[Kstars-devel] TODO for 4.2

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi Jason,

> 1) Earth satellites.  This code has actually been in-place for a  
> while, but the line that draws the satellite tracks is commented out.   
> It's a pretty cool feature; it's still commented out because I haven't  
> been able to verify that the satellite predictions are accurate.

Probably you should catch some amateur astronomers to time the
transits, or verify against something like
http://www.heavens-above.com

> Any other ideas?

I was looking at some Windows-based software called EzCosoms. They
have a much better visualization for both the conjunctions tool and
Jupiter's moons. I guess we could target something like that.

For conjunctions, they actually show a view of the planets' orbits,
run the simulation and catch conjunctions. They also show a graph
showing angular separation with time. It would be a nice idea if we
could implement this.

Jupiter's Moons, again is viewed like in our Solar System View, but
with an additional 'Earth View' drawn below it. You can then run the
simulation.

The conjunctions tool in the 4.2 release should probably satisfy your
wishlist of including Asteroids, Comets. Plus you should be able to
predict "conjunction" of, say, Mars with Beehive Cluster or Comet
Encke with Andromeda Galaxy. I would like to have a conjunction tool
so universal that you should be able to look for close approaches of
Comet Halley with "Any Deep Sky Object brighter than 9th Magnitude"!
With HTM for DSOs / Stars implemented, I think that should be
possible. Besides, with this, you could predict lunar occultations of
stars!

Regards
Akarsh

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