Stellarium - adding comets

[Thalestris24]

How to I add comets to Stellarium - it's not clear to me! Specifically 46p but generally also. I'm sure I used to have comets but they've disappeared...

Cheers

Louise

[Davey-T]

Bit of haphazard jumping about but I think it goes like this

Configuration spanner / plug ins / solar system editor (may have to scroll down to it on left hand side) / configure / solar system / import orbital elements / click on comet button / select bookmark /

MPC list of observable comets / get orbital elements / this gets you a list of comets, type in 46P Wirtanen in the search bar tick box and add object.

Good luck

Dave

 

[Space Oddities]

Hi Louise,

Here is what I did for 46P:

• Go to: Configuration Window > Plugins > Solar System Editor
• Click on "Configure"
• In the window that opens, select tab "Solar System"
• Click on "Import orbital elements in MPC format"
• Select the type "Comets"
• In the dropdown menu, select "MPC's list of observable comets"
• Press "Get orbital elements" 
• In the window that opens, you'll see a list of objects. You can either select everything ("Mark All") or only those you want to add.
• Tick "Update existing objects"
• Press "Add objects", and you're done!

46P should now be visible, along with other comets you added  

Hope that helps!

Pierre

[Thalestris24]

Tried that above - doesn't seem to work  Wait a minute...

I have it but it's not quite where I'd thought it would be - it's currently showing at about RA 2h 11m, DEC 19deg 30min - is that correct?

ps thanks for the help

[almcl]

That's not quite what my version of Stellarium is showing, Louise,  but not sure if mine is correct either?

Maybe someone can enlighten us both?

EDIT:  Just checked and Skysafari on tablet is giving a similar position to the above.  

EDIT 2: Cartes Du Ciel (which found it pretty well spot on last night|) is showing similar to the two above.

[Paul M]

It seems to be broken in my current install of Stellarium 0.18.1 . It's something I've done at least 19 trillion, maybe 20 trillion times in the past with no problems but it's my first try with this version of Stellarium. 

When I click on "get orbital elements" a progress widow briefly flashes in the bottom r/h of the screen but so brief it doesn't even fully render (less than a frame?) and nothing else happens. No elements, no nuffin! I've tried standing on my head, sneaking up on it, WD40, everything.

I'm too tired to try and find a suitable search string for 46P to put in the individual search window..    But that's ok,  so many finder maps knocking about on here and I've got SkySafari, I'm not going to struggle to know where to look for it, just need a weather window

 

[bingevader]

I re-installed and then updated the comet list and all is well.

[Thalestris24]

1 hour ago, almcl said:

That's not quite what my version of Stellarium is showing, Louise,  but not sure if mine is correct either?

Maybe someone can enlighten us both?

EDIT:  Just checked and Skysafari on tablet is giving a similar position to the above.  

EDIT 2: Cartes Du Ciel (which found it pretty well spot on last night|) is showing similar to the two above.

This will be mine at 18:00:

Of course, it clouded over before it got dark enough to do anything

Louise

[almcl]

25 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Of course, it clouded over before it got dark enough to do anything

 

Ain't that always the way?  Too hazy for AP here so, after a fairly disastrous attempt to image it last night, we're  just running some PEC training on the mount now... 

[Thalestris24]

1 minute ago, almcl said:

Ain't that always the way?  Too hazy for AP here so, after a fairly disastrous attempt to image it last night, we're  just running some PEC training on the mount now... 

Yeah, sigh. The Met forecast misled me, as usual

[Paul M]

1 hour ago, bingevader said:

I re-installed and then updated the comet list and all is well.

Hmmm.

I just installed v 0.18.2 and restarted the computer. Still the same for me. No updates or file download.

I deleted the minor body file and restarted. Just the same. I'm wondering if McAfee is getting in the way?

[Space Oddities]

Louise,

I have the same result from Glasgow, yesterday at 6pm, both from Stellarium desktop and Stellarium web.

I have no idea if that is the actual position of the comet, but since Stellarium Web doesn't require any extra configuration to show 46P, I assume that it's the correct position  

As for the clouds, it seems that we share the same weather... Good luck, hopefully the sky will clear up for you!

Pierre

[Paul M]

14 hours ago, Paul M said:

Hmmm.

I just installed v 0.18.2 and restarted the computer. Still the same for me. No updates or file download.

I deleted the minor body file and restarted. Just the same. I'm wondering if McAfee is getting in the way?

Weirdly, when I went back to Stellarium later it just worked!

Must have been that WD40 soaking in...:)

[GuLinux]

Just an FYI, solar system updates are builtin in KStars (which is also available also for Windows and OSX, not only Linux)

[Thalestris24]

5 hours ago, Paul M said:

Weirdly, when I went back to Stellarium later it just worked!

Must have been that WD40 soaking in...:)

Mine did that too! Maybe it needs to shutdown first? Anyway, makes no difference re 46p since it will soon be out of view for me  Clouds and then snow for the weekend, followed by more clouds. Maybe another comet will come wandering past one day...

Louise

[Davey-T]

23 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Maybe another comet will come wandering past one day...

Don't give up Louise it's going to hang around until the end of January 

Dave

[Thalestris24]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

Don't give up Louise it's going to hang around until the end of January 

Dave

Yeah, but it will out of my limited fov very soon

Louise

[Paul M]

I just glimpsed it again from my Cumbrian dark sky site. Unexpected clearance or so I thought. By the time my eyes had adapted I could see a band of cloud encroaching on the comet and looking at everything else , the clear bits weren't so clear after all.

Anyway bagged 46P with 10 X 50s again. Easier than from home last night but still not "easy"!

Nowhere near naked eye in that sky. Bitterly cold, my eyes were streaming so even gave up on the Geminids.