blog:articles:software:orbital_calculator
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blog:articles:orbital_calculator [2019/02/16 15:44] – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation Phil Ide | blog:articles:software:orbital_calculator [2022/08/28 11:30] (current) – Phil Ide | ||
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====== Orbital Calculator ====== | ====== Orbital Calculator ====== | ||
- | {{blog:OrbitCalc2.png}} | + | |
- | Orbital Calculator | + | [{{ :blog:articles: |
- | === === | + | I needed to calculate |
- | As a sci-fi | + | |
I wrote Orbital Calculator to handle just about any proposition. You can add new gravitational masses (the things you want to orbit) for easy and consistent recall. You can add satellites too, so you can recall their orbital data at any time. You can create temporary calculations (not stored for later recall), and you can edit orbital parameters without changing the stored data, so you can play “what if…”. | I wrote Orbital Calculator to handle just about any proposition. You can add new gravitational masses (the things you want to orbit) for easy and consistent recall. You can add satellites too, so you can recall their orbital data at any time. You can create temporary calculations (not stored for later recall), and you can edit orbital parameters without changing the stored data, so you can play “what if…”. | ||
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Even better yet, you can export any data for satellites or gravitational masses – choosing exactly which ones to export – and share the files with other users, who can import them into their own databases. | Even better yet, you can export any data for satellites or gravitational masses – choosing exactly which ones to export – and share the files with other users, who can import them into their own databases. | ||
- | The program is portable, meaning | + | It runs on **Windows** & **Linux** (32-bit and 64-bit versions available for both platforms), and there is an armv7l version too (can you say Raspberry Pi?). |
+ | |||
+ | //Note: you can click on any of the images to display them full size// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Release Notes & Download ===== | ||
+ | For the latest release notes, go to the [[: | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you want to jump straight to the download, there are links to it in the top-bar menu and at the bottom of this article, else you can jump to the [[: | ||
+ | ===== Two Types of Orbital Calculation ===== | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can now also perform two-body calculations by selecting two gravitational masses and the distance between them. This will try and take into consideration a whole star-system full of planets by using the Solar system as a blueprint. It then compares this to the Newtonian/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Additional Enhancements ===== | ||
+ | Version 2 of the software makes many minor adjustments 'under the hood' to eliminate or reduce rounding errors and increase precision. This convenience is carried forward into the user-interface. Wherever | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is now an embedded context-sensitive help system, with many of its pages filled with additional information. For example, there is an explanation of gravitic time-dilation - did you realise you are not experiencing time at 'full speed'? | ||
+ | |||
+ | [{{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | The **Gravitation and Motion** screen now calculates gravity, gravitational acceleration and escape velocity at the elevation you specify, as well as at the surface. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Wherever it is appropriate, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The layout of all the screens have been redesigned to be easier to read and consistent. This makes using the program | ||
+ | ==== Lagrange Points ==== | ||
+ | [{{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The clipboard data has been tidied too, so it now uses spaces instead of tabs to align the data, making it much more compatible with writing programs and note-keeping software. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Lagrange points are usually calculated as the distance from the center of each of the two gravitational masses. In the real world though, you often want the distance from the surfaces of these bodies. For example, if you want to place a satellite at the Earth-Moon L4 Lagrange point, it is much more useful to know the location is 395,958 km from Earth and 400,597 km from the Moon. This also allows you to calculate the communications delay from the surface of one of these bodies and the satellite. | ||
+ | ==== Database Maintenance ==== | ||
+ | [{{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Wherever a value is less than (but not equal to) 0.00, youll see a ~ beside it to indicate this. Hovering over the value will, as stated above, reveal greater precision. For example, you can see the surface gravity of Betelgeuse is ~0.00. Hovering over it will display 0.0003. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== New Features ===== | ||
+ | An additional 11 new features have been added to the program, almost doubling its previous list of functions. Some of them are subtly embedded in pre-existing functions, so don't expect them all to have menu options of their own, but they all add up to make the software much more useful and easier to use. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of these functions is the ability to enlarge the window contents by zooming in or out (without | ||
+ | |||
+ | You are now able to control how frequently the program checks for updates - from every time the program is launched to no more than once per month. You can even disable update checking if you wish. This can be controlled on the new **Preferences Screen**, where you can also instruct the program to restore window sizes and positions and the zoom level. | ||
+ | ===== New Database Format ===== | ||
+ | Version 2 includes a new database format which brings several advantages. For example, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | This makes the version 1 database files incompatible with the new format. Never fear though, Version 2 can recognise and import from version 1 databases (so all your lovely data isn't lost), and you can even import from version 1 export files. Unfortunately you can't do it the other way around, but honestly, why would you want to? | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Feature List ===== | ||
+ | * **N-Body Centre of Gravity** calculate centre of gravity for any number of gravitational masses | ||
+ | * **Constant Acceleration** - all 5 components of teh constant acceleration equations can be deduced and converted | ||
+ | * **Free-Fall** distance and final velocity for increasing rate of acceleration over any gravitational mass for any duration | ||
+ | * **Distance/ | ||
+ | * **Schwartzschild and Photon Sphere** radii calculated as a factor of mass | ||
+ | * **Synodic Periods** calculated from orbital distances (and central mass) | ||
+ | * **Synodic Periods** calculated from orbital periods | ||
+ | * **New Objects** added to database - six stars and one more asteroid | ||
+ | * **Automatic Calculation** wherever | ||
+ | * **Copy to Clipboard** on most result screens | ||
+ | * **Database Stats** now provides totals | ||
+ | * **Repeat Last Calculation** now works even if you've removed both the host mass and satellite mass from the database | ||
+ | * **Import Data** recognises v1.x import files and databases (so you can import | ||
+ | * **Export Data** to prune a database, separate project data or to share with friends | ||
+ | * **Preferences** to control update checking, restoring window sizes and positions | ||
+ | * **Gravitation and Motion** to calculate gravity, escape velocity and gravitational acceleration at the surface and at an elevation | ||
+ | * **Lagrange Points** calculated as distance from the surfaces of the host and satellite mass | ||
+ | * **Two-Body Orbits** taking into consideration the masses of both host and satellite | ||
+ | * **Hohmann Transfer Orbits** for low-energy migration | ||
+ | * **Distance Between Two Stars** using star-chart coordinates | ||
+ | * **Apparent Magnitude** of a star from another star | ||
+ | * **Distance from Period** when all you know is the host mass and and the orbital period | ||
+ | * **Satellite Footprint from Altitude** | ||
+ | * **Visible Surface** of host mass as % | ||
+ | * **Latitude spread** of the footprint across the surface | ||
+ | * **Diameter** of footprint | ||
+ | * **Radius** of footprint | ||
+ | * **Surface Area** of footprint in square kilometres | ||
+ | * **Maximum Period of Visibility** of satellite from the ground | ||
+ | * **Visibility over Horizon** How far from an object (e.g. mountain) can you be and still see it? | ||
+ | * **Age from Orbit** calculate someone' | ||
+ | * **Age and Weight on Solar System Planets** | ||
+ | * **Calculate Habitable Zone** (a.k.a. Goldilocks Zone) around a star | ||
+ | * **Time Dilation from Velocity** where velocity is a factor of the speed of light | ||
+ | * **Time Dilation from Orbit** factoring both gravitational time dilation and acceleration time dilation | ||
+ | * **Context-sensitive Help** | ||
+ | * **Zoom-in, Zoom-out** if things are a little hard to read | ||
+ | * **Password Generator** to generate very strong passwords for those pesky internet logins | ||
+ | * **Multi-Platform** it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux | ||
+ | * **64-bit** versions available for all platforms | ||
+ | * **32-bit** versions available for Windows and Linux | ||
+ | * **Portable** means it doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Download ====== | ||
+ | You can download | ||
- | //**N.B.** If you ever want to roll back to the default database, look for the file orbit.dat in the same folder | + | // |
+ | ---- | ||
+ | ~~socialite~~ | ||
~~DISCUSSION~~ | ~~DISCUSSION~~ |
blog/articles/software/orbital_calculator.1550331844.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/02/19 12:15 (external edit)