Zon Mosaic Pro5 User's Guide Page 103

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Bending Space & Time 103
Path Length: As Starry Night draws the
local or celestial path for an object, and
time runs forward, eventually Starry Night
starts to erase the oldest parts of the path
(if it did not do this, the entire screen
would eventually be covered with path
lines!). The “path length” slider lets you
control how long time runs forward before
Starry Night begins erasing the oldest part
of the path.
Other Path Options: You can choose
whether paths are marked with discrete
circular dots, connecting lines, or both.
You can choose how often the path should
be marked. You can also choose to show
date markers for each dot on the path.
Finally, you can set the colour for the path
lines.
Example: The Retrograde Motion of
Mars
In this example we’ll display the celestial
path of Mars over a few months as seen
from Earth. This path is famous because
Mars appears to move backward partway
through its cycle, a phenomenon known as
retrograde motion. This exercise will also
give you practice in switching time modes.
1Open the Options pane, expand the
“Local View” layer, and uncheck the “Local
Horizon” and “Daylight” options.
2Open the
Find pane, type in a search
for Mars, and double-click on the entry for
Mars in the list of items found. This will
centre on Mars.
3 Press the “Stop” button in the time
mode controls in the toolbar.
4 Point the cursor at Mars, and right-click
(
Ctrl-click on the Mac) to open the
contextual menu for Mars. Select
Celestial Path from this menu.
5 In the time mode controls, set the time
step to a discrete step of 3 days.
6 Press the “Forward” button in the time
mode controls.
Mars should now begin to move against
the background stars. Partway through its
motion, it will slow down, appear to pause,
and briefly reverse direction, making a
short loop before starting to move again in
the direction of its original motion.
Changing Your Viewing Location
For every different location on earth, the
night sky reveals a unique face.
Australians never lay eyes on the North
Star, while stargazers in the northern
latitudes find the nearby galaxies known
as the Magellanic Clouds forever hidden
from view. Our place on Earth determines
when the sun rises and sets, where and
when the planets sweep across the sky, and
what constellations we can see. Or at least
it used to. With Starry Night, you can
travel around the Earth, the solar system,
and even out to the stars!
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