Astroblog: The 2012 Transit of Venus in Stellarium

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

The 2012 Transit of Venus in Stellarium

Just in case you are clouded out, and no webcasts are working, here's a Stellarium script I made to show the transit of Venus as seen from Adelaide. It's in the new script language (which I have been working to make a guide too), so it's a bit obscure. I haven't done anything fancy (like labels or such). If anyone want me (say for classroom use) to I can add labels later. I have set it to zoom in so far because otherwise you can't really see Venus.

Anyway, copy the following script to a file called venus_transit.ssc, put it in the scripts folder, then run it through the scripts tab in the configuration menu. Enjoy!

====================>8 cut here >8==================
//
// Name: Venus Transit
// License: Public Domain
// Author: Ian Musgrave
// Description: Simple script to demonstrate the transit of Venus from Adelaide.
//

core.wait(1);
core.clear("natural");

// Turn off constellation lines and labels if on, flag planets.
ConstellationMgr.setFlagLines(false);
ConstellationMgr.setFlagLabels(false);
SolarSystem.setFlagPlanets(true);
core.wait(1);

// OK, move to the proper location and date for the Transit, time is UT
// you can change this to your location in decimal Long lat
// note stellarium does Long Lat not lat long like everyone else
// Select the Sun and track it
core.setDate("2012:06:05T22:09:29");
core.setObserverLocation(138.59863, -34.92866, 10, 0, "Adelaide, Australia");
core.selectObjectByName("Sun", false);
StelMovementMgr.setFlagTracking(true);
core.wait(2);

// Zoom in on the Sun
StelMovementMgr.zoomTo(0.6, 2);
core.wait(2);

// Speed up the action
core.setTimeRate(250);

// When Transit over set to normal speed and zoom out

core.waitFor("2012:06:06T06:59:28");
core.setTimeRate(1);
StelMovementMgr.zoomTo(60, 2);

Labels: stellarium, Sun, transit, Venus