333348.6304 ,325.7295809038 ,0.8805
2/ view_fov = 84.315399 , -8.187078 ,83.000000
Authors and Acknowledgements

Scenery3d was conceived by Georg Zotti for the ASTROSIM10 project. A first prototype was
implemented in 2010/2011 by Simon Parzer and Peter Neubauer as student work supervised
by Michael Wimmer (TU Wien). Models for accuracy tests (Sterngarten, Testscene), and later
improvements in integration, user interaction, .ini option handling, OBJ/MTL loader bugfixes
and georeference testing by Georg Zotti.
Andrei Borza in 2011/12 further improved rendering quality (shadow mapping, normal map-
ping) and speed [76, 79, 80].
In 2014/15, Florian Schaukowitsch adapted the code to work with Qt 5 and the Stellarium 0.13
codebase, replaced the renderer with a more efficient, fully shader-based system, implemented
various performance, quality and usability enhancements, and did some code cleanup. Both Andrei
and Florian were again supervised by Michael Wimmer [77, 78].
10 http://astrosim.univie.ac.at
13.5 Predefined views 151
This work has been originally created during the ASTROSIM project supported 2008-2012 by
the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under grant number P 21208-G19.
14. Stellarium at the Telescope
Stellarium is great for indoor use on the desktop, but it is also very useful outdoors under the real
sky, and several plugins enhance its usability particularly for observers.
Two plugins are bundled with Stellarium which are designed to be used at the telescope:
Oculars (section 14.1), which provides field of view hints for telescopes, oculars and sensors, and
TelescopeControl (section 14.2), which allows you to send GOTO commands to many motorized
telescope mounts. Other GOTO telescopes are supported by an external program which you must
install separately: StellariumScope (section 14.3). This can also help DIY hardware tinkerers
who like to build their own control systems (section 14.4).
In addition, the Observability plugin (section 14.5) can be used for planning the best times to
observe your favourite objects.
14.1 Oculars Plugin

T IMOTHY R EAVES , WITH ADDITIONS BY A LEXANDER W OLF
This plugin serves several purposes:

to see what the sky looks like through a particular combination of eyepiece, lense (Barlow or
Shapley types) and telescope. This plugin helps to get an idea of what you should see when
looking through a physical telescope, and understand why one eyepiece may be better suited
to observe a particular target than another. This can also be very useful for deciding what
telescope is best suited to a style of viewing. And with the support for binoculars, you also
have the ability to understand just about any type of optics-enhanced visual observing.
to show what a particular combination of camera and lens or telescope would be able to
photograph of the sky.
lastly, with the help of the Telrad sight, understand where object in the sky are in relation to
each other. This can be helpful for star-hopping with a non-GOTO telescope.
None of these activities can take the place of hands-on experience, but they are a good way to
supplement your visual astronomy interests.
154 Chapter 14. Stellarium at the Telescope
Figure 14.1: The on-screen menu (top right) and popup menu (lower right) of the Oculars
plugin.
14.1.1 Using the Ocular plugin

The plugin is controlled through a popup menu or through an on-screen control panel (see top
right corner on screens in fig. 14.17). By default, the hot key to display the popup is Alt + O
( Option + O for Mac users). This can be changed in the Editing Keyboard Shortcuts window
(see section 4.7.1). The menu will popup where your cursor is located.
The options available in the popup menu depend on what you are currently doing. In the default
menu, you can choose to configure the plugin, activate a CCD, or activate the Telrad finder (see
fig. 14.1). The menu is navigated by either the arrow keys on your keyboard or by your mouse. The
and arrow keys move the selection up or down the menu, and the and arrow keys
display or hide sub-menus. activates an option.
Telrad Finder
The Telrad view can be used without defining any of the items below. As a reflex sight is non-
magnifying, this feature can only be enabled when no eyepiece is selected. You still may want to
zoom in a bit to better see which stars are in the circles (fig. 14.2). The three circles that appear in
the center of the screen are 0.5 , 2.0 , and 4.0 in diameter. They stay centered in the screen, so
move the telescope (click-drag the background) to center the circles on the object of interest.
While the Telrad finder is active, you can not activate a CCD with the popup menu, but only
with the on-screen menu.
Figure 14.2: The left image is the default 60 , and the right one is 40 .
CCD Sensors
Figure 14.3: View of M37 through a CCD sensor of the Oculars plugin.
Figure 14.4: View of M37 through a CCD sensor of the Oculars plugin (without on-screen
control panel).
This is a great way to get an idea of what a particular camera will be able to capture when attached
to a particular telescope or lens. For using camera lenses, you must describe them as telescope with
the appropriate values for the lens. When active, this feature will display a red bounding box of the
area that will be captured, as well as zoom in to give a better view of the surroundings. You can
manually zoom in or out from there.
The default CCD view will appear similar to fig. 14.3 or, when you are working without the
on-screen control panel, the information area in the upper right hand corner also shows angular size
captured by the CCD (see fig. 14.4).
When a CCD view is displayed, the popup menu changes as seen in fig. 14.5. You can select
what telescope to use, as well as progress to the previous or next CCD, or go to a specific CCD.
You can also rotate the CCD to better frame your subject, or to see if the CCD can be rotated in
such a way as to catch your area of interest (see fig. 14.6). Once rotated, the CCD frame on screen
displays the new orientation (see fig. 14.7).
Figure 14.5: The CCD sensor popup menu of the Oculars plugin.
Figure 14.6: Setting rotation of CCD sensor in the popup menu.
Figure 14.7: A rotated CCD sensor frame of the Oculars plugin.

Oculars
Define some eyepieces and telescope (see section 14.1.2).
Select an object to view (i.e. a star, planet, etc.)
Click the toolbar button for toggling the Ocular view, or press Ctrl + O ( + O for
Mac users).
Swap between eye pieces and telescopes to see how the view changes.
This is really the area of interest to most telescopic observers. It is a great way to compare
different eyepiece/telescope combinations, to see how they change the view of the sky. And it is
easy to do so with binoculars too. To show this, let us use the M37 cluster as target. Through a pair
of Celestron 15x70 binoculars, it would look like in fig. 14.8.
Figure 14.8: The M37 cluster through a Celestron 15x70 binocular.
A very pretty sight. Now, what would it look like through a Celestron 80 mm EDF finder scope,
with an Explore Scientific 14 mm 100 eyepiece? See fig. 14.9!
Figure 14.9: The M37 cluster through a Celestron 80 mm EDF with Explore Scientific
14 mm eyepiece.
Not bad at all. But we like to see more! So we move the eyepiece to a C1400. See fig. 14.10 for the
resulting view.
Figure 14.10: The M37 cluster through a Celestron C1400 with Tele Vue Nagler 31 mm
eyepiece.
Very nice indeed! So for this target, the C1400 is going to be the best bet. However, if my
target was the Pleiades, the C1400 with that eyepiece would not be good the 80EDF would do
much better!
When an eyepiece is active, the popup menu again changes. With a non-binocular eyepiece
selected, you also have the ability to select a particular eyepiece or telescope. When a binocular is
active, you can not select a telescope, as it is not relevant. Changing the eyepiece to a non-binocular
will again allow the telescope to be selected. Also notice that when your mouse cursor is very near
the right hand border of the screen, the popup menus sub-menus display to the left, not the right.
14.1.2 Configuration
All configuration is done through the user interface in the application. To open the configuration
dialog hit the Alt + O key, or click the configure button on the plugin setup dialog (available
in the Plugins tab of Stellariums Configuration window (opened by pressing F2 or the
button in the left toolbar)), or the rightmost button of the on-screen panel (if displayed in the top
right corner of screen). There are six tabs in the configuration dialog: General, Eyepieces, Lenses,
Sensors, Telescopes, and About. The first five are the ones we are interested in here.
General
The first option allows you to define the general behaviour of the plugin. The options are grouped
by areas of usage: Interface, Ocular view and Sensor view (see figure 14.11).
Interface: this group of options allows to change behaviour of the plugin in general.
On-screen control panel: show an additional GUI panel in the top-right corner of the
screen to allow switching features of the plugin (in addition to the popup window).
Restore FOV to initial values and
Restore direction to initial values options allow restoration field of view and direction of
view, resp., to the initial values at program start at the end of the plugin usage (e.g.,
when disabling the view through CCD frame).
Ocular view is a group of options that allows to change the plugins behaviour in visual observation
mode.
Enable only if an object is selected uncheck this option if you want to use the visual
observation mode when no object is selected.
Figure 14.11: General tab of the Oculars plugin configuration dialog.
Limit stellar magnitude allows to hide faint stars, which are invisible for the selected
combination of eyepiece, lens and telescope.
Hide grids and lines when enabled allows to hide grids and lines when you observe the
sky through the eyepiece and re-enables their visibility when leaving visual observation
mode.
Scale image circle option allows you to define whether or not to scale the images based on
apparent FOV. When deactivated, the image circle will fill your screen. In general,
we recommend you not select this, unless you have a need to, because it can really
reduce the image size on the screen. It can however be very useful in comparing
two eyepieces. If you set this option, the on-screen image will be scaled based on
the eyepieces and telescopes you define. See section 14.1.3 for information on what
scaling means, and why you might want to use it.
Use semi-transparent mask: uncheck this option if you want to see visible field of view
as in real telescope.
Sensor view is group of options allows to change behaviour of the plugin for photographic
observations mode.
Use degrees and minutes for FOV of CCD for many cases the use of decimal degrees
for the value of the field of view is not comfortable, and this option allows to use the
more human readable format for FOV.
Enable automatic switch of mount type allows to store the CCD frame orientation when
the type of telescope mount is changed.
Eyepieces
This is the tab used to enter your own eyepieces (see figures 14.12 and 14.13). By default, a few
sample ones have been added; feel free to delete those once youve entered your own.
The fields on this tab are:
Name a free-text description of the eye piece. You could modify this to match your personal
descriptions of eyepieces.
aFOV apparent field of view in degrees.
Focal Length eyepiece focal length in mm.
Field Stop the field stop of the eyepiece in mm. This is used to calculate the true field of view of
Figure 14.12: Eyepieces tab of Oculars plugin configuration dialog.
Figure 14.13: Eyepieces tab of Oculars plugin configuration dialog (settings for binocular).
an eyepiece. If you do not know what it is just leave it the default zero. Not all manufacturers
provide this value; TeleVue is one that does.
Binoculars selecting this checkbox tells the system that this eyepiece is binoculars or finders;
this means that this eyepiece can be used without defining a telescope.
Has permanent cross-hairs selecting this checkbox tells the system that this eyepiece or binoc-
ular (finder) has also simple cross-hairs1 .
When Binoculars are described, the relevant fields change to
tFOV true field of view in degrees.
Magnification factor the magnification of the binocular.
Diameter the diameter of the binocular objective in mm.
Lenses
This is the tab used to enter your own lenses (see figure 14.14). By default, a few sample ones have
been added; feel free to delete them once youve entered your own.
Figure 14.14: Lenses tab of Oculars plugin configuration dialog.

Name a free-text description of the lense. You could modify this to match your personal
descriptions of lenses.
Multiplier a factor larger than 1 expands the focal length, and lenses with this type are named
Barlow lense; a factor less than 1 reduces the focal length, and lenses with this type are
named Shapley lense or focus reducer.
Sensors
This tab allows you to define sensors for any camera you may have (see figure 14.15). When defined
and selected, this will draw a red bounding rectangle in the center of the eye piece view, showing
what the CCD will capture. Because of the way floating point numbers are stored, sometimes you
may see one of your defined values change (for example from 2.2 to 2.19999) but this should not
affect what you see.
Name A free-text description of the sensor.
Resolution x the width of the sensor in pixels.
Resolution y the height of the sensor in pixels.
Chip width the width of the sensor in mm.
Chip height the height of the sensor in mm.
Pixel width the width of an individual pixel, in m.
Pixel height the height of an individual pixel, in m.
Rotation Angle the rotation angle of the sensor, in degrees.
1 The Oculars plugin supports eyepieces with reticle patterns both special eyepieces are available in the
default list of eyepieces, and the option Has permanent cross-hairs is not related to those eyepieces.
Figure 14.15: Sensors tab of Oculars plugin configuration dialog.
Binning x the binning factor for the width of the sensor.

Binning y the binning factor for the height of the sensor.
Off-Axis guider selecting this checkbox tells the system that this sensor has support an off-axis
guider also.
Prism/CCD distance distance between center of prism/CCD of Off-Axis Guider and optical
axis of telescope in mm.
Prism/CCD width the width of the prism/CCD of Off-Axis Guider in mm.
Prism/CCD height the height of the prism/CCD of Off-Axis Guider in mm.
Position Angle the position angle of the prism/CCD of Off-Axis Guider, in degrees.
The resolution is easy to find: these are simply the image dimensions of a (non-binned) frame. The
chip size and pixel size may be more difficult, but the manual, or searching the Internet, should turn
up these values. For a full-frame DSLR, this should be close to 36x24 mm, while APS-C should
be around 22.5x15 mm. Pixel size is simply image size divided by resolution. Some cameras may
have unsquare pixels.
Telescopes
This is the tab used to enter your own telescopes (see fig. 14.16). The fields on this tab are:
Name A free-text description of the telescope.

Focal Length telescope focal length in mm.
Diameter telescope diameter (aperture) in mm.
Horizontal flip if the view through this telescope should flip horizontally.
Vertical flip if the view through this telescope should flip vertically.
Equatorial Mount select it if this telescope has an equatorial mount.
Figure 14.16: Telescopes tab of Oculars plugin configuration dialog.
14.1.3 Scaling the eyepiece view

I (TR) would like to thank Al Nagler over at TeleVue2 for helping to set me straight on the topic of
eyepieces. They are a lot more complicated than you might think!
By default, the view drawn on your computer screen when the plugin is active fills the screen.
That is, there is a circle drawn to represent the view through the eyepiece, and this circle will fill
the screen. For general use, this is what most people would want. There will be times that its not.
If you are going to be observing any deep space object, it can be very important to choose the
best eyepiece for that object. You will typically want an eyepiece that will magnify the object as
much as possible, while showing all of the object in the eyepiece view. Getting this can be tricky,
especially if you do not like changing eyepieces at the telescope. Or maybe you want to understand
why one type of telescope may be better than another type for observing what you are interested in.
This is where you will want to scale the image on screen based on your eyepiece.
Different eyepieces generally have a different apparent field of view (aFOV). An easy way
to think about this is: the larger the aFOV, the bigger the picture you see in the eyepiece. Older
types of eyepiece (some types still built and in wide use today have been constructed in the 19th
century) generally have their aFOV in the 50 range. Today, there are massive eyepieces available
with 82 , and recently even 100 aFOV! These eyepieces are huge, as they require a lot of very
special glass to achieve their incredible fields of view. An eyepiece of the same focal length with a
100 aFOV will produce an image through the eyepiece that is twice as wide as one produced by a
50 eyepiece.
Different telescopes, with an eyepiece of a given aFOV, will also produce a different true field
of view. This is the actual size of the piece of sky that you see through the eyepiece. Getting these
two just right can be very important. Its easy to assume that you want the biggest telescope
you can get, with the eyepiece that gives you the highest magnification. This is never true in
reality. Depending on where you live, and especially what you like to look at, a 100-120 mm quality
refractor with a wide aFOV eyepiece may very well be better than a large SCT with the same
eyepiece. This is something I learned the hard way.
So how does scaling the eyepiece view help? The plugin will find the eyepiece you have with
the largest aFOV. This aFOV becomes 100% of the computer screen diameter. Then, any other
eyepiece will have its aFOV compared, and the view on screen will be scaled down accordingly.
These 100 aFOV eyepieces makes the math here easy. If you have one, then when that eyepiece
is used, the circle that represents the view through the eyepiece will take up 100% of the screen
diameter. Next, if you select an eyepiece with an 82 aFOV, its view will be scaled to 82% of the
screen, and a 62 aFOV eyepiece will be scaled to 62% of the screen.
2 http://televue.com/
Example in action
This is easier to understand in action, so let us look at an example that uses three eyepieces all with
the same 17 mm focal length, so they all produce the same level of magnification (well, one has
an 17.3 mm focal length, but its magnification is nearly identical) and see how the view changes.
These example all use a Celestron C8 8" SCT telescope, and the target is the Great Orion Nebula.
We can see from the images in fig. 14.17 that the target is all three images is the same size.
The 100 image fills the screen, the 82 is smaller, and the 62 is smallest yet, filling 62% of the
computer screen. Note that in each image, the field of view that you see changes. The larger the
aFOV, the more you can see of the sky. So in this example, if you had an 8" telescope, you would
want to use the 17 mm 100 Ethos eyepiece to see as much of the nebula as possible.
Figure 14.17: Comparing apparent fields of view of (top) a 17 mm Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece
with an aFOV of 100 . Magnification is 119.5. (center) a 17 mm Tele Vue Nagler
eyepiece with an aFOV of 82 . Magnification is 119.5. (bottom) a 17.3 mm Tele Vue
Delos eyepiece with an aFOV of 62 . Magnification is 117.5.
14.2 TelescopeControl Plugin

This plugin provides a simple control mechanism for motorised telescope mounts. The user selects
an object (i.e. by clicking on something a planet, a star etc.) and presses the telescope go-to key,
and the telescope will be guided to the object.
Multiple telescopes may be controlled simultaneously.
WARNING
Stellarium cannot prevent your telescope from being pointed at the Sun. It is up to you to ensure
proper filtering and safety measures are applied!
Never point your telescope at the Sun without a proper solar filter installed. The powerful light
amplified by the telescope WILL cause irreversible damage to your eyes and/or your equipment.
Even if you dont do it deliberately, a slew during daylight hours may cause your telescope to
point at the sun on its way to the given destination, so it is strongly recommended to avoid using
the telescope control feature before sunset without appropriate protection.
14.2.1 Abilities and limitations

This plug-in allows Stellarium to send only slew (go to) commands to the device and to receive
its current position. It cannot issue any other commands, so users should be aware of the possibility
for mount collisions and similar situations. (To abort a slew, you can start another one to a safe
position.)
Currently this plug-in does not allow satellite tracking, and is not very suitable for lunar or
planetary observations. Many mounts can be set to a lunar tracking speed, you may prefer this.
14.2.2 Using this plug-in

Here are two general ways to control a device with this plug-in, depending on the situation:
DIRECT CONNECTION A device supported by the plug-in is connected with a cable to the
computer running Stellarium
INDIRECT CONNECTION
local A device is connected to the same computer but it is driven by a stand-alone telescope
server program or a third-party application that can talk to Stellarium;
remote A device is connected to a remote computer and the software that drives it can
talk to Stellarium over the network; this software can be either one of Stellariums
stand-alone telescope servers, or a third party application.
Most older telescopes use cables that connect to a serial port (RS-232), the newer ones use USB
(Universal Serial Bus). On Linux and Max OS X, both cases are handled identically by the plug-in.
On Windows, a USB connection may require a virtual serial port software, if it is not supplied
with the cable or the telescope. Such a software creates a virtual (fake) COM port that corresponds
to the real USB port so it can be used by the plug-in. On all three platforms, if the computer
has no classic serial ports and the telescope can connect only to a serial port, a serial-to-USB
(RS-232-to-USB) adapter may be necessary.
Telescope set-up (setting geographical coordinates, performing alignment, etc.) should be done
before connecting the telescope to Stellarium.
14.2.3 Main window (Telescopes)

The plug-ins main window can be opened:
By pressing the configure button for the plug-in in the Plugins tab of Stellariums Configu-
ration window (opened by pressing F2 or the button in the left toolbar).

By pressing the Configure telescopes... button in the Slew to window (opened by pressing
Ctrl + 0 or the respective button on the bottom toolbar).
The Telescopes tab displays a list of the telescope connections that have been set up:
The number (#) column shows the number used to control this telescope. For example, for
telescope #2, the shortcut is Ctrl + 2 .
The Status column indicates if this connection is currently active or not. Unfortunately, there
are some cases in which Connected is displayed when no working connection exists.
The Type field indicates what kind of connection is this:
virtual means a virtual telescope
local, Stellarium means a DIRECT connection to the telescope (see above)
local, external means an INDIRECT connection to a program running on the same com-
puter
remote, unknown means an INDIRECT connection over a network to a remote machine.
To set up a new telescope connection, press the Add button. To modify the configuration of an
existing connection, select it in the list and press the Configure button. In both cases, a telescope
connection configuration window will open.
14.2.4 Telescope configuration window

Connection type
The topmost field represents the choice between the types of connections (see section 14.2.2):
Telescope controlled by:
Stellarium, directly through a serial port is the DIRECT case
External software or a remote computer is the INDIRECT case
Nothing, just simulate one (a moving reticle) is a virtual telescope (no connection)
Telescope properties
Name is the label that will be displayed on the screen next to the telescope reticle.
Connection delay If the movement of the telescope reticle on the screen is uneven, you can try
increasing or decreasing this value.
Coordinate system Some Celestron telescopes have had their firmware updated and now interpret
the coordinates they receive as coordinates that use the equinox of the date (EOD, also
known as JNow), making necessary this setting.
Start/connect at startup Check this option if you want Stellarium to attempt to connect to the
telescope immediately after it starts. Otherwise, to start the telescope, you need to open the
main window, select that telescope and press the Start/Connect button.
Device settings
This section is active only for DIRECT connections (see above).
Serial port sets the serial port used by the telescope. There is a pop-up box that suggests some
default values:
On Windows, serial ports COM1 to COM10
On Linux, serial ports /dev/ttyS0 to /dev/ttyS3 and USB ports /dev/ttyUSB0 to
/dev/ttyUSB3. Make sure you have read/write access to the tty device. Depending
on your flavour of Linux, this may e.g. require some group membership.
On Mac OS X, the list is empty as it names its ports in a peculiar way. If you are using
an USB cable, the default serial port of your telescope most probably is not in the list
of suggestions. To list all valid serial port names in Mac OS X, open a terminal and
type:
ls / dev /*
This will list all devices, the full name of your serial port should be somewhere in the
list (for example, /dev/cu.usbserial-FTDFZVMK).
Device model : see 14.2.5 Supported devices.
Connection settings
Both fields here refer to INDIRECT connections, which implies communication over a network
(TCP/IP).
Host can be either a host name or an IPv4 address such as 127.0.0.1. The default value of
localhost means this computer.
Modifying the default host name value makes sense only if you are attempting a remote
connection over a network. In this case, it should be the name or IP address of the computer
that runs a program that runs the telescope.
Port refers to the TCP port used for communication. The default value depends on the telescope
number and ranges between 10001 and 10009.
Both values are ignored for DIRECT connections.
User Interface Settings: Field of view indicators

A series of circles representing different fields of view can be added around the telescope marker.
This is a relic from the times before the Oculars plug-in (see 14.1) existed.
Activate the Use field of view indicators option, then enter a list of values separated with
commas in the field below. The values are interpreted as degrees of arc.
These marks can be used in combination with a virtual telescope to display a moving reticle
with the Telrad circles.
Slew telescope to window

The Slew telescope to window can be opened by pressing Ctrl + 0 or the respective button in
the bottom toolbar.
It contains two fields for entering celestial coordinates, selectors for the preferred format
(Hours-Minutes-Seconds, Degrees-Minutes-Seconds, or Decimal degrees), a drop-down list and
two buttons.
The drop-down list contains the names of the currently connected devices. If no devices are
connected, it will remain empty, and the Slew button will be disabled.
Pressing the Slew button slews the selected device to the selected set of coordinates. See the
section about keyboard commands below for other ways of controlling the device.
Pressing the Configure telescopes. . . button opens the main window of the plug-in.
TIP: Inside the Slew window, underlined letters indicate that pressing Alt + underlined letter
can be used instead of clicking. For example, pressing Alt + S is equivalent to clicking the Slew
button, pressing Alt + E switches to decimal degree format, etc.
Sending commands
Once a telescope is successfully started/connected, Stellarium displays a telescope reticle labelled
with the telescopes name on its current position in the sky. The reticle is an object like every other
in Stellarium - it can be selected with the mouse, it can be tracked and it appears as an object in the
Search window.
To point a device to an object: Select an object (e.g. a star) and press the number of the device
while holding down the Ctrl key. (For example, Ctrl + 1 for telescope #1.) This will move the
telescope to the selected object.
To point a device to the center of the view: Press the number of the device while holding down
the Alt key. (For example, Alt + 1 for telescope #1.) This will slew the device to the point in
the center of the current view. (If you move the view after issuing the command, the target wont
change unless you issue another command.)
To point a device to a given set of coordinates: Use the Slew to window (press Ctrl + 0 ).
14.2.5 Supported devices

All devices listed in the Device model list are convenience definitions using one of the two built-in
interfaces: the Meade LX200 (the Meade Autostar controller) interface and the Celestron NexStar
interface.
The device list contains the following:
Celestron NexStar (compatible) Any device using the NexStar interface.
Losmandy G-11 A computerized telescope mount made by Losmandy (Meade LX-200/Autostar
interface).
Meade Autostar compatible Any device using the LX-200/Autostar interface.
Meade ETX-70 (#494 Autostar, #506 CCS) The Meade ETX-70 telescope with the #494 Au-
tostar controller and the #506 Connector Cable Set. According to the tester, it is a bit slow,
so its default setting of Connection delay is 1.5 seconds instead of 0.5 seconds.
Meade LX200 (compatible) Any device using the LX-200/Autostar interface.
Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ mount The Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ GoTo mount is used in a num-
ber of telescopes.
Sky-Watcher SynScan (version 3 or later) SynScan is also the name of the hand controller used
in other Sky-Watcher GoTo mounts, and it seems that any mount that uses a SynScan
controller version 3.0 or greater is supported by the plug-in, as it uses the NexStar protocol.
Wildcard Innovations Argo Navis (Meade mode) Argo Navis is a Digital Telescope Computer
by Wildcard Innovations. It is an advanced digital setting circle that turns an ordinary
telescope (for example, a dobsonian) into a Push To telescope (a telescope that uses a
computer to find targets and human power to move the telescope itself). Just dont forget to
set it to Meade compatibility mode and set the baud rate to 9600B1.
Virtual telescope
If you want to test this plug-in without an actual device connected to the computer, choose Nothing,
just simulate one (a moving reticle) in the Telescope controlled by: field. It will show a telescope
reticle that will react in the same way as the reticle of a real telescope controlled by the plug-in.
See the section above about field of view indicators for a possible practical application (emulating
Telrad circles).
14.3 StellariumScope
StellariumScope is a free add-on that enables you to control your telescope with Stellarium.
Features
Provides an interface between Stellarium and ASCOM telescope drivers.
Provides the ability to both Sync and Slew the telescope. Its also possible to issue a
stop/cancel command from Stellarium.
You can easily host Stellarium on one computer linked to another control computer that
hosts the telescope driver.
The installation program will automatically install the documentation, but the link to the
documentation is provided by developer3 so you can read it before installation.
There are earlier releases still available on the downloads page on Welsh Dragon Computing
site.
The original StellariumScope program was designed and implemented by Scott of ByteArts
and is still available for download4 . If you have difficulties with the releases available on the Welsh
Dragon Computing site5 , you may want to consider using the original version.
Figure 14.18 shows the interface and some of the options. Use this application (like all software
that controls your mount) with supervision of your mounts movements.
14.4 Other telescope servers and Stellarium

Other developers have also been busy creating hard- and software often involving Arduino or
Raspberry Pi boards which can control GOTO or PUSHTO (manually driven but position-aware,
usually Dobsonian) telescopes and are ultimately controlled from Stellarium. Those are not related
nor authored by the Stellarium team, so while we welcome such development (esp. open-sourced)
in general, we cannot provide documentation nor any support.
A few examples:
iTelescope http://simonbox.info/index.php/astronomy/93-raspberry-pi-itelescope
node-telescope-server https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-telescope-server
One anonymous user sent a troubleshooting solution when connecting Stellarium to the Cele-
stron NexRemote software:
This involves connecting Stellarium to the NexRemote software controlling a

Celestron NexStar telescope.
One tricky Window XP issue I fixed was that my older laptop would transiently lose
connection with Stellarium although the status would still be Connected and all
looked normal.
3 (or whatever) slews would work. Next nothing. Although all seemed well.
I boosted the NexRemote.exe process in Windows XP to High under Set Priority under
the Windows Task Manager via Ctrl + Alt + Del .
All slews now proceed normally. Problem went away.6
3 StellariumScope Users Guide http://welshdragoncomputing.ca/x/st/misc/

stellariumscope_user_guide.2015.10.24.pdf
4 http://www.bytearts.com/stellarium/
5 http://welshdragoncomputing.ca/x/index.php/home/stellariumscope/
about-stellariumscope
6 https://sourceforge.net/p/stellarium/discussion/278769/thread/16e4c054/
?limit=25#8ffa
14.4 Other telescope servers and Stellarium 171
Figure 14.18: StellariumScope interface

14.5 Observability Plugin

This Plugin analyzes the observability of the selected object (or the screen center, if no object is
selected). The plugin can show rise, transit, and set times, as well as the best epoch of the year (i.e.,
largest angular separation from the Sun), the date range when the source is above the horizon at
dark night, and the dates of Acronychal and Cosmical rise/set. Ephemerides of the Solar-System
objects and parallax effects are taken into account.
Explanation of some parameters

Sun altitude at twilight Any celestial object will be considered visible when the Sun is below this
altitude. The altitude at astronomical twilight ranges usually between -12 and -18 degrees.
This parameter is only used for the estimate of the range of observable epochs (see below).
Horizon altitude Minimum observable altitude (due to mountains, buildings, or just a limited
telescope mount).
Today ephemeris Self-explanatory. The program will show the rise, set, and culmination (transit)
times. The exact times for these ephemeris are given in two ways: as time spans (referred to
the current time) and as clock hours (in local time).
Acronychal/Cosmical/Heliacal rise/set The days of Cosmical rise/set of an object are estimated
as the days when the object rises (or sets) together with the rise/set of the Sun. The exact
dates of these ephemeris depend on the Observers location. On the contrary, the Acronycal
rise (or set) happens when the star rises/sets with the setting/rising of the Sun (i.e., opposite
to the Sun). On the one hand, it is obvious that the source is hardly observable (or not
observable at all) in the dates between Cosmical set and Cosmical rise. On the other hand,
the dates around the Acronychal set and rise are those when the altitude of the celestial
object uses to be high when the Sun is well below the horizon (hence the object can be
well observed). The date of Heliacal rise is the first day of the year when a star becomes
visible. It happens when the star is close to the eastern horizon roughly before the end of the
astronomical night (i.e., at the astronomical twilight). In the following nights, the star will
be visibile during longer periods of time, until it reaches its Heliacal set (i.e., the last night
of the year when the star is still visible). At the Heliacal set, the star sets roughly after the
beginning of the astronomical night.
Largest Sun separation Happens when the angular separation between the Sun and the celestial
object are maximum. In most cases, this is equivalent to say that the Equatorial longitudes of
the Sun and the object differ by 180 degrees, so the Sun is in opposition to the object. When
an object is at its maximum possible angular separation from the Sun (no matter if it is a
planet or a star), it culminates roughly at midnight, and on the darkest possible area of the
Sky at that declination. Hence, that is the best night to observe a particular object.
Nights with source above horizon The program computes the range of dates when the celestial
object is above the horizon at least during one moment of the night. By night, the program
considers the time span when the Sun altitude is below that of the twilight (which can be set
by the user; see above). When the objects are fixed on the sky (or are exterior planets), the
range of observable epochs for the current year can have two possible forms: either a range
from one date to another (e.g., 20 Jan to 15 Sep) or in two steps (from 1 Jan to a given date
and from another date to 31 Dec). In the first case, the first date (20 Jan in our example) shall
be close to the so-called Heliacal rise of a star and the second date (15 Sep in our example)
shall be close to the Heliacal set. In the second case (e.g., a range in the form 1 Jan to 20
May and 21 Sep to 31 Dec), the first date (20 May in our example) would be close to the
Heliacal set and the second one (21 Sep in our example) to the Heliacal rise. More exact
equations to estimate the Heliacal rise/set of stars and planets (which will not depend on the
mere input of a twilight Sun elevation by the user) will be implemented in future versions of
14.5 Observability Plugin 173
this plugin.
Full Moon When the Moon is selected, the program can compute the exact closest dates of the
Moons opposition to the Sun.
Author
This plugin has been contributed by Ivan Marti-Vidal (Onsala Space Observatory)7 with some
advice by Alexander Wolf and Georg Zotti.
7 mailto:i.martividal@gmail.com
15. Scripting
15.1 Introduction
The development of a powerful scripting system has been continuing for a number of years now
and can now be called operational. The use of a script was recognised as a perfect way of arranging
a display of a sequence of astronomical events from the earliest versions of Stellarium and a simple
system called Stratoscript was implemented. The scripting facility is Stellariums version of a
Presentation, a feature that may be used to run an astronomical or other presentation for instruction
or entertainment from within the Stellarium program. The original Stratoscript was quite limited in
what it could do so a new Stellarium Scripting System has been developed.
Since version 0.10.1, Stellarium has included a scripting feature based on the Qt Scripting
Engine1 . This makes it possible to write small programs within Stellarium to produce automatic
presentations, set up custom configurations, and to automate repetitive tasks.
As of version 0.14.0 a new scripting engine has reached a level where it has all required features
for usage, however new commands may be added from time to time. Since version 0.14.0 support
of scripts for the Stratoscript engine has been discontinued.
The programming language ECMAscript2 (also known as JavaScript) gives users access to all
basic ECMAScript language features such as flow control, variables, string manipulation and so on.
Interaction with Stellarium-specific features is done via a collection of objects which represent
components of Stellarium itself. The various modules of Stellarium, and also activated plugins, can
be called in scripts to calculate, move the scene, switch on and off display of objects, etc. You can
write text output into text files with the output() command. You can call all public slots which
are documented in the scripting API documentation3 .
1 http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtscript-index.html
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAScript
3 http://www.stellarium.org/doc/0.15.0/scripting.html
176 Chapter 15. Scripting
15.2 Script Console

It is possible to open, edit run and save scripts using the script console window. To toggle the script
console, press F12 . The script console also provides an output window in which script debugging
output is visible.
15.3 Includes
Stellarium provides a mechanism for splitting scripts into different files. Typical functions or lists
of variables can be stored in separate .inc files and used within other scripts through the include()
command:
include ( " common_objects . inc " );
15.4 Minimal Scripts

This script prints Hello Universe in the Script Console log window and into log.txt.
core . debug ( " Hello Universe " );
This script prints Hello Universe in the Script Console output window and output.txt.
core . output ( " Hello Universe " );
The file output.txt will be rewritten on each run of Stellarium. In case you need to save a copy
of the current output file to another file, call
core . saveOutputAs ( " myImportantData . txt " );
core . resetOutput ();
This script uses the LabelMgr module to display Hello Universe in red, fontsize 20, on the screen
for 3 seconds.
var label = LabelMgr . labelScreen ( " Hello Universe " , 200 , 200 ,
true , 20 , " # ff0000 " );
core . wait (3);
LabelMgr . deleteLabel ( label );
15.5 Example: Retrograde motion of Mars

A good way begin writing of scripts: set yourself a specific goal and try to achieve it with the help
of few simple steps. Any complex script can be split into simple parts or tasks, which may solve
any newbie problems in scripting.
Let me explain it with examples.
Imagine that you have set a goal to make a demonstration of a very beautiful, but longish
phenomenon the retrograde motion of the planet Mars (Fig. 15.1).
15.5.1 Script header...

Any complex script should contain a few lines in the first part of the file, which contains important
data for humans the name of the script and its description and some rules for Stellarium.
You can even assign default shortcuts in the script header, but make sure you assign a key not used
elsewhere! The description may cover several lines (until the end of the commented header) and
should therefore be the last entry of the header.
15.5 Example: Retrograde motion of Mars 177
Figure 15.1: Retrograde motion of Mars in 2005. (Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel APOD:
2006 April 22 Z is for Mars.)
//
// Name : Retrograde motion of Mars
// Author : John Doe
// License : Public Domain
// Version : 1.0
// Shortcut : Ctrl + M
// Description : A demo of retrograde motion of Mars .
//
15.5.2 A body of script...

At the first stage of writing of the script for a demo of retrograde motion of Mars we should set
some limits for our demo. For example we want to see motion of Mars every day during 250 days
since October 1st , 2009. Choosing a value of field of view and of the coordinates of the center of
the screen should be done at the this stage also.
Lets add few lines of code into the script after the header and run it:
core . setDate ( " 2009 -10 -01 T10 :00:00 " );
core . moveToRaDec ( " 08 h44m41s " , " +18 d09m13s " ,1);
StelMovementMgr . zoomTo (40 , 1);
for ( i =0; i < 250; i ++)
{
core . setDate ( " + 1 days " );
core . wait (0.2);
}
178 Chapter 15. Scripting
OK, Stellarium is doing something, but what exactly is it doing? The ground and atmosphere is
enabled and any motion of Mars is invisible. Lets add an another few lines into the script (hiding
the landscape and atmosphere) after setting date and time:
LandscapeMgr . setFlagLandscape ( false );
LandscapeMgr . setFlagAtmosphere ( false );
The whole sky is moving now lets lock it! Add this line after previous lines:
StelMovementMgr . setFlagLockEquPos ( true );
It looks better now, but what about cardinal points, elements of GUI and some glitch of
movement? Lets change the script:
core . setDate ( " 2009 -10 -01 T10 :00:00 " );
LandscapeMgr . setFlagCardinalsPoints ( false );
LandscapeMgr . setFlagLandscape ( false );
LandscapeMgr . setFlagAtmosphere ( false );
core . setGuiVisible ( false );
core . moveToRaDec ( " 08 h44m41s " , " +18 d09m13s " ,1);
StelMovementMgr . setFlagLockEquPos ( true );
StelMovementMgr . zoomTo (40 , 1);
core . wait (2);
for ( i =0; i < 250; i ++)
{
core . wait (0.2);
}
core . setGuiVisible ( true );
Its better, but lets draw the path of Mars! Add those line before loop:
core . selectObjectByName ( " Mars " , false );
SolarSystem . setFlagIsolatedTrails ( true );
SolarSystem . setFlagTrails ( true );
Hmm. . . lets add a few strings with info for users (insert those lines after the header):
var color = " # ff9900 " ;
var info = LabelMgr . labelScreen ( " A motion of Mars " , 20 , 20 ,
false , 24 , color );
var apx = LabelMgr . labelScreen ( " Setup best viewing angle , FOV
and date / time . " , 20 , 50 , false , 18 , color );
LabelMgr . setLabelShow ( info , true );
LabelMgr . setLabelShow ( apx , true );
core . wait (2);
LabelMgr . setLabelShow ( apx , false );
Lets add some improvements to display info for users change in the loop:
var label = LabelMgr . labelObject ( " Normal motion , West to
East " , " Mars " , true , 16 , color , " SE " );
for ( i =0; i < 250; i ++)
{
if (( i % 10) == 0)
15.6 More Examples 179
{
var strDate = " Day " + i ;
LabelMgr . setLabelShow ( apx , false );
var apx = LabelMgr . labelScreen ( strDate , 20 ,
50 , false , 16 , color );
LabelMgr . setLabelShow ( apx , true );
}
if ( i == 75)
{
label = LabelMgr . labelObject ( " Retrograde or
opposite motion begins " , " Mars " ,
true , 16 , color , " SE " );
core . wait (2);
label = LabelMgr . labelObject ( " Retrograde
motion " , " Mars " , true , 16 , color ,
" SE " );
}
if ( i == 160)
{
label = LabelMgr . labelObject ( " Normal motion
returns " , " Mars " , true , 16 , color ,
" SE " );
core . wait (2);
label = LabelMgr . labelObject ( " Normal motion " ,
" Mars " , true , 16 , color , " SE " );
}
core . wait (0.2);
}
15.6 More Examples

The best source of examples is the scripts sub-directory of the main Stellarium source tree. This
directory contains a sub-directory called tests which are not installed with Stellarium, but are
nonetheless useful sources of example code for various scripting features4 .
4 The directory can be browsed online at http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~stellarium/

stellarium/trunk/files/head:/scripts/. Script files end in .ssc and include files (which are
not runnable by themselves) in .inc. Download links are to the right.
IV
Practical Astronomy
16 Astronomical Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
17 Astronomical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
18 A Little Sky Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
19 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
16. Astronomical Concepts
BARRY G ERDES , WITH ADDITIONS BY G EORG Z OTTI
This section includes some general notes on astronomy in an effort to outline some concepts that
are helpful to understand features of Stellarium. Material here is only an overview, and the reader is
encouraged to get hold of a couple of good books on the subject. A good place to start is a compact
guide and ephemeris such as the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky1 . Also
recommended is a more complete textbook such as Universe. There are also some nice resources
on the net, like the Wikibooks Astronomy book2 .
16.1 The Celestial Sphere

The Celestial Sphere is a concept which helps us think about the positions of objects in the sky.
Looking up at the sky, you might imagine that it is a huge dome or top half of a sphere, and the
stars are points of light on that sphere. Visualising the sky in such a manner, it appears that the
sphere moves, taking all the stars with it it seems to rotate. Watching the movement of the stars
we can see that they seem to rotate around a static point about once a day. Stellarium is the perfect
tool to demonstrate this!
1. Open the location dialog ( F6 ). Set the location to be somewhere in mid-Northern latitudes.
(Just click on the map to select a location, or fine-tune with the settings.) The United
Kingdom is an ideal location for this demonstration.
2. Turn off atmospheric rendering A and ensure cardinal points are turned on ( Q ). This will
keep the sky dark so the Sun doesnt prevent us from seeing the motion of the stars when it
is above the horizon.
3. Pan round to point North, and make sure the field of view is about 90 .
4. Pan up so the N cardinal point on the horizon is at the bottom of the screen.
1 http://www.amazon.com/National-Audubon-Society-Field-Series/dp/0679408525
2 http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Astronomy
184 Chapter 16. Astronomical Concepts
5. Now increase the time rate. Press K , L , L , L , L this should set the time rate so
the stars can be seen to rotate around a point in the sky about once every ten seconds. If
you watch Stellariums clock youll see this is the time it takes for one day to pass at this
accelerated rate.
The point which the stars appear to move around is one of the Celestial Poles.
The apparent movement of the stars is due to the rotation of the Earth. Our location as the
observer on the surface of the Earth affects how we perceive the motion of the stars. To an observer
standing at Earths North Pole, the stars all seem to rotate around the zenith (the point directly
upward). As the observer moves South towards the equator, the location of the celestial pole moves
down towards the horizon. At the Earths equator, the North celestial pole appears to be on the
Northern horizon.
Similarly, observers in the Southern hemisphere see the Southern celestial pole at the zenith
when they are at the South pole, and it moves to the horizon as the observer travels towards the
equator.
1. Leave time moving on nice and fast, and open the configuration window. Go to the location
tab and click on the map right at the top i.e., set your location to the North pole. See how
the stars rotate parallel to the horizon, around a point right at the top of the screen. With the
field of view set to 90 and the horizon at the bottom of the screen, the top of the screen is
the zenith.
2. Now click on the map again, this time a little further South. You should see the positions of
the stars jump, and the centre of rotation has moved a little further down the screen.
3. Click on the map even further towards and equator. You should see the centre of rotation
having moved down again.
To help with the visualisation of the celestial sphere, turn on the equatorial grid by clicking the
button on the main tool-bar or pressing the E key. Now you can see grid lines drawn on the sky.
These lines are like lines of longitude and latitude on the Earth, but drawn for the celestial sphere.
The Celestial Equator is the line around the celestial sphere that is half way between the
celestial poles just as the Earths equator is the line half way between the Earths poles.
16.2 Coordinate Systems

16.2.1 Altitude/Azimuth Coordinates
The Altitude/Azimuth coordinate system (also called Horizontal Coordinate System) can be used
to describe a direction of view (the azimuth angle) and an angular height in the sky (the altitude
angle). The azimuth angle is measured clockwise round from due North3 . Hence North itself is 0 ,
East 90 , Southwest is 225 and so on. The altitude angle is measured up from the mathematical
horizon, which is just halfway between straight up and straight down, without regard to the
landscape. Looking directly up (at the zenith) would be 90 , half way between the zenith and the
horizon is 45 and so on. The point opposite the zenith is called the nadir.
The Altitude/Azimuth coordinate system is attractive in that it is intuitive most people are
familiar with azimuth angles from bearings in the context of navigation, and the altitude angle is
something most people can visualise pretty easily.
However, the altitude/azimuth coordinate system is not suitable for describing the general
position of stars and other objects in the sky the altitude and azimuth values for a celestial object
change with time and the location of the observer.
3 In some textbooks azimuth is counted from south. There is no global authority to decide upon this issue,
just be aware of this when you compare numbers with other sources.
Figure 16.1: Altitude/Azimuth (Horizontal) Coordinate System
Stellarium can draw grid lines for altitude/azimuth coordinates. Use the button on the
main tool-bar to activate this grid, or press the Z key.
In addition, the cardinal points can be highlighted using the button or Q key.
There are a few great circles with special names which Stellarium can draw (see section 4.4.3).
Meridian This is the vertical line which runs from the North point towards the zenith and further
to the South point.
(Mathematical) Horizon This is the line exactly 90 away from the zenith.
First Vertical This is the vertical line which runs from the East point towards the zenith and
further to the West point.
16.2.2 Right Ascension/Declination Coordinates

Like the Altitude/Azimuth system, the Right Ascension/Declination (RA/Dec) Coordinate System
(or Equatorial Coordinate System) uses two angles to describe positions in the sky. These angles
Figure 16.2: Equatorial Coordinates
are measured from standard points on the celestial sphere. Right ascension and declination are
to the celestial sphere what longitude and latitude are to terrestrial map makers.
The Northern celestial pole has a declination of = 90 , the celestial equator has a declination
of = 0 , and the Southern celestial pole has a declination of = 90 .
Right ascension is measured as an angle round from a point in the sky known as the First Point
of Aries, in the same way that longitude is measured around the Earth from Greenwich. Figure 16.2
illustrates RA/Dec coordinates. The angle is usually expressed as time with minute and seconds,
with 15 equalling one hour.
Unlike Altitude/Azimuth coordinates, RA/Dec coordinates of a star do not change if the
observer changes latitude, and do not change noticeably over the course of the day due to the
rotation of the Earth. RA/Dec coordinates are generally used nowadays in star catalogues such as
the Hipparcos catalogue.
However, the story is complicated a little by precession (section 16.8) and parallax (section 16.9).
Precession causes a slow drift of the coordinates almost parallel to the ecliptic, and therefore star
catalogues always have to specify their equinox of validity. Current catalogs and atlases use
coordinates for J2000.0.
Stellarium can draw grid lines for Equatorial coordinates. Use the button on the main
tool-bar to activate this grid, or press the E key to draw the equatorial grid for the simulation
time. The Markings dialog (4.4.3) allows you to set also the grid for J2000.0 standard coordinates.
In case you are observing from another celestial object, the equatorial coordinates use a system
similar to the one referring to the earth-based coordinates, but parallel to the planets rotational axis.
There are again a few great circles with special names which Stellarium can draw in addition,
both for simulation time and for J2000.0 (see section 4.4.3).
Celestial Equator the line directly above the earths (or more generally, the observers planets)
equator.
Colures These are lines similar to meridian and first vertical in the azimuthal system. The
Equinoctial Colure runs from the North Celestial Pole NCP through the First Point of Aries
, South Celstial Pole SCP and First Point of Libra while the Solstitial Colure runs from
the NCP through First Point of Cancer , SCP and First Point of Capricorn .
16.2.3 Ecliptical Coordinates

The earths orbit around the sun, i.e., the ecliptic, defines the equatorial line of this coordinate
system, which is traditionally used when computing the coordinates for planets.
The zero point of ecliptical longitude is the same as for equatorial coordinates, and the eclip-
tical latitude is counted positive towards the Northern Ecliptical Pole NEP in the constellation of
Draco.
Moon and sun (and to a much lesser extent, the other planets) pull on the equatorial bulge and
try to put Earths axis normal to its orbital plane. Earth acts like a spinning top and evades this pull
in a sideways motion, so that earths axis seems to describe a small circle over a period of almost
26.000 years (see section 16.8).
In addition, ecliptic obliquity against the equatorial coordinates, which mirrors the earths axial
tilt, slowly changes.
Therefore, also for ecliptical coordinates is is required to specify which date the coordinates
refer to. Stellarium can draw two grids for Ecliptical coordinates. Use the , key to draw the
ecliptic for the simulation time. The Markings dialog (4.4.3) allows you to show also a line for
epoch J2000.0 and grids for the ecliptical coordinates for current epoch and epoch J2000.0. You
can assign your own shortcut keys (section 4.7.1) if you frequently operate with these coordinates.
Since version 0.14.0 Stellarium can very accurately show the motions between the coordinate
systems [72, 73], and it is quite interesting to follow these motions for several millennia. To support
such demonstrations, Stellarium can also draw the precession circles between celestial and ecliptical
poles (activate them in the Markings dialog (4.4.3). If you observe long enough, you will see that
these circles vary in size, reflecting the changes in ecliptic obliquity.
Many of the minor bodies are best observed around the times of their opposition. Stellarium
can display a great circle in the ecliptical coordinates which runs through the ecliptic poles and
through the sun, thereby allowing to estimate opposition and conjunction. Activate display of this
Opposition/Conjunction Line in the Markings dialog (Labeled O./C. longitude; 4.4.3).
It is interesting to note that star catalogs before T YCHO B RAHEs (15461601), most notably
the one in P TOLEMYs Almagest, used Ecliptical coordinates. The reason is simple: It was known
since H IPPARCH that stellar coordinates slowly move along the ecliptic through precession, and the
correction to coordinates of a date of interest was a simple addition of a linear correction to the
ecliptical longitude in the catalog. Changes of ecliptic obliquity was discovered much later.
16.2.4 Galactic Coordinates

The Milky Way appears to run along a great circle over the sky, mirroring the fact that the sun
is a star in it. Coordinates for non-stellar objects which belong to the Milky Way like pulsars
or planetary nebulae are often mapped in Galactic Coordinates, where galactic longitude l and
galactic latitude b are usually given in decimal degrees. Here, the zero point of galactic longitudes
lies in the Galactic Center.
Stellarium can also draw a galactic grid and the galactic equator by activating the respective
options in the Markings dialog (see section 4.4.3). You can assign a keyboard shortcut if you
frequently use these coordinates (see 4.7.1).
16.3 Distance
As D OUGLAS A DAMS pointed out in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy[2],
Space [. . . ] is big. Really big. You just wont believe how vastly, hugely, mind-
bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think its a long way down the road to the
chemist, but thats just peanuts to space.[p.76]
Astronomers use a variety of units for distance that make sense in the context of the mind-boggling
vastness of space.
Astronomical Unit (AU) This is the mean Earth-Sun distance. Roughly 150 million kilometres
(1.49598 108 km). The AU is used mainly when discussing the solar system for example
the distance of various planets from the Sun.
Light year (LY) A light year is not, as some people believe, a measure of time. It is the distance
that light travels in a year. The speed of light being approximately 300,000 kilometres per
second means a light year is a very large distance indeed, working out at about 9.5 trillion
kilometres (9.46073 1012 km). Light years are most frequently used when describing the
distance of stars and galaxies or the sizes of large-scale objects like galaxies, nebulae etc.
Parsec (pc) A parsec is defined as the distance of an object that has an annual parallax of 1 second
of arc. This equates to 3.26156 light years (3.08568 1013 km). Parsecs (and derivatives:
kiloparsec kpc, megaparsec Mpc) are most frequently used when describing the distance of
stars or the sizes of large-scale objects like galaxies, nebulae etc.
16.4 Time
The length of a day is defined as the amount of time that it takes for the Sun to travel from the
highest point in the sky at mid-day to the next high-point on the next day. In astronomy this is
called a solar day. The apparent motion of the Sun is caused by the rotation of the Earth. However,
in this time, the Earth not only spins, it also moves slightly round its orbit. Thus in one solar day
the Earth does not spin exactly 360 on its axis. Another way to measure day length is to consider
how long it takes for the Earth to rotate exactly 360 . This is known as one sidereal day.
Figure 16.3 illustrates the motion of the Earth as seen looking down on the Earth orbiting the
Sun. The red triangle on the Earth represents the location of an observer. The figure shows the
Earth at four times:
1. The Sun is directly overhead - it is mid-day.
2. Twelve hours have passed since 1. The Earth has rotated round and the observer is on the
opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. It is mid-night. The Earth has also moved round in
its orbit a little.
3. The Earth has rotated exactly 360 . Exactly one sidereal day has passed since 1.
16.4 Time 189
Figure 16.3: Sidereal day
4. It is mid-day again exactly one solar day since 1. Note that the Earth has rotated more than
360 since 1.
It should be noted that in figure 16.3 the sizes of the Sun and Earth and not to scale. More
importantly, the distance the Earth moves around its orbit is much exaggerated. The Earth takes a
year to travel round the Sun 365 14 solar days. The length of a sidereal day is about 23 hours, 56
minutes and 4 seconds.
16.4.1 Sidereal Time

It takes exactly one sidereal day for the celestial sphere to make one revolution in the sky. As-
tronomers find sidereal time useful when observing. This is the Right Ascension which is currently
passing the meridian line. When visiting observatories, look out for doctored alarm clocks that
have been set to run in sidereal time!
16.4.2 Julian Day Number

In the 19th century, astronomer J OHN H ERSCHEL introduced the use of Julian Day numbers
(invented around the time of the Gregorian calendar reform). This is a simple continuous day
count starting on January 1, -4712 (4713 BC). There are no years, months etc., and the integral
day number switches at noon, so during a single night of observation (in Europe) the date never
changes.
The fractional part of the number is just the fraction of day that has elapsed since last noon.
Given that a day has 86400 seconds, we should give a JD with 5 decimal places to capture the
nearest second.
This causes a problem for modern computers: even a double precision float can keep
only about 13 decimal places. More than 2.4 million days have passed, so that e.g. Jan-
uary 1, 2000, 12:00UT is 2451545.0, which is an accurately storable number with 7 decimal
places, but 12:34:56UT is computed as 2451545.02426. A more accurate result would yield
2451545.024259259259... So, for a field where sub-second accuracy became crucial like spacecraft
operations, the Modified Julian Date (MJD) has been introduced. It is simply
MJD = JD 2400000.5. (16.1)
This means, days start at midnight, and the (constant, in our era) decimal places of the big numbers
at the begin of the number have been traded in for more decimal places at the end.
Dont put your expectations too high when you see MJD displayed (section 4.1): Stellarium
uses a double-precision floating point number for JD for internal timekeeping, and Stellariums
display of MJD is simply computed from it. So you cannot set temporal increments smaller than a
second, and it hardly would make sense to expect more accuracy from the simulation algorithms.
16.4.3 Delta T
Until around 1900, the earths rotation was regarded as perfect standard of time. There were
86400 seconds per mean solar day, and the accuracy of reproducing time with mechanical clocks
only in this time started to become as good as the earths rotation itself.
Astronomers who computed solar eclipses reported in texts from antiquity wondered about a
required time shift which they originally attributed to a yet-unknown secular acceleration of the
lunar motion. However, it turned out that indeed the gravitational effect of the moon which causes
the tides also has effects on earths rotation: the tides slowly break earths rotational speed. The
energy is also transferred to the moon, and the acceleration leads to the moon slowly moving away
from the earth4 .
This led to the introduction of a time named Ephemeris Time (ET) with progresses in the speed
of the second in the year 1900, to be used for positional computation in our solar system, in addition
to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), from which all zone times and civil clock times were derived.
The introduction of Atomic Clocks in the middle of the 20th century led to a redefinition of the
(temporal) second, which has been de-coupled from earths rotation. This time, the International
Atomic Time TAI, is the basis for Terrestrial Time TT which can be considered as constantly
progressing at constant speed5 , and is used for computation of the planetary positions.
Still, people living on earth prefer to have the mean solar noon governing the run of day and
night. Therefore all forms of civil time are linked to Coordinated Universal Time UTC. Seconds
in UTC and TAI are of equal length. The slow and irregular divergence between TAI and UTC is
observed by a few standardisation institutes. When necessary, a leap second can be introduced to
the UTC to bring the earths rotation back in sync so that the Mean Sun again culminates at noon.
The difference T = T T UT (or Delta T) describes the temporal offset which amounts
already to more than a minute in the 21st century. There have been many attempts to properly model
T , and Stellarium offers several models you can choose from in the configuration dialog (see
section 4.3.3). The default, Espenak and Meeus (2006), is a widely accepted standard. But if you
are a researcher and want to experiment with alternative models, you will hopefully like this feature.
you can even specify your own data for a, b, c, y and the secular term for lunar acceleration n
4 No need to worry, the moon recedes from the earth only a few centimeters per year as measured with
the laser reflectors left by the Apollo astronauts in the 1970s. In a very far future, however, there will only be
annular solar eclipses as a consequence!
5 We dont discuss relativity here. The advanced reader is referred to the presentation in the Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_T.
16.4 Time 191
(actually n = dn/dt in units of arcseconds/century2 ) if you can model T according to the formula
T = a + b u + c u2 where (16.2)
year y
u = (16.3)
100
List of equations of T in Stellarium

The following list describes sources and a few details about the models for T implemented in
Stellarium.
Without correction. Correction is disabled. Use only if you know what you are doing!
Schoch (1931). This historical formula was obtained by C. Schoch [59] and was used by G.
Henriksson in his article Einsteins Theory of Relativity Confirmed by Ancient Solar
Eclipses [25]. See for more in [51]. n = 29.6800 /cy2 .
Clemence (1948). This empirical equation was published by G. M. Clemence in the article On
the system of astronomical constants [16]. Valid range of usage: between years 1681 and
1900. n = 22.4400 /cy2 .
IAU (1952). This formula is based on a study of post-1650 observations of the Sun, the Moon and
the planets by Spencer Jones [62] and used by Jean Meeus in his Astronomical Formulae
for Calculators. It was also adopted in the PC program SunTracker Pro. Valid range of
usage: between years 1681 and 1936. n = 22.4400 /cy2 .
Astronomical Ephemeris (1960). This is a slightly modified version of the IAU [62] formula
which was adopted in the Astronomical Ephemeris [23] and in the Canon of Solar
Eclipses by Mucke & Meeus [48]. Valid range of usage: between years -500 and 2000.
n = 22.4400 /cy2 .
Tuckerman (1962, 1964) & Goldstine (1973). The tables of Tuckerman [68, 69] list the positions
of the Sun, the Moon and the planets at 5- and 10-day intervals from 601 BCE to 1649 CE.
The same relation was also implicitly adopted in the syzygy tables of Goldstine [24]. Valid
range of usage: between years -600 and 1649.
Muller & Stephenson (1975). This equation was published by P. M. Muller and F. R. Stephenson
in the article The accelerations of the earth and moon from early astronomical observa-
tions [49]. Valid range of usage: between years -1375 and 1975. n = 37.500 /cy2 .
Stephenson (1978). This equation was published by F. R. Stephenson in the article Pre-Telescopic
Astronomical Observations [63]. n = 30.000 /cy2 .
Schmadel & Zech (1979). This 12th-order polynomial equation (outdated and superseded by
Schmadel & Zech (1988)) was published by L. D. Schmadel and G. Zech in the article Poly-
nomial approximations for the correction delta T E.T.-U.T. in the period 1800-1975 [57] as
fit through data published by Brouwer [11]. Valid range of usage: between years 1800 and
1975, with meaningless values outside this range. n = 23.894600 /cy2 .
Morrison & Stephenson (1982). This algorithm [45] was adopted in P. Bretagnon & L. Simons
Planetary Programs and Tables from -4000 to +2800 [10] and in the PC planetarium
program RedShift. Valid range of usage: between years -4000 and 2800. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Stephenson & Morrison (1984). This formula was published by F. R. Stephenson and L. V.
Morrison in the article Long-term changes in the rotation of the earth - 700 B.C. to A.D.
1980 [64]. Valid range of usage: between years -391 and 1600. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Stephenson & Houlden (1986). This algorithm [28] is used in the PC planetarium program
Guide 7. Valid range of usage: between years -600 and 1600. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Espenak (1987, 1989). This algorithm was given by F. Espenak in his Fifty Year Canon of Solar
Eclipses: 1986-2035 [20] and in his Fifty Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses: 1986-2035 [21].
Valid range of usage: between years 1950 and 2100.
Borkowski (1988). This formula was obtained by K.M. Borkowski [7] from an analysis of 31
solar eclipse records dating between 2137 BCE and 1715 CE. Valid range of usage: between
years -2136 and 1715. n = 23.89500 /cy2 .
Schmadel & Zech (1988). This 12th-order polynomial equation was published by L. D. Schmadel
and G. Zech in the article Empirical Transformations from U.T. to E.T. for the Period 1800-
1988 [58] as data fit through values given by Stephenson & Morrison (1984). Valid range
of usage: between years 1800 and 1988, with a mean error of less than one second, max.
error 1.9s, and meaningless values outside this range. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Chapront-Touze & Chapront (1991). This formula was adopted by M. Chapront-Touze & J.
Chapront in the shortened version of the ELP 2000-85 lunar theory in their Lunar Tables
and Programs from 4000 B.C. to A.D. 8000 [15]. The relations are based on those of
Stephenson & Morrison (1984), but slightly modified to make them compatible with the tidal
acceleration parameter of n = 23.894600 /cy2 adopted in the ELP 2000-85 lunar theory.
Stephenson & Morrison (1995). This equation was published by F. R. Stephenson and L. V.
Morrison in the article Long-Term Fluctuations in the Earths Rotation: 700 BC to AD
1990 [65]. Valid range of usage: between years -700 and 1600. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Stephenson (1997). F. R. Stephenson published this formula in his book Historical Eclipses and
Earths Rotation [67]. Valid range of usage: between years -500 and 1600. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Meeus (1998) (with Chapront, Chapront-Touze & Francou (1997)). From J. Meeus, Astro-
nomical Algorithms [40], and widely used. Table for 1620..2000, and includes a variant of
Chapront, Chapront-Touze & Francou (1997) for dates outside 1620..2000. Valid range of
usage: between years -400 and 2150. n = 25.737600 /cy2 .
JPL Horizons. The JPL Solar System Dynamics Group of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
use this formula in their interactive website JPL Horizons6 . Valid range of usage: between
years -2999 and 1620, with zero values outside this range. n = 25.737600 /cy2 .
Meeus & Simons (2000). This polynome was published by J. Meeus and L. Simons in article
Polynomial approximations to Delta T, 1620-2000 AD [37]. Valid range of usage: between
years 1620 and 2000, with zero values outside this range. n = 25.737600 /cy2 .
Montenbruck & Pfleger (2000). The fourth edition of O. Montenbruck & T. Pflegers Astron-
omy on the Personal Computer [44] provides simple 3rd-order polynomial data fits for the
recent past. Valid range of usage: between years 1825 and 2005, with a typical 1-second
accuracy and zero values outside this range.
Reingold & Dershowitz (2002, 2007). E. M. Reingold & N. Dershowitz present this polynomial
data fit in Calendrical Calculations [53] and in their Calendrical Tabulations [52]. It is
based on Jean Meeus Astronomical Algorithms [38].
Morrison & Stephenson (2004, 2005). This important solution was published by L. V. Morrison
and F. R. Stephenson in the article Historical values of the Earths clock error T and the
calculation of eclipses [46] with addendum [47]. Valid range of usage: between years -1000
and 2000. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Stephenson, Morrison & Hohenkerk (2016). This important new solution was published by F.
R. Stephenson, L. V. Morrison and C. Y. Hohenkerk in the article Measurement of the
Earths rotation: 720 BC to AD 2015 [66]. The solution combines a spline fit to observations
(used between the given limits) with a parabolic fit (used outside the range). Recommended
range of usage: between years -720 and 2016. n = 25.8200 /cy2 .
Espenak & Meeus (2006). This solution7 by F. Espenak and J. Meeus, based on Morrison &
Stephenson 2004[46] and a polynomial fit through tabulated values for 1600-2000, is used
for the NASA Eclipse Web Site8 and in their Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses:
6 http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons
7 This solution is used by default.
8 http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
16.5 Angles 193
-1900 to +3000 [22]. This formula is also used in the solar, lunar and planetary ephemeris
program SOLEX. Valid range of usage: between years -1999 and 3000. n = 25.85800 /cy2 .
Reijs (2006). From the Length of Day (LOD; as determined by Stephenson & Morrison [46]),
Victor Reijs derived a T formula by using a Simplex optimisation with a cosine and square
function9 . This is based on a possible periodicy described by Stephenson [46]. Valid range
of usage: between years -1500 and 1100. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Banjevic (2006). This solution by B. Banjevic, based on Stephenson & Morrison (1984) [64], was
published in article Ancient eclipses and dating the fall of Babylon [5]. Valid range of
usage: between years -2020 and 1620, with zero values outside this range. n = 26.000 /cy2 .
Islam, Sadiq & Qureshi (2008, 2013). This solution by S. Islam, M. Sadiq and M. S. Qureshi,
based on Meeus & Simons [37], was published in article Error Minimization of Polynomial
Approximation of DeltaT [29] and revisited by Sana Islam in 2013. Valid range of usage:
between years 1620 and 2007, with zero values outside this range.
Khalid, Sultana & Zaidi (2014). This polynomial approximation with 0.6 seconds of accuracy
by M. Khalid, Mariam Sultana and Faheem Zaidi was published in Delta T: Polynomial
Approximation of Time Period 1620-2013 [30]. Valid range of usage: between years 1620
and 2013, with zero values outside this range.
Custom equation of T . This is a quadratic formula for calculation of T with coefficients
defined by the user.
16.5 Angles
Astronomers typically use degrees to measure angles. Since many observations require very precise
measurement, the degree is subdivided into sixty minutes of arc also known as arc-minutes. Each
minute of arc is further subdivided into sixty seconds of arc, or arc-seconds. Thus one degree is
equal to 3600 seconds of arc. Finer grades of precision are usually expressed using the SI prefixes
with arc-seconds, e.g. milli arc-seconds (one milli arc-second is one thousandth of an arc-second).
16.5.1 Notation
Degrees are denoted using the symbol after a number. Minutes of arc are denoted with a 0 , and
seconds of arc are denoted using 00 . Angles are frequently given in two formats:
1. DMS format degrees, minutes and seconds. For example 90 150 1200 . When more precision
is required, the seconds component may include a decimal part, for example 90 150 12.43200 .
2. Decimal degrees, for example 90.2533
16.5.2 Handy Angles

Being able to estimate angular distance can be very useful when trying to find objects from star
maps in the sky. One way to do this with a device called a crossbow.
Crossbows are a nice way get an idea of angular distances, but carrying one about is a little
cumbersome. A more convenient alternative is to hold up an object such as a pencil at arms length.
If you know the length of the pencil, d, and the distance of it from your eye, D, you can calculate
its angular size, using this formula:

d
= 2 arctan (16.4)
2D
Another, more handy (ahem!) method is to use the size of your hand at arms length:
9 http://www.iol.ie/~geniet/eng/DeltaTeval.htm
Tip of little finger About 1

Middle three fingers About 4
Across the knuckles of the fist About 10
Open hand About 18
Using you hand in this way is not very precise, but its close enough to give you some way
to translate an idea like Mars will be 45 above the Southeastern horizon at 21:30. Of course,
there is variation from person to person, but the variation is compensated for somewhat by the fact
that people with long arms tend to have larger hands. In exercise 19.2 you will work out your own
handy angles.
16.6 The Magnitude Scale

When astronomers talk about magnitude, they are referring to the brightness of an object. How
bright an object appears to be depends on how much light it is giving out and how far it is from the
observer. Astronomers separate these factors by using two measures: absolute magnitude (Mag or
M) which is a measure of how much light is being given out by an object, and apparent magnitude
(mag or m) which is how bright something appears to be in the sky.
For example, consider two 100 watt lamps, one which is a few meters away, and one which is a
kilometre away. Both give out the same amount of light they have the same absolute magnitude.
However the nearby lamp seems much brighter it has a much greater apparent magnitude. When
astronomers talk about magnitude without specifying whether they mean apparent or absolute
magnitude, they are usually referring to apparent magnitude.
The magnitude scale has its roots in antiquity. The Greek astronomer H IPPARCHUS defined the
brightest stars in the sky to be first magnitude, and the dimmest visible to the naked eye to be sixth
magnitude. In the 19th century British astronomer N ORMAN P OGSON quantified the scale more
precisely, defining it as a logarithmic scale where a magnitude 1 object is 100 times as bright as
a magnitude 6 object (a difference of five magnitudes). The zero-point of the modern scale was
originally defined as the brightness of the star Vega, however this was re-defined more formally in
1982 [3]. Objects brighter than Vega are given negative magnitudes.
The absolute magnitude of a star is defined as the magnitude a star would appear if it were 10
parsecs from the observer.
Table 16.2 lists several objects that may be seen in the sky, their apparent magnitude and their
absolute magnitude where applicable (only stars have an absolute magnitude value. The planets
and the Moon dont give out light like a star does they reflect the light from the Sun).
Object m M
The Sun -27 4.8
Vega 0.05 0.6
Betelgeuse 0.47 -7.2
Sirius (the brightest star) -1.5 1.4
Venus (at brightest) -4.4
Full Moon (at brightest) -12.6
Table 16.2: Magnitudes of a few objects

16.7 Luminosity 195
16.7 Luminosity
Luminosity is an expression of the total energy radiated by a star. It may be measured in watts,
however, astronomers tend to use another expression solar luminosities where an object with
twice the Suns luminosity is considered to have two solar luminosities and so on. Luminosity is
related to absolute magnitude.
16.8 Precession
Figure 16.4: Ecliptic obliquity
As the Earth orbits the Sun throughout the year, the axis of rotation (the line running through
the rotational poles of the Earth) seems to point towards the same position on the celestial sphere,
as can be seen in figure 16.4. The angle between the axis of rotation and the perpendicular of the
orbital plane is called the obliquity of the ecliptic. It is currently about 23 270 and is the angle
between equatorial coordinates (16.2.2) and ecliptical coordinates (16.2.3).
Observed over very long periods of time the direction the axis of rotation points to does actually
change. The angle between the axis of rotation and the orbital plane stays fairly constant, but the
direction the axis points the position of the celestial pole transcribes a figure similar to a
circle on the stars in the celestial sphere. The motion is similar to the way in which a gyroscope
slowly twists, as figure 16.5 illustrates. This process is called precession. The circles can be shown
in Stellarium: From the View menu ( F4 ), tab Markings, switch on Precession Circles (4.4.3).
Precession is a slow process. The axis of rotation twists through a full 360 about once
every 26,000 years. However, over these long times other gravitational perturbations (planetary
precession) play a role, and what may be thought of as rigid precession circle can actually only
show the instantaneous (current) state. Over millennia the circle slightly varies.
Precession has some important implications:
1. RA/Dec coordinates change over time, albeit slowly. Measurements of the positions of
stars recorded using RA/Dec coordinates must also include a date (equinox) for those
coordinates. Therefore the current star catalogues list their objects for the epoch and equinox
J2000.0.
2. Polaris, the pole star, wont stay a good indicator of the location of the Northern celestial
pole. In 14,000 years time Polaris will be nearly 47 away from the celestial pole!
3. The change in declination causes a shift in the rising and setting positions of the stars along
the horizon. Figure 16.6 shows part of the horizon for latitude = 30 North. For a given
year (left vertical labels), make a horizontal line to find rising azimuth of the bright stars
indicated by the twisting lines. Depending on where on the celestial sphere a star is located,
it may appear to move north or south, or be almost stationary for several centuries.
Figure 16.5: Precession
Precession Shift of Stars on the Horizon

085 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135
Zet Pup
-100
Sirius
Gam Cen
-200
Sig Sgr
Eps Sgr
Lam Sco
-300
Antares
-400
The Cen
Spica
-500
The Sco
Alphard
-600
Deneb Kaitos
-700 Del CMa Eps CMa
Alnitak Bet CMa
Betelgeuse Alnilam Kap Ori
Gam Ori Mintaka Lam Vel
-800
-900
Rigel
-1000
Azimuth 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135
Geograpical Latitude: 300 0. Stars to mag=2.25. Azimuths from North, without refraction. Georg Zotti 2010, http://astrosim.univie.ac.at
Figure 16.6: Precession: Change of rising positions of the stars along the eastern horizon
from azimuths 85 to 135 degrees, between years 1000 BC and 0, for latitude = 30 .
16.9 Parallax 197
16.9 Parallax
Parallax is the change of angular position of two stationary points relative to each other as seen by
an observer, due to the motion of said observer. Or more simply put, it is the apparent shift of an
object against a background due to a change in observer position.
This can be demonstrated by holding ones thumb up at arms length. Closing one eye, note the
position of the thumb against the background. After swapping which eye is open (without moving),
the thumb appears to be in a different position against the background.
16.9.1 Geocentric and Topocentric Observations

When computing planetary positions was done manually by adding numbers tabulated in yearly
almanacs, computing the Earths position and, say, position of a minor planet was usually good
enough to find the object in the sky. In both cases, the exact numbers refer to the gravitational
centres of the respective bodies. However, we are sitting on Earths surface, so the observed planet
will be seen in a slightly shifted location. The amount for objects in the inner solar system is usually
just a few arcseconds and is mostly negligible when we just want to find an object. But it makes
a difference when it comes to observations of stellar occultations by planets or asteroids. Such a
body may measure only a few tens of kilometres, and the shadow track which it leaves on Earths
surface is of approximately the same size.10
A much closer and bigger object is the Moon, which can also occult stars. It can even occult
the one big star we call the Sun: this is a Solar Eclipse. And here it makes a huge difference where
on the planet you are located.
If you are interested in astronomical computing, you may still be interested in geocentric
numerical results. From the Settings panel ( F2 ), tab Tools, there is a checkbox for Topocentric
Coordinates. Switch it off to put yourself into the center of the planet you are located.
16.9.2 Stellar Parallax

A similar thing happens due to the Earths motion around the Sun. Nearby stars appear to move
against more distant background stars, as illustrated in figure 16.7. The movement of nearby stars
against the background is called stellar parallax, or annual parallax.
Since we know the distance the radius of the Earths orbit around the Sun from other methods,
we can use simple geometry to calculate the distance of the nearby star if we measure annual
parallax.
As can be seen from figure 16.7, the annual parallax p is half the angular distance between the
apparent positions of the nearby star. The distance of the nearby object is d. Astronomers use a unit
of distance called the parsec ( pc) which is defined as the distance at which a nearby star has p = 100 .
Even the nearest stars exhibit very small movement due to parallax. The closest star to the
Earth other than the Sun is Proxima Centauri. It has an annual parallax of 0.7719900 , corresponding
to a distance of 1.295 pc (4.22 light years).
Even with the most sensitive instruments for measuring the positions of the stars it is only
possible to use parallax to determine the distance of stars up to about 1,600 light years from the
Earth, after which the annual parallax is so small it cannot be measured accurately enough.
In Stellarium, the annual parallax can be listed in the object information for stars when available.
It is not used for the positional calculations.
10 Unfortunately Stellarium (as of V0.15) is not accurate enough to reliably compute such occultations.
Even a deviation of 0.5 arcseconds is too much here.
Figure 16.7: Stellar Parallax
16.10 Proper Motion

Proper motion is the change in the position of a star over time as a result of its motion through
space relative to the Sun. It does not include the apparent shift in position of star due to annular
parallax. The star exhibiting the greatest proper motion is Barnards Star which moves more than
ten seconds of arc per year.
If you want to simulate the effect of proper motion with Stellarium, put the map into equatorial
view mode, switch off ground and cardinal marks, and set some high time lapse speed. You will see
a few stars change their locations quite soon, those are usually stars in our galactic neighbourhood.
Note however some limitations:
1. Stellarium will stop at 100.000 years. This limit may be still suitable for the stellar
locations. The planetary locations are not trustworthy outside of a much closer temporal
window (see section E). You cannot simulate the sky over the dinosaurs or such things.
2. Proper motion is only modelled by the linear components. True 3D motion in space requires
more computation, which would slow down the program.
3. Double stars are listed in catalogs as two individual stars with their current proper motion.
They may be seen flying apart, which is of course not realistic.
17. Astronomical Phenomena
BARRY G ERDES , WITH ADDITIONS BY G EORG Z OTTI
This chapter focuses on the observational side of astronomy what we see when we look at the
sky.
17.1 The Sun

Without a doubt, the most prominent object in the sky is the Sun. The Sun is so bright that when it
is in the sky, its light is scattered by the atmosphere to such an extent that almost all other objects in
the sky are rendered invisible.
The Sun is a star like many others but it is much closer to the Earth at approximately 150
million kilometres (a distance also called 1 Astronomical Unit). The next nearest star, Proxima
Centauri is approximately 260,000 times further away from us than the Sun! The Sun is also known
by its Latin name, Sol.
Over the course of a year, the Sun appears to move round the celestial sphere in a great circle
known as the ecliptic. Stellarium can draw the ecliptic on the sky. To toggle drawing of the ecliptic,
press the , key.
WARNING: Looking at the Sun can permanently damage the eye. Never look at the Sun without
using the proper filters! By far the safest way to observe the Sun it to look at it on a computer
screen, courtesy of Stellarium!
17.2 Stars
The Sun is just one of billions of stars. Even though many stars have a much greater absolute
magnitude than the Sun (they give out more light), they have an enormously smaller apparent
magnitude due to their large distance. Stars have a variety of forms different sizes, brightnesses,
temperatures, and colours. Measuring the position, distance and attributes of the stars is known as
astrometry, and is a major part of observational astronomy.
200 Chapter 17. Astronomical Phenomena
17.2.1 Multiple Star Systems

Many stars have stellar companions. As many as six stars can be found orbiting one-another in close
associations known as multiple star systems binary systems being the most common with two
stars. Multiple star systems are more common than solitary stars, putting our Sun in the minority
group.
Sometimes multiple stars orbit each other in a way that means one will periodically eclipse the
other. These are eclipsing binaries or Algol variables.
Optical Doubles & Optical Multiples

Sometimes two or more stars appear to be very close to one another in the sky, but in fact have
great separation, being aligned from the point of view of the observer but of different distances.
Such pairings are known as optical doubles and optical multiples.
17.2.2 Constellations
The constellations are groupings of stars that are visually close to one another in the sky. The
actual groupings are fairly arbitrary different cultures have grouped stars together into different
constellations. In many cultures, the various constellations have been associated with mythological
entities. As such people have often projected pictures into the skies as can be seen in figure 17.1
which shows the constellation of Ursa Major. On the left is a picture with the image of the mythical
Great Bear, on the right only a line-art version (or stick figure) is shown. The seven bright stars of
Ursa Major are widely recognised, known variously as the plough, the pan-handle, and the
big dipper. This sub-grouping is known as an asterism a distinct grouping of stars. On the
right, the picture of the bear has been removed and only a constellation diagram remains.
Figure 17.1: Ursa Major
Stellarium can draw both constellation diagrams and artistic representations of the constellations.
Multiple sky cultures are supported: Western, Polynesian, Egyptian, Chinese, and several other sky
cultures are available, although at time of writing the non-Western constellations are not complete,
and as yet there are no artistic representations of these sky-cultures.
Aside from historical and mythological value, to the modern astronomer the constellations
provide a way to segment the sky for the purposes of describing locations of objects, indeed one of
the first tasks for an amateur observer is learning the constellations the process of becoming
familiar with the relative positions of the constellations, at what time of year a constellation is
visible, and in which constellations observationally interesting objects reside. The International
17.2 Stars 201
Astronomical Union has adopted 88 Western constellations as a common system for segmenting
the sky. They are based on Greek/Roman mythology, but with several additions from Renaissance
and later centuries. As such some formalisation has been adopted, each constellation having a
proper name, which is in Latin, and a three letter abbreviation of that name. For example, Ursa
Major has the abbreviation UMa. Also, the Western constellation have clearly defined boundaries
[18], which you can draw in Stellarium when you press the B key1 . The IAU constellation a
selected object is placed in is also available in the object information data [55], regardless of the
currently active skyculture. On the other hand, the shapes of mythological figures, and also stick
figures, have not been canonized, so you will find deviations between Stellarium and printed atlases.
17.2.3 Star Names

Stars can have many names. The brighter stars often have common names relating to mythical
characters from the various traditions. For example the brightest star in the sky, Sirius is also known
as The Dog Star (the name Canis Major the constellation Sirius is found in is Latin for The
Great Dog).
Most bright names have been given names in antiquity. P TOLEMYs most influential book, the
Syntaxis, was translated to the Arab language in the age of early Muslim scientists. When, centuries
later, the translation, called Almagest, was re-introduced to the re-awakening European science,
those names, which often only designated the position of the star within the figure, were taken from
the books, often misspelled, and used henceforth as proper names.
A few more proper names have been added later, sometimes dedicatory names added by court
astronomers into their maps. There are also 3 stars named after the victims of the Apollo 1 disaster
in 1967. Today, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the only scientifically accepted
authority which can give proper names to stars. Some companies offer a paid name service for
commemoration or dedication of a star for deceased relatives or such, but all you get here is a piece
of paper with coordinates of (usually) an unremarkably dim star only visible in a telescope, and a
name to remember, stored (at best) in the companys database.
There are several more formal naming conventions that are in common use.
Bayer Designation
German astronomer J OHANN BAYER devised one such system for his atlas, the Uranographia, first
published in 1603. His scheme names the stars according to the constellation in which they lie
prefixed by a lower case Greek letter, starting at for (usually) the brightest star in the constellation
and proceeding with , , . . . in descending order of apparent magnitude. For example, such a Bayer
Designation for Sirius is Canis Majoris (note that the genitive form of the constellation name
is used; today also the short form CMa is in use). There are some exceptions to the descending
magnitude ordering, and some multiple stars (both real and optical) are named with a numerical
superscript after the Greek letter, e.g. 1 ... 6 Orionis.
Flamsteed Designation
English astronomer J OHN F LAMSTEED numbered stars in each constellation in order of increasing
right ascension followed by the genitive form of the constellation name, for example 61 Cygni
(or short: 61 Cyg).
Hipparcos
Hipparcos (for High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite) was an astrometry mission of the
European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to the measurement of stellar parallax and the proper
1 These boundaries or borders have been drawn using star maps from 1875. Due to the effect of precession,
these borders are no longer parallel to todays coordinates.
motions of stars. The project was named in honour of the Greek astronomer H IPPARCHUS.
Ideas for such a mission dated from 1967, with the mission accepted by ESA in 1980. The
satellite was launched by an Ariane 4 on 8 August 1989. The original goal was to place the satellite
in a geostationary orbit above the earth, however a booster rocket failure resulted in a highly
elliptical orbit from 315 to 22,300 miles altitude. Despite this difficulty, all of the scientific goals
were accomplished. Communications were terminated on 15 August 1993.
The program was divided in two parts: the Hipparcos experiment whose goal was to measure
the five astrometric parameters of some 120,000 stars to a precision of some 2 to 4 milli arc-seconds
and the Tycho experiment, whose goal was the measurement of the astrometric and two-colour
photometric properties of some 400,000 additional stars to a somewhat lower precision.
The final Hipparcos Catalogue (120,000 stars with 1 milli arc-second level astrometry) and the
final Tycho Catalogue (more than one million stars with 20-30 milli arc-second astrometry and
two-colour photometry) were completed in August 1996. The catalogues were published by ESA in
June 1997. The Hipparcos and Tycho data have been used to create the Millennium Star Atlas: an
all-sky atlas of one million stars to visual magnitude 11, from the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues
and 10,000 non-stellar objects included to complement the catalogue data.
There were questions over whether Hipparcos has a systematic error of about 1 milli arc-second
in at least some parts of the sky. The value determined by Hipparcos for the distance to the Pleiades
is about 10% less than the value obtained by some other methods. By early 2004, the controversy
remained unresolved.
Stellarium uses the Hipparcos Catalogue for star data, as well as having traditional names
for many of the brighter stars. The stars tab of the search window allows for searching based
on a Hipparcos Catalogue number (as well as traditional names), e.g. the star Sadalmelik in the
constellation of Aquarius can be found by searching for the name, or its Hipparcos number, 109074.
Figure 17.2 shows the information Stellarium displays when a star is selected. At the top, the
common name, Bayer/Flamsteed designations and Hipparcos number are shown, followed by the
RA/Dec coordinates, apparent magnitude, distance and other data.
Figure 17.2: Star Names and Data
17.2.4 Spectral Type & Luminosity Class

Stars have many different colours. Seen with the naked eye most appear to be white, but this is
due to the response of the eye at low light levels the eye is not sensitive to colour. Typically
the unaided eye can start to see differences in colour only for stars that have apparent magnitude
brighter than 1. Betelgeuse, for example has a distinctly red tinge to it, and Sirius appears to be
blue, while Vega is the prototype white star.
17.2 Stars 203
By splitting the light from a star using a prism attached to a telescope and measuring the
relative intensities of the colours of light the star emits the spectrum a great deal of interesting
information can be discovered about a star including its surface temperature, and the presence of
various elements in its atmosphere.
Spectral Type Surface Temperature (K) Star Colour

O 28,00050,000 Blue
B 10,00028,000 Blue-white
A 7,50010,000 White-blue
F 6,0007,500 Yellow-white
G 4,9006,000 Yellow
K 3,5004,900 Orange
M 2,0003,500 Red
Table 17.1: Spectral Types
Astronomers groups stars with similar spectra into spectral types, denoted by one of the
following letters: O, B, A, F, G, K and M.2 Type O stars have a high surface temperature (up to
around 50,000 K) while the at other end of the scale, the M stars are red and have a much cooler
surface temperature, typically 3000 K. The Sun is a type G star with a surface temperature of
around 5,500 K. Spectral types may be further sub-divided using a numerical suffix ranging from
0-9 where 0 is the hottest and 9 is the coolest. Table 17.1 shows the details of the various spectral
types.
For about 90% of stars, the absolute magnitude increases as the spectral type tends to the O
(hot) end of the scale. Thus the whiter, hotter stars tend to have a greater luminosity. These stars
are called main sequence stars. There are however a number of stars that have spectral type at the
M end of the scale, and yet they have a high absolute magnitude. These stars are close to the ends
of their lives and have a very large size, and consequently are known as giants, the largest of these
known as super-giants.
There are also stars whose absolute magnitude is very low regardless of the spectral class.
These are known as dwarf stars, among them white dwarfs (dying stars) and brown dwarfs (failed
stars).
The luminosity class is an indication of the type of star whether it is main sequence, a
giant or a dwarf. Luminosity classes are denoted by a number in roman numerals, as described in
table 17.2.
Plotting the luminosity of stars against their spectral type/surface temperature gives a diagram
called a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (after the two astronomers E JNAR H ERTZSPRUNG and
H ENRY N ORRIS RUSSELL who devised it). A slight variation of this is shown in figure 17.3 (which
is technically a colour/magnitude plot).
17.2.5 Variable Stars

Most stars are of nearly constant luminosity. The Sun is a good example of one which goes through
relatively little variation in brightness (usually about 0.1% over an 11 year solar cycle). Many stars,
however, undergo significant variations in luminosity, and these are known as variable stars. There
are many types of variable stars falling into two categories, intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic variables are stars which have intrinsic variations in brightness, that is, the star itself
gets brighter and dimmer. There are several types of intrinsic variables, probably the best-known
2 The classic mnemonic for students of astrophysics says: Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me.
Figure 17.3: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

17.3 Our Moon 205
Luminosity class Description

Ia, Ib Super-giants
II Bright giants
III Normal giants
IV Sub-giants
V Main sequence
VI Sub-dwarfs
VII White-dwarfs
Table 17.2: Luminosity Classification
and most important of which is the Cepheid variable whose luminosity is related to the period
with which its brightness varies. Since the luminosity (and therefore absolute magnitude) can be
calculated, Cepheid variables may be used to determine the distance of the star when the annual
parallax is too small to be a reliable guide. This is especially welcome because they are giant stars,
and so they are even visible in neighboring galaxies.
Extrinsic variables are stars of constant brightness that show changes in brightness as seen from
the Earth. These include rotating variables, stars whose apparent brightness change due to rotation,
and eclipsing binaries.
17.3 Our Moon

The Moon is the large satellite which orbits the Earth approximately every 28 days. It is seen as a
large bright disc in the early night sky that rises later each day and changes shape into a crescent
until it disappears near the Sun. After this it rises during the day then gets larger until it again
becomes a large bright disc again.
17.3.1 Phases of the Moon

As the moon moves round its orbit, the amount that is illuminated by the sun as seen from a vantage
point on Earth changes. The result of this is that approximately once per orbit, the moons face
gradually changes from being totally in shadow to being fully illuminated and back to being in
shadow again. This process is divided up into various phases as described in table 17.3.
New Moon The moons disc is fully in shadow, or there is just a slither of illuminated
surface on the edge.
Waxing Crescent Less than half the disc is illuminated, but more is illuminated each night.
First Quarter Approximately half the disc is illuminated, and increasing each night.
Waxing Gibbous More than half of the disc is illuminated, and still increasing each night.
Full Moon The whole disc of the moon is illuminated.
Waning Gibbous More than half of the disc is illuminated, but the amount gets smaller each
night.
Last Quarter Approximately half the disc is illuminated, but this gets less each night.
Waning Crescent Less than half the disc of the moon is illuminated, and this gets less each
night.
Table 17.3: Lunar Phases
Figure 17.4: The Planets
17.4 The Major Planets

Unlike the stars whose relative positions remain more or less constant, the planets seem to move
across the sky over time (the word planet comes from the Greek for wanderer). The planets
are siblings of the Earth, massive bodies that are in orbit around the Sun. Until 2006 there was no
formal definition of a planet, leading to some confusion about the classification for some bodies
traditionally regarded as being planets, but which didnt seem to fit with the others.
In 2006 the International Astronomical Union defined a planet as a celestial body that, within
the Solar System:
1. is in orbit around the Sun
2. has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a
hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape; and
3. has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit
or within another system:
1. is in orbit around a star or stellar remnants
2. has a mass below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium; and
3. is above the minimum mass/size requirement for planetary status in the Solar System.
Moving from the Sun outwards, the 8 major planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Since the formal definition of a planet in 2006 Pluto has been relegated
to having the status of dwarf planet, along with bodies such as Ceres and Eris. See figure 17.4.
17.4.1 Terrestrial Planets

The planets closest to the sun are called collectively the terrestrial planets. The terrestrial planets
are: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
The terrestrial planets are relatively small, comparatively dense, and have solid rocky surface.
Most of their mass is made from solid matter, which is mostly rocky and/or metallic in nature.
17.4.2 Jovian Planets

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune make up the Jovian planets, also called gas giants. They are
much more massive than the terrestrial planets, and do not have a solid surface. Jupiter is the largest
17.5 The Minor Bodies 207
of all the planets with a diameter of about 12, and mass over 300 times that of the Earth!
The Jovian planets do not have a solid surface the vast majority of their mass being in
gaseous form (although they may have rocky or metallic cores). Because of this, they have an
average density which is much less than the terrestrial planets. Saturns mean density is only about
0.7 g/ cm3 it would float in water!
17.5 The Minor Bodies

As well as the Major Planets, the solar system also contains innumerable smaller bodies in orbit
around the Sun. These are generally the dwarf planets (Ceres, Pluto, Eris), the other minor planets,
also known as planetoids or asteroids, and comets.
17.5.1 Asteroids
Asteroids are celestial bodies orbiting the Sun in more or less regular orbits mostly between Mars
and Jupiter. They are generally rocky bodies like the inner (terrestrial) planets, but of much smaller
size. They are countless in number ranging in size from about ten meters to hundreds of kilometres.
17.5.2 Comets
A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the Sun and (at least occasionally) exhibits a
coma (or atmosphere) and/or a tail.
Most comets have a very eccentric orbit (featuring a highly flattened ellipse, or even a parabolic
track), and as such spend most of their time a very long way from the Sun. Comets are composed
of rock, dust and ices. When they come close to the Sun, the heat evaporates the ices, causing a
gaseous release. This gas and loose material which comes away from the body of the comet is
swept away from the Sun by the Solar wind, forming the tail.
Most larger comets exhibit two kinds of tail: a straight gas tail (often blue-green in photographs),
and a wider, occasionally curved dust tail (reflecting whitish sunlight).
Comets whose orbit brings them close to the Sun more frequently than every 200 years are
considered to be short period comets, the most famous of which is probably Comet Halley, named
after the British astronomer E DMUND H ALLEY, which has an orbital period of roughly 76 years.
17.6 Meteoroids
These objects are small pieces of space debris left over from the early days of the solar system that
orbit the Sun. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes an compositions, ranging from microscopic
dust particles up to about ten meters across.
Sometimes these objects collide with the Earth. The closing speed of these collisions is
generally extremely high (tens of kilometres per second). When such an object ploughs through the
Earths atmosphere, a large amount of kinetic energy is converted into heat and light, and a visible
flash or streak can often be seen with the naked eye. Even the smallest particles can cause these
events which are commonly known as shooting stars.
While smaller objects tend to burn up in the atmosphere, larger, denser objects can penetrate
the atmosphere and strike the surface of the planet, sometimes leaving meteor craters.
Sometimes the angle of the collision means that larger objects pass through the atmosphere but
do not strike the Earth. When this happens, spectacular fireballs are sometimes seen.
Meteoroids is the name given to such objects when they are floating in space.
A Meteor is the name given to the visible atmospheric phenomenon.
Meteorites is the name given to objects that penetrate the atmosphere and land on the surface.
In some nights over the year you can observe increased meteorite activity. Those meteors seem
to come from a certain point in the sky, the Radiant. But what we see is similar to driving through a
mosquito swarm which all seem to come head-on. Earth itself moves through space, and sweeps up
a dense cloud of particles which originates from a comets tail. Stellariums Meteor Shower plugin
(see section 12.6) can help you planning your next meteor observing night.
17.7 Zodiacal Light and Gegenschein

In very clear nights on the best observing sites, far away from the light pollution of our cities, you
can observe a feeble glow also known as false twilight after evening twilight in the west, or
before dawn in the east. The glow looks like a wedge of light along the ecliptic. Exactly opposite
the sun, there is another dim glow that can be observed with dark-adapted eyes in perfect skies: the
Gegenschein (counterglow).
This is sunlight reflected off the same dust and meteoroids in the plane of our solar system
which is the source of meteors. Stellariums sky can show the Zodiacal light [31], but observe how
quickly light pollution kills its visibility!
17.8 The Milky Way

There is a band of very dense stars running right round the sky in huge irregular stripe. Most of
these stars are very dim, but the overall effect is that on very dark clear nights we can see a large,
beautiful area of diffuse light in the sky. It is this for which we name our galaxy the Milky Way.
The reason for this effect is that our galaxy is somewhat like a disc, and we are off to one side.
Thus when we look towards the centre of the disc, we see more a great concentration of stars (there
are more star in that direction). As we look out away from the centre of the disc we see fewer stars -
we are staring out into the void between galaxies!
Its a little hard to work out what our galaxy would look like from far away, because when we
look up at the night sky, we are seeing it from the inside. All the stars we can see are part of the
Milky Way, and we can see them in every direction. However, there is some structure. There is a
higher density of stars in particular places.
17.9 Nebulae
Seen with the naked eye, binoculars or a small telescope, a nebula (plural nebulae) is a fuzzy patch
on the sky. Historically, the term referred to any extended object, but the modern definition excludes
some types of object such as galaxies.
Observationally, nebulae are popular objects for amateur astronomers they exhibit complex
structure, spectacular colours (in most cases only visible in color photography) and a wide variety
of forms. Many nebulae are bright enough to be seen using good binoculars or small to medium
sized telescopes, and are a very photogenic subject for astro-photographers.
Nebulae are associated with a variety of phenomena, some being clouds of interstellar dust and
gas in the process of collapsing under gravity, some being envelopes of gas thrown off during a
supernova event (so called supernova remnants), yet others being the remnants of dumped outer
layers around dying stars (planetary nebulae).
Examples of nebulae for which Stellarium has images include the Crab Nebula (M1), which
is a supernova remnant, and the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) and the Ring Nebula (M57) which are
planetary nebulae.
17.10 Galaxies 209
17.9.1 The Messier Objects

The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects catalogued by C HARLES M ESSIER in his
catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters first published in 1774. The original motivation behind the
catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but
were not comets. He therefore compiled a list of these annoying objects.
The first edition covered 45 objects numbered M1 to M45. The total list consists of 110
objects, ranging from M1 to M110. The final catalogue was published in 1781 and printed in the
Connaissance des Temps in 1784. Many of these objects are still known by their Messier number.
Because the Messier list was compiled by astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere, it contains
only objects from the north celestial pole to a celestial latitude of about 35 . Many impressive
Southern objects, such as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are excluded from the list.
Because all of the Messier objects are visible with binoculars or small telescopes (under favourable
conditions), they are popular viewing objects for amateur astronomers. In early spring, astronomers
sometimes gather for Messier Marathons, when all of the objects can be viewed over a single
night.
Stellarium includes images of many Messier objects.
17.10 Galaxies
Stars, it seems, are gregarious they like to live together in groups. These groups are called galaxies.
The number of stars in a typical galaxy is literally astronomical many billions sometimes over
hundreds of billions of stars!
Our own star, the sun, is part of a galaxy. When we look up at the night sky, all the stars we
can see are in the same galaxy. We call our own galaxy the Milky Way (or sometimes simply the
Galaxy3 ).
Other galaxies appear in the sky as dim fuzzy blobs. Only four are normally visible to the
naked eye. The Andromeda galaxy (M31) visible in the Northern hemisphere, the two Magellanic
clouds, visible in the Southern hemisphere, and the home galaxy Milky Way, visible in parts from
north and south under dark skies.
There are thought to be billions of galaxies in the universe comprised of an unimaginably large
number of stars.
The vast majority of galaxies are so far away that they are very dim, and cannot be seen without
large telescopes, but there are dozens of galaxies which may be observed in medium to large sized
amateur instruments. Stellarium includes images of many galaxies, including the Andromeda
galaxy (M31), the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) and many others.
Astronomers classify galaxies according to their appearance. Some classifications include
spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, lenticular galaxies and irregular galaxies.
17.11 Eclipses
Eclipses occur when an apparently large celestial body (planet, moon etc.) moves between the
observer (thats you!) and a more distant object the more distant object being eclipsed by the
nearer one.
17.11.1 Solar Eclipses

Solar eclipses occur when our Moon moves between the Earth and the Sun. This happens when the
inclined orbit of the Moon causes its path to cross our line of sight to the Sun. In essence it is the
3 Which means closely the same thing, the word deriving from Greek gala=Milk.
observer falling under the shadow of the moon.

There are three types of solar eclipses:
Partial The Moon only covers part of the Suns surface.
Total The Moon completely obscures the Suns surface.
Annular The Moon is at aphelion (furthest from Earth in its elliptic orbit) and its disc is too
small to completely cover the Sun. In this case most of the Suns disc is obscured all except a
thin ring around the edge.
17.11.2 Lunar Eclipses

Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, and the Moon is in the
Earths shadow. They occur under the same basic conditions as the solar eclipse but can occur more
often because the Earths shadow is so much larger than the Moons.
Total lunar eclipses are more noticeable than partial eclipses because the Moon moves fully
into the Earths shadow and there is very noticeable darkening. However, the Earths atmosphere
refracts light (bends it) in such a way that some sunlight can still fall on the Moons surface even
during total eclipses. In this case there is often a marked reddening of the light as it passes through
the atmosphere, and this can make the Moon appear a deep red colour.
17.12 Observing Hints

When stargazing, theres a few little things which make a lot of difference, and are worth taking
into account.
Dark skies For many people getting away from light pollution isnt an easy thing. At best it means
a drive away from the towns, and for many the only chance to see a sky without significant
glow from street lighting is on vacation. If you cant get away from the cities easily, make
the most of it when you are away.
Wrap up warm The best observing conditions are the same conditions that make for cold nights,
even in the summer time. Observing is not a strenuous physical activity, so you will feel the
cold a lot more than if you were walking around. Wear a lot of warm clothing, dont sit/lie
on the floor (at least use a camping mat, consider taking a deck-chair), and take a flask of
hot drink.
Dark adaptation The true majesty of the night sky only becomes apparent when the eye has had
time to become accustomed to the dark. This process, known as dark adaptation, can take up
to half an hour, and as soon as the observer sees a bright light they must start the process
over. Red light doesnt compromise dark adaptation as much as white light, so use a red
torch if possible (and one that is as dim as you can manage with). A dim single red LED
light is ideal, also to have enough light to take notes.
The Moon Unless youre particularly interested in observing the Moon on a given night, it can be
a nuisanceit can be so bright as to make observation of dimmer objects such as nebulae
impossible. When planning what you want to observe, take the phase and position of the
Moon into account. Of course Stellarium is the ideal tool for finding this out!
Averted vision A curious fact about the eye is that it is more sensitive to dim light towards the
edge of the field of view. If an object is slightly too dim to see directly, looking slightly off
to the side but concentrating on the objects location can often reveal it.
Angular distance Learn how to estimate angular distances. Learn the angular distances described
in section 16.5.2. If you have a pair of binoculars, find out the angular distance across the
field of view and use this as a standard measure.
17.13 Atmospheric effects

17.13.1 Atmospheric Refraction
Atmospheric Refraction is a lifting effect of our atmosphere which can be observed by the fact that
objects close to the horizon appear higher than they should be if computed only with spherical
trigonometry. Stellarium simulates refraction for terrestrial locations when the atmosphere is
switched on. Refraction depends on air pressure and temperature. Figure 17.5 has been created
from the same formulae that are employed in Stellarium. You can see how fast refraction grows
very close to the mathematical horizon.
Note that these models can only give approximate conditions. There are many weird effects in
the real atmosphere, when temperature inversion layers can create light ducts, cause double sunsets
etc.
Also note that the models give meaningful results only for altitudes above approximately 2 .
Below that, in nature, there is always ground which blocks our view. In Stellarium you can switch
off the ground, and you can observe a sunset with a strange egg-shaped sun below the horizon. This
is of course nonsense. Stellarium is also not able to properly recreate the atmospheric distortions as
seen from a stratosphere balloon, where the height of earths surface is several degrees below the
mathematical horizon.
17.13.2 Atmospheric Extinction

Atmospheric Extinction is the attenuation of light of a celestial body by Earths atmosphere. In
the last split-second of its travel into our eyes or detectors, light from outer space has to pass our
atmosphere, through layers of mixed gas, water vapour and dust. If a star is in the zenith, its light
must pass one air mass and is reduced by whatever amount of water and dust is above you. When
the star is on the horizon, it has to pass about 40 times longer through the atmosphere: 40 air masses
(Fig. 17.6. The number of air masses increases fast in low altitudes, this is why we see so few stars
along the horizon. Usually blue light is extinguished more, this is why the sun and moon (and
brigher stars) appear reddish on the horizon.
Stellarium can simulate extinction, and you can set the opacity of your atmosphere with a
global factor k, the magnitude loss per airmass (see section 4.4.1). The best mountaintop sites may
have k = 0.15, while k = 0.25 seems a value usable for good locations in lower altitudes.
17.13.3 Light Pollution

An ugly side effect of civilisation is a steady increase in outdoor illumination. Many people
think it increases safety, but while this statement can be questioned, one definite result, aside
from environmental issues like dangers for the nocturnal fauna, are ever worsening conditions for
astronomical observations or just enjoyment of the night sky.
Stellarium can simulate the effect of light pollution on the visibility of celestial objects. This
is controlled from the light pollution section of the Sky tab of the View window (see section 4.9).
Light pollution levels are set using a numerical value between 1 and 9 which corresponds to the
Bortle Dark Sky Scale (see Appendix B). Given that public lighting became bright enough to cause
adverse effects on observability only during the 19th century, Stellarium presents an unpolluted
sky for dates before 1825. Note that of course light pollution was not switched on over night, but
became gradually noticeable over decades, but you have to estimate the appropriate level.
In addition, local variations of the amount of light pollution can be included in a light pollution
layer in the landscapes, see section 7 for details. This foreground layer may include all kinds of
light, e.g. campfires, so this is also available for earlier dates.
Chapter 17. Astronomical Phenomena
25
Refraction
1013.25 mbar, 10C
Temperature: 60..10..50C
Pressure: 500..100..1100 mbar
20
15
Bennetts Formula Smundssons Formula
Correction of observed altitudes Correction of geometric altitudes
10
5
0
5
10
1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 Dalt
(Model: Meeus, Astr.Alg.1994) Georg Zotti 2010, ASTROSIM
Figure 17.5: Refraction. The figure shows corrective values (degrees) which are subtracted from observed altitudes (left side) to reach geometric
altitudes, or values to be added to computed values (right side). The models used are not directly inverse operations.
212
Airmass, Absorption and Extinction Angle (m_z=6.5; apparent altitudes)

0 10 20 30 40 Airmass
15
Absorption [Dmag] k_v
0.4
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.175
0.15
0.125
10
Star invisible at k_v
0.4
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.175
0.15
0.125
5
2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 mag = 6
(Model: Schaefer, S&T4/1987; Airmass: Rozenberg 1966; Observations: Mller 1970) Georg Zotti 20092010, ASTROSIM
Figure 17.6: Airmass and Extinction. The figure shows Airmass (blue) along the line of
sight in the altitude labeled on the left side. The green curves show how many magnitudes
an object is dimmed down, depending on extinction factor k (called kv in the figure). The
red curves indicate at which altitude a star of given magnitude can be seen with good
eyesight, again depending on k. The black dots are observed values found in the literature.
18. A Little Sky Guide
PAUL ROBINSON , WITH ADDITIONS BY A LEXANDER W OLF
This chapter lists some astronomical objects that can be located using Stellarium. All of them
can be seen with the naked eye or binoculars. Since many astronomical objects have more than
one name (often having a proper name, a common name and various catalogue numbers), the
chapter lists the name as it appears in Stellarium use this name when using Stellariums search
function and any other commonly used names.
The Location Guide entry gives brief instructions for finding each object using nearby bright
stars or groups of stars when looking at the real sky a little time spent learning the major
constellations visible from your latitude will pay dividends when it comes to locating fainter (and
more interesting!) objects. When trying to locate these objects in the night sky, keep in mind that
Stellarium displays many stars that are too faint to be visible without optical aid, and even bright
stars can be dimmed by poor atmospheric conditions and light pollution.
18.1 Dubhe and Merak, The Pointers

Type: Stars
Magnitude: 1.83, 2.36
Location Guide: The two rightmost of the seven stars that form the main shape of The Plough
(or Big Dipper, part of Ursa Major).
Northern hemisphere observers are very fortunate to have two stars that point towards Polaris
which lie very close to the northern celestial pole. Whatever the time of night or season of the year
they are always an immediate clue to the location of Polaris, the Pole Star.
18.2 M31, Messier 31, The Andromeda Galaxy

Type: Spiral Galaxy
Magnitude: 3.4
216 Chapter 18. A Little Sky Guide
Location Guide: Find the three bright stars that constitute the main part of the constellation of
Andromeda. From the middle of these look toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.
M31 is the most distant object visible to the naked eye, and among the few nebulae that can be
seen without a telescope or powerful binoculars. Under good conditions it appears as a large fuzzy
patch of light. It is a galaxy containing billions of stars whose distance is roughly 2.5 million light
years from Earth.
18.3 The Garnet Star, Cephei

Type: Variable Star
Magnitude: 4.25 (Avg.)
Location Guide: Cephius lies above the W-shape of Cassiopeia. The Garnet Star lies slightly
to one side of a point halfway between 5 Cephei and 21 Cephei.
A supergiant (1035 Solar radii) of spectral class M with a strong red colour. Given its name
by Sir William Herschel in the 18th century, the colour is striking in comparison to its blue-white
neighbours.
18.4 4 and 5 Lyrae, Lyrae

Type: Double Star
Magnitude: 4.7
Location Guide: Close to Vega ( Lyrae), one of the brightest stars in the sky.
In binoculars Lyrae is resolved into two separate stars. Remarkably, each of these is also a
double star (although this will only be seen with a telescope) and all four stars form a physical
system.
18.5 M13, Hercules Cluster

Type: Globular Cluster
Magnitude: 5.8
Location Guide: Located approximately 1/3 of the way along a line from 44 () to 40 ( ) Herculis.
This cluster of hundreds of thousands of mature stars appears as a circular cloud using the
naked eye or binoculars (a large telescope is required to resolve individual stars). Oddly the cluster
appears to contain one young star and several areas that are almost devoid of stars.
18.6 M45, The Pleiades, The Seven Sisters

Type: Open Cluster
Location Guide: Lies on the Bulls back, about 1/3 between Aldebaran in Taurus and Almaak in
Andromeda.
Depending upon conditions, six to 9 of the blueish stars in this famous cluster will be visible to
someone with average eyesight, and in binoculars it is a glorious sight. The cluster has more than
500 members in total, many of which are shown to be surrounded by nebulous material in long
exposure photographs.
18.7 Algol, The Demon Star, Persei 217
18.7 Algol, The Demon Star, Persei

Type: Variable Star
Location Guide: Halfway between Aldebaran in Taurus and the middle star of the W of
Cassiopeia.
Once every three days or so, Algols brightness changes from 2.1 to 3.4 and back within a
matter of hours. The reason for this change is that Algol has a dimmer giant companion star, with an
orbital period of about 2.8 days, that causes a regular partial eclipse. Although Algols fluctuations
in magnitude have been known since at least the 17th century, it was the first to be proved to be due
to an eclipsing companion it is therefore the prototype Eclipsing Variable.
18.8 Sirius, Canis Majoris

Type: Star
Magnitude: -1.47
Location Guide: Sirius is easily found by following the line of three stars in Orions belt south-
wards.
Sirius is a white dwarf star at a comparatively close 8.6 light years. This proximity and its high
innate luminance makes it the brightest star in our sky. Sirius is a double star; its companion is a
White Dwarf, much dimmer but very hot, and is believed to be smaller than the earth.
18.9 M44, The Beehive, Praesepe

Type: Open Cluster
Magnitude: 3.7
Location Guide: Cancer lies about halfway between the twins (Castor & Pollux) in Gemini and
Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. The Beehive can be found between Asellus Borealis and Asellus
Australis.
There are probably 350 or so stars in this cluster, although it appears to the naked eye simply as
a misty patch. It contains a mixture of stars from red giants to white dwarf and is estimated to be
some 700 million years old.
18.10 27 Cephei, Cephei

Type: Variable Star
Location Guide: Locate the four stars that form the square of Cepheus. One corner of the square
has two other bright stars nearby forming a distinctive triangle is at the head of this triangle
in the direction of Cassiopeia.
Cephei gives its name to a whole class of variables, all of which are pulsating high-mass stars
in the later stages of their evolution. Cephei is also a double star with a companion of magnitude
6.3 visible in binoculars.
18.11 M42, The Great Orion Nebula

Type: Nebula
Magnitude: 4.0
Location Guide: Almost in the middle of the area bounded by Orions belt and lower stars, Saiph
and Rigel.
The Great Orion Nebula is the brightest nebula visible in the night sky and lies at about 1.500
light years from earth. It is a truly gigantic gas and dust cloud that extends for several hundred light
years, reaching almost halfway across the constellation of Orion. The nebula contains a cluster
of hot young stars known as the Trapezium, and more stars are believed to be forming within the
cloud.
18.12 La Superba, Y Canum Venaticorum, HIP 62223

Type: Star
Location Guide: Almost the center of the arch of stars of Ursa Majors tail. Forms a neat triangle
with Phekda () and Alkaid (, tail tip) in Ursa Major towards Canes Venatici.
La Superba (215 Solar radii) is a Carbon Star a group of relatively cool gigantic (usually
variable) stars that have an outer shell containing high levels of carbon. This shell is very efficient
at absorbing short wavelength blue light, giving carbon stars a distinctive red or orange tint. One of
the coolest and reddest known stars.
18.13 52 and 53 Bootis, 1 and 2 Bootis

Type: Double Star
Magnitude: 5.0, 5.0
Location Guide: Follow a line from Seginus ( Boo, left shoulder) to Nekkar ( Boo, the head)
and then continue for the same distance again to arrive at this double star.
This optical double star consists of a pair of different spectral type, and 52 Bootis, at approxi-
mately 800 light years, is twice as far away as 53.
18.14 PZ Cas, HIP 117078

Type: Variable Star
Location Guide: Lies about 1/3 between Caph ( Cas, the top right star of W) in Cassiopeia
and Cephei (32 Cep, top left star in rectangle of Cepheus).
This faint red star is one of the biggest known stars its average size parameter is 1565 Solar
radii (the true value is from 1340 to 1940 Solar radii). PZ Cas is a pulsating variable star located in
a region with heavy dust extinction.
18.15 VV Cephei, HIP 108317

Type: Variable Star, Double Star
Location Guide: Lies near the center of the rectangle of Cepheus).
This is an interesting eclipsing binary system VV Cep A (1457 Solar radii) is a highly
distorted star in a binary system, losing mass to its B-type companion VV Cephei B (10 Solar radii)
for at least part of its orbit.
18.16 AH Scorpii, HIP 84071

Type: Variable Star
18.17 Albireo, Cygni 219
Location Guide: Lies in Scorpius, about 1 41 of a continuation of the Scorpions tail.

AH Sco (1411 Solar radii) is variable by nearly 3 magnitudes in the visual range, and an
estimated 20% in total luminosity. The variation in diameter is not clear because the temperature
also varies.
18.17 Albireo, Cygni

Type: Double Star
Magnitude: 3.4, 5.1
Location Guide: The head of Cygni.
When viewed with the naked eye, it appears to be a single star. However, in a telescope it
readily resolves into a double star, consisting of Albireo A (amber), and Albireo B (blue-green).
Separated by 3500 , the two components provide one of the best contrasting double stars in the sky
due to their different colors.
Figure 18.1: Albireo: A Bright and Beautiful Double. Credit & Copyright: Richard
Yandrick.
18.18 31 and 32 Cygni, o1 and o2 Cygni

Type: Multiple Star
Magnitude: 3.8, 4.0
Location Guide: The two bright stars about 1/2 between Deneb ( Cygni, tail of Cygnus) and
Rukh ( Cygni, middle of the left wing of Cygnus).
The wide binary o1 Cygni and o2 Cygni is separated 610 (NNE), and this star is an easy naked-
eye double. o1 Cygni with 30 Cyg and HD 192579 (HIP 99676) is a moderately difficult triple
system. And surprise each of o1 Cyg and o2 Cyg are also Algol-type eclipsing binaries!
18.19 The Coathanger, Brocchis Cluster, Cr 399

Type: Asterism
Location Guide: It is best found by slowly sweeping across the Milky Way along an imaginary
line from the bright star Altair toward the even brighter star Vega (around 1/3 between Altair and
Vega).
The asterism is made up of 10 stars ranging from 5th to 7th magnitude which form the
conspicuous coathanger, a straight line of 6 stars with a hook of 4 stars on the south side. Under
a dark sky, Collinder 399 can be seen with the naked eye as an unresolved patch of light; binoculars
or a telescope at very low power are usually needed in order to view the coathanger asterism.
18.20 Kembles Cascade

Type: Asterism
Location Guide: The asterism lies in the constellation Camelopardalis, about 1/3 between CS
Cam and Cam HIP 18505 has magnitude 5 and can be found in the center of the chain.
Kembles Cascade is a chain of stars which are visible in binocular even in light-polluted skies.
18.21 The Double Cluster, and h Persei, NGC 884 and NGC 869
Type: Open Clusters
Location Guide: The two open clusters near stars and h in the constellation Perseus.
The Double Cluster (also known as Caldwell 14 or C14) is the common name for the naked-eye
open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884 (often designated h Persei and Persei, respectively). The
Double Cluster is approximately the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower, which peaks annually
around August 12 or 13. Although easy to locate in the northern sky, observing the Double
Cluster in its two parts requires optical aid. They are described as being an awe-inspiring and
breathtaking sight, and are often cited as targets in astronomical observers guides.
18.22 Large Magellanic Cloud, PGC 17223

Type: Dwarf Spiral Galaxy
Magnitude: 0.9
Location Guide: It is visible as a faint cloud in the night sky of the southern hemisphere
straddling the border between the constellations of Dorado and Mensa, and it appears from Earth
more than 20 times the width of the full moon.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The Large
Magellanic Cloud is usually considered an irregular galaxy. However, it shows signs of a bar
structure, and has more recently been reclassified as a Magellanic-type dwarf spiral galaxy. At
a distance of 50 kiloparsecs, the LMC is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the
Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal (~16 kiloparsecs) and the putative Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (~12.9
kiloparsecs, though its status as a galaxy is under dispute) lying closer to the center of the Milky
Way. The LMC has a diameter of about 14,000 light-years (~4.3 kpc) and a mass of approximately
10 billion (1010 ) solar masses, making it roughly 1/100 as massive as the Milky Way. The LMC has
a wide range of galactic objects and phenomena surveys of the galaxy have found roughly 60
globular clusters, 400 planetary nebulae, and 700 open clusters, along with hundreds of thousands
of giant and supergiant stars.
18.23 Tarantula Nebula, C 103, NGC 2070

Type: Nebula
Magnitude: 7.3
Location Guide: Part of Large Magellanic Cloud.
The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus) is an H II region in the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC). 30 Doradus has at its centre the star cluster NGC 2070 which includes the compact
18.24 Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 292, PGC 3085 221
Figure 18.2: Small and Large Magellanic Clouds over Paranal Observatory. Credit: ESO/J.
Colosimo.
concentration of stars known as R136 that produces most of the energy that makes the nebula
visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000 solar masses, suggesting it will likely become
a globular cluster in the future [8]. The closest supernova observed since the invention of the
telescope, Supernova 1987A, occurred in the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula.
18.24 Small Magellanic Cloud, NGC 292, PGC 3085

Type: Dwarf Irregular Galaxy
Magnitude: 2.2
Location Guide: It is located mostly in the constellation of Tucana and appears as a hazy, light
patch in the night sky about 3 across, looking like a detached piece of the Milky Way. Since it has
a very low surface brightness, it is best viewed from a dark site away from city lights.
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. It is classified
as a dwarf irregular galaxy. It has a diameter of about 7,000 light-years and has a total mass of
approximately 7 billion times the mass of the Sun. The SMC contains a central bar structure and it
is speculated that it was once a barred spiral galaxy that was disrupted by the Milky Way to become
somewhat irregular. At a distance of about 200,000 light-years, it is one of the Milky Ways nearest
neighbors. It is also one of the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye.
18.25 Centauri cluster, C 80, NGC 5139

Magnitude: 5.3
Location Guide: It is located around 1/3 between and Centauri.
Omega Centauri ( Cen), or NGC 5139, is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus
that was first identified as a non-stellar object by Edmond Halley in 1677. Located at a distance
of 15,800 light-years (4,850 pc), it is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter
of roughly 150 light-years. It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars and a total
mass equivalent to 4 million solar masses. Omega Centauri is so distinctive from the other galactic
globular clusters that it is thought to have an alternate origin as the core remnant of a disrupted
dwarf galaxy [50].
18.26 47 Tucanae, C 106, NGC 104

Magnitude: 4.1
Location Guide: It can be seen with the naked eye near Small Magellanic Cloud.
It is the one of brightest globular cluster in the sky, and is noted for having a very bright and
dense core. It is also one of the most massive globular clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy, containing
millions of stars. The cluster appears roughly the size of the full moon in the sky under ideal
conditions.
18.27 The Coalsack Nebula, C 99

Type: Dark Nebula
Location Guide: Dark region between and Crux.
The Coalsack Nebula is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, easily visible to the
naked eye as a dark patch silhouetted against the southern Milky Way. It is located at a distance of
approximately 600 light years away from Earth. The Coalsack is important in Australian Aboriginal
astronomy, and forms the head of the Emu in the sky in several Aboriginal cultures.
18.28 Mira, o Ceti, 68 Cet

Type: Variable Star
Magnitude: 2.010.1
Location Guide: It is located around 1/3 between and Ceti.
Mira (o Ceti) is a star estimated 200400 light years away in the constellation Cetus. Mira is a
binary star system that consists of a red giant (Mira A) undergoing mass loss and a high temperature
white dwarf companion (Mira B) that is accreting mass from the primary. Such an arrangement of
stars is known as a symbiotic system, and this is the closest such symbiotic pair to the Sun. Mira is
the brightest periodic variable in the sky that is not visible to the naked eye for part of its cycle. Its
distance is uncertain. Mira A is a well-known example of a category of long-period variable stars
known as Mira variables, which are named after it.
18.29 Persei Cluster, Cr 39, Mel 20

Type: Open Cluster
Magnitude: 1.2
Location Guide: Around the white-yellow supergiant Mirfak, also known as Persei in direction
to Persei.
The Alpha Persei Cluster, also known as Melotte 20 or Collinder 39, is an open cluster in the
constellation of Perseus. To the naked eye, the cluster consists of several blue (spectral class B)
stars.
18.30 M7, The Ptolemy Cluster 223
Figure 18.3: The Coalsack Nebula taken by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO
2.2-metre telescope. Credit: ESO.
18.30 M7, The Ptolemy Cluster

Type: Open Cluster
Magnitude: 3.3
Location Guide: The cluster is easily detectable with the naked eye, close to the sting of
Scorpius near the center of the line between Shaula ( Scorpii) and Kaus Media ( Sagittarii).
M7 has been known since antiquity it was first recorded by the 2nd-century Greek-Roman
astronomer Ptolemy, who described it as a nebula in 130 AD. Telescopic observations of the cluster
reveal about 80 stars within a field of view of 1.3 across. At the clusters estimated distance of 980
light years this corresponds to an actual diameter of 25 light years.
18.31 M24, The Sagittarius Star Cloud

Type: Star Cloud
Magnitude: 4.6
Location Guide: In the Milky Way region near Polis ( Sagittarii).
The Sagittarius Star Cloud is a star cloud in the constellation of Sagittarius, approximately 600
light years wide. The stars, clusters and other objects comprising M24 are part of the Sagittarius or
Sagittarius-Carina arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Messier described M24 as a large nebulosity
containing many stars and gave its dimensions as being some 1.5 across.
18.32 IC 4665, The Summer Beehive Cluster

Type: Open Cluster
Magnitude: 4.2
Location Guide: Visible to the naked eye near Cebalrai ( Ophiuchi).
IC 4665 is an open cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus which is easily visible in the smallest
of telescopes and also with binoculars. From a sufficiently dark place it is also visible to the naked
eye.
18.33 The E Nebula, Barnard 142 and 143

Type: Dark Nebula
Location Guide: A well-defined dark area on a background of Milky Way near Tarazed ( Aquilae).
The E or Barnards E Nebula (officially designated as B142 and B143) is a pair of dark
nebulae in the constellation Aquila. It is a well-defined dark area on a background of the Milky
Way. The size of the nebula is roughly 0.5 , and its distance from earth is estimated at about 2000
light years.
19. Exercises
PAUL ROBINSON , WITH ADDITIONS BY A LEXANDER W OLF
19.1 Find M31 in Binoculars

M31 the Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. Finding it in
binoculars is a rewarding experience for new-comers to observing.
19.1.1 Simulation
1. Set the location to a mid-Northern latitude if necessary (M31 isnt always visible for Southern
hemisphere observers). The UK is ideal.
2. Find M31 and set the time so that the sky is dark enough to see it. The best time of year for
this at Northern latitudes is Autumn/Winter, although there should be a chance to see it at
some time of night throughout the year.
3. Set the field of view to 6 (or the field of view of your binoculars if theyre different. 6 is
typical for 7x50 binoculars).
4. Practise finding M31 from the bright stars in Cassiopeia and the constellation of Andromeda.
Learn the chain of stars that extends from Andromedas central star perpendicular to her
body.
19.1.2 For Real

This part is not going to be possible for many people. First, you need a good night and a dark sky.
In urban areas with a lot of light pollution its going to be very hard to see Andromeda.
19.2 Handy Angles

As described in section 16.5.2, your hand at arms length provides a few useful estimates for
angular size. Its useful to know whether your handy angles are typical, and if not, what they are.
226 Chapter 19. Exercises
The method here below is just one way to do it feel free to use another method of your own
construction!
Hold your hand at arms length with your hand open the tips of your thumb and little finger
as far apart as you can comfortably hold them. Get a friend to measure the distance between your
thumb and your eye, well call this D. There is a tendency to over-stretch the arm when someone
is measuring it try to keep the thumb-eye distance as it would be if you were looking at some
distant object.
Without changing the shape of your hand, measure the distance between the tips of your thumb
and little finger. Its probably easiest to mark their positions on a piece of paper and measure the
distance between the marks, well call this d. Using some simple trigonometry, we can estimate the
angular distance using equation (16.4).
Repeat the process for the distance across a closed fist, three fingers and the tip of the little
finger.
For example, for one author D = 72 cm, d = 21 cm, so:
1

21
= 2 arctan 16 (19.1)
144 2
Remember that handy angles are not very precise depending on your posture at a given time
the values may vary by a fair bit.
19.3 Find a Lunar Eclipse

Stellarium comes with two scripts for finding lunar eclipses, but can you find one on a different
date?
19.4 Find a Solar Eclipse

Find a Solar Eclipse using Stellarium and take a screenshot of it. Use the location panel and see
how the eclipse look on different locations at the same time.
19.5 Find a retrograde motion of Mars

Find a Mars using Stellarium and take a series of screenshots of him position in different time. Use
the date and time panel and see how a motion of Mars is changes in the time. Find a periods of
direct and retrograde motion of Mars.
19.6 Analemma
Set a time as the noon and set time rate in pause, turn on the azimuthal grid. Find the Sun and check
him horizontal coordinates. Use the date and time panel and see how the horizontal coordinates of
the Sun is changes in time (please use one time step for simulation look the position of the Sun
every 7 days for example). Use the location panel and see how the positions of the Sun look on
different location at the same times. Check change the positions of the Sun on Mars in same times.
19.7 Transit of Venus

Set date at 6th June 2012, find Venus near the Sun and change scale of the view. Find time of all
four contacts and maximum of transit for your location. Because the Sun appears to rotate as it
19.8 Transit of Mercury 227
crossed at the sky, Venus will appear to move on some curve for example it will be an inverted
U shape for eastern states of Australia. Check difference of shape of path of Venus for equatorial
and azimuthal mounts. Find few dates and times for transit of Venus in past and in future.
19.8 Transit of Mercury

Set date at 9th May 2016, find Mercury near the Sun and change scale of the view. Find time of all
four contacts and maximum of transit for your location. Because the Sun appears to rotate as it
crossed at the sky, Mercury will appear to move on some curve for example it will be an inverted
U shape for observers from Europe. Check difference of shape of path of Mercury for equatorial
and azimuthal mounts. Find few dates and times for transit of Mercury in past and in future.
19.9 Triple shadows on Jupiter

Set date at 24th January 2015, find Jupiter and change scale of the view. Find the time when three
shadows will be visible on disk of Jupiter. Which moons given those shadows? Check which moons
give of triple shadows on Jupiter at 3 June 2014. Details for this phenomenon you can find in book
Mathematical astronomy morsels by J. Meeus [39].
19.10 Jupiter without satellites

Set date at 9th November 2019, find Jupiter and change scale of the view. Find time limits for the
disappearance of the moons. Which moons are on the back of planet, and which in front of her?
Please give answer on same questions for 3 September 2009. Details for this phenomenon you can
find in book Mathematical astronomy morsels by J. Meeus [39]
19.11 Mutual occultations of planets

Set date at 13th October 1590, find Venus and change the scale of the view. Find time of minimal
separation of Venus and Mars on this date. Set typical scale of view for visual observation and
check Venus and Mars again. What would said the typical observer of that time? Find the minimal
separation between Venus and Saturn near end of August 1771. What would said the typical
observer on Earth? Find the minimal separation between Mars and Mercury in first half of August
2079.
Find mutual occultation of Earth and Mercury as seen from Mars near the end of November
2022. Find mutual occultation of Saturn and Mercury as seen from Venus near the middle of May
1967.
Details for this phenomenon you can find in books More mathematical astronomy morsels
and Mathematical astronomy morsels III by J. Meeus [41, 42]
19.12 The proper motion of stars

Turn off ground and atmosphere, set time rate on pause, find the star HIP 87937 and change the
scale of the view to better see of the Barnards star. Use the date and time panel and see how
the location of the star is changes in time (please try use one time step for simulation look
the position of the star every year for example). When Barnards star will be cross the border of
constellation? When Barnards star has crossed the border of constellation in the past?
228 Chapter 19. Exercises
Please check the proper motions of Sirius (HIP 32349), Procyon (HIP 37279), 61 Cyg (HIP
104214) and Cet (HIP 8102). Which star has fastest proper motion? Which star has the slowest
rate of proper motion?
When observer will be see mutual occultation of Arcturus and HIP 68706? Find the minimal
angular separation between and Ind in the past.
How to will change the appearance of follow constellations on wide range of time (-100000..100000
years for example): Ursa Major, Orion, Bootes?
V
Appendices
A Default Hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
B The Bortle Scale of Light Pollution . . . . . . . 239
C Star Catalogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
D Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
E Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
F Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
G GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . 297
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
A. Default Hotkeys
The currently configured hotkeys are visible in the Help dialog ( F1 ). Here is the default list for
reference.
A.1 Mouse actions with combination of the keyboard keys
Actions Description
Arrow keys & left mouse drag Pan view around the sky
Page Up/Down & Ctrl + Page Up/Down Zoom in/out
Ctrl & left mouse drag Time dragging
Ctrl & mouse wheel Time scrolling: minutes
Ctrl + Shift & mouse wheel Time scrolling: hours
Ctrl + Alt & mouse wheel Time scrolling: days
Ctrl + Alt + Shift & mouse wheel Time scrolling: years
Left click Select object
Right click Clear selection
Shift & left click Add custom marker
Shift & right click Delete all custom markers
A.2 Display Options
Shortcut key Description

P Planets
Alt + P Planet labels
Ctrl + P Planet markers
O Planet orbits
232 Chapter A. Default Hotkeys
Shift + T Planet trails

Ctrl + Shift + P Planet selection marker
S Stars
Alt + S Stars labels
D Deep-sky objects (symbols)
I Deep-sky objects background images
Ctrl + Alt + D Digitized Sky Survey (experimental)
M Milky Way
Ctrl + Shift + Z Zodiacal Light
G Ground
F Fog
Shift + G Landscape Illumination
Ctrl + Shift + G Landscape Labels
A Atmosphere
Q Cardinal points
, Ecliptic line
. Equator line
E Equatorial grid
Z Azimuthal grid
H Horizon line
; Meridian line
C Constellation lines
V Constellation labels
R Constellation art
B Constellation boundaries
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + V Select single constellation
Tab Remove selection of constellations
Ctrl + Shift + N Native planet names (from starlore)
F11 Full-screen mode
Ctrl + N Night mode
Ctrl + Shift + H Flip scene horizontally
Ctrl + Shift + V Flip scene vertically
A.3 Miscellaneous

Ctrl + C Copy selected object information to clipboard
Ctrl + Q Quit
Ctrl + S Save screenshot
Ctrl + M Switch between equatorial and azimuthal mount
Ctrl + T Toggle visibility of GUI
A.6 Scripts 233
A.4 Movement and Selection

Center on selected object
Ctrl + H Go to home
Ctrl + G Set home planet to selected planet (go there)
Shift + E Look towards East
Shift + N Look towards North
Shift + S Look towards South
Shift + W Look towards West
Shift + Z Look towards Zenith
T Track object
/ Zoom in on selected object
\ Zoom out
A.5 Date and Time

= Add 1 solar day
- Subtract 1 solar day
Ctrl + = Add 1 solar hour
Ctrl + - Subtract 1 solar hour
Alt + = Add 1 sidereal day
Alt + - Subtract 1 sidereal day
] Add 7 solar days
[ Subtract 7 solar days
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ] Add 1 sidereal year
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + [ Subtract 1 sidereal year
J Decrease time speed
Shift + J Decrease time speed (a little)
K Set normal time rate
L Increase time speed
Shift + L Increase time speed (a little)
7 Set time rate to zero
8 Set time to now
Ctrl + D , P Pause script execution
Ctrl + D , R Resume script execution
Ctrl + D , S Stop script execution
A.6 Scripts

Ctrl + D , 0 Run script Solar System Screensaver
Ctrl + D , 1 Run script Constellations Tour
Ctrl + D , 2 Run script Sky Culture Tour

Ctrl + D , 3 Run script Screensaver
A.7 Windows

F1 Toggle Help window
F2 Toggle Configuration window
F3 Toggle Search window
F4 Toggle Sky and viewing options window
F5 Toggle Date/time window
F6 Toggle Location window
F7 Toggle Shortcuts window
F10 Toggle AstroCalc window
F12 Toggle Script Console window
Alt + B Toggle Bookmarks window
A.8 Plugins
A.8.1 Angle Measure

Ctrl + A Toggle angle measurement
A.8.2 ArchaeoLines

Ctrl + U Toggle archaeolines
A.8.3 Compass Marks

Ctrl + Alt + C Toggle compass marks
A.8.4 Equation of Time

Ctrl + Alt + T Show solution for Equation of Time
A.8 Plugins 235
A.8.5 Exoplanets

Ctrl + Alt + E Show exoplanets
Alt + E Toggle Exoplanets configuration window
A.8.6 Field of View

Ctrl + Alt + 1 Set FOV to 180
Ctrl + Alt + 0 Set FOV to 0.5
A.8.7 Meteor Showers

Ctrl + Shift + M Toggle meteor showers
Shift + M Toggle radiant labels
Ctrl + Alt + M Show search dialog
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + M Show settings dialog
A.8.8 Oculars

Ctrl + O Ocular view
Alt + O Oculars popup menu
Alt + C Show crosshairs
Ctrl + B Telrad sight
A.8.9 Pulsars

Ctrl + Alt + P Show pulsars
A.8.10 Quasars

Ctrl + Alt + Q Show quasars
A.8.11 Satellites

Ctrl + Z Toggle satellite hints
Alt + Shift + Z Toggle satellite labels
Alt + Z Toggle Satellites configuration window
A.8.12 Scenery3d: 3D landscapes

Ctrl + W Toggle 3D landscape
Ctrl + Shift + W Show settings dialog
Ctrl + Alt + W Show viewpoint dialog
Ctrl + R , T Toggle location text
Ctrl + R , S Toggle shadows
Ctrl + R , L Toggle torchlight
Ctrl + R , D Toggle debug information
Ctrl + R , P Reload shaders
A.8.13 Solar System Editor

Ctrl + Alt + S Import orbital elements in MPC format...
A.8.14 Telescope Control

Ctrl + 0 Move a telescope to a given set of coordinates
Ctrl + 1 Move telescope #1 to selected object
Alt + 1 Move telescope #1 to the point currently in the center of the screen
A.8 Plugins 237

B. The Bortle Scale of Light Pollution
In Sky&Telescope February 2001 J OHN E. B ORTLE published a sky quality scale which describes
the amount of light pollution. Stellariums light pollution setting tries to follow this scale. For
completeness we reproduce from Wikipedia:
B.1 Excellent dark sky site

Level: 1
Limiting magnitude (eye): 7.6 8.0
Zodiacal light, gegenschein, zodiacal band visible; M33 direct vision naked-eye object; Scorpius
and Sagittarius regions of the Milky Way cast obvious shadows on the ground; Airglow is readily
visible; Jupiter and Venus affect dark adaptation; surroundings basically invisible.
B.2 Typical truly dark site

Level: 2
Airglow weakly visible near horizon; M33 easily seen with naked eye; highly structured
Summer Milky Way; distinctly yellowish zodiacal light bright enough to cast shadows at dusk and
dawn; clouds only visible as dark holes; surroundings still only barely visible silhouetted against
the sky; many Messier globular clusters still distinct naked-eye objects.
B.3 Rural sky

Level: 3
Some light pollution evident at the horizon; clouds illuminated near horizon, dark overhead;
Milky Way still appears complex; M15, M4, M5, M22 distinct naked-eye objects; M33 easily
240 Chapter B. The Bortle Scale of Light Pollution
visible with averted vision; zodiacal light striking in spring and autumn, color still visible; nearer
surroundings vaguely visible.
B.4 Rural/suburban transition

Level: 4
Light pollution domes visible in various directions over the horizon; zodiacal light is still
visible, but not even halfway extending to the zenith at dusk or dawn; Milky Way above the horizon
still impressive, but lacks most of the finer details; M33 a difficult averted vision object, only
visible when higher than 55 ; clouds illuminated in the directions of the light sources, but still dark
overhead; surroundings clearly visible, even at a distance.
B.5 Suburban sky

Level: 5
Only hints of zodiacal light are seen on the best nights in autumn and spring; Milky Way is
very weak or invisible near the horizon and looks washed out overhead; light sources visible in
most, if not all, directions; clouds are noticeably brighter than the sky.
B.6 Bright suburban sky

Level: 6
Zodiacal light is invisible; Milky Way only visible near the zenith; sky within 35 from the
horizon glows grayish white; clouds anywhere in the sky appear fairly bright; surroundings easily
visible; M33 is impossible to see without at least binoculars, M31 is modestly apparent to the
unaided eye.
B.7 Suburban/urban transition

Level: 7
Limiting magnitude (eye): 5.0 at best
Entire sky has a grayish-white hue; strong light sources evident in all directions; Milky Way
invisible; M31 and M44 may be glimpsed with the naked eye, but are very indistinct; clouds are
brightly lit; even in moderate-sized telescopes the brightest Messier objects are only ghosts of their
true selves.
B.8 City sky

Level: 8
Sky glows white or orange you can easily read; M31 and M44 are barely glimpsed by an
experienced observer on good nights; even with telescope, only bright Messier objects can be
detected; stars forming familiar constellation patterns may be weak or completely invisible.
B.9 Inner City sky 241
B.9 Inner City sky

Level: 9
Sky is brilliantly lit with many stars forming constellations invisible and many weaker constel-
lations invisible; aside from Pleiades, no Messier object is visible to the naked eye; only objects to
provide fairly pleasant views are the Moon, the Planets and a few of the brightest star clusters.
C. Star Catalogues
This chapter provides technical descriptions on how Stellarium records its star catalogues, and the
related file formats.
C.1 Stellariums Sky Model

C.1.1 Zones
The celestial sphere is split into zones, which correspond to the triangular faces of a geodesic sphere.
The number of zones (faces) depends on the level of sub-division of this sphere. The lowest level,
0, is an icosahedron (20 faces), subsequent levels L of sub-division give the number of zones n as:
n = 20 4L (C.1)
Stellarium uses levels 0 to 7 in the existing star catalogues. Star Data Records contain the
position of a star as an offset from the central position of the zone in which that star is located, thus
it is necessary to determine the vector from the observer to the centre of a zone, and add the stars
offsets to find the absolute position of the star on the celestial sphere.
This position for a star is expressed as a 3-dimensional vector which points from the observer
(at the centre of the geodesic sphere) to the position of the star as observed on the celestial sphere.
C.2 Star Catalogue File Format

C.2.1 General Description
Stellariums star catalogue data is kept in the stars/default sub-directory of the Installation
Directory and/or User Directory (see section 5.1).
The main catalogue data is split into several files:
stars_0_0v0_7.cat
stars_1_0v0_7.cat
244 Chapter C. Star Catalogues
stars_2_0v0_7.cat
stars_3_1v0_4.cat
stars_4_1v0_2.cat
stars_5_2v0_1.cat
stars_6_2v0_1.cat
stars_7_2v0_1.cat
stars_8_2v0_1.cat
There also exist some control and reference files:
stars_hip_cids_0v0_0.cat
stars_hip_sp_0v0_3.cat
gcvs_hip_part.dat
wds_hip_part.dat
cross-id.dat
stars.ini
name.fab
When Stellarium starts, it reads the stars.ini file, from which it determines the names of the
other files, which it then loads.
The files stars_hip_cids_0v0_0.cat and stars_hip_sp_0v0_2.cat contain reference
data for the main catalogue files. The file gcvs_hip_part.dat contains data about variables stars
(see section C.3) and file wds_hip_part.dat contains data about double stars (see section C.4)
which again contains references into the main catalogue files.
The file cross-id.dat (see section C.5) contains cross-identification data between HIP, SAO,
HD and HR designations.
A given catalogue file models stars for one and only one level (i.e. for a fixed number of zones),
which is recorded in the header of the file. Individual star records do not contain full positional
coordinates, instead they contain coordinates relative to the central position of the zone they occupy.
Thus, when parsing star catalogues, it is necessary to know about the zone model to be able to
extract positional data.
File Data Type Data Geodesic #Records Notes

Record Size Level
stars_0_0v0_7.cat 0 28 bytes 0 4,979 Hipparcos
stars_3_1v0_4.cat 1 10 bytes 3 425,807 Tycho 2
stars_4_1v0_2.cat 1 10 bytes 4 1,692,779 Tycho 2
stars_5_2v0_1.cat 2 8 bytes 5 7,083,058 NOMAD
For a given catalogue file, there may be one of three formats for the actual star data. The
variation comes from the source of the data the larger catalogues of fainter stars providing less
data per star than the brighter star catalogues. See tables Stellariums star catalogue and for details.
Stellariums star catalogues based on Hipparcos [4, 19], Tycho 2 [27] and NOMAD [75]
catalogues.
C.2.2 File Sections

The catalogue files are split into three main sections as described in table File sections.
Section Offset Description

File Header Record 0 Contains magic number, geodesic subdivision level, and magni-
tude range
Zone Records 32 A list of how many records there are for each zone. The length
of the zones section depends on the level value from the header
Star Data Records 32+4n This section of the file contains fixed-size star records, as de-
scribed below. Records do not contain zone information, which
must be inferred by counting how many records have been read
so far and switching zones when enough have been read to fill
the number of stars for the zone, as specified in the zones section
above. The value of n used in the offset description is the number
of zones, as described above.
C.2.3 Record Types

File Header Record
The File Header Record describes file-wide settings. It also contains a magic number which servers
as a file type identifier. See table Header Record.
Name Offset Type Size Description

Magic 0 int 4 The magic number which identifies the file as a
star catalogue. 0xde0955a3
Data Type 4 int 4 This describes the type of the file, which defines
the size and structure of the Star Data record for
the file.
Major Version 8 int 4 The file format major version number
Minor Version 12 int 4 The file format minor version number
Level 16 int 4 Sets the level of sub-division of the geodesic
sphere used to create the zones. 0 means an
icosahedron (20 triangular faces), subsequent
levels of sub-division lead to numbers of zones
as described in section Zones
Magnitude Minimum 20 int 4 The low bound of the magnitude scale for values
in this file. Note that this is still an integer in
Stellariums own internal representation
Magnitude Range 24 int 4 The range of magnitudes expressed in this file
Magnitude Steps 28 int 4 The number of steps used to describes values in
the range
Zone Records
The Zone Records section of the file lists the number of star records there are per zone. The number
of zones is determined from the level value in the File Header Record, as described in section
Zones. The Zones section is simply a list of integer values which describe the number of stars for
each zone. The total length of the Zones section depends on the number of zones. See table Zones
section.

num stars in zone 0 0 int 4 The number of records in this file which are in
zone 0
num stars in zone 1 4 int 4 The number of records is this file which are in zone
1
...
num stars in zone n 4n int 4 The number of records is this file which are in zone
n
Star Data Records

After the Zones section, the actual star data starts. The star data records themselves do not contain
the zone in which the star belongs. Instead, the zone is inferred from the position of the record
in the file. For example, if the Zone Records section of the file says that the first 100 records are
for zone 0, the next 80 for zone 1 and so on, it is possible to infer the zone for a given record by
counting how many records have been read so far.
The actual record structure depends on the value of the Data Type, as found in the File Header
Record.
See tables Star Data Record Type 0, Star Data Record Type 1 and Star Data Record Type 2 for
record structure details.
It should be noted that although the positional data loses accuracy as one progresses though the
Star Record Types, this is compensated for by the face that the number of zones is much higher for
the files where the smaller precision position fields are used, so the actual resolution on the sky
isnt significantly worse for the type 1 and 2 records in practice.

hip 0 int 3 Hipparcos catalogue number
component_ids 3 unsigned char 1 This is an index to an array of catalogue
number suffixes. The list is read from the
stars_hip_component_ids.cat file. The
value of this field turns out to be the line
number in the file - 1
x0 4 int 4 This is the position of the star relative to
the central point in the stars zone, in axis
1
x1 8 int 4 This is the position of the star relative to
the central point in the stars zone, in axis
2
b_v 9 unsigned char 1 This is the magnitude level in B-V colour.
This value refers to one of 256 discrete
steps in the magnitude range for the file
mag 10 unsigned char 1 This is the magnitude level in the V-I
colour. This value refers to one of 256
discrete steps in the magnitude range for
the file
sp_int 11 unsigned short int 2 This is the index in an array of spectral

type descriptions which is taken from the
file stars_hip_sp.cat, the index cor-
responds to the line number in the file -
1
dx0 13 int 4 This is the proper motion of the star in
axis 1
dx1 17 int 4 This is the proper motion of the star in
axis 2
plx 21 int 4 This is the parallax of the star. To get the
actual value, divide by 10000.

x0 0 int 20 bits This is the position of the star relative to the central
point in the stars zone, in axis 1
x1 20 bits int 20 bits This is the position of the star relative to the central
dx0 40 bits int 14 bits This is the proper motion of the star in axis 1
dx1 54 bits int 14 bits This is the proper motion of the star in axis 2
b_v 68 bits unsigned int 7 bits This is the magnitude level in B-V colour. This value
refers to one of 256 discrete steps in the magnitude
range for the file
mag 75 bits unsigned int 5 bits This is the magnitude level in the V-I colour. This
value refers to one of 256 discrete steps in the magni-
tude range for the file

x0 0 int 18 bits This is the position of the star relative to the central
x1 18 bits int 18 bits This is the position of the star relative to the central
b_v 36 bits unsigned int 7 bits This is the magnitude level in B-V colour. This value
refers to one of 256 discrete steps in the magnitude
range for the file
mag 43 bits unsigned int 5 bits This is the magnitude level in the V-I colour. This
value refers to one of 256 discrete steps in the magni-
tude range for the file
C.3 Variable Stars

Since version 0.12.2 Stellarium supports the subset of variable stars from GCVS1 which have HIP
identificators (i.e., stars from the Hipparcos catalog). Stellariums Catalog of Variable Stars is based
on the General Catalogue of Variable Stars [56].
C.3.1 Variable Star Catalog File Format

General Description
Stellariums Variable Stars catalog data is kept in the stars/default sub-directory of the Installa-
tion Directory and/or User Directory (see section 5.1).
File Format
The gcvs_hip_part.dat file contains data about 6916 variable stars which have HIP identificators
and stored in the plain text format with tab delimiter.
Name Type Description

HIP int This is the HIP identificator for the star. Used for reference to the main star
catalogue.
GCVS string This is the GCVS designation for the variable star.
Type string Type of variability.
Max float Magnitude at maximum brightness.
MFlag int Magnitude flag code (0=No flag; 1="(" if max. magnitude is an amplitude;
2="<" if max. magnitude is a bright limit; 3=">" is max. magnitude is a
faint limit).
Min I float First minimum magnitude or amplitude.
Min II float Second minimum magnitude.
V char The photometric system for magnitudes.
Epoch float Epoch for maximum or minimum light (in Julian days).
Period float Period for the variable star (in days).
M-m float Rising time or duration of the eclipse (in percent).
Spectrum string Spectral class of the variable star.
C.3.2 GCVS Variability Types

An improved system of variability classification is used in the fourth edition of the GCVS, based
on recent developments in classification principles and taking into account the suggestions of a
number of specialists. Variability types are grouped according to the major astrophysical reasons
for variability.
All of these classes include objects of a dissimilar nature that belong to different types of light
variability. On the other hand, an object may be variable because of almost all of the possible
reasons or because of any combination of them. If a variable belongs to several types of variability,
the types are joined in the data field by a "+" sign, e.g., E+UG, UV+BY.
1 http://www.sai.msu.su/gcvs/gcvs/
Despite considerable success in understanding stellar variability processes, the classification

adopted in the Catalogue is far from perfect. This is especially the case for explosive, symbiotic
and novalike variables; X-ray sources; and peculiar objects.
You can read about latest different types of variability here.
Eruptive Variable Stars

Eruptive variables are stars varying in brightness because of violent processes and flares occurring
in their chromospheres and coronae. The light changes are usually accompanied by shell events
or mass outflow in the form of stellar winds of variable intensity and/or by interaction with the
surrounding interstellar medium. This class includes the following types:
Type Description
FU Orion variables of the FU Orionis type. Characterized by gradual increases in bright-
ness by about 6 mag in several months, followed by either almost complete constancy
at maximum that is sustained for long periods of time or slow decline by 1-2 mag.
Spectral types at maximum are in the range Ae(alpha) - Gpe(alpha). After an outburst,
a gradual development of an emission spectrum is observed and the spectral type
becomes later. These variables probably mark one of the evolutionary stages of T
Tauri-type Orion variables (INT), as evidenced by an outburst of one member, V1057
Cyg, but its decline (2.5 mag in 11 years) commenced immediately after maximum
brightness was attained. All presently known FU Ori variables are coupled with
reflecting cometary nebulae.
GCAS Eruptive irregular variables of the Gamma Cas type. These are rapidly rotating B
III-IVe stars with mass outflow from their equatorial zones. The formation of equatorial
rings or disks is often accompanied by temporary fading. Light amplitudes may reach
1.5 mag in V.
I Poorly studied irregular variables with unknown features of light variations and spectral
types. This is a very inhomogeneous group of objects.
IA Poorly studied irregular variables of early (O-A) spectral type.
IB Poorly studied irregular variables of intermediate (F-G) to late (K-M) spectral type.
IN Orion variables. Irregular, eruptive variables connected with bright or dark diffuse
nebulae or observed in the regions of these nebulae. Some of them may show cyclic
light variations caused by axial rotation. In the Spectrum-Luminosity diagram, they
are found in the area of the main sequence and subgiants. They are probably young
objects that, during the course of further evolution, will become light-constant stars on
the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS). The range of brightness variations may reach
several magnitudes. In the case of rapid light variations having been observed (up to 1
mag in 1-10 days), the letter S is added to the symbol for the type (INS). This type
may be divided into the following subtypes:
INA Orion variables of early spectral types (B-A or Ae). They are often characterized by
occasional abrupt Algol-like fadings (T Ori);
INB Orion variables of intermediate and late spectral types, F-M or Fe-Me (BH Cep, AH
Ori). F-type stars may show Algol-like fadings similar to those of many INA stars;
K-M stars may produce flares along with irregular light variations;
INT,IT Orion variables of the T Tauri type. Stars are assigned to this type on the basis of the
following (purely spectroscopic) criteria: spectral types are in the range Fe-Me. The
spectra of most typical stars resemble the spectrum of the solar chromosphere. The
feature specific to the type is the presence of the flourescent emission lines Fe II 4046,
4132 A (anomalously intense in the spectra of these stars), emission lines [Si II] and
[O I], as well as the absorption line Li I 6707 A. These variables are usually observed
only in diffuse nebulae. If it is not apparent that the star is associated with a nebula,
the letter N in the symbol for the type may be omitted, e.g., IT (RW AUR);
IN(YY) Some Orion variables (YY Ori) show the presence of absorption components on the
redward sides of emission lines, indicating the infall of matter toward the stars surfaces.
In such cases, the symbol for the type may be accompanied by the symbol YY.
IS Rapid irregular variables having no apparent connection with diffuse nebulae and
showing light changes of about 0.5 - 1.0 mag within several hours or days. There is no
strict boundary between rapid irregular and Orion variables. If a rapid irregular star
is observed in the region of a diffuse nebula, it is considered an Orion variable and
designated by the symbol INS. To attribute a variable to the IS type, it is necessary
to take much care to be certain that its light changes are really not periodic. Quite a
number of the stars assigned to this type in the third edition of the GCVS turned out
to be eclipsing binary systems, RR Lyrae variables, and even extragalactic BL Lac
objects.
ISA Rapid irregular variables of the early spectral types, B-A or Ae;
ISB Rapid irregular variables of the intermediate and late spectral types, F-M and Fe-Me.
RCB Variables of the R Coronae Borealis type. These are hydrogen-poor, carbon- and
helium-rich, high-luminosity stars belonging to the spectral types Bpe-R, which are
simultaneously eruptive and pulsating variables. They show slow nonperiodic fadings
by 1-9 mag in V lasting from a month or more to several hundred days. These changes
are superposed on cyclic pulsations with amplitudes up to several tenths of a magnitude
and periods in the range 30-100 days.
RS Eruptive variables of the RS Canum Venaticorum type. This type is ascribed to close
binary systems with spectra showing Ca II H and K in emission, their components
having enhanced chromospheric activity that causes quasi-periodic light variability.
The period of variation is close to the orbital one, and the variability amplitude is
usually as great as 0.2 mag in V (UX Ari). They are X-ray sources and rotating
variables. RS CVn itself is also an eclipsing system (see below).
SDOR Variables of the S Doradus type. These are eruptive, high-luminosity Bpec-Fpec stars
showing irregular (sometimes cyclic) light changes with amplitudes in the range 1-7
mag in V. They belong to the brightest blue stars of their parent galaxies. As a rule,
these stars are connected with diffuse nebulae and surrounded by expanding envelopes
(P Cyg, Eta Car).
UV Eruptive variables of the UV Ceti type, these are K Ve-M Ve stars sometimes displaying
flare activity with amplitudes from several tenths of a magnitude up to 6 mag in V. The
amplitude is considerably greater in the ultraviolet spectral region. Maximum light is
attained in several seconds or dozens of seconds after the beginning of a flare; the star
returns to its normal brightness in several minutes or dozens of minutes.
UVN Flaring Orion variables of spectral types Ke-Me. These are phenomenologically almost
identical to UV Cet variables observed in the solar neighborhood. In addition to being
related to nebulae, they are normally characterized by being of earlier spectral type and
greater luminosity, with slower development of flares (V389 Ori). They are possibly a
specific subgroup of INB variables with irregular variations superimposed by flares.
WR Eruptive Wolf-Rayet variables. Stars with broad emission features of He I and He II as
well as C II-C IV, O II-O IV, and N III-N V. They display irregular light changes with
amplitudes up to 0.1 mag in V, which are probably caused by physical processes, in
particular, by nonstable mass outflow from their atmospheres.
Pulsating Variable Stars

Pulsating variables are stars showing periodic expansion and contraction of their surface layers.
The pulsations may be radial or nonradial. A radially pulsating star remains spherical in shape,
while in the case of nonradial pulsations the stars shape periodically deviates from a sphere, and
even neighboring zones of its surface may have opposite pulsation phases.
Depending on the period value, on the mass and evolutionary status of the star, and on the scale
of pulsational phenomena, the following types of pulsating variables may be distinguished:
Type Description
ACYG Variables of the Alpha Cygni type, which are nonradially pulsating supergiants of
Bep-AepIa spectral types. The light changes with amplitudes of the order of 0.1 mag
often seem irregular, being caused by the superposition of many oscillations with
close periods. Cycles from several days to several weeks are observed.
BCEP Variables of the Beta Cephei type (Beta Cep, Beta CMa), which are pulsating O8-B6
I-V stars with periods of light and radial-velocity variations in the range of 0.1 - 0.6
days and light amplitudes from 0.01 to 0.3 mag in V. The light curves are similar in
shape to average radial-velocity curves but lag in phase by a quarter of the period,
so that maximum brightness corresponds to maximum contraction, i.e., to minimum
stellar radius. The majority of these stars probably show radial pulsations, but some
(V469 Per) display nonradial pulsations; multiperiodicity is characteristic of many of
these stars.
BCEPS A short-period group of Beta Cep variables. The spectral types are B2-B3 IV-V;
periods and light amplitudes are in the ranges 0.02 - 0.04 days and 0.015 - 0.025
days, respectively, i.e., an order of magnitude smaller than the normally observed
ones.
CEP Cepheids. Radially pulsating, high luminosity (classes Ib-II) variables with periods
in the range of 1-135 days and amplitudes from several hundredths to 2 mag in V
(in the B band, the amplitudes are greater). Spectral type at maximum light is F;
at minimum, the types are G-K. The longer the period of light variation, the later
is the spectral type. The maximum of the surface-layer expansion velocity almost
coinciding with maximum light.
CEP(B) Cepheids (TU Cas, V 367 Sct) displaying the presence of two or more simultaneously
operating pulsation modes (usually the fundamental tone with the period P0 and the
first overtone P1). The periods P0 are in the range from 2 to 7 days, with the ratio
P1/P0 approx. 0.71.
CW Variables of the W Virginis type. These are pulsating variables of the galactic
spherical component (old disk) population with periods of approximately 0.8 to 35
days and amplitudes from 0.3 to 1.2 mag in V. They obey a period-luminosity relation
different from that for Delta Cep variables (see DCEP). For an equal period value, the
W Vir variables are fainter than the Delta Cep stars by 0.7 - 2 mag. The light curves
of W Vir variables for some period intervals differ from those of Delta Cep variables
for corresponding periods either by amplitudes or by the presence of humps on their
descending branches, sometimes turning into broad flat maxima. W Vir variables are
present in globular clusters and at high galactic latitudes. They may be separated into
the following subtypes:
CWA W Vir variables with periods longer than 8 days (W Vir);
CWB W Vir variables with periods shorter than 8 days (BL Her).
DCEP These are the classical cepheids, or Delta Cep-type variables. Comparatively young
objects that have left the main sequence and evolved into the instability strip of
the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram, they obey the well-known Cepheid period-
luminosity relation and belong to the young disk population. DCEP stars are present
in open clusters. They display a certain relation between the shapes of their light
curves and their periods.
DCEPS These are Delta Cep variables having light amplitudes <0.5 mag in V (<0.7 mag in
B) and almost symmetrical light curves (M-m approx. 0.4 - 0.5 periods); as a rule,
their periods do not exceed 7 days. They are probably first-overtone pulsators and/or
are in the first transition across the instability strip after leaving the main sequence
(SU Cas).
Traditionally, both Delta Cep and W Vir stars are quite often called Cepheids because
it is often impossible to discriminate between them on the basis of the light curves
for periods in the range 3 - 10 days. However, these are distinct groups of entirely
different objects in different evolutionary stages. One of the significant spectral
differences between W Vir stars and Cepheids is the presence, during a certain phase
interval, of hydrogen-line emission in the former and of Ca II H and K emission in
the latter.
DSCT Variables of the Delta Scuti type. These are pulsating variables of spectral types
A0-F5 III-V displaying light amplitudes from 0.003 to 0.9 mag in V (usually several
hundredths of a magnitude) and periods from 0.01 to 0.2 days. The shapes of the
light curves, periods, and amplitudes usually vary greatly. Radial as well as nonradial
pulsations are observed. The variability of some members of this type appears
sporadically and sometimes completely ceases, this being a consequence of strong
amplitude modulation with the lower value of the amplitude not exceeding 0.001
mag in some cases. The maximum of the surface layer expansion does not lag behind
the maximum light for more than 0.1 periods. DSCT stars are representatives of
the galactic disk (flat component) and are phenomenologically close to the SX Phe
variables.
DSCTC Low amplitude group of Delta Sct variables (light amplitude <0.1 mag in V). The
majority of this types representatives are stars of luminosity class V; objects of this
subtype generally are representative of the Delta Sct variables in open clusters.
L Slow irregular variables. The light variations of these stars show no evidence of
periodicity, or any periodicity present is very poorly defined and appears only occa-
sionally. Like for the type I, stars are often attributed to this type because of being
insufficiently studied. Many type L variables are really semiregulars or belong to
other types.
LB Slow irregular variables of late spectral types (K, M, C, S); as a rule, they are giants
(CO Cyg). This type is also ascribed, in the GCVS, to slow red irregular variables in
the case of unknown spectral types and luminosities.
LC Irregular variable supergiants of late spectral types having amplitudes of about 1 mag
in V (TZ Cas).
M Mira (Omicron) Ceti-type variables. These are long-period variable giants with
characteristic late-type emission spectra (Me, Ce, Se) and light amplitudes from 2.5
to 11 mag in V. Their periodicity is well pronounced, and the periods lie in the range
between 80 and 1000 days. Infrared amplitudes are usually less than in the visible
and may be <2.5 mag. For example, in the K band they usually do not exceed 0.9
mag. If the amplitudes exceed 1 - 1.5 mag , but it is not certain that the true light
amplitude exceeds 2.5 mag, the symbol M is followed by a colon, or the star is
attributed to the semiregular class with a colon following the symbol for that type
(SR).
PVTEL Variables of the PV Telescopii type. These are helium supergiant Bp stars with
weak hydrogen lines and enhanced lines of He and C. They pulsate with periods of
approximately 0.1 to 1 days, or vary in brightness with an amplitude of 0.1 mag in V
during a time interval of about a year.
RR Variables of the RR Lyrae type, which are radially-pulsating giant A-F stars having
amplitudes from 0.2 to 2 mag in V. Cases of variable light-curve shapes as well
as variable periods are known. If these changes are periodic, they are called the
Blazhko effect.
Traditionally, RR Lyrae stars are sometimes called short-period Cepheids or cluster-
type variables. The majority of these stars belong to the spherical component of the
Galaxy; they are present, sometimes in large numbers, in some globular clusters,
where they are known as pulsating horizontal-branch stars. Like Cepheids, maxi-
mum expansion velocities of surface layers for these stars practically coincide with
maximum light.
RR(B) RR Lyrae variables showing two simultaneously operating pulsation modes, the
fundamental tone with the period P0 and the first overtone, P1 (AQ Leo). The ratio
P1/P0 is approximately 0.745;
RRAB RR Lyrae variables with asymmetric light curves (steep ascending branches), periods
from 0.3 to 1.2 days, and amplitudes from 0.5 to 2 mag in V;
RRC RR Lyrae variables with nearly symmetric, sometimes sinusoidal, light curves, peri-
ods from 0.2 to 0.5 days, and amplitudes not greater than 0.8 mag in V (SX UMa).
RV Variables of the RV Tauri type. These are radially pulsating supergiants having
spectral types F-G at maximum light and K-M at minimum. The light curves are
characterized by the presence of double waves with alternating primary and secondary
minima that can vary in depth so that primary minima may become secondary and
vice versa. The complete light amplitude may reach 3-4 mag in V. Periods between
two adjacent primary minima (usually called formal periods) lie in the range 30-150
days (these are the periods appearing in the Catalogue). Two subtypes, RVA and
RVB, are recognized:
RVA RV Tauri variables that do not vary in mean magnitude (AC Her);
RVB RV Tauri variables that periodically (with periods from 600 to 1500 days and ampli-
tudes up to 2 mag in V) vary in mean magnitude (DF Cyg, RV Tau).
SR Semiregular variables, which are giants or supergiants of intermediate and late
spectral types showing noticeable periodicity in their light changes, accompanied or
sometimes interrupted by various irregularities. Periods lie in the range from 20 to
>2000 days, while the shapes of the light curves are rather different and variable, and
the amplitudes may be from several hundredths to several magnitudes (usually 1-2
mag in V).
SRA Semiregular late-type (M, C, S or Me, Ce, Se) giants displaying persistent periodicity
and usually small (<2.5 mag in V) light amplitudes (Z Aqr). Amplitudes and light-
curve shapes generally vary and periods are in the range of 35-1200 days. Many of
these stars differ from Miras only by showing smaller light amplitudes;
SRB Semiregular late-type (M, C, S or Me, Ce, Se) giants with poorly defined periodicity
(mean cycles in the range of 20 to 2300 days) or with alternating intervals of periodic
and slow irregular changes, and even with light constancy intervals (RR CrB, AF
Cyg). Every star of this type may usually be assigned a certain mean period (cycle),
which is the value given in the Catalogue. In a number of cases, the simultaneous
presence of two or more periods of light variation is observed;
SRC Semiregular late-type (M, C, S or Me, Ce, Se) supergiants (Mu Cep) with amplitudes
of about 1 mag and periods of light variation from 30 days to several thousand days;
SRD Semiregular variable giants and supergiants of F, G, or K spectral types, sometimes
with emission lines in their spectra. Amplitudes of light variation are in the range
from 0.1 to 4 mag, and the range of periods is from 30 to 1100 days (SX Her, SV
UMa).
SXPHE Phenomenologically, these resemble DSCT (Delta Sct) variables and are pulsating
subdwarfs of the spherical component, or old disk galactic population, with spectral
types in the range A2-F5. They may show several simultaneous periods of oscillation,
generally in the range 0.04-0.08 days, with variable-amplitude light changes that may
reach 0.7 mag in V. These stars are present in globular clusters.
ZZ ZZ Ceti variables. These are nonradially pulsating white dwarfs that change their
brightnesses with periods from 30 s to 25 min and amplitudes from 0.001 to 0.2
mag in V. They usually show several close period values. Flares of 1 mag are
sometimes observed; however, these may be explained by the presence of close UV
Ceti companions.
These variables are divided into the following subtypes:
ZZA ZZ Cet-type variables of DA spectral type (ZZ Cet) having only hydrogen absorption
lines in their spectra;
ZZB ZZ Cet-type variables of DB spectral type having only helium absorption lines in
their spectra.
Rotating Variable Stars

Variable stars with nonuniform surface brightness and/or ellipsoidal shapes, whose variability is
caused by axial rotation with respect to the observer. The nonuniformity of surface brightness
distributions may be caused by the presence of spots or by some thermal or chemical inhomogeneity
of the atmosphere caused by a magnetic field whose axis is not coincident with the rotation axis.
These stars are subdivided into the following types:
Type Description
ACV Alpha2 Canum Venaticorum variables. These are main-sequence stars with spectral
types B8p-A7p and displaying strong magnetic fields. Spectra show abnormally
strong lines of Si, Sr, Cr, and rare earths whose intensities vary with rotation. They
exhibit magnetic field and brightness changes (periods of 0.5-160 days or more).
The amplitudes of the brightness changes are usually withine 0.01-0.1 mag in V.
ACVO Rapidly oscillating Alpha2 CVn variables. These are nonradially pulsating, rotating
magnetic variables of Ap spectral type (DO Eri). Pulsation periods are in the range
of 6-12 mmag (0.004-0.01 days), while amplitudes of light variation caused by the
pulsation are about 0.01 mag in V. The pulsational variations are superposed on
those caused by rotation.
BY BY Draconis-type variables, which are emission-line dwarfs of dKe-dMe spectral
type showing quasiperiodic light changes with periods from a fraction of a day to 120
days and amplitudes from several hundredths to 0.5 mag in V. The light variability
is caused by axial rotation of a star with a variable degree of nonuniformity of the
surface brightness (spots) and chromospheric activity. Some of these stars also show
flares similar to those of UV Cet stars, and in those cases they also belong to the
latter type and are simultaneously considered eruptive variables.
ELL Rotating ellipsoidal variables (b Per, Alpha Vir). These are close binary systems
with ellipsoidal components, which change combined brightnesses with periods
equal to those of orbital motion because of changes in emitting areas toward an
observer, but showing no eclipses. Light amplitudes do not exceed 0.1 mag in V.
FKCOM FK Comae Berenices-type variables. These are rapidly rotating giants with nonuni-
form surface brightnesses, which have G-K spectral types with broad H and K Ca II
emission and sometimes Halpha. They may also be spectroscopic binary systems.
Periods of light variation (up to several days) are equal to rotational periods, and
amplitudes are several tenths of a magnitude. It is not excluded that these objects are
the product of further evolution of EW (W UMa) close binary systems (see below).
PSR Optically variable pulsars (CM Tau), which are rapidly rotating neutron stars with
strong magnetic fields, radiating in the radio, optical, and X-ray regions. Pulsars
emit narrow beams of radiation, and periods of their light changes coincide with
rotational periods (from 0.004 to 4 s), while amplitudes of the light pulses reach 0.8
mag.
SXARI SX Arietis-type variables. These are main-sequence B0p-B9p stars with variable-
intensity He I and Si III lines and magnetic fields. They are sometimes called helium
variables. Periods of light and magnetic field changes (about 1 day) coincide with
rotational periods, while amplitudes are approximately 0.1 mag in V. These stars
are high-temperature analogs of the ACV variables.
Cataclysmic (Explosive and Novalike) Variables

These are variable stars showing outbursts caused by thermonuclear burst processes in their surface
layers (novae) or deep in their interiors (supernovae). We use the term novalike for variables
that show novalike outbursts caused by rapid energy release in the surrounding space (UG-type
stars - see below) and also for objects not displaying outbursts but resembling explosive variables at
minimum light by their spectral (or other) characteristics. The majority of explosive and novalike
variables are close binary systems, their components having strong mutual influence on the evolution
of each star. It is often observed that the hot dwarf component of the system is surrounded by an
accretion disk formed by matter lost by the other, cooler, and more extended component. This
category is subdivided into the following types:
Type Description
N Novae. Close binary systems with orbital periods from 0.05 to 230 days. One of the
components of these systems is a hot dwarf star that suddenly, during a time interval
from one to several dozen or several hundred days, increases its brightness by 7-19
mag in V, then returns gradually to its former brightness over several months, years,
or decades. Small changes at minimum light may be present. Cool components may
be giants, subgiants, or dwarfs of K-M type. The spectra of novae near maximum
light resemble A-F absorption spectra of luminous stars at first. Then broad emission
lines (bands) of hydrogen, helium, and other elements with absorption components
indicating the presence of a rapidly expanding envelope appear in the spectrum. As the
light decreases, the composite spectrum begins to show forbidden lines characteristic
of the spectra of gas nebulae excited by hot stars. At minimum light, the spectra of
novae are generally continuous or resemble the spectra of Wolf-Rayet stars. Only
spectra of the most massive systems show traces of cool components.
Some novae reveal pulsations of hot components with periods of approximately 100
s and amplitudes of about 0.05 mag in V after an outburst. Some novae eventually
turn out to be eclipsing systems. According to the features of their light variations,
novae are subdivided into fast (NA), slow (NB), very slow (NC), and recurrent (NR)
categories.
NA Fast novae displaying rapid light increases and then, having achieved maximum light,
fading by 3 mag in 100 or fewer days (GK Per);
NB Slow novae that fade after maximum light by 3 mag in >= 150 days (RR Pic). Here the
presence of the well-known dip in the light curves of novae similar to T Aur and DQ
Her is not taken into account: The rate of fading is estimated on the basis of a smooth
curve, its parts before and after the dip being a direct continuation of one another;
NC Novae with a very slow development and remaining at maximum light for more than
a decade, then fading very slowly. Before an outburst these objects may show long-
period light changes with amplitudes of 1-2 mag in V (RR Tel); cool components of
these systems are probably giants or supergiants, sometimes semiregular variables,
and even Mira variables. Outburst amplitudes may reach 10 mag. High excitation
emission spectra resemble those of planetary nebulae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and symbiotic
variables. The possibility that these objects are planetary nebulae in the process of
formation is not excluded;
NL Novalike variables, which are insufficiently studied objects resembling novae by the
characteristics of their light changes or by spectral features. This type includes, in
addition to variables showing novalike outbursts, objects with no bursts ever observed;
the spectra of novalike variables resemble those of old novae, and small light changes
resemble those typical for old novae at minimum light. However, quite often a
detailed investigation makes it possible to reclassify some representatives of this highly
inhomogeneous group of objects into other types;
NR Recurrent novae, which differ from typical novae by the fact that two or more outbursts
(instead of a single one) separated by 10-80 years have been observed (T CrB).
SN Supernovae (B Cas, CM Tau). Stars that increase, as a result of an outburst, their
brightnesses by 20 mag and more, then fade slowly. The spectrum during an outburst
is characterized by the presence of very broad emission bands, their widths being
several times greater than those of the bright bands observed in the spectra of novae.
The expansion velocities of SN envelopes are in the thousands of km/s. The structure
of a star after outburst alters completely. An expanding emission nebula results and a
(not always observable) pulsar remains at the position of the original star. According
to the light curve shape and the spectral features, supernovae are subdivided into types
I and II.
SNI Type I supernovae. Absorption lines of Ca II, Si, etc., but no hydrogen lines are present
in the spectra. The expanding envelope almost lacks hydrogen. During 20-30 days
following maximum light, the brightness decreases by approximately 0.1 mag per day,
then the rate of fading slows and reaches a constant value of 0.014/day;
SNII Type II supernovae. Lines of hydrogen and other elements are apparent in their spectra.
The expanding envelope consists mainly of H and He. Light curves show greater
diversity than those of type I supernovae. Usually after 40-100 days since maximum
light, the rate of fading is 0.1 mag per day.
UG U Geminorum-type variables, quite often called dwarf novae. They are close binary
systems consisting of a dwarf or subgiant K-M star that fills the volume of its inner
Roche lobe and a white dwarf surrounded by an accretion disk. Orbital periods are in
the range 0.05-0.5 days. Usually only small, in some cases rapid, light fluctuations are
observed, but from time to time the brightness of a system increases rapidly by several
magnitudes and, after an interval of from several days to a month or more, returns to
the original state. Intervals between two consecutive outbursts for a given star may
vary greatly, but every star is characterized by a certain mean value of these intervals,
i.e., a mean cycle that corresponds to the mean light amplitude. The longer the cycle,
the greater the amplitude. These systems are frequently sources of X-ray emission.
The spectrum of a system at minimum is continuous, with broad H and He emission
lines. At maximum these lines almost disappear or become shallow absorption lines.
Some of these systems are eclipsing, possibly indicating that the primary minimum is
caused by the eclipse of a hot spot that originates in the accretion disk from the infall
of a gaseous stream from the K-M star. According to the characteristics of the light
changes, U Gem variables may be subdivided into three types: SS Cyg, SU UMa, and
Z Cam.
UGSS SS Cygni-type variables (SS Cyg, U Gem). They increase in brightness by 2-6 mag in
V in 1-2 days and in several subsequent days return to their original brightnesses. The
values of the cycle are in the range 10 days to several thousand;
UGSU SU Ursae Majoris-type variables. These are characterized by the presence of two types
of outbursts called normal and supermaxima. Normal, short outbursts are similar
to those of UGSS stars, while supermaxima are brighter by 2 mag, are more than five
times longer (wider), and occur several times less frequently. During supermaxima the
light curves show superposed periodic oscillations (superhumps), their periods being
close to the orbital ones and amplitudes being about 0.2-0.3 mag in V. Orbital periods
are shorter than 0.1 days; companions are of dM spectral type;
UGZ Z Camelopardalis-type stars. These also show cyclic outbursts, differing from UGSS
variables by the fact that sometimes after an outburst they do not return to the original
brightness, but during several cycles retain a magnitude between maximum and mini-
mum. The values of cycles are from 10 to 40 days, while light amplitudes are from 2
to 5 mag in V.
ZAND Symbiotic variables of the Z Andromedae type. They are close binaries consisting of a
hot star, a star of late type, and an extended envelope excited by the hot stars radiation.
The combined brightness displays irregular variations with amplitudes up to 4 mag in
V. A very inhomogeneous group of objects.
Close Binary Eclipsing Systems

We adopt a triple system of classifying eclipsing binary systems: according to the shape of the
combined light curve, as well as to physical and evolutionary characteristics of their components.
The classification based on light curves is simple, traditional, and suits the observers; the second
and third classification methods take into account positions of the binary-system components in the
(MV ,B-V) diagram and the degree of inner Roche lobe filling. Estimates are made by applying the
simple criteria proposed by Svechnikov and Istomin (1979). The symbols for the types of eclipsing
binary systems that we use are given below.
Classification based on the shape of the light curve

Type Description
E Eclipsing binary systems. These are binary systems with orbital planes so close to the
observers line of sight (the inclination i of the orbital plane to the plane orthogonal to
the line of sight is close to 90 deg) that the components periodically eclipse each other.
Consequently, the observer finds changes of the apparent combined brightness of the
system with the period coincident with that of the components orbital motion.
EA Algol (Beta Persei)-type eclipsing systems. Binaries with spherical or slightly ellipsoidal
components. It is possible to specify, for their light curves, the moments of the beginning
and end of the eclipses. Between eclipses the light remains almost constant or varies in-
significantly because of reflection effects, slight ellipsoidality of components, or physical
variations. Secondary minima may be absent. An extremely wide range of periods is
observed, from 0.2 to >= 10000 days. Light amplitudes are also quite different and may
reach several magnitudes.
EB Beta Lyrae-type eclipsing systems. These are eclipsing systems having ellipsoidal
components and light curves for which it is impossible to specify the exact times of onset
and end of eclipses because of a continuous change of a systems apparent combined
brightness between eclipses; secondary minimum is observed in all cases, its depth
usually being considerably smaller than that of the primary minimum; periods are mainly
longer than 1 day. The components generally belong to early spectral types (B-A). Light
amplitudes are usually <2 mag in V.
EW W Ursae Majoris-type eclipsing variables. These are eclipsers with periods shorter than 1
days, consisting of ellipsoidal components almost in contact and having light curves for
which it is impossible to specify the exact times of onset and end of eclipses. The depths
of the primary and secondary minima are almost equal or differ insignificantly. Light
amplitudes are usually <0.8 mag in V. The components generally belong to spectral types
F-G and later.
Classification according to the components physical characteristics
Type Description
GS Systems with one or both giant and supergiant components; one of the components may
be a main sequence star.
PN Systems having, among their components, nuclei of planetary nebulae (UU Sge).
RS RS Canum Venaticorum-type systems. A significant property of these systems is the
presence in their spectra of strong Ca II H and K emission lines of variable intensity,
indicating increased chromospheric activity of the solar type. These systems are also
characterized by the presence of radio and X-ray emission. Some have light curves that
exhibit quasi sine waves outside eclipses, with amplitudes and positions changing slowly
with time. The presence of this wave (often called a distortion wave) is explained by
differential rotation of the star, its surface being covered with groups of spots; the period
of the rotation of a spot group is usually close to the period of orbital motion (period of
eclipses) but still differs from it, which is the reason for the slow change (migration) of
the phases of the distortion wave minimum and maximum in the mean light curve. The
variability of the waves amplitude (which may be up to 0.2 mag in V) is explained by
the existence of a long-period stellar activity cycle similar to the 11-year solar activity
cycle, during which the number and total area of spots on the stars surface vary.
WD Systems with white-dwarf components.

WR Systems having Wolf-Rayet stars among their components (V444 Cyg).
Classification based on the degree of filling of inner Roche lobes
Type Description
AR Detached systems of the AR Lacertae type. Both components are subgiants not filling
their inner equipotential surfaces.
D Detached systems, with components not filling their inner Roche lobes.
DM Detached main-sequence systems. Both components are main-sequence stars and do not
fill their inner Roche lobes.
DS Detached systems with a subgiant. The subgiant also does not fill its inner critical surface.
DW Systems similar to W UMa systems in physical properties (KW, see below), but not in
contact.
K Contact systems, both components filling their inner critical surfaces.
KE Contact systems of early (O-A) spectral type, both components being close in size to
their inner critical surfaces.
KW Contact systems of the W UMa type, with ellipsoidal components of F0-K spectral type.
Primary components are main-sequence stars and secondaries lie below and to the left of
the main sequence in the (MV,B-V) diagram.
SD Semidetached systems in which the surface of the less massive component is close to its
inner Roche lobe.
The combination of the above three classification systems for eclipsers results in the assignment
of multiple classifications for object types. These are separated by a solidus ("/") in the data field.
Examples are: E/DM, EA/DS/RS, EB/WR, EW/KW, etc.
Optically Variable Close Binary Sources of Strong, Variable X-ray Radiation (X-ray
Sources)
Type Description
X Close binary systems that are sources of strong, variable X-ray emission and
which do not belong to or are not yet attributed to any of the above types of
variable stars. One of the components of the system is a hot compact object (white
dwarf, neutron star, or possibly a black hole). X-ray emission originates from the
infall of matter onto the compact object or onto an accretion disk surrounding the
compact object. In turn, the X-ray emission is incident upon the atmosphere of the
cooler companion of the compact object and is reradiated in the form of optical
high-temperature radiation (reflection effect), thus making that area of the cooler
companions surface an earlier spectral type. These effects lead to quite a peculiar
complex character of optical variability in such systems. These objects may be
subdivided into the following types:
XB X-ray bursters. Close binary systems showing X-ray and optical bursts, their
duration being from several seconds to ten minutes, with amplitudes of about 0.1
mag in V (V 801 Ara, V 926 Sco);
XF Fluctuating X-ray systems showing rapid variations of X-ray (Cygnus X-1 = V1357
Cyg) and optical (V821 Ara) radiation on time scalesof dozens of milliseconds;
XI X-ray irregulars. Close binary systems consisting of a hot compact object sur-
rounded by an accretion disk and a dA - dM-type dwarf. These display irregular
light changes on time scales of minutes and hours, and amplitudes of about 1 mag
in V. Superposition of a periodic variation because of orbital motion is possible
(V818 Sco);
XJ X-ray binaries characterized by the presence of relativistic jets evident at X-ray
and radio wavelengths, as well as in the optical spectrum in the form of emission
components showing periodic displacements with relativistic velocities (V1343
Aql);
XND X-ray, novalike (transient) systems containing, along with a hot compact object,
a dwarf or subgiant of G-M spectral type. These systems occasionally rapidly
increase in brightness by 4-9 mag in V, in the visible simultaneously with the X-ray
range, with no envelope ejected. The duration of the outburst may be up to several
months (V616 Mon);
XNG X-ray, novalike (transient) systems with an early-type supergiant or giant primary
component and a hot compact object as a companion. Following the main compo-
nents outburst, the material ejected by it falls onto the compact object and causes,
with a significant delay, the appearance of X rays. The amplitudes are about 1-2
mag in V (V725 Tau);
XP X-ray pulsar systems. The primary component is usually an ellipsoidal early-type
supergiant. The reflection effect is very small and light variability is mainly caused
by the ellipsoidal primary components rotation. Periods of light changes are
between 1 and 10 days; the period of the pulsar in the system is from 1 s to 100
min. Light amplitudes usually do not exceed several tenths of a magnitude (Vela
X-1 = GP Vel);
XPR X-ray pulsar systems featuring the presence of the reflection effect. They consist
of a dB-dF-type primary and an X-ray pulsar, which may also be an optical pulsar.
The mean light of the system is brightest when the primary component is irradiated
by X rays; it is faintest during a low state of the X-ray source. The total light
amplitude may reach 2-3 mag in V (HZ Her);
XPRM,XM X-ray systems consisting of a late-type dwarf (dK-dM) and a pulsar with a strong
magnetic field. Matter accretion on the compact objects magnetic poles is accom-
panied by the appearance of variable linear and circular polarization; hence, these
systems are sometimes known as polars. The amplitudes of the light changes are
usually about 1 mag in V but, provided that the primary component is irradiated
by X rays, the mean brightness of a system may increase by 3 mag in V. The total
light amplitude may reach 4-5 mag in V (AM Her, AN UMa).
If the beam of X-ray emission originating at the magnetic poles of the rotating hot compact object
does not pass through the observers position and the system is not observed as a pulsar, the letter
P in the above symbols for X-ray-system types is not used. If an X-ray system is also an eclipsing
or an ellipsoidal variable, the X-ray symbol is preceded by E or ELL joined with the X-ray
symbol by a "+" sign (e.g., E+X, ELL+X).
Other Symbols
In addition to the variable-star types described above, certain other symbols that need to be explained
will be found in the Type data field:
Type Description
BLLAC Extragalactic BL Lacertae-type objects. These are compact quasistellar objects
showing almost continuous spectra with weak emission and absorption lines and
relatively rapid irregular light changes with amplitudes up to 3 mag in V or more.
Sources of strong X-ray radiation and radio waves, their emission displays strong and
variable linear polarization in the visible and infrared spectral regions. Some objects
of this type, considered erroneously to be variable stars and designated in the GCVS
system, will probably sometimes be included in the main table of the Catalogue in
the future, too.
CST Nonvariable stars, formerly suspected to be variable and hastily designated. Further
observations have not confirmed their variability.
GAL Optically variable quasistellar extragalactic objects (active galactic nuclei [AGNs])
considered to be variable stars by mistake.
L: Unstudied variable stars with slow light changes.
QSO Optically variable quasistellar extragalactic sources (quasars) that earlier were erro-
neously considered to be variable stars.
S Unstudied variable stars with rapid light changes.
* Unique variable stars outside the range of the classifications described above. These
probably represent either short stages of transition from one variability type to another
or the earliest and latest evolutionary stages of these types, or they are insufficiently
studied members of future new types of variables.
+ If a variable star belongs to several types of light variability simultaneously, the types
are joined in the Type field by a "+" sign (e.g., E+UG, UV+BY).
: Uncertainty flag on Type of Variability
The new variability types

The new variability types have been added in the Name-Lists 67- 77 and in the GCVS vol.V.
Type Description
ZZO ZZ Cet type variables of the DO spectral type showing HeII and and CIV absorpion
lines in their spectra.
AM AM Her type variables; close binary systems consisting of a dK-dM type dwarf and
of a compact object with strong magnetic field, characterized by variable linear and
circular polarization of light. The total range of light variations may reach 4-5 mag
V.
R Close binary systems characterized by the presence of strong reflection (re-radiation)
of the light of the hot star illuminating the surface of the cooler companion. Light
curves are sinusoidal with the period equal to Porb, maximum brightness coinciding
with the passage of the hot star in front of the companion. The eclipse may be absent.
The range of light variation is about 0.5-1.0mag V (KV Vel).
C.4 Double Stars 263
BE It becomes more and more clear that, although the majority of Be stars are photomet-
rically variable, not all of them could be properly called GCAS variables. Quite a
number of them show small-scale variations not necessarily related to shell events;
in some cases the variations are quasi-periodic. By now we are not able to present
an elaborated system of classification for Be variables, but we adopt a decision that
in the cases when a Be variable cannot be readily described as a GCAS star we give
simply BE for the type of variability.
EP Stars showing eclipses by their planets. Prototype: V0376 Peg.
SRS Semiregular pulsating red giants with short period (several days to a month), probably
high-overtone pulsators. Prototype: AU Ari.
GDOR Gamma Doradus stars. Early type F dwarfs showing (multiple) periods from several
tenths of a day to slightly in excess of one day. Amplitudes usually do not exceed 0.1
mag. Presumably low degree g-mode non-radial pulsators. Prototype: gamma Dor.
RPHS Very rapidly pulsating hot (subdwarf B) stars. Typical periods are hundreds of
seconds, amplitudes are within several hundredths of a magnitude. Prototype: V361
Hya = EC 14026-2647.
LPB The comparatively long-period pulsating B stars (periods exceeding (LBV) one day).
BLBOO The so-called anomalous Cepheids, i.e. stars with periods characteristic of com-
paratively long-period RRAB variables, but considerably brighter by luminosity (BL
Boo = NGC 5466 V19).
C.4 Double Stars

Since version 0.15.0 Stellarium supports the subset of double stars from WDS2 which have HIP
identificators (i.e., stars from the Hipparcos catalog). Stellariums Catalog of Double Stars is
based on the Washington Double Star Catalog [36]. Cross reference data for WDS and HIP
designations based on XHIP catalog [4] through astronomical database SIMBAD [74].
C.4.1 Double Star Catalog File Format

General Description
Stellariums Double Stars catalog data is kept in the stars/default sub-directory of the Installa-
tion Directory and/or User Directory (see section 5.1).
File Format
The wds_hip_part.dat file contains data about 16411 double stars which have HIP identificators
and stored in the plain text format with tab delimiter.

HIP int This is the HIP identificator for the star. Used for reference to the
main star catalogue.
WDS string This is the WDS designation for the double star.
Observation int Date of last satisfactory observation (in years).
Position Angle float Position Angle at date of last satisfactory observation (in decimal
degrees).
2 http://ad.usno.navy.mil/wds/
Separation float Separation at date of last satisfactory observation (in arcsec).
C.5 Cross-Identification Data

Since version 0.14.0 Stellarium supports cross-identification between stars from Hipparcos (HIP) [4],
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Star Catalog J2000.0 (SAO), Henry Draper Cat-
alogue and Extension (HD) [13] and 5th Revised Ed. of Bright Star (Hoffleit+, 1991; HR) [26]
catalogues.
C.5.1 Cross-Identification Catalog File Format

General Description
Stellariums Cross-Identification catalog data is kept in the stars/default sub-directory of the
Installation Directory and/or User Directory (see section 5.1).
File Format
The cross-id.dat file contains cross reference data for catalogues HIP, SAO, HD and HR, which
stored in the plain text format with tab delimiter.

HIP int This is the HIP identificator for the star. Used for reference to the main star catalogue.
SAO int This is the SAO identificator for the star.
HD int This is the HD identificator for the star.
HR int This is the HR identificator for the star.
D. Configuration Files
D.1 Program Configuration

First, see 5.3 (The Main Configuration File) for information about the file config.ini, including
its default installed location, and command line options that can affect how it is processed.
The file config.ini (or a file which you can load instead with the --config <file> option)
is structured into the following parts. In addition, plugins can add a section named like the plugin
(Exception: The Text User Interface plugins section is named [tui] for historical reasons).

D.1.1 astro
This section includes settings for the commonly displayed objects.

apparent_magnitude_algorithm string Harris Set algorithm for computation of ap-
parent magnitude of the planets. Pos-
sible values: Planesas, Mueller, Har-
ris and Generic.
nebula_magnitude_limit float 8.5 Value of limiting magnitude for the
deep-sky objects.
star_magnitude_limit float 6.5 Value of limiting magnitude for the
stars. Sometimes you dont want to
display more stars when zooming in.
planet_magnitude_limit float 6.5 Value of limiting magnitude for the
planets. Sometimes you dont want to
display more planets when zooming
in.
planets_orbits_color_style string one_color Set the style of orbits color. Possible
values: one_color, groups and max.
266 Chapter D. Configuration Files
flag_nebula_magnitude_limit bool false Set to true to activate limit for show-

ing deep-sky objects.
flag_star_magnitude_limit bool false Set to true to activate limit for show-
ing stars
flag_planet_magnitude_limit bool false Set to true to activate limit for show-
ing planets.
extinction_mode_below_horizon string zero Set extinction mode for atmosphere
below horizon. Possible values: zero,
mirror and major_planets.
flag_stars bool true Set to false to hide the stars on start-
up
flag_star_name bool true Set to false to hide the star labels on
start-up
flag_planets bool true Set to false to hide the planet labels
on start-up
flag_planets_hints bool true Set to false to hide the planet hints
on startup (names and circular high-
lights)
flag_planets_orbits bool false Set to true to show the planet orbits
on startup
flag_permanent_orbits bool false Set to true to show the orbit of planet,
when planet is out of the viewport
also.
flag_planets_pointers bool false Set to true to show the planet pointer
markers on startup
flag_ephemeris_markers bool true Set to true to show the calculated
ephemeris markers for Solar system
bodies.
flag_ephemeris_dates bool true Set to true to show the dates of cal-
culated ephemeris for Solar system
bodies.
flag_light_travel_time bool true Should be true to improve accuracy in
the movement of the planets by com-
pensating for the time it takes for light
to travel. This has a slight impact on
performance, but is essential e.g. for
Jupiters moons.
flag_object_trails bool false Turns on and off drawing of object
trails (which show the movement of
the planets over time).
flag_isolated_trails bool true Turns on and off drawing of isolated
trails.
flag_isolated_orbits bool true Turns on and off drawing of isolated
orbits.
D.1 Program Configuration 267
flag_nebula bool true Set to false to hide the nebulae on

start-up.
flag_nebula_name bool false Set to true to show the nebula labels
on start-up.
flag_nebula_display_no_texture bool false Set to true to suppress displaying of
nebula textures.
nebula_hints_amount float 3.0 Sets the amount of hints [0. . . 10].
nebula_labels_amount float 3.0 Sets the amount of labels [0. . . 10].
flag_milky_way bool true Set to false to hide the Milky Way.
milky_way_intensity float 1.0 Sets the relative brightness with
which the milky way is drawn. Typi-
cal [1. . . 3].
flag_zodiacal_light bool true Set to false to hide the zodiacal light
zodiacal_light_intensity float 1.0 Sets the relative brightness with
which the zodiacal light is drawn.
max_mag_nebula_name float 8.0 Sets the magnitude of the nebulae
whose name is shown.
flag_nebula_hints_proportional bool false Enables/disables proportional mark-
ers for deep-sky objects.
flag_surface_brightness_usage bool false Enables/disables usage surface bright-
ness for markers for deep-sky objects.
flag_use_type_filter bool false Enables/disables usage of the type fil-
ters for deep-sky objects.
flag_nutation bool true Enables/disables usage nutation.
flag_topocentric_coordinates bool true Enables/disables usage topocentric
coordinates.
flag_grs_custom bool false Turns on and off to using custom set-
tings for calculation of position of
Great Red Spot on Jupiter.
grs_longitude int 216 Longitude of Great Red Spot on
Jupiter in degrees.
grs_drift float 15.0 Annual drift of Great Red Spot on
Jupiter in degrees.
grs_jd float 2456901.5 Initial JD for calculation of position
of Great Red Spot on Jupiter.
grs_measurements_url string URL of recent measurements of GRS
position1 .
meteor_zhr int 10 ZHR for sporadic meteors.
de430_path string Path to JPL DE430 ephemerides.
1 Default value is http://jupos.privat.t-online.de/rGrs.htm

flag_use_de430 bool false Enables/disables usage JPL DE430

ephemerides (if available).
de431_path string Path to JPL DE431 ephemerides.
flag_use_de431 bool false Enables/disables usage JPL DE431
ephemerides (if available).
flag_toast_survey bool false Enables/disables usage Digitized Sky
Survey in TOAST format.
toast_survey_host string Host of Digitized Sky Survey storage
data.
toast_survey_directory string results Directory name of Digitized Sky Sur-
vey storage data.
toast_survey_levels int 11 Count of levels for Digitized Sky Sur-
vey storage data.

D.1.2 color
This section defines the RGB colors for the various objects, lines, grids, labels etc. Values are given
in float from 0 to 1. e.g. 1.0,1.0,1.0 for white, or 1,0,0 for red. Leave no whitespace between the
numbers!
ID Default Colour of the. . .

default_color 0.5,0.5,0.7 default colour.
daylight_text_color 0.0,0.0,0.0 info text at daylight.
ecliptical_J2000_color 0.4,0.1,0.1 ecliptical grid (J2000.0 frame).
ecliptic_J2000_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 ecliptic line (J2000.0 frame).
equinox_J2000_points_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 equinox points (J2000.0 frame).
solstice_J2000_points_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 solstice points (J2000.0 frame).
ecliptic_J2000_poles_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 ecliptic poles (J2000.0 frame).
ecliptical_color 0.6,0.3,0.1 ecliptical grid (of date).
ecliptic_color 0.9,0.6,0.2 ecliptic line (of date).
equinox_points_color 0.9,0.6,0.2 equinox points (of date).
solstice_points_color 0.9,0.6,0.2 solstice points (of date).
ecliptic_poles_color 0.9,0.6,0.2 ecliptic poles (of date).
precession_circles_color 0.9,0.6,0.2 precession circles.
equator_J2000_color 0.2,0.2,0.6 equator line (J2000.0 frame).
equatorial_J2000_color 0.1,0.1,0.5 equatorial grid (J2000.0 frame).
celestial_J2000_poles_color 0.2,0.2,0.6 celestial poles (J2000.0 frame).
equator_color 0.3,0.5,1.0 equator line (of date).
equatorial_color 0.2,0.3,0.8 equatorial grid (of date).

celestial_poles_color 0.3,0.5,1.0 celestial poles (of date).
circumpolar_circles_color 0.3,0.5,1.0 circumpolar circles.
galactic_color 0.3,0.2,0.1 galactic grid.
galactic_equator_color 0.5,0.3,0.1 galactic equator line.
galactic_poles_color 0.5,0.3,0.1 galactic poles.
supergalactic_color 0.2,0.2,0.2 supergalactic grid.
supergalactic_equator_color 0.4,0.4,0.4 supergalactic equator line.
supergalactic_poles_color 0.4,0.4,0.4 supergalactic poles.
azimuthal_color 0.0,0.3,0.2 azimuthal grid.
horizon_color 0.2,0.6,0.2 horizon line.
meridian_color 0.2,0.6,0.2 meridian line.
prime_vertical_color 0.2,0.5,0.2 prime vertical.
zenith_nadir_color 0.2,0.6,0.2 zenith and nadir.
cardinal_color 0.8,0.2,0.1 cardinal points.
colures_color 0.5,0.0,0.5 colures.
longitude_color 0.2,0.4,0.4 opposition/conjunction longitude.
const_lines_color 0.2,0.2,0.6 constellation lines.
const_names_color 0.4,0.6,0.9 constellation names.
const_boundary_color 0.3,0.1,0.1 constellation boundaries.
dso_label_color 0.2,0.6,0.7 deep-sky objects labels.
dso_circle_color 1.0,0.7,0.2 deep-sky objects symbols, if not of
the types below.
dso_galaxy_color 1.0,0.2,0.2 galaxies symbols.
dso_radio_galaxy_color 0.3,0.3,0.3 radio galaxies symbols.
dso_active_galaxy_color 1.0,0.5,0.2 active galaxies symbols.
dso_interacting_galaxy_color 0.2,0.5,1.0 interacting galaxies symbols.
dso_quasar_color 1.0,0.2,0.2 quasars symbols.
dso_possible_quasar_color 1.0,0.2,0.2 possible quasars symbols.
dso_bl_lac_color 1.0,0.2,0.2 BL Lac objects symbols.
dso_blazar_color 1.0,0.2,0.2 blazars symbols.
dso_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 nebulae symbols.
dso_planetary_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 planetary nebulae symbols.

dso_reflection_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 reflection nebulae symbols.
dso_bipolar_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 bipolar nebulae symbols.
dso_emission_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 emission nebulae symbols.
dso_dark_nebula_color 0.3,0.3,0.3 dark nebulae symbols.
dso_hydrogen_region_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 hydrogen regions symbols.
dso_supernova_remnant_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 supernovae remnants symbols.
dso_interstellar_matter_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 interstellar matter symbols.
dso_cluster_with_nebulosity_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 clusters associated with nebulosity
symbols.
dso_molecular_cloud_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 molecular clouds symbols.
dso_possible_planetary_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 possible planetary nebulae symbols.
dso_protoplanetary_nebula_color 0.1,1.0,0.1 protoplanetary nebulae symbols.
dso_cluster_color 1.0,1.0,0.1 star clusters symbols.
dso_open_cluster_color 1.0,1.0,0.1 open star clusters symbols.
dso_globular_cluster_color 1.0,1.0,0.1 globular star clusters symbols.
dso_stellar_association_color 1.0,1.0,0.1 stellar associations symbols.
dso_star_cloud_color 1.0,1.0,0.1 star clouds symbols.
dso_star_color 1.0,0.7,0.2 star symbols.
dso_emission_object_color 1.0,0.7,0.2 emission objects symbols.
dso_young_stellar_object_color 1.0,0.7,0.2 young stellar objects symbols.
star_label_color 0.4,0.3,0.5 star labels.
planet_names_color 0.5,0.5,0.7 planet names.
planet_pointers_color 1.0,0.3,0.3 planet pointers.
sso_orbits_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 default orbits.
major_planet_orbits_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 major planet orbits.
minor_planet_orbits_color 0.7,0.5,0.5 minor planet orbits.
dwarf_planet_orbits_color 0.7,0.5,0.5 dwarf planet orbits.
moon_orbits_color 0.7,0.2,0.2 moon of planet orbits.
cubewano_orbits_color 0.7,0.5,0.5 cubewano orbits.
plutino_orbits_color 0.7,0.5,0.5 plutino orbits.
sdo_orbits_color 0.7,0.5,0.5 scattered disk object orbits.
oco_orbits_color 0.7,0.5,0.5 Oort cloud object orbits.

comet_orbits_color 0.7,0.8,0.8 comet orbits.
mercury_orbit_color 0.5,0.5,0.5 orbit of Mercury.
venus_orbit_color 0.9,0.9,0.7 orbit of Venus.
earth_orbit_color 0.0,0.0,1.0 orbit of Earth.
mars_orbit_color 0.8,0.4,0.1 orbit of Mars.
jupiter_orbit_color 1.0,0.6,0.0 orbit of Jupiter.
saturn_orbit_color 1.0,0.8,0.0 orbit of Saturn.
uranus_orbit_color 0.0,0.7,1.0 orbit of Uranus.
neptune_orbit_color 0.0,0.3,1.0 orbit of Neptune.
object_trails_color 1.0,0.7,0.0 planet trails.
script_console_keyword_color 1.0,0.0,1.0 syntax highlight for keywords in the
script console.
script_console_module_color 0.0,1.0,1.0 syntax highlight for modules in the
script console.
script_console_comment_color 1.0,1.0,0.0 syntax highlight for comments in
the script console.
script_console_function_color 0.0,1.0,0.0 syntax highlight for functions in the
script console.
script_console_constant_color 1.0,0.5,0.5 syntax highlight for constants in the
script console.

D.1.3 custom_selected_info
You can fine-tune the bits of information to display for the selected object in this section. Set the
entry to true to display it.
ID Type Description
flag_show_absolutemagnitude bool absolute magnitude for objects.
flag_show_altaz bool horizontal coordinates for objects.
flag_show_catalognumber bool catalog designations for objects.
flag_show_distance bool distance to object.
flag_show_extra bool extra info for object.
flag_show_hourangle bool hour angle for object.
flag_show_magnitude bool magnitude for object.
flag_show_name bool common name for object.
flag_show_radecj2000 bool equatorial coordinates (J2000.0 frame) of object.
flag_show_radecofdate bool equatorial coordinates (of date) of object.

flag_show_galcoord bool galactic coordinates (System II) of object.
flag_show_supergalcoord bool supergalactic coordinates of object.
flag_show_eclcoordj2000 bool ecliptic coordinates (J2000.0 frame) of object.
flag_show_eclcoordofdate bool ecliptic coordinates (of date) of object.
flag_show_type bool type of object.
flag_show_size bool size of object.
flag_show_constellation bool show 3-letter IAU constellation label.

D.1.4 custom_time_correction
Stellarium allows experiments with T . See 16.4.3 for details.
ID Type Description
coefficients [float,float,float] Coefficients for custom equation of DeltaT
ndot float n-dot value for custom equation of DeltaT
year int Year for custom equation of DeltaT

D.1.5 devel
This section is for developers only.
ID Type Description
convert_dso_catalog bool Set to true to convert file catalog.txt into file
catalog.dat. Default value: false.
convert_dso_decimal_coord bool Set to true to use decimal values for coordinates in source
catalog. Default value: true.

D.1.6 dso_catalog_filters
In this section you can fine-tune which of the deep-sky catalogs should be selected on startup.

flag_show_ngc bool true New General Catalogue (NGC).
flag_show_ic bool true Index Catalogue (IC).
flag_show_m bool true Messier Catalog (M).
flag_show_c bool false Caldwell Catalogue (C).
flag_show_b bool false Barnard Catalogue (B).
flag_show_sh2 bool false Sharpless Catalogue (Sh-II).
flag_show_vdb bool false Van den Bergh Catalogue of reflection nebulae (VdB).
flag_show_rcw bool false The RCW catalogue of H-emission regions in the southern
Milky Way.
flag_show_lbn bool false Lynds Catalogue of Bright Nebulae (LBN).

flag_show_ldn bool false Lynds Catalogue of Dark Nebulae (LDN).
flag_show_cr bool false Collinder Catalogue (Cr).
flag_show_mel bool false Melotte Catalogue of Deep Sky Objects (Mel).
flag_show_pgc bool false HYPERLEDA. I. Catalog of galaxies (PGC).
flag_show_ced bool false Cederblad Catalog of bright diffuse Galactic nebulae (Ced).
flag_show_ugc bool false The Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies (UGC).

D.1.7 dso_type_filters
In this section you can fine-tune which types of the deep-sky objects should be selected on startup.

flag_show_galaxies bool true display galaxies.
flag_show_active_galaxies bool true display active galaxies.
flag_show_interacting_galaxies bool true display interacting galaxies.
flag_show_clusters bool true display star clusters.
flag_show_bright_nebulae bool true display bright nebulae.
flag_show_dark_nebulae bool true display dark nebulae.
flag_show_planetary_nebulae bool true display planetary nebulae.
flag_show_hydrogen_regions bool true display hydrogen regions.
flag_show_supernova_remnants bool true display supernovae remnants.
flag_show_other bool true display other deep-sky objects.

D.1.8 gui
This section includes settings for the graphical user interface.

base_font_size int 13 Sets the font size. Typical
value: 15
base_font_name string Verdana Selects the name
(Windows) for base font
DejaVu Sans
(others)
base_font_file string Selects the name for font
file, e.g. DejaVuSans.ttf
flag_show_fps bool true see at how many frames per
second Stellarium is render-
ing
flag_show_fov bool true see how many degrees your

vertical field of view is
flag_mouse_cursor_timeout bool true Set to false if you want to
have cursor visible at all
times.
mouse_cursor_timeout float 10 Set to 0 if you want to keep
the mouse cursor visible at
all times. non-0 values mean
the cursor will be hidden af-
ter that many seconds of in-
activity
flag_show_flip_buttons bool false Enables/disables display of
the image flipping buttons in
the main toolbar (see section
4.3.4)
flag_show_nebulae_background_button bool false Set to true if you want to
have access to the button
for enabling/disabling back-
grounds for deep-sky ob-
jects
flag_show_toast_survey_button bool false Set to true if you want to
have access to the button for
enabling/disabling Digitized
Sky Survey for deep-sky ob-
jects
selected_object_info string all Values: all, short, none,
and custom (since V0.12.0;
see 4.3.2).
auto_hide_horizontal_toolbar bool true Set to true if you want auto
hide the horizontal toolbar.
auto_hide_vertical_toolbar bool true Set to true if you want auto
hide the vertical toolbar.
flag_use_window_transparency bool false If false, show menu bars
opaque
flag_show_datetime bool true If true, display date and time
in the bottom bar
flag_time_jd bool false If true, use JD format for
time in the bottom bar
flag_show_tz bool false If true, show time zone info
in the bottom bar
flag_show_location bool true If true, display location in
the bottom bar
flag_fov_dms bool false If true, using DMS format
for FOV in the bottom bar
flag_show_decimal_degrees bool false If true, use decimal degrees
for coordinates
flag_use_azimuth_from_south bool false If true, calculate azimuth

from south towards west (as
in some astronomical litera-
ture)
flag_show_gui bool false If true, display GUI.
flag_dso_designation_usage bool false If true, use designations of
deep-sky objects on the sky
instead of their common
names.
flag_enable_kinetic_scrolling bool true If true, use kinetic scrolling
in the GUI2 .
flag_show_buttons_background bool true If true, use background un-
der bottons on bottom panel.
pointer_animation_speed float 1.0 Animation speed of point-
ers.

D.1.9 init_location
ID Type Description
landscape_name string Sets the landscape you see. Built-in options are garching, geneva,
grossmugl, guereins, hurricane, jupiter, mars, moon, neptune, ocean,
saturn, trees, uranus, zero.
location string Name of location on which to start stellarium.
last_location string Coordinates of last used location in stellarium.

D.1.10 landscape
ID Type Description
atmosphere_fade_duration float Sets the time (seconds) it takes for the atmo-
sphere to fade when de-selected
flag_landscape bool Set to false if you dont want to see the land-
scape at all
flag_fog bool Set to false if you dont want to see fog on
start-up
flag_atmosphere bool Set to false if you dont want to see atmo-
sphere on start-up
flag_landscape_sets_location bool Set to true if you want Stellarium to modify
the observer location when a new landscape
is selected (changes planet and longitude/lat-
itude/altitude if location data is available in
the landscape.ini file)
2 This option is available on Windows tablets only.

minimal_brightness float Set minimal brightness for landscapes.

[0. . . 1] Typical value: 0.01
atmosphereybin int Set atmosphere binning coefficient for axis
Y.
flag_minimal_brightness bool Set to true to use minimal brightness for
landscape.
flag_landscape_sets_minimal_brightness bool Set to true to use value for minimal bright-
ness for landscape from landscape settings.
flag_enable_illumination_layer bool Set to true to use illumination layer for land-
scape.
flag_enable_labels bool Set to true to use landscape labels from
gazetteer layer.
atmospheric_extinction_coefficient float Set atmospheric extinction coefficient k
[mag/airmass]
temperature_C float Set atmospheric temperature [Celsius]
pressure_mbar float Set atmospheric pressure [mbar]
cache_size_mb int Set the cache size for landscapes
[megabytes]. Default: 100

D.1.11 localization
ID Type Description
sky_culture string Sets the sky culture to use. E.g. western, polynesian, egyptian,
chinese, lakota, navajo, inuit, korean, norse, tupi, maori, aztec,
sami.
sky_locale string Sets language used for names of objects in the sky (e.g. planets).
The value is a short locale code, e.g. en, de, en_GB
app_locale string Sets language used for Stellariums user interface. The value is
a short locale code, e.g. en, de, en_GB.
time_zone string Sets the time zone. Valid values: system_default, or some
region/location combination, e.g. Pacific/Marquesas
time_display_format string time display format: can be system_default, 24h or 12h.
date_display_format string date display format: can be system_default, mmddyyyy, ddm-
myyyy or yyyymmdd (ISO8601).

D.1.12 main
ID Type Description
invert_screenshots_colors bool If true, Stellarium will saving the screenshorts with in-
verted colors.
restore_defaults bool If true, Stellarium will restore default settings at
startup. This is equivalent to calling Stellarium with the
restore-defaults option.
screenshot_dir string Path for saving screenshots

version string Version of Stellarium. This parameter may be used to
detect necessary changes in config.ini file, do not edit.
use_separate_output_file bool Set to true if you want to create a new file for script output
for each start of Stellarium
ignore_opengl_warning bool Set to true if you dont want to see OpenGL warnings for
each start of Stellarium.
check_requirements bool Set to false if you want to disable and permanently ig-
nore checking hardware requirements at startup. Expect
problems if hardware is below requirements!

D.1.13 navigation
This section controls much of the look&feel of Stellarium. Be careful if you change something
here.
ID Type Description
preset_sky_time float Preset sky time used by the dome version. Unit is
Julian Day. Typical value: 2451514.250011573
startup_time_mode string Set the start-up time mode, can be actual (start with
current real world time), or Preset (start at time
defined by preset_sky_time)
flag_enable_zoom_keys bool Set to false if you want to disable the zoom
flag_manual_zoom bool Set to false for normal zoom behaviour as described
in this guide. When set to true, the auto zoom fea-
ture only moves in a small amount and must be
pressed many times
flag_enable_move_keys bool Set to false if you want to disable the arrow keys
flag_enable_mouse_navigation bool Set to false if you want to disable the mouse naviga-
tion.
init_fov float Initial field of view, in degrees, typical value: 60.
min_fov float Minimal field of view, in degrees, typical value:
0.001389 (5").
init_view_pos floats Initial viewing direction. This is a vector with x,y,z-
coordinates. x being N-S (S +ve), y being E-W (E
+ve), z being up-down (up +ve). Thus to look South
at the horizon use 1,0,0. To look Northwest and up
at 45 , use -1,-1,1 and so on.
auto_move_duration float Duration for the program to move to point at an
object when the space bar is pressed. Typical value:
1.4
mouse_zoom float Sets the mouse zoom amount (mouse-wheel)
move_speed float Sets the speed of movement
zoom_speed float Sets the zoom speed
viewing_mode string If set to horizon, the viewing mode simulate an

alt/azi mount, if set to equator, the viewing mode
simulates an equatorial mount
flag_manual_zoom bool Set to true if you want to auto-zoom in incremen-
tally.
auto_zoom_out_resets_direction bool Set to true if you want to auto-zoom restoring direc-
tion.
time_correction_algorithm string Algorithm of DeltaT correction.

D.1.14 plugins_load_at_startup
This section lists which plugins are loaded at startup (those with true values). Each plugin can
add another section into this file with its own content, which is described in the respective plugin
documentation, see 10. You activate loading of plugins in the F2 settings dialog, tab Plugins.
After selection of which plugins to load, you must restart Stellarium.
ID Type Description
AngleMeasure bool 11.1 Angle Measure plugin
ArchaeoLines bool 12.9 ArchaeoLines plugin
CompassMarks bool 11.2 Compass Marks plugin
MeteorShowers bool 12.6 Meteor Showers plugin
Exoplanets bool 12.3 Exoplanets plugin
Observability bool 14.5 Observability Analysis
Oculars bool 14.1 Oculars plugin
Pulsars bool 12.4 Pulsars plugin
Quasars bool 12.5 Quasars plugin
RemoteControl bool 11.7 Remote Control plugin
Satellites bool 12.8 Satellites plugin
SolarSystemEditor bool 11.8 Solar System Editor plugin
Supernovae bool 12.2 Historical Supernovae plugin
TelescopeControl bool 14.2 Telescope Control plugin
TextUserInterface bool 11.6 Text User Interface plugin
Novae bool 12.1 Bright Novae plugin
Scenery3dMgr bool 13 Scenery 3D plugin

D.1.15 projection
This section contains the projection of your choice and several advanced settings important if you
run Stellarium on a single screen, multi-projection, dome projection, or other setups.
ID Type Description
type string Sets projection mode. Values: ProjectionPerspective, Pro-

jectionEqualArea, ProjectionStereographic, Projection-
Fisheye, ProjectionHammer, ProjectionCylinder, Projec-
tionMercator, ProjectionOrthographic, ProjectionMiller,
or ProjectionSinusoidal.
flip_horz bool
flip_vert bool
viewport string How the view-port looks. Values: none (regular rectangular
screen), disk (circular screen, useful for planetarium setup).
viewportMask string How the view-port looks. Values: none.
viewport_fov_diameter float
viewport_x float Usually 0.
viewport_y float Usually 0.
viewport_width float
viewport_height float
viewport_center_x float Usually half of viewport_width.
viewport_center_y float Usually half of viewport_height.
viewport_center_offset_x float [-0.5. . . +0.5] Usually 0.
viewport_center_offset_y float [-0.5. . . +0.5] Use negative values to move the horizon
lower.

D.1.16 proxy
This section has setting for connection to network through proxy server (proxy will be using when
host of proxy is filled).
ID Type Description
host_name string Name of host for proxy. E.g. proxy.org
type string Type of proxy. E.g. socks
port int Port of proxy. E.g. 8080
user string Username for proxy. E.g. michael_knight
password string Password for proxy. E.g. xxxxx

D.1.17 scripts

startup_script string startup.ssc name of script executed on program start

D.1.18 search
ID Type Description
flag_search_online bool If true, Stellarium will be use SIMBAD for search.
simbad_server_url string URL for SIMBAD mirror
flag_start_words bool If false, Stellarium will be search phrase only from start of words
coordinate_system string Specifies the coordinate system. Possible values: equatorialJ2000,
equatorial, horizontal, galactic. Default value: equatorialJ2000.

D.1.19 spheric_mirror
Stellarium can be used in planetarium domes. You can use a projector with a hemispheric mirror
with geometric properties given in this section. Note: These functions are only rarely used, some
may not work as expected.

flip_horz bool true Flip the projection horizontally
flip_vert bool false Flip the projection vertically
projector_alpha float 0 This parameter controls the properties of the
spheric mirror projection mode.
projector_gamma float This parameter controls the properties of the
projector_delta float -1e100 This parameter controls the properties of the
projector_phi float 0 This parameter controls the properties of the
projector_position_x float 0
projector_position_y float 1
projector_position_z float -0.2
mirror_position_x float 0
mirror_position_y float 2
mirror_position_z float 0
image_distance_div_height float -1e100
mirror_radius float 0.25
dome_radius float 2.5
custom_distortion_file string
texture_triangle_base_length float
zenith_y float 0.125 deprecated
scaling_factor float 0.8 deprecated
distorter_max_fov float 175.0 Set the maximum field of view for the spheric
mirror distorter in degrees. Typical value:
180
viewportCenterWidth float projected image width, pixels

viewportCenterHeight float projected image height, pixels
viewportCenterX float projected image center X, pixels
viewportCenterY float projected image center Y, pixels

D.1.20 stars
This section controls how stars are rendered.
ID Type Description
relative_scale float relative size of bright and faint stars. Higher values mean that
bright stars are comparitively larger when rendered. Typical
value: 1.0
absolute_scale float Changes how large stars are rendered. larger value lead to
larger depiction. Typical value: 1.0
star_twinkle_amount float amount of twinkling. Typical value: 0.3
flag_star_twinkle bool true to allow twinkling (but only when atmosphere is active!).
flag_forced_twinkle bool true to allow twinkling stars without atmosphere also.
mag_converter_max_fov float maximum field of view for which the magnitude conversion
routine is used. Typical value: 90.0.
mag_converter_min_fov float minimum field of view for which the magnitude conversion
routine is used. Typical value: 0.001.
labels_amount float amount of labels. Typical value: 3.0
init_bortle_scale int initial value of light pollution on the Bortle scale. Typical
value: 3.

D.1.21 tui
The built-in text user interface (TUI) plugin (see chapter 11.6) is most useful for planetariums. You
can even configure a system shutdown command. For historical reasons, the section is not called
[TextUserInterface] but simply [tui].

tui_font_size float 15 Font size for TUI.
tui_font_color floatRGB 0.3,1,0.3 Font color for TUI.
flag_show_gravity_ui bool false Enables or disables gravity mode for
UI
flag_show_tui_datetime bool false Set to true if you want to see a date
and time label suited for dome pro-
jections
flag_show_tui_short_obj_info bool set to true if you want to see object
info suited for dome projections
tui_admin_shutdown_command string e.g. for Linux: shutdown poweroff

+2

D.1.22 video
ID Type Description
fullscreen bool If true, Stellarium will start up in full-screen mode, else windowed
mode
screen_w int Display width when in windowed mode. Value in pixels, e.g. 1024
screen_h int Display height when in windowed mode. Value in pixels, e.g. 768
screen_x int Horizontal position of the top-left corner in windowed mode. Value
in pixels, e.g. 0
screen_y int Vertical position of the top-left corner in windowed mode. Value in
pixels, e.g. 0
viewport_effect string This is used when the spheric mirror display mode is activated. Values
include none and sphericMirrorDistorter.
minimum_fps int Sets the minimum number of frames per second to display at (hard-
ware performance permitting)
maximum_fps int Sets the maximum number of frames per second to display at. This
is useful to reduce power consumption in laptops.

D.1.23 viewing
This section defines which objects, labels, lines, grids etc. you want to see on startup. Set those to
true. Most items can be toggled with hotkeys or switched in the GUI.
ID Type Description
flag_constellation_drawing bool Display constellation line drawing
flag_constellation_name bool Display constellation names
flag_constellation_art bool Display constellation art
flag_constellation_boundaries bool Display constellation boundaries
flag_constellation_isolate_selected bool If true, constellation lines, boundaries and art will
be limited to the constellation of the selected star,
if that star is on one of the constellation lines.
flag_constellation_pick bool Set to true if you only want to see the line drawing,
art and name of the selected constellation star
flag_isolated_trails bool Set to true if you only want to see the trail line
drawn for the selected planet (asteroid, comet,
moon)
flag_isolated_orbits bool Set to true if you want to see orbits only for se-
lected planet and their moons.
flag_azimutal_grid bool Display azimuthal grid
flag_equatorial_grid bool Display equatorial grid (of date)
flag_equatorial_J2000_grid bool Display equatorial grid (J2000)

flag_ecliptic_grid bool Display ecliptic grid (of date)
flag_ecliptic_J2000_grid bool Display ecliptic grid (J2000)
flag_galactic_grid bool Display galactic grid (System II)
flag_galactic_equator_line bool Display galactic equator line
flag_equator_line bool Display celestial equator line (of date)
flag_equator_J2000_line bool Display celestial equator line (J2000)
flag_ecliptic_line bool Display ecliptic line (of date)
flag_ecliptic_J2000_line bool Display ecliptic line (J2000)
flag_meridian_line bool Display meridian line
flag_prime_vertical_line bool Display Prime Vertical line (East-Zenith-West)
flag_colure_lines bool Display colure lines (Celestial Pole-///)
flag_cardinal_points bool Display cardinal points
flag_gravity_labels bool Set to true if you want labels to undergo gravity
(top side of text points toward zenith). Useful with
dome projection.
flag_moon_scaled bool Set to false if you want to see the real moon size
moon_scale float Sets the moon scale factor, sometimes useful to
correlate to our perception of the moons size. Typ-
ical value: 4
constellation_art_intensity float brightness [0. . . 1] of the constellation art images.
Typical value: 0.5
constellation_art_fade_duration float time the constellation art takes to fade in or out, in
seconds. Typical value: 1.5
constellation_font_size int font size for constellation labels
constellation_line_thickness float thickness of lines of the constellations [1. . . 5].
Typical value: 1
flag_night bool Enable night mode (red-only mode) on startup
light_pollution_luminance float Sets the level of the light pollution simulation
use_luminance_adaptation bool Enable dynamic eye adaptation.

D.1.24 DialogPositions
By default, GUI panels appear centered in the screen. You can move them to your favorite location,
and on next start they will appear on that location instead. The entries in this section define the
upper left pixel coordinate where panels are stored.
Examples:
ID Type Example Description

Help int,int 58,39 Position of Help panel
DateTime int,int 1338,944 Position of time panel


D.1.25 DialogSizes
0.15.1
GUI panels can be resized by dragging on their lower corners or borders. Enlarged sizes are stored
here, and on next start they will appear in this size. The entries in this section define the size.
Examples:
ID Type Example Description

Help int,int 895,497 Size of Help panel
AstroCalc int,int 913,493 Size of AstroCalc panel
D.2 Solar System Configuration File

The file ssystem.ini (default file in data/ in the program directory, or a privately modified copy
in your own data/ directory (see 5) contains orbital and rotational data from which Stellarium
configures the Solar System objects. You can edit the file either manually, or with the Solar System
Editor plugin (see Section 11.8).
Each objects data are described in its own section which is typically named after the object
name. Some section names (e.g. those using diacriticals, spaces or other problematic characters)
appear a bit mangled.
We list here examples for the major planets, larger moons with special coordinate functions,
minor moons with generic orbital elements, minor planets and comets with elliptical and parabolic
orbit elements.
All elements are stored in alphabetic order in the file, however it makes more sense to present
the elements in another structure which better reflects the meaning.
D.2.1 Planet section

Example:
[ jupiter ]
name = Jupiter
type = planet
coord_func = jupiter_special
lighting = true
albedo =0.51
atmosphere =1
color =1. , 0.983 , 0.934
tex_halo = star16x16 . png
tex_map = jupiter . png # texture courtesy of Bj \ xf6rn J \ xf3nsson
halo = true
oblateness =0.064874
orbit_v i su al iz a ti on _p e ri od =4331.87
parent = Sun
radius =71492
rot_equ a to r_ as c en di ng _ no de = -22.203
rot_obliquity =2.222461
rot_periode =9.92491
rot_pole_de =64.49
rot_pole_ra =268.05
rot_rotation_offset = -1 # use JupiterGRS patch
where
name English name of the planet. May appear translated.
type Mandatory for planets:
parent =Sun. The body which this object is running around.
coord_func The planet positions are all computed with a dedicated function (VSOP or DE43x).
orbit_visualization_period number of (earth) days for how long the orbit should be made visible.
Typically Stellarium shows one orbit line. The orbit slowly drifts, however.
atmosphere (0 or 1) flag to indicate whether observer locations should enable atmosphere drawing.
radius Equator radius, km.
oblateness Flattening of the polar diameter. (r pole /req )

lighting Should be true to have shading direction from the sun. The only objects where this should
be false is the sun, while comets are often seen to also have false here, to allow rendering a
diffuse body without illumination.
albedo total albedo (reflectivity) of the planet. Used for generic magnitude computation, but
the major planets usually have dedicated magnitude formulas, so the value is not evaluated
unless you are observing from a location outside Earth.
color Used to colorize halo
tex_halo File name of texture map for halo texture in textures folder. (Used when zoomed out
far enough so that the actual sphere is not visible.)
tex_map File name of texture map in textures folder.
halo Should be true to draw a halo (simple light disk) when object too small to draw a sphere.
Elements for the Physical Ephemeris

rot_equator_ascending_node deprecated
rot_obliquity deprecated
rot_pole_ra constant of axis right ascension in ICRF, degrees
rot_pole_ra1 change per century of axis right ascension in ICRF, degrees
rot_pole_de constant of axis declination in ICRF, degrees
rot_pole_de1 change per century of axis declination in ICRF, degrees
rot_rotation_offset longitude of central meridian at J2000.0. The special value here indicates
special treatment for the Great Red Spot.
rot_periode Duration of one sidereal rotation, in earth hours.
rot_equator_ascending_node and rot_obliquity are the generic values to specify the axis orien-
tation with respect to the parent objects equator, or the VSOP87 inertial plane in case of planets.
However, for planets the IAU has been using right ascension and declination of the pole in the
ICRF for decades now. The elements to use for planets should therefore be the rot_pole_* values.
In many cases, the attitude/rotation formula is given like
0 = rot_pole_ra + T rot_pole_ra1 (D.1)

0 = rot_pole_de + T rot_pole_de1 (D.2)
W = rot_rotation_offset + d rot_periode (D.3)
These cases are covered by the data in ssystem.ini. Other cases are dealt with in a different
way.
D.2.2 Moon section

Moons are special in that they orbit another planet. Therefore, the rotational elements used to
be specified relative to the equatorial plane of the parent planet, and orbit_SemiMajorAxis in
kilometers. However, current IAU reference material gives axis orientation with right ascension
and declination values for the pole in ICRF coordinates, with some of them in motion. So again,
if one of the rot_pole_... values exist, we assume the current standard. For more complicated
motion, again some special functions are applied.
[ amalthea ]
name = Amalthea
type = moon
parent = Jupiter
coord_func = ell_orbit
orbit_AscendingNode =141.5521520794674
orbit_Eccentricity =0.006175744402949701
orbit_Epoch =2454619.50000
orbit_Inclination =0.3864576103404582
orbit_LongOfPericenter =245.4222355150120000
orbit_MeanLongitude =224.7924893552550000
orbit_Period =0.5016370462116355
orbit_SemiMajorAxis =181994.8658358799
radius =73
rot_equ a to r_ as c en di ng _ no de =213.7
rot_obliquity =15.5
rot_periode =12.039289109079252
rot_rotation_offset =235.50
albedo =0.06
color =1. , 0.627 , 0.492
halo = true
lighting = true
tex_map = amalthea . png
where
name English name of planet moon. No number, just the name. May be translated.
type moon
parent English name of planet or parent body.
coord_func Must be ell_orbit
orbit_AscendingNode
orbit_Eccentricity e
orbit_Epoch
orbit_Inclination i [degrees]
orbit_LongOfPericenter
orbit_MeanLongitude
orbit_Period
orbit_SemiMajorAxis a [km]
orbit_visualization_period Should be set to orbit_Period to show orbit as closed line. Actually,
this happens when omitted. So this is in fact only useful in case of special functions for
positioning where orbit_Period is not given.
radius =73
rot_equator_ascending_node =213.7 TRY TO AVOID!
rot_obliquity =15.5 TRY TO AVOID!
rot_pole_ra constant of axis right ascension in ICRF, degrees
rot_pole_ra1 change per century of axis right ascension in ICRF, degrees
rot_pole_de constant of axis declination in ICRF, degrees
rot_pole_de1 change per century of axis declination in ICRF, degrees
rot_rotation_offset longitude of central meridian at J2000.0.
rot_periode Duration of one sidereal rotation, in earth hours.
albedo (actually currently unused when lighting true)
color for drawing halo.

halo =true to draw a simple diffuse dot when zoomed out.
lighting =true to show sphere illuminated.
tex_halo name of halo texture. Should be star16x16.png
tex_map name of spherical texture map. Many moons have been mapped by visiting spacecraft!
D.2.3 Minor Planet section
[4 vesta ]
type = asteroid
minor_planet_number =4
name = Vesta
coord_func = comet_orbit
parent = Sun
orbit_ArgOfPericenter =151.19843
orbit_Epoch =2457000.5
orbit_MeanAnomaly =20.86389
orbit_MeanMotion =0.27154465
orbit_SemiMajorAxis =2.3617933
color =1. , 1. , 1.
halo = true
lighting = true
oblateness =0.0
albedo =0.423
radius =280
absolute_magnitude =3.2
slope_parameter =0.32
tex_map = vesta . png
type can be asteroid, dwarf planet, cubewano, plutino, scattered disc object,
Oort cloud object. With the exception of Pluto, all positions for minor bodies are computed
with the orbiting elements given in this way.
Note that although all minor bodies orbit the sun in an elliptical orbit, the coord_func=comet_orbit.
However, it is more common for minor planets to specify epoch, mean anomaly and mean motion.
Visual magnitude is modelled from absolute magnitude H and slope parameter G.
Elements for rotational axis may be given just like for planets when they are known. It is
recommended to use the modern specification (elements rot_pole_...).
D.2.4 Comet section

Comets are tiny, and their outgassing and close approaches to the major planets cause fast changes
in their orbital elements, so that each apparition should be specified with a dedicated section in
ssystem.ini.
The coord_func is specified as comet_orbit. Note the specification of a time (JDE) at

pericenter which is typical for comets.
Comet brightness is evaluated from
mag = absolute_magnitude+5log distance+2.5slope_parameterlog(CometSunDistance)

(D.4)
The term slope_parameter may be a misnomer in case of comets. From the literature [40]
(equation 33.13) we find
mag = g + 5 log + log r (D.5)
from which = 2 slope_parameter. In any case, is typically [5. . . 15] and specific for each
comet.
albedo is used to set the brightness for rendering the body, if you are close enough. Solar
illumination direction in this case is not used.
A large number of elements for historical comets is provided in the file ssystem_1000comets.ini
in the installation directory. You can copy&paste what you need into your ssystem.ini. Unfortu-
nately it is not possible to specify several sets of orbital elements for different epochs which would
allow automatic changes.
Periodic Comet
[1 phalley ]
type = comet
name =1 P / Halley
parent = Sun
orbit_Peri cent erD ista nce =0.57136
orbit_TimeAtPericenter =2446463.12979167
orbit_good =78
color =1.0 , 1.0 , 1.0

dust_brightnessfactor =1.5
dust_lengthfactor =0.4
dust_widthfactor =1.5
lighting = false
albedo =0.1
radius =5
slope_parameter =3.2
tex_map = nomap . png
You may want to e.g. change the name in this entry to name=1P/Halley (1982i). Note a
very short configured duration of orbit_good, which means the comet is only displayed 78 days
before and after perihel.
Parabolic/Hyperbolic Comet
[ c2013us10 %28 catalina %29]

type = comet
name = C /2013 US10 ( Catalina )
parent = Sun
orbit_Peri cent erD ista nce =0.822958
orbit_TimeAtPericenter =2457342.20748843
orbit_good =1000
color =1.0 , 1.0 , 1.0

dust_brightnessfactor =1.5
dust_lengthfactor =0.4
dust_widthfactor =1.5
lighting = false
albedo =0.1
radius =5
slope_parameter =4
tex_map = nomap . png
This has basically the same format. Note eccentricity is larger 1, this means the comet is
running on a slightly hyperbolic orbit. Stellarium shows data for this comet for almost 3 years
(orbit_good=1000 days) from perihel.
D.2.5 Solar System Observer

Stellarium is great for excursions to the surface of any object with known orbital elements. Con-
figuring a viewpoint away from a planet requires a special kind of location. The Solar System
Observer has been provided as a neutral view location high above the North pole of the Solar
System. It has been configured like this:
[ solar_system_observer ]
name = Solar System Observer
parent = Sun
albedo =0.
color =0. , 0. , 0.
halo = false
hidden = true
lighting = false
coord_func = ell_orbit
orbit_AscendingNode =0
orbit_Eccentricity =0
orbit_Epoch =2451545.0
orbit_Inclination =90
orbit_LongOfPericenter =0
orbit_MeanLongitude =90
orbit_Period =70000000000
orbit_SemiMajorAxis =70000000000
radius =1.
rot_obliquity =90
tex_map = lune . png
Note the inclination and mean longitude of 90 degrees.

E. Accuracy
Stellarium originally was developed to present a beautiful simulation of the night sky, mostly
to understand what is visible in the sky when you leave your house, i.e., for present times. To
save computation time, some concessions were made in astronomical accuracy by using simplified
models which seemed acceptable at that time. However, many users started to overstress Stellariums
capabilities to simulate the historical sky of many centuries in the past, and found inconsistencies.
Unfortunately, celestial motions are indeed more complicated than a simple clockwork, and the
process of retrofitting detailed and accurate models which started around V0.11 is not completed
yet. Therefore, when using Stellarium for scientific work like eclipse simulation to illustrate records
found in Cuneiform tablets, always also use some other reference to compare. You can of course
contact us if you are willing and able to help improving Stellariums accuracy!
E.1 Planetary Positions

Stellarium uses the VSOP87 [9] theory1 to calculate the positions of the planets over time.
VSOP87 is an analytical ephemeris modeled to match the numerical integration run DE200
from NASA JPL. Its use is recommended for the years -4000. . . +8000. You can observe the sun
leaving the ecliptic of date and running on the ecliptic J2000 outside this date range. This is
obviously a mathematical trick to keep continuity. Still, positions may be somewhat useful outside
this range, but dont expect anything reliable 50,000 years in the past!
The optionally usable JPL DE431 delivers planet positions strictly for -13000. . . +17000 only,
and nothing outside. Outside of this range, positions from VSOP87 will be shown again.
As far as Stellarium is concerned, the user should bear in mind the following properties of the
VSOP87 method. Accuracy values here are positional as observed from Earth.
1 http://vizier.cfa.harvard.edu/viz-bin/ftp-index?/ftp/cats/VI/81
294 Chapter E. Accuracy
Object(s) Method Notes

Mercury, Venus, Earth-Moon barycen- VSOP87 Accuracy is 1 arc-second from 2000
ter, Mars B.C. 6000 A.D.
Jupiter, Saturn VSOP87 Accuracy is 1 arc-second from 0 A.D.
4000 A.D.
Uranus, Neptune VSOP87 Accuracy is 1 arc-second from 4000
B.C. 8000 A.D.
Pluto ? Plutos position is valid only from
1885 A.D. 2099 A.D.
Earths Moon ELP2000-82B Unsure about interval of validity or
accuracy at time of writing. Possibly
valid from 1828 A.D. to 2047 A.D.
Galilean satellites L2 Valid from 500 A.D. 3500 A.D.
E.2 Minor Bodies

Positions for the Minor Bodies (Dwarf Planets, Asteroids, Comets) are computed with standard
algorithms found in astronomical text books. The generally used method of orbital elements allows
to compute the positions of the respective object on an undisturbed Kepler orbit around the sun.
However, gravitational, and in the case of comets, non-gravitational (outgassing) disturbances slowly
change these orbital elements. Therefore an epoch is given for such elements, and computation of
positions for times far from this epoch will lead to positional errors. Therefore, when searching for
asteroids or comets, always update your orbital elements, and use elements with an epoch as close
to your time of observation as possible! Stellarium does not simulate gravitational perturbances
and orbital changes of minor bodies passing major planets.
E.3 Precession and Nutation

Since V0.14, Stellarium computes the orientation of earths axis according to the IAU2006 Preces-
sion in a long-time variant developed by Vondrk et al. [72] and IAU2000B Nutation. This also now
allows proper depiction of the changes in ecliptic obliquity and display of instantaneous precession
circles around the ecliptic poles. These circles are indeed varying according to ecliptical obliquity.
Nutation is only computed for about 500 years around J2000.0. Nobody could have observed it
before 1609, and it is unclear for how long the model is applicable.
E.4 Planet Axes

Orientation for the other planets is still simplified. Future versions should implement modern IAU
guidelines.
F. Contributors
When not listed as chapter authors, the following were the main contributors:
Matthew Gates Primary author of the 1st edition

Paul Robinson Sky guide; exercise ideas
Andras Mohari Celestial sphere diagrams; numerous corrections
Rudy Gobits, Dirk Schwarzhans Mac platform specifics
Barry Gerdes Windows platform specifics
Customisation of .fab files
Documentation Maintainer up to V0.12
Sigma Japanese translation; many corrections
Richard Powell Figure 17.3 (colour/magnitude diagram) is a modifi-
cation of his diagram; he kindly granted permission
for it to be distributed under the FDL
John Twin Many spelling corrections
Georg Zotti Lead author of the 0.15 edition
Alexander Wolf New layout, many contributions for the 0.15 edition
The rest of the Stellarium developer team You know who you are. . . :-)
Additional material has been incorporated into the guide from sources that are published under
the GNU FDL, including material from Wikipedia and the Astronomy book at Wikibooks.
F.1 How you can help

We welcome bug reports, feature requests and feedback through the usual channels (trackers,
forums and so on):
Bug tracker https://bugs.launchpad.net/stellarium
Questions for Stellarium https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium
Feedback forum https://sourceforge.net/p/stellarium/discussion/278769/
Blueprints for Stellarium https://blueprints.launchpad.net/stellarium
G. GNU Free Documentation License
Version 1.2, November 2002 Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51
Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute
verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
G.1 PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document
free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it,
with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License
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This License is a kind of copyleft, which means that derivative works of the document must
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copyleft license designed for free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free
software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same
freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used
for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We
recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
G.2 APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

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the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants
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distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.
298 Chapter G. GNU Free Documentation License
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G.3 VERBATIM COPYING 299
G.3 VERBATIM COPYING

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G.4 COPYING IN QUANTITY

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G.6 COMBINING DOCUMENTS 301
G.6 COMBINING DOCUMENTS

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G.7 COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

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License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single
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G.9 TRANSLATION
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title.
G.10 TERMINATION
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void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have
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G.11 FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation
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draft) by the Free Software Foundation.
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Day and Ten Day Intervals. Volume 59. American Philosophical Society: Memoirs
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[71] M.-P. Vron-Cetty and P. Vron. A catalogue of quasars and active nuclei: 13th
edition. In: Astronomy and Astrophysics 518, A10 (July 2010), A10. DOI: 10 .
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[72] J. Vondrk, N. Capitaine, and P. Wallace. New precession expressions, valid for
long time intervals. In: Astronomy and Astrophysics 534.A22 (2011), pages 119.
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[73] J. Vondrk, N. Capitaine, and P. Wallace. New precession expressions, valid for
long time intervals (Corrigendum). In: Astronomy and Astrophysics 541.C1 (2012).
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2000), pages 922. DOI: 10.1051/aas:2000332. eprint: astro- ph/0002110
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[76] Georg Zotti. Visualization Tools and Techniques. In: Handbook for Archaeoas-
tronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Edited by Clive L.N. Ruggles. Volume 1. New York:
Springer Reference, 2015. Chapter 29, pages 445457 (cited on page 150).
[77] Georg Zotti. Archaeoastronomical Simulations in a Desktop Planetarium. In: Proc.
CHNT2015. Edited by Wolfgang Brner. 2016. ISBN: 978-3-200-04698-6. URL:
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[81] Georg Zotti and Wolfgang Neubauer. Astronomical and Topographical Orientation
of Kreisgrabenanlagen in Lower Austria. In: SEAC2011 Stars and Stones: Voyages
in Archaeoastronomy and Cultural Astronomy. Edited by Fernando Pimenta et al.
BAR International Series 2720. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015, pages 188193. ISBN:
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[82] Georg Zotti and Gnther Wuchterl. Raising Awareness of Light Pollution by
Simulation of Nocturnal Light of Astronomical Cultural Heritage Sites. In: The
Materiality of the Sky. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual SEAC Conference, 2014.
Edited by Fabio Silva et al. Ceredigion, Wales, 2016, pages 197203 (cited on
page 80).
Index
A D
absolute magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 DE430 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
air mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 DE431 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Almagest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 declination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
altitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Deep-sky objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Altitude/Azimuth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Douglas Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Andromeda Galaxy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217 Downloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
apparent magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 dwarf stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
apparent radiant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Atmospheric Extinction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 E
Atmospheric Refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
azimuth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 ecliptic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
ecliptical latitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
ecliptical longitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
B Edmund Halley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Ejnar Hertzsprung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Barnards Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Equatorial Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Bayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
equinox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
binoculars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Ernst Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
brown dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
F
C
FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
cardinal points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 First Point of Aries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Celestial Equator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Flamsteed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Celestial Poles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Celestial Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 G
Charles Messier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
crossbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Galactic Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
312 INDEX
galactic latitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Opposition/Conjunction Line . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

galactic longitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13
giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Osborn Maitland Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
H P
Handy Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184, 217 planetary nebulae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Henry Norris Russell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 population index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Hipparch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 precession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177, 185
Hipparchus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184, 194 precession circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Horizontal Coordinate System. . . . . . . . . . .174 Proper motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Ptolemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177, 193
pulsars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
I
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 R
J radiant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Right ascension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Johann Bayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Right Ascension/Declination . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
John E. Bortle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Running Stellarium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
John Flamsteed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
John Herschel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 S
Julian Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 179
sidereal time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
L Small Magellanic Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
spectral types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Large Magellanic Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13 super-giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
luminosity class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
M T
M31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 time dragging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
main sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Tycho Brahe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
mathematical horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
meridian convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 V
meteor shower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
meteoroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 VSOP87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Modified Julian Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Modified Julian Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 W
white dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
N Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
nadir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Z
Norman Pogson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Northern Ecliptical Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 zenith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Zenithal Hourly Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
O
obliquity of the ecliptic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

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Stellarium 0.15.

Version 0.15.2-1, March 21, 2017

4 The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

6 Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

9 Adding Sky Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

III Extending Stellarium

11 Interface Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

12 Object Catalog Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

13 Scenery3d 3D Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

14 Stellarium at the Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

17 Astronomical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

18 A Little Sky Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

C Star Catalogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

D Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

G GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

4 The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

1.1 Historical notes

Fabien Chreau original creator, maintainer, general development

2015-10 V0.14.0: Accurate precession

2.1 System Requirements

2.4 Running Stellarium

3.1 Time Travel

Button Shortcut key Description

J Decrease the rate at which time passes

K Make time pass as normal

L Increase the rate at which time passes

8 Return to the current time & date

Table 3.1: Time Travel

Time Dragging, Time Scrolling

3.2 Moving Around the Sky

Table 3.2: Moving Around the Sky

3.3 The Main Tool Bar

Figure 3.2: Night scene with constellation artwork and moon.

Feature Button Key Description

Constellations C Draw constellations as stick figures

Constellation Names V Draw name of the constellations

Constellation Art R Superimpose artistic representations of

Azimuth Grid Z Draw grid lines for the horizontal coor-

Toggle Ground G Toggle drawing of the ground. Turn

Toggle Atmosphere A Toggle atmospheric effects. Most no-

Planet Hints P Toggle indicators to show the position

Nebula images I Toggle nebula images. This button

Night Mode Ctrl + N Toggle night mode, which applies a

Full Screen Mode F11 Toggle full screen mode.

Bookmarks Alt + B Toggle bookmarks window. This but-

Help Window F1 Show the help window, with key bind-

Configuration Window F2 Show the configuration window

Search Window F3 or Ctrl + F Show the object search window

View Window F4 Show the view window

Time Window F5 Show the time window

Location Window F6 Show the observer location window

AstroCalc Window F10 Show the astronomical calculations

3.4 Taking Screenshots

4.1 Setting the Date and Time

Figure 4.1: Date and Time dialog

4.2 Setting Your Location

Figure 4.2: Location window

4.3 The Configuration Window

4.3.1 The Main Tab