Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
XPLANET(1)		     General Commands Manual		      XPLANET(1)

NAME
     xplanet - render an image of a planet into an X window or file

SYNOPSIS
     xplanet [options]

DESCRIPTION
     Xplanet  is similar to Xearth, where an image of the earth is rendered into
     an X window.  All of the major planets and most satellites can be drawn.  A
     number of different map  projections  are	also  supported,  including  az-
     imuthal,  Mercator,  Mollweide,  orthographic, and rectangular.  The latest
     version can always be found at http://xplanet.sourceforge.net.

OPTIONS
     Options need only be specified with enough characters  to	be  unambiguous.
     Valid options to Xplanet are:

     -arc_file
	    Specify  an  arc  file  to	be plotted against the background stars.
	    Each line in the file must have the following syntax:

	    dec1 ra1 dec2 ra2

	    where declination is in degrees and right  ascension  is  in  hours.
	    This option has no effect if -projection is specified.

     -arc_spacing spacing
	    When  drawing  an  arc,  draw line segments that are spacing degrees
	    apart.  The default is 0.1	degrees.   Line  segments  shorter  than
	    spacing will not be drawn.

     -arc_thickness thickness
	    Specify  the thickness of arcs.  The default is 1 pixel.  When draw-
	    ing arcs on a planet using the arc_file option in the  configuration
	    file, use the arc_thickness option there too.

     -background background_file
	    Use  background_file  as the background image, with the planet to be
	    superimposed upon it.  A color may also  be  supplied  (e.g.  -back-
	    ground "navy blue" or -background 0xff00ff).

     -base_magnitude magnitude
	    A star of the specified magnitude will have a pixel brightness of 1.
	    The  default value is 10.  Stars will be drawn more brightly if this
	    number is larger.

     -body body
	    Render an image of the specified planet or satellite.  Valid  values
	    for body are sun, mercury, venus, earth, moon, mars, phobos, deimos,
	    jupiter,  io,  europa, ganymede, callisto, saturn, mimas, enceladus,
	    tethys, dione, rhea, titan, hyperion, iapetus, phoebe,  uranus,  mi-
	    randa,  ariel,  umbriel,  titania,	oberon, neptune, triton, nereid,
	    pluto, charon, random, and major.

	    The field of view can also be centered on a satellite location using
	    "naif" or "norad", along with the satellite id.  For example, "-body
	    naif-82" will center the field of view on NAIF ID -82, which is  the
	    Cassini  orbiter.	Xplanet  must be compiled with SPICE support and
	    the required kernels must be present.  See the README in  the  spice
	    subdirectory for more details.  Using "-body norad20580" will center
	    the field of view on NORAD ID 20580, which is the Hubble Space Tele-
	    scope.  The appropriate TLE files must be present in this case.  See
	    the README in the satellites subdirectory for more information.

	    Using  "path"  will center the field of view on the direction of mo-
	    tion of the origin.  This direction is relative to the direction  of
	    motion of the body specified by -path_relative_to.

	    Earth is the default body.	This option is the same as -target.

     -center +x+y
	    Place  the	center of the rendered body at pixel coordinates (x, y).
	    The upper left corner of the screen is at (0,0). Either x or  y  may
	    be negative.  The default value is the center of the screen.

     -color color
	    Set  the  color  for the label.  The default is "red".  Any color in
	    the rgb.txt file may be used.  Colors may also be specified  by  RGB
	    hex  values;  for  example -color 0xff and -color blue mean the same
	    thing, as do -color 0xff0000 and -color red.

     -config config_file
	    Use the configuration file config_file.  The format  of  config_file
	    is described in README.config.  See the description of -searchdir to
	    see where xplanet looks in order to find the configuration file.

     -create_scattering_tables scattering_file
	    Create lookup tables for Rayleigh scattering.  See the README in the
	    scattering directory for more information.

     -date YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS
	    Use  the date specified instead of the current local time.	The date
	    is assumed to be GMT.

     -date_format string
	    Specify the format for the date/time label.  This format  string  is
	    passed  to	strftime(3).   The  default  is "%c %Z", which shows the
	    date, time, and time zone in the locale's appropriate date and  time
	    representation.

     -dynamic_origin file
	    Specify  an observer location.  The location is relative to the body
	    specified with -origin (by default, this is the Sun).  The last line
	    of the file must be of the form

	    YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS range lat lon localtime

	    For example,

	    19951207.120000	10.328	 -3.018   97.709    9.595

	    The specified time is ignored and the current  time  is  used.   The
	    range is in planetary radii, and lat and lon are in degrees.  Local-
	    time  (in  hours)  is  optional,  but if present, it will be used in
	    place of the longitude.  Only the last line of  the  file  is  used.
	    This  file may be updated between renderings using a script executed
	    with the -prev_command or -post_command options.

     -ephemeris_file filename
	    Specify a JPL digital ephemeris file (DE200, DE405, or DE406) to use
	    for computing planetary positions.	Xplanet uses  Bill  Gray's  code
	    (http://www.projectpluto.com/jpl_eph.htm),	which reads both big and
	    little  endian  binary  files.   The  ephemeris   files   found   at
	    ftp://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/eph/export/unix are big endian files, but
	    you do not need to do any additional byte-swapping to use them.  See
	    the description of -searchdir to see where xplanet looks in order to
	    find the ephemeris file.

     -font fontname
	    Set  the font for the label.  Only TrueType fonts are supported.  If
	    the -pango option is used, fontname is taken to be the  font  family
	    name (e.g. "Arial").

     -fontsize size
	    Specify the point size.  The default is 12.

     -fork  Detach  from the controlling terminal.  This is useful on MS Windows
	    to run xplanet from a batch file without having to keep a DOS window
	    open.  Be careful when using this option; it's easy to have multiple
	    processes running at the same time without knowing it  -  check  the
	    Task  Manager.  On unix systems this is pretty much the same as run-
	    ning xplanet in the background.

     -fov   Specify the field of view, in degrees.  This option and the  -radius
	    option  are  mutually  exclusive.	This option has no effect if the
	    -projection option is used.

     -geometry string
	    Specify the image geometry using the standard X window geometry syn-
	    tax,     [<width>{xX}<height>][{+-}<xoffset>{+-}<yoffset>]	   (e.g.
	    256x256-10+10  puts  a  window 256x256 pixels in size 10 pixels away
	    from the right side and 10 pixels below the top of the root window).
	    The root window outside of the image will be black.  This option may
	    be used with -window or -output.

     -glare radius
	    Draw a glare around the sun with with  a  radius  of  the  specified
	    value larger than the sun.	The default value is 28.

     -gmtlabel
	    Same as the -label option, but show GMT instead of local time.

     -grs_longitude lon
	    The longitude of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS).  A typical value is
	    94 degrees.  If this option is specified, longitudes on Jupiter will
	    be	calculated in System II coordinates.  By default, longitudes are
	    calculated in System III coordinates.  When using this  option,  use
	    an image map for Jupiter where the center of the GRS is at the pixel
	    0 column, or the left side of the image.

     -hibernate seconds
	    After  the screen has been idle for the specified number of seconds,
	    xplanet will sleep.  This option requires xplanet to have been  com-
	    piled with the X Screensaver extension.

     -idlewait seconds
	    Don't  run Xplanet unless the screen has been idle for the specified
	    number of seconds.	This option requires xplanet to have  been  com-
	    piled with the X Screensaver extension.

     -interpolate_origin_file
	    This  option  is  only  useful in conjunction with -origin_file.  It
	    computes the observer position at the current time by  interpolating
	    between  values specified in the origin file.  This is useful if you
	    have spacecraft positions tabulated in an origin file,  but  want  a
	    real time view.

     -jdate Julian date
	    Use the specified Julian date instead of the current local time.

     -label
	    Display a label in the upper right corner.

     -labelpos
	    Specify the location of the label using the standard X window geome-
	    try  syntax.   The default position is "-15+15", or 15 pixels to the
	    left and below the top right corner of the display.  This option im-
	    plies -label.

     -label_altitude
	    Display the altitude above the surface instead of distance from  the
	    body center in the label.

     -label_body body
	    Use the specified body to calculate the sub-observer, sub-solar, and
	    illumination  values in the label.	This is useful with the -separa-
	    tion option.

     -label_string
	    Specify the text of the first line of the  label.	By  default,  it
	    says something like "Looking at Earth".  Any instances of %t will be
	    replaced  by  the  target  name, and any instances of %o will be re-
	    placed by the origin name.

     -latitude latitude
	    Render the target body as seen from above the specified latitude (in
	    degrees).  The default value is 0.

     -light_time
	    Account for the time it takes for light to travel  from  the  target
	    body to the observer.  The default is to ignore the effects of light
	    time.

     -localtime localtime
	    Place  the	observer above the longitude where the local time is the
	    specified value.  0 is midnight and 12 is noon.

     -log_magstep step
	    Increase the brightness of a star by 10^step for  each  integer  de-
	    crease  in	magnitude.  The default value is 0.4.  This means that a
	    star of magnitude 2 is 10^0.4 (about 2.5) times brighter than a star
	    of magnitude 3.  A larger number makes stars brighter.

     -longitude longitude
	    Place the observer above the specified longitude (in degrees).  Lon-
	    gitude is positive going east, negative going west	(for  the  earth
	    and  moon),  so  for example Los Angeles is at -118 or 242.  The de-
	    fault value is 0.

     -make_cloud_maps
	    If there is an entry in the config file for cloud_map, xplanet  will
	    output  a  day  and  night image with clouds overlaid and then exit.
	    The images will be created in the directory specified by -tmpdir, or
	    in the current directory if -tmpdir is not used.  The names  of  the
	    output  images  default  to day_clouds.jpg and night_clouds.jpg, but
	    may be changed by the -output option.  If  "-output  filename.exten-
	    sion"  is  specified,  the	output	images	will be named "day_file-
	    name.extension" and "night_filename.extension".  The  dimensions  of
	    the output images are the same as the day image.

     -marker_file
	    Specify  a	file  containing  user	defined  marker  data to display
	    against the background stars. The format of each line  is  generally
	    declination, right ascension, string, as in the example below:

	    -16.7161 6.7525 "Sirius"

	    For  additional  options which may be specified, see the marker_file
	    entry in README.config.  This option has no effect if -projection is
	    specified.	This option is not meant for city markers; for that  use
	    the marker_file option in the configuration file.

     -markerbounds filename
	    Write  coordinates	of the bounding box for each marker to filename.
	    This might be useful if you're using xplanet to make  imagemaps  for
	    web pages.	Each line looks like:

	    204,312 277,324 Los Angeles

	    where the coordinates are for the upper left and lower right corners
	    of the box.  This file gets rewritten every time xplanet renders its
	    image.

     -north north_type
	    This  option rotates the image so that the top points to north_type.
	    Valid values for north_type are:

	    body:	 body's north pole
	    galactic:	 galactic north pole
	    orbit:	 body's orbital north pole (perpendicular to the orbit plane)
	    path:	 origin's velocity vector  (also see -path_relative_to option)
	    separation:  perpendicular to the line of sight and the
			 target-separation target line (see -separation option)

	    The default value is "body".

     -num_times num_times
	    Run num_times before exiting.  The default is to run indefinitely.

     -origin body
	    Place the observer at the center of the specified body.  Valid  val-
	    ues  are the same as for -target.  In addition, "above", "below", or
	    "system" may be specified.	Using "above"  or  "below"  centers  the
	    view  on the body's primary and the field of view is large enough to
	    show the body's orbit.  Using "system" places the  observer  at  the
	    center  of a random body in the same system as the target body.  Two
	    bodies are in the same system if one of the following is true:

	     1) target and origin have same primary
	     2) target is origin's primary
	     3) origin is target's primary

	    If the body name is preceded by a dash, the observer  is  placed  on
	    the  opposite  side  of the target from the specified body at a dis-
	    tance equal to the distance between the target and body.  For  exam-
	    ple,  -target earth -origin sun places the observer at the center of
	    the sun.  If -target earth -origin -sun is	used,  the  observer  is
	    placed  on	a  line connecting the centers of the earth and sun at a
	    distance of 1 AU farther from the sun than the earth.

     -origin_file origin_file
	    Specify a list of observer positions in origin_file.  The  positions
	    are relative to the body specified with -origin (by default, this is
	    the Sun).  Each line should be of the form

	    YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS range lat lon localtime

	    For example,

	    19951207.120000	10.328	 -3.018   97.709    9.595

	    Range  is  in  planetary radii, and lat and lon are in degrees.  The
	    date is the only required value.  If the  localtime  (in  hours)  is
	    supplied,  it will be used in place of the longitude.  For each line
	    in the origin file, the observer is placed at  the	specified  posi-
	    tion,  relative  to the body specified with -origin.  This option is
	    useful for showing spacecraft flybys or orbiting  around  a  planet.
	    Any line with a # in the first column is ignored.

     -output filename
	    Output  to a file instead of rendering to a window.  The file format
	    is taken from the extension. Currently .gif, .jpg, .ppm,  .png,  and
	    .tiff  images  can be created, if xplanet has been compiled with the
	    appropriate libraries.  The image size defaults to 512 by 512 pixels
	    but this may be changed by the -geometry  flag.  If  used  with  the
	    -num_times option, each output file will be numbered sequentially.

     -output_map filename
	    Output  the  intermediate  rectangular  map  that  is created in the
	    process of rendering the final image.  It will have the same  dimen-
	    sions as the default day map.

     -output_start_index index
	    Start numbering output files at index.  The default is 0.

     -pango
	    Use  the Pango (http://www.pango.org) library for rendering interna-
	    tionalized text. Pango uses Unicode for all  of  its  encoding,  and
	    will  eventually  support  output in all the worlds major languages.
	    If xplanet has not been compiled with this library this option  will
	    be	ignored.   There appear to be memory leaks in the pango library,
	    so I don't recommend letting xplanet run indefinitely with this  op-
	    tion.

     -path_relative_to body
	    Only  used	with -north path or -target path.  The origin's velocity
	    vector is calculated relative to the specified  body.   By	default,
	    this is the Sun.

     -post_command command

     -prev_command command
	    Run  command either before or after each time xplanet renders an im-
	    age.  On MS Windows, you may need to use unix-style paths.	For  ex-
	    ample:

	    xplanet.exe -prev_command ./prev.bat

     -print_ephemeris
	    Print  the	heliocentric  rectangular equatorial coordinates (J2000)
	    for each body xplanet knows about, and then exit.

     -projection projection_type
	    The projection  type  may  be  one	of  ancient,  azimuthal,  bonne,
	    equal_area,  gnomonic, hemisphere, lambert, mercator, mollweide, or-
	    thographic, peters, polyconic, rectangular, or tsc.  The default  is
	    no	projection.  Multiple bodies will not be shown if this option is
	    specified, although shadows will still be drawn.

     -proj_param value
	    Pass additional parameters for some projections.  The  only  projec-
	    tions  that  use this option at present are the Bonne, Gnomonic, and
	    Mercator projections.  The Bonne  projection  is  conformal  at  the
	    specified  latitude.   Higher  values lead to a thinner heart shape.
	    The default is 50 degrees.	The Gnomonic  and  Mercator  projections
	    use the specified latitude as the boundaries of the projection.  The
	    defaults  are  45  and 80 degrees, respectively.  This option may be
	    used more than once for future projections that  require  additional
	    parameters.  Only the first value is used at present.

     -quality quality
	    This option is only used when creating JPEG images.  The quality can
	    range from 0 to 100.  The default value is 80.

     -radius radius
	    Specify  the  radius of the globe as a percent of the screen height.
	    The default value is 45% of the screen height.  When drawing Saturn,
	    the radius value applies to the radius of the outer ring.

     -random
	    Place the observer above a random latitude and longitude.

     -range range
	    Render the globe as seen from a distance of range from the	planet's
	    center,  in  units	of  the  planetary radius.  The default value is
	    1000.  Note that if you use very close ranges the field of	view  of
	    the  screen  can  be  greater  than 180 degrees!  If you want an "up
	    close" image use the -radius option.

     -rotate angle
	    Rotate the globe by angle degrees counterclockwise so that north (as
	    defined by the -north argument) isn't at the top.  The default value
	    is 0.  My friends in the Southern Hemisphere can use -rotate 180  to
	    make  the  earth  look like it should!  For non-orthographic projec-
	    tions, the globe is rotated and then projected, if	that  helps  you
	    visualize what to expect.

     -save_desktop_file
	    On	Microsoft  Windows and Mac OS X, xplanet creates an intermediate
	    image file which is used to set the desktop.  This file will be cre-
	    ated in the -tmpdir directory.  By default, this  image  is  removed
	    after  the	desktop has been set.  Specifying this option will leave
	    the file in place.

     -searchdir directory
	    Any files used by xplanet should be placed in one of  the  following
	    directories  depending  on	its type: "arcs", "config", "ephemeris",
	    "fonts", "images", "markers", "origin",  "satellites",  or	"stars".
	    By default, xplanet will look for a file in the following order:

	    The current directory
	    searchdir
	    subdirectories of searchdir
	    subdirectories of xplanet (if it exists in the current directory)
	    subdirectories of ${HOME}/.xplanet on X11
	    subdirectories of ${HOME}/Library/Xplanet on Mac OS X
	    subdirectories of DATADIR/xplanet

	    DATADIR is set at compile time and defaults to /usr/local/share.

     -separation body:dist
	    Place the observer at a location where the target body and the sepa-
	    ration  body  are  dist  degrees  apart.  For example "-target earth
	    -separation moon:-3" means place the observer at  a  location  where
	    the moon appears 3 degrees to the left of the earth.

     -spice_ephemeris index
	    Use  SPICE	kernels  to compute the position of the named body.  The
	    index is the naif ID code (e.g. 599 for Jupiter).	The  -spice_file
	    option  must  be used to supply the names of the kernel files.  This
	    option may be used more than once for different bodies.

     -spice_file spice_file
	    Specify a file containing a list of objects to display.  A file con-
	    taining a list of SPICE kernels to read  named  spice_file.krn  must
	    exist  along  with spice_file.  See the README in the "spice" subdi-
	    rectory for more information.

     -starfreq frequency
	    Fraction of background pixels that will be colored white.	The  de-
	    fault  value  is 0.001.  This option is only meaningful with the az-
	    imuthal, mollweide, orthographic, and peters projections.

     -starmap starmap
	    Use starmap to draw the background stars.  This  file  should  be  a
	    text file where each line has the following format:

	    Declination, Right Ascension, Magnitude

	    where  Declination	is  in decimal degrees and Right Ascension is in
	    decimal hours.  For example, the entry for Sirius is

	    -16.7161  6.7525 -1.46

	    See the description of -searchdir to see where xplanet looks in  or-
	    der to find the star map.

     -target target
	    Same as -body.

     -tt    Use  terrestrial  time  instead  of  universal time.  The two differ
	    slightly due to the non-uniform rotation of the earth.  The  default
	    is to use universal time.

     -timewarp
	    As	in  xearth,  scale the apparent rate at which time progresses by
	    factor.  The default is 1.

     -tmpdir tmpdir
	    Specify a directory that xplanet will use to  place  images  created
	    using  -make_cloud_maps.  On Microsoft Windows, xplanet will write a
	    bitmap file called xplanet.bmp to the specified directory.	The  de-
	    fault  is  the  result of the GetWindowsDirectory call (C:WINDOWS on
	    Win95).  On Mac OS X, xplanet will create an intermediate  PNG  file
	    in order to set the background.  The default value is /tmp.  On Win-
	    dows  and Mac OS X, the intermediate file will be removed unless the
	    -save_desktop_file option is specified.

     -transparency
	    Update the background pixmap  for  transparent  Eterms  and  aterms.
	    This option only works under X11.

     -transpng filename
	    Same  as  the -output option, except set the background to be trans-
	    parent when writing a PNG file.

     -utclabel
	    Same as -gmtlabel.

     -verbosity level

	    level      output
	    < 0        only fatal error messages
	    0	       non-fatal warning messages
	    1	       basic information
	    2	       basic diagnostics
	    3	       more detailed diagnostics
	    4	       very detailed diagnostics

	    The default value is 0.

     -version
	    Display current version information, along with a list  of	compile-
	    time options that xplanet supports.

     -vroot
	    Render  the  image to the virtual root window.  Some window managers
	    use one big window that sits over the  real  root  window  as  their
	    background window.	Xscreensaver uses a virtual root window to cover
	    the screen as well.

     -wait wait
	    Update every wait seconds.

     -window
	    Render  the  image to its own X window.  The size defaults to 512 by
	    512 pixels but this may be set by the -geometry flag.

     -window-id ID
	    When using the X11 windowing system, draw to  the  window  with  the
	    specified ID.

     -window_title title
	    Set the window's title to title.  This option implies -window.

     -XID ID
	    Same as -window-id.

     -xscreensaver
	    Same as -vroot.

								      XPLANET(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=xplanet&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

home | help