stellarium - maximum altitudes

[Chefgage]

Hello all. Having not used Stellarium very much (hardly at all really) as I use Sky safari for most things. Is there a way to show the maximum altitude an object will be during the year from my location using Stellarium?

Using sky safari I can centre on an object and then fast forward through time to see how high the altitude gets but this is quite time consuming in that you are just changing the dates for a given fixed time or changing the time for a fixed date. A way to just input my location and choose a target/object and the software will show the maximum altitude it reaches would be very helpful.

An example using sky safari is centre on the Orion nebula. Set the time to say 8pm then keep changing the date by days ahead to see the change in altitude. The problem with this is that it is fixed on 8pm which for that given day will not be the maximum altitude.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Chefgage

[Gfamily]

The maximum altitude for 'fixed' objects (stars and DSOs) will be the same regardless of the date - so if you select an object, the information provided will include the time of transit. If you then hit F5 and set that time , the information will give you the altitude at Transit.

[Skipper Billy]

This might be easier for what you want to do 

https://telescopius.com/

[vlaiv]

Stellarium has "Observability" plugin that gives you following info:

For "fixed" celestial objects (not planets) - you can figure out what height of above horizon will be - fairly easily. Look at declination of object and add your latitude to it.

Orion nebula is ~ -5° of declination and I'm at 45° North. Orion will be at max altitude of 40° for me. It will be at this position (meridian, 40° alt) at midnight around Dec 15th. Further away from Dec 15th you are - it will be before or after midnight at this location.

 

 

[vlaiv]

Just realized that observability plugin provides culmination info for "today" - you can use that as well.

[Skipper Billy]

I have learnt something today - thanks @vlaiv !!

[vlaiv]

12 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

For "fixed" celestial objects (not planets) - you can figure out what height of above horizon will be - fairly easily. Look at declination of object and add your latitude to it.

Orion nebula is ~ -5° of declination and I'm at 45° North. Orion will be at max altitude of 40° for me. It will be at this position (meridian, 40° alt) at midnight around Dec 15th. Further away from Dec 15th you are - it will be before or after midnight at this location.

Just realized I did the math wrong - I got the same result because I'm at 45° North - half way between equator and north pole.

You actually need to "subtract" values rather than add. For someone at 50° North, Orion's nebula will be lower down not higher up. Proper math would be 90° - (-5° - 50°) = 35° altitude.

It is 90 degrees minus (declination - latitude).

[vlaiv]

Today, it seems that math and I are not really on first name basis.

As folk would say - third time is the charm, so let's give it another go

I was almost right the first time - it is in fact summation but one needs to take 90° - latitude and not latitude. Since I'm on 45°, no wonder it worked for me as 45° = 90° - 45°

In the end, I present correct formula - (90° - latitude) + declination  = altitude of object at transition time.

[Chefgage]

1 hour ago, Gfamily said:

The maximum altitude for 'fixed' objects (stars and DSOs) will be the same regardless of the date - so if you select an object, the information provided will include the time of transit. If you then hit F5 and set that time , the information will give you the altitude at Transit.

Not quite sure what you are saying. The max altitude will not be the same regardless of the date surely?  For example the max altitude of the Orion nebula in my location is  31 degrees at about 1am tomorrow morning. But in a month's time at 1am it will be 27 degrees.

Possibly my explanation in the first post was not clear. It's at what time and date of the year a object will be at its highest altitude relative to my location.  I can see on sky safari for each date and time I choose. But not just that one time and date it is at its highest.

[Chefgage]

1 hour ago, Skipper Billy said:

This might be easier for what you want to do 

https://telescopius.com/

That's the one. Thanks. That gives me the the information I was after. For the Orion nebula it will at its highest altitude from my location at 10pm on the 14th January.

[vlaiv]

5 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

Not quite sure what you are saying. The max altitude will not be the same regardless of the date surely?  For example the max altitude of the Orion nebula in my location is  31 degrees at about 1am tomorrow morning. But in a month's time at 1am it will be 27 degrees.

Possibly my explanation in the first post was not clear. It's at what time and date of the year a object will be at its highest altitude relative to my location.  I can see on sky safari for each date and time I choose. But not just that one time and date it is at its highest.

Fixed objects (not planets) will hit max altitude at least once each day. It does not depend on date - it depends on time for each particular date

[Gfamily]

51 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

Not quite sure what you are saying. The max altitude will not be the same regardless of the date surely?  For example the max altitude of the Orion nebula in my location is  31 degrees at about 1am tomorrow morning. But in a month's time at 1am it will be 27 degrees.

Possibly my explanation in the first post was not clear. It's at what time and date of the year a object will be at its highest altitude relative to my location.  I can see on sky safari for each date and time I choose. But not just that one time and date it is at its highest.

The maximum altitude of any object will be as it crosses the meridian ( i.e. when due South for us in the Northern hemisphere).

How high that is ONLY depends on your location.

WHEN that is depends on the date. If it reaches its max of 31° for you today at 1am; then in a month time it'll reach its max of 31° at 11pm.

A month after that it'll be at 31° at 9pm, but it'll never get higher for you than 31°.

If you want to know when it reaches its maximum altitude for you today, then that's a different question, and my first answer (i.e. select the object and see what time it transits) applies

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Gfamily

[Chefgage]

4 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

The maximum altitude of any object will be as it crosses the meridian ( i.e. when due South for us in the Northern hemisphere).

How high that is ONLY depends on your location.

WHEN that is depends on the date. If it reaches its max of 31° for you today at 1am; then in a month time it'll reach its max of 31° at 11pm.

A month after that it'll be at 31° at 9pm, but it'll never get higher for you than 31°.

 

Right I get it now, thanks. 

[Chefgage]

3 hours ago, Gfamily said:

The maximum altitude for 'fixed' objects (stars and DSOs) will be the same regardless of the date - so if you select an object, the information provided will include the time of transit. If you then hit F5 and set that time , the information will give you the altitude at Transit.

Again thanks, I understand it now after reading your first reply. Using the software I use I can see the transit times, so this now helps.

[Stu]

4 hours ago, Chefgage said:

Hello all. Having not used Stellarium very much (hardly at all really) as I use Sky safari for most things. Is there a way to show the maximum altitude an object will be during the year from my location using Stellarium?

Using sky safari I can centre on an object and then fast forward through time to see how high the altitude gets but this is quite time consuming in that you are just changing the dates for a given fixed time or changing the time for a fixed date. A way to just input my location and choose a target/object and the software will show the maximum altitude it reaches would be very helpful.

An example using sky safari is centre on the Orion nebula. Set the time to say 8pm then keep changing the date by days ahead to see the change in altitude. The problem with this is that it is fixed on 8pm which for that given day will not be the maximum altitude.

SkySafari does have a graphing facility which may be of assistance. If you select ‘Selection’ it shows a menu including ‘Graph Object’. Choose this and it will produce a graph for the selected object, plus the Sun and Moon. You can zoom in or out of the time line (it works best when zoomed in) and go forwards or backwards in time. It’s a little cumbersome but does allow you to see when the objects reach their maximum height and what height they reach without doing it day by day.

I find Observer Pro better for this kind of thing, although it does not feature planets, only DSOs

[Paul73]

Thanks Stu

Didn’t know Ski Safari could do that!

Paul

[Gfamily]

1 hour ago, Paul73 said:

Thanks Stu

Didn’t know Ski Safari could do that!

Paul

I don't think all versions can.  

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Gfamily said:

I don't think all versions can.  

That is true. The free version definitely doesn’t but Pro does and I suspect Plus does too, but someone else would need to confirm.

[Chefgage]

33 minutes ago, Stu said:

That is true. The free version definitely doesn’t but Pro does and I suspect Plus does too, but someone else would need to confirm.

I am using 5 plus and it doesn't have this feature. Mind you it might have, I am out imaging at the moment and my brain is getting cold.

[Gfamily]

For reference, the Plus* version of the Stellarium phone app shows the visibility curve for selected objects.

*This is the version that costs about £7-8 (on Android anyway)