The Solar System: September, AD 15605

[RobA]

Just brainstorming, another way to represent the planets symbolically and still hint at the scale is to offset the orbits:

rect3331.png

BTW, toff, this thread is an interesting read!

-Rob A>

[töff]

hint at the scale is to offset the orbits

That's a very cool idea, but I don't think I can use it this time because I have "full-orbit" elements such as the Asteroid Belt, which will be shown in its entirety, and it'd look, um, shall we say, "too jaunty" if it weren't centered on the Sun. But still, I like your idea a lot and I might swipe it for some other project some time. Cheers! That's clever.

[töff]

Houston, we have a problem! (Sorry, you knew I had to say that eventually.)

But seriously ... I did double-check my Starry Night data against the AlphaCentaure screen shots, and they DO NOT JIBE. Sorry for the poor quality of the screenshot in some places, but you can read it if you look close. I did.

Now, here's the thing. This is why I became a serious, dedicated skeptic a few years back. In general, we do not experience things first-hand. We get told about them, we get data from sources that are at best first or second hand but sometimes have gone through the-Devil-knows-whose hands (and agendas). Where did Starry Night and AlphaCentaure get their epoch tables and algorithms? Who wrote the calculation functions? WHOM SHALL WE TRUST?

I think I will download a couple of those other freeware astro proggies and see if I can get some other reports for planetary positions in September 15605. But ... still ... same question: whom do we trust? Maybe half of those programs are using a particular set of data or formulae that contain errors, and even though I get shown the same thing by 3 programs, they're all wrong. You know, like, "Oh sure, that's because of the Schmarks dataset from 1982, everybody knows he was getting a divorce and he had a drug problem, he totally screwed up his math, but it got printed in the journals before anybody caught it and printed retractions and corrections, and people who don't know any better are STILL using those tables, there must be a hundred astronomy programs out there that don't work because of this data -- they're all wrong! LOL!" ... And let's not leave out the fact that I, as cosmically aware and infallible as I am, might not even have used the programs correctly.

I am probably going to trust Starry Night simply because it's more evolved. It just looks more trustworthy. I know that means basically nothing. But at some piont, you just have to decide whom to trust, and just move on.

Here's how the planets compare between my Starry Night ecliptic longitudes and my Alpha Centaure screenshots ...

Mercury pretty close
Venus pretty close
Earth pretty close
Mars a little off
Jupiter way off
Saturn way off
Uranus pretty close
Neptune pretty close
Pluto way off

[töff]

I think I will download a couple of those other freeware astro proggies and see if I can get some other reports for planetary positions in September 15605. But ... still ... same question: whom do we trust?

On second thought, to hell with it. I'll go with Starry Night. I got better things to do with my time than triple-cross-check this data.

We're always told to get a second opinion in medical matters. But what if the first doctor was right, and the second one's wrong? Even a third opinion doesn't really help much: there are times when the majority's right, and times when it's wrong (bin thar dunit). Again, it comes down to where you place your trust. Don't tell me you never disregarded the adivce of "all your friends" and did something your own way, and afterwards you were glad you did. It happens!

Bottom line, I doubt any of us will be around in the year 15,605 ... nor will this map. Too bad, huh, on all counts.

[töff]

I said I want to crop & rotate the system so it's not just concentric circles spreading from the middle of the page. I tried a few cropping rectangles, but I am not able to offset the sun sufficiently for my taste. It really has to go diagonally, not just off to one side, X but not Y.

I think the only option is to make up some new fictitious orbits beyond Sedna and position some objects out there, either natural or artificial, that expand my content in that direction, so the sun gets offset in the other direction. At least I'm at a stage where I can still dink with the orbits! I know full well that the orbit set will become immutable soon enough.

[töff]

Well, that helped a little. I think this gets me with reach of the fudge factor, anyway.

Movin' on! ... what's next, I don't even know ... but I can't wait to do it!

MAPMAKING IZ DA BOM can I get a Amen.

[töff]

... what's next, I don't even know ...

• Planet icons
• Asteroid icons
• Asteroid kingdom heraldry
• Private heraldry (eg. House Linzin @ Triton)
• Legend
• Orbit track graphics
• Logarithmic scale for orbits (color spectrum?)
• Zodiac boundaries
• Zodiac icons
• ??? Latitude indicators
• ??? Orbit overlap (currently have no data!)
• Moons
• Moon menus
• Planetary display menus
• Options menu (units, scale, etc.)
• Place asteroids per longitudes
• Place artifical objects (incl. Oort-1 station)
• Trojans
• ??? and don't forget those "to be investigated" links!

I always forget tons of stuff on these stupid lists ... but this ought to be enough to keep me busy for an hour or two.