Exoplanets plugin

Latest revision as of 15:27, 19 May 2013

[edit] Description

This plugin plots the position of stars with exoplanets. Exoplanets data is derived from "The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia"

[edit] Using the Exoplanets plugin

1. Enable the tool by clicking the tool-bar button "Load at startup"
2. Find the stars with exoplanets by their designation (24 Sex as example)

[edit] Catalog of stars with exoplanets

You can modify the exoplanets.json file manually using a text editor. If you are using Windows, it is strongly recommended to use an advanced text editor such as Notepad++ to avoid problems with end-of-line characters. (It will also color the JSON code and make it easier to read.)

Warning: Before editing your JSON file, make a backup copy. Leaving out the smallest detail (such as a comma or forgetting to close a curly bracket) will prevent Stellarium from starting.

The path to the directory which contains exoplanets.json is something like:

• C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium\modules\Exoplanets (Windows Vista, Windows 7)
• C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Stellarium\modules\Exoplanets (Windows XP)
• HomeDirectory/Library/Preferences/Stellarium/modules/Exoplanets (Mac OS X)
• ~/.stellarium/modules/Exoplanets (Linux)

(Note that this is a hidden folder, so in order to find it you may need to change your computer's settings to display hidden files and folders.)

[edit] Format of catalog

To add a new star with exoplanets, open a new line after line 5 and paste the following, note commas and brackets, they are important:

                "Star designation":
		{
			"exoplanets":
			[
			{
				"mass": mass of exoplanet (M jup),
				"radius": radius of exoplanet (R jup),
				"period": period of exoplanet (days),
				"semiAxis": semi-major axis (AU),
				"eccentricity": orbit's eccentricity,
				"inclination": orbit's inclination (degree),
				"angleDistance": angle distance from star (arcseconds),
				"discovered": exoplanet discovered year,
				"detectedType": type of detection of exoplanet,
				"planetName": "designation of planet"
			},
			{
				"mass": mass of exoplanet (M jup),
				"radius": radius of exoplanet (R jup),
				"period": period of exoplanet (days),
				"semiAxis": semi-major axis (AU),
				"eccentricity": orbit's eccentricity,
				"inclination": orbit's inclination (degree),
				"angleDistance": angle distance from star (arcseconds),
				"discovered": exoplanet discovered year,
				"detectedType": type of detection of exoplanet,
				"planetName": "designation of planet"
			}
			],
			"distance": value of distance to star (pc),
			"stype": "spectral type of star",
			"smass": value of mass of star (M sun),
			"smetal": value of metallicity of star,
			"Vmag": value of visual magnitude of star,
			"sradius": value of radius of star (R sun),
			"effectiveTemp": value of effective temperature of star (K),
			"RA": "Right ascension (J2000)",
			"DE": "Declination (J2000)"
		},

For example, record for 24 Sex:

                "24 Sex":
		{
			"exoplanets":
			[
			{
				"mass": 1.99,
				"period": 452.8,
				"semiAxis": 1.333,
				"eccentricity": 0.09,
				"angleDistance": 0.017821,
				"discovered": 2010,
				"detectedType": 1,
				"planetName": "b"
			},
			{
				"mass": 0.86,
				"period": 883.0,
				"semiAxis": 2.08,
				"eccentricity": 0.29,
				"angleDistance": 0.027807,
				"discovered": 2010,
				"detectedType": 1,
				"planetName": "c"
			}
			],
			"distance": 74.8,
			"stype": "G5",
			"smass": 1.54,
			"smetal": -0.03,
			"Vmag": 7.38,
			"sradius": 4.9,
			"effectiveTemp": 5098,
			"RA": "10h23m28s",
			"DE": "-00d54m08s"
		},

[edit] Version history

[edit] Acknowledgment

We thank the following people for their contribution and of the valuable comments:

• Jean Schneider (Maintainer of "The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia" who grant permission us use its catalog).
• Oscar Roig Felius, who finding mistakes into catalog of exoplanets.

[edit] How you can help

We are welcome bug reports, feature requests and feedback through the usual channels (trackers, forums and so on).