[Kstars-devel] GSoC 2016 project proposal: KStars as a star chart generation service?

[Jasem Mutlaq]

Opps I didn't read it quite well. Yes, you're talking about a separate
application. It would be very beneficial if computational/data/gui aspects
of KStars are more modular. If the purpose is only to 'thin out' KStars to
produce another app for star-charting, then the demands has to justify it.
Is there enough demand out there for such a service? I though most would
use interactive applications like KStars...etc to get said charts!

Regards,
Jasem

On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 8:58 AM, Jasem Mutlaq <mutlaqja at ikarustech.com>
wrote:

> Don't we already produce star charts? Or are you talking about making a
> separate app just for this purpose?
>
> Regards,
> Jasem
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 7:14 AM, Akarsh Simha <akarshsimha at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Producing a star chart requires the following aspects of KStars:
>>
>> 1. Ability to load and hold RA/Dec/data of many catalogs (including the
>> dynamic loading baggage of the USNO NOMAD catalog) in memory on a spatial
>> index
>> 2. Ability to project equatorial coordinates onto pixel values in a
>> number of ways
>> 3. Ability to draw the shapes corresponding to various types of deep-sky
>> objects.
>> 4. Ability to draw guides and overlays (esp. RA/Dec grid, constellation
>> lines, constellation boundaries, milky way, FOV symbols)
>> 5. Ability to pull data from the internet (eg: DSS images)
>> 6. The star hopper?
>>
>> These aspects are not necessary:
>>
>> 1. Sun/Planet/Moon dynamics and drawing
>> 2. All the extra modules (Observation Planner, Jupiter Moons tool... the
>> list goes on)
>> 3. Computation of Horizontal coordinates, atmospheric refraction,
>> precession, nutation, aberration, proper motion corrections...
>>
>> So I'm wondering if it is possible to write a separate application that
>> uses the relevant aspects of KStars to provide a star-chart generation
>> service. The motivations for such a project are as follows:
>> 1. A lot of manual effort has been put towards creation of observing
>> guides by various amateur astronomers.
>> 2. The only effort in automatic sky chart generation software has been
>> http://pp3.sourceforge.net/ and it hasn't been developed for a long
>> while now. It might be good to investigate what goes into using pp3.
>> 3. We already have an expansive catalog system and other things that are
>> very useful features.
>> 4. A lot of amateur astronomers would benefit from a custom chart
>> generation service (BTW, I'm not one of them), so this might be a way to
>> expand the user base of KStars-technology.
>>
>> The dream is to then provide this as a service.
>>
>> Your thoughts?
>>
>> Regards
>> Akarsh
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Kstars-devel at kde.org
>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kstars-devel
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Best Regards,
> Jasem Mutlaq
>
>


-- 
Best Regards,
Jasem Mutlaq
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