I think this should be a fundamental option in stellarium. Messier catalog is most important and popular among amateur astronomers. So why stellarium doesnt have still a option where i can display on the sky ONLY messier catalog objects. Instead of it , u can only select all nebulaes and in result u get all this mess on the screen. I dont think it's hard to implement new code for this purpose.
Messier is primary but also it could be Caldwell objects ..etc...
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I don't quite understand what you mean. Stellarium is a display of stars with added textures for various Solar system and Deep sky objects where we have suitable pictures. These objects are there.
If you don't want to "clutter" the screen with nebulae textures they can be turned of from the menu tray. If you only want the Messier objects to be displayed then remove all the non Messier's from the nebula/default folder.
Barry
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Anonymous
-
2013-07-27
" If you only want the Messier objects to be displayed then remove all the non Messier's from the nebula/default folder."
Sory but this is a joke ? U never saw another applications where user can in comfortable way select inside the program what type of catalogs he wants to see on the sky ? Stellarium is brillant but without this basic option its very disappointing.
At the moment u force us/users either see all nebulaes (and mess) on the screen or remove catalogs from folder on computer...
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I think topic starter proposed drop NGC/IC catalog. I don't understand why we should remove features for advanced amateurs.
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Anonymous
-
2013-07-27
"I think topic starter proposed drop NGC/IC catalog. I don't understand why we should remove features for advanced amateurs."
No! not drop. ADD this functionality ! add option where we can choose for example ONLY messier/caldwell and others catalogs FROM existing NGC/IC objects.
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If you would like to have a special feature to select what you want to see there is no reason why you can't write your own and submit it to the project for possible inclusion. If you can't write the code yourself it may be possible to hire a programmer to do it for you or you can submit a request for this to be included in a future release and hope that some one will do it for you.
At the moment the display of DSO object labels is governed by the slider in the view menu that works on the full ngc/ic catalogue. You could be selective in this area and provide modified catalogues. I can't really see the point. If you wish to see the location of a messier object just enter its "M" and number in the search window.
Barry
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Anonymous
-
2013-07-27
" to hire a programmer to do it for you or you can submit a request for this to be included in a future release and hope that some one will do it for you."
i understand it was ironic. To be honest not only "for me". I belong to the larger community of astro amateurs and as far as i know everyone will be glad to see this new functionality. That's why i wrote this post with such suggestion.
But.. Ok. If u "dont see the point" and suggest me/us to write a code ..
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Anonymous
-
2013-07-27
Actually, I agree with the poster. It would be a nice feature to just display all Messier or Caldwell objects.
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While I don't attend "serious" star parties.. Isn't it a popular activity to see how many Messier objects can be observed in one night? Messier objects and only Messier objects.
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When making requests for special features in Stellarium please remember that Stellarium is designed to give a realistic real time view of the sky at any time from any vantage point and as such does not need a screen cluttered up with names as will happen if the DSO, Stars and Solar system items names are activated from the main menu on a large FOV. These names are really to show the names of specific items when a small FOV is being displayed.
It has a zoom in facility that allows examination in detail of portions of the sky with pictures of many of the DSO and Solar system objects. To help in identifying these objects we have included a database of the NGC/IC catalogue items that can be turned on or off as required and also an online feature to locate just about every object known to astronomers. This Simbad data base can be accessed to locate specific items very effectively even if there is no object currently in the Stellarium Data base.
A feature to display groups of objects such as Messier, Caldwell or other specific groups is a feature that has not been designed into the core structure because that is not the aim of the program. There are however many other programs that specialise in this feature that may suit your needs better although it could be included if some one develops a branch to do this.
Barry
Last edit: barrykgerdes 2013-11-04
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The reasons why such a feature (displaying only Messier objects) hasn't been implemented are several.
The main technical reason is that Stellarium has no separate Messier catalog: it treats Messier designations as synonyms of its internal identifiers, mostly NGC numbers.
There are also historical and design reasons: Stellarium started as a way to display prettily the night sky. Since then, it's been developed mainly as an edutainment tool (astronomers don't need constellation art) and only recently it has started to become more friendly towards amateur astronomers, with telescope control, separate symbols for the different types of deep-sky objects, etc.
You should realize that what you are asking for will require a lot of effort to be done properly (though I'm sure there are people who can proposed some kludged solution), including some major changes to the way Stellarium handles objects. And right now, one of the two active developers is really busy and software design is not the strong point of the other one.
And also, please, if you are requesting features, try not to present yourself as speaking for all Stellarium users. Your use case is not the only one.
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Anonymous
-
2013-11-02
Wow! what a frustrating string of posts. I was talking to my wife about doing a messier marathon and went to see if it would be possible to show only messier objects in stellarium. Would be a nice feature. A simple "it is not available in stellarium" would have sufficed. To the original poster: It was a legitimate question, and a feature I would also like to see added one day.
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Anonymous
-
2013-11-03
Hello, i agree that it would be nice to have that features of separate messier catalogue.
@ Alexander, on stellarium you can "enable/disable" planets, i don't think you can on your telescope ;-) (but is a nice feature)
Paolo
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Anonymous
-
2013-11-12
Seems the discussion is about filtering deepsky objects, which makes a lot of sense to me.
When observering you are usually be interested in some specific objects, not all...
Sometimes a field full of other objects can be somewhat annoying. (e.g. virgo galaxies)
I agree it would be awesome to have some means of filtering on just one or some:
- specific catalogs (as requested above)
- specific types of objects (clusters, globulars, galaxies, etc.)
- individual objects (just the ones you're planning to observe)
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As said in previous posts. The display of sky objects on their own such as groups or special catalogues is just not the aim of Stellarium. There are other programs that are more suitable than Stellarium for this purpose.
Stellarium shows the sky in real time as close as we can make it to what you will see if you look at the sky from a dark site at night. It has a system of labeling of objects in groups of deep sky objects from the NGC catalogue, Solar system and Stars. These can be turned on or off and adjusted for magnitude levels as required. There is also an on line feature (Simbad) that can locate and name just about every other object that falls into these categories. In a normal planetarium view this labeling is only there to point to the objects and is normally turned off if you want to see the "real" sky.
Stelarium now has a feature that does read the NGC catalogue and place a symbol at the location that can be used to quickly interpret what it is. This is can be turned on or off as required
I wrote a simple program in Qb64 that can read the NCC catalogue and select objects and filter them according to their type and if they are visible from your site at a given date/time. It then prints out a list of these objects to the screen or a printer. I would expect there are many similar programs available on line.
Barry
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Anonymous
-
2013-11-20
Now don't get me wrong, Stellarium is fantastic and I use it all the time.
But I think the negativity from the admins towards a Messier only feature is quite surprising. The reason for such a capability should be obvious; the Messiers are the first port of call when it comes to DSOs for every amateur with binos and small telescopes or even a moderate scope like myself!
Hope to see this feature enabled soon!
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I cannot see your point. If you type any messier number into the search window the screen will slew to that point where you can see that Messier object in relation to the rest of the sky. You can then zoom in and there will even be a photo of that object nicely aligned with the rest of the stars. You can turn the stars on or off and you can turn the background photos on or off. What more do you need.
Incidentally I belong to a large astronomical society that has A large property in a very dark area with lots of telescopes and where members and visitors go to look at the sky at night. We have star parties and other viewing nights but it is mainly used for photography. In the fifteen years that I have been a member I can't remember one organized Messier marathon although we always show the brighter Messiers to visitors when they want to see some deep sky.
Barry
Last edit: barrykgerdes 2013-11-21
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Anonymous
-
2013-11-21
Well now that I think about it again, I can see that using the 'limiting magnitude' feature on the DSOs, set at around mag. 7 say, eliminates plenty of the NGC objects and leaves mostly Messiers. So this accomplishes the same purpose really!
Apologies if my post came across as a criticism, Stellarium is a wonderful resource and much gratitude to all the developers. And yes I did make a donation:)
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Hi.
I think this should be a fundamental option in stellarium. Messier catalog is most important and popular among amateur astronomers. So why stellarium doesnt have still a option where i can display on the sky ONLY messier catalog objects. Instead of it , u can only select all nebulaes and in result u get all this mess on the screen. I dont think it's hard to implement new code for this purpose.
Messier is primary but also it could be Caldwell objects ..etc...
Why do it?
I don't quite understand what you mean. Stellarium is a display of stars with added textures for various Solar system and Deep sky objects where we have suitable pictures. These objects are there.
If you don't want to "clutter" the screen with nebulae textures they can be turned of from the menu tray. If you only want the Messier objects to be displayed then remove all the non Messier's from the nebula/default folder.
Barry
" If you only want the Messier objects to be displayed then remove all the non Messier's from the nebula/default folder."
Sory but this is a joke ? U never saw another applications where user can in comfortable way select inside the program what type of catalogs he wants to see on the sky ? Stellarium is brillant but without this basic option its very disappointing.
At the moment u force us/users either see all nebulaes (and mess) on the screen or remove catalogs from folder on computer...
I think topic starter proposed drop NGC/IC catalog. I don't understand why we should remove features for advanced amateurs.
"I think topic starter proposed drop NGC/IC catalog. I don't understand why we should remove features for advanced amateurs."
No! not drop. ADD this functionality ! add option where we can choose for example ONLY messier/caldwell and others catalogs FROM existing NGC/IC objects.
If you really need this feature then where feature request in the ours bugs tracker? I find it difficult to take seriously the anonymous replica.
Mr anonymous
If you would like to have a special feature to select what you want to see there is no reason why you can't write your own and submit it to the project for possible inclusion. If you can't write the code yourself it may be possible to hire a programmer to do it for you or you can submit a request for this to be included in a future release and hope that some one will do it for you.
At the moment the display of DSO object labels is governed by the slider in the view menu that works on the full ngc/ic catalogue. You could be selective in this area and provide modified catalogues. I can't really see the point. If you wish to see the location of a messier object just enter its "M" and number in the search window.
Barry
" to hire a programmer to do it for you or you can submit a request for this to be included in a future release and hope that some one will do it for you."
i understand it was ironic. To be honest not only "for me". I belong to the larger community of astro amateurs and as far as i know everyone will be glad to see this new functionality. That's why i wrote this post with such suggestion.
But.. Ok. If u "dont see the point" and suggest me/us to write a code ..
Actually, I agree with the poster. It would be a nice feature to just display all Messier or Caldwell objects.
These catalogs are already available
So how do you display all Messier objects only?
You do not. At present the sky, too, you can not deny for the telescope to see NGC/IC objects.
While I don't attend "serious" star parties.. Isn't it a popular activity to see how many Messier objects can be observed in one night? Messier objects and only Messier objects.
When making requests for special features in Stellarium please remember that Stellarium is designed to give a realistic real time view of the sky at any time from any vantage point and as such does not need a screen cluttered up with names as will happen if the DSO, Stars and Solar system items names are activated from the main menu on a large FOV. These names are really to show the names of specific items when a small FOV is being displayed.
It has a zoom in facility that allows examination in detail of portions of the sky with pictures of many of the DSO and Solar system objects. To help in identifying these objects we have included a database of the NGC/IC catalogue items that can be turned on or off as required and also an online feature to locate just about every object known to astronomers. This Simbad data base can be accessed to locate specific items very effectively even if there is no object currently in the Stellarium Data base.
A feature to display groups of objects such as Messier, Caldwell or other specific groups is a feature that has not been designed into the core structure because that is not the aim of the program. There are however many other programs that specialise in this feature that may suit your needs better although it could be included if some one develops a branch to do this.
Barry
Last edit: barrykgerdes 2013-11-04
Let's see if I can disentangle this mess...
The reasons why such a feature (displaying only Messier objects) hasn't been implemented are several.
The main technical reason is that Stellarium has no separate Messier catalog: it treats Messier designations as synonyms of its internal identifiers, mostly NGC numbers.
There are also historical and design reasons: Stellarium started as a way to display prettily the night sky. Since then, it's been developed mainly as an edutainment tool (astronomers don't need constellation art) and only recently it has started to become more friendly towards amateur astronomers, with telescope control, separate symbols for the different types of deep-sky objects, etc.
You should realize that what you are asking for will require a lot of effort to be done properly (though I'm sure there are people who can proposed some kludged solution), including some major changes to the way Stellarium handles objects. And right now, one of the two active developers is really busy and software design is not the strong point of the other one.
And also, please, if you are requesting features, try not to present yourself as speaking for all Stellarium users. Your use case is not the only one.
Wow! what a frustrating string of posts. I was talking to my wife about doing a messier marathon and went to see if it would be possible to show only messier objects in stellarium. Would be a nice feature. A simple "it is not available in stellarium" would have sufficed. To the original poster: It was a legitimate question, and a feature I would also like to see added one day.
Hello, i agree that it would be nice to have that features of separate messier catalogue.
@ Alexander, on stellarium you can "enable/disable" planets, i don't think you can on your telescope ;-) (but is a nice feature)
Paolo
Seems the discussion is about filtering deepsky objects, which makes a lot of sense to me.
When observering you are usually be interested in some specific objects, not all...
Sometimes a field full of other objects can be somewhat annoying. (e.g. virgo galaxies)
I agree it would be awesome to have some means of filtering on just one or some:
- specific catalogs (as requested above) - specific types of objects (clusters, globulars, galaxies, etc.) - individual objects (just the ones you're planning to observe)Please read my post above.
As said in previous posts. The display of sky objects on their own such as groups or special catalogues is just not the aim of Stellarium. There are other programs that are more suitable than Stellarium for this purpose.
Stellarium shows the sky in real time as close as we can make it to what you will see if you look at the sky from a dark site at night. It has a system of labeling of objects in groups of deep sky objects from the NGC catalogue, Solar system and Stars. These can be turned on or off and adjusted for magnitude levels as required. There is also an on line feature (Simbad) that can locate and name just about every other object that falls into these categories. In a normal planetarium view this labeling is only there to point to the objects and is normally turned off if you want to see the "real" sky.
Stelarium now has a feature that does read the NGC catalogue and place a symbol at the location that can be used to quickly interpret what it is. This is can be turned on or off as required
I wrote a simple program in Qb64 that can read the NCC catalogue and select objects and filter them according to their type and if they are visible from your site at a given date/time. It then prints out a list of these objects to the screen or a printer. I would expect there are many similar programs available on line.
Barry
Now don't get me wrong, Stellarium is fantastic and I use it all the time.
But I think the negativity from the admins towards a Messier only feature is quite surprising. The reason for such a capability should be obvious; the Messiers are the first port of call when it comes to DSOs for every amateur with binos and small telescopes or even a moderate scope like myself!
Hope to see this feature enabled soon!
As a point of interest, how many "admins" do you think are participating in this thread? And what do you consider to be an "admin"?
I cannot see your point. If you type any messier number into the search window the screen will slew to that point where you can see that Messier object in relation to the rest of the sky. You can then zoom in and there will even be a photo of that object nicely aligned with the rest of the stars. You can turn the stars on or off and you can turn the background photos on or off. What more do you need.
Incidentally I belong to a large astronomical society that has A large property in a very dark area with lots of telescopes and where members and visitors go to look at the sky at night. We have star parties and other viewing nights but it is mainly used for photography. In the fifteen years that I have been a member I can't remember one organized Messier marathon although we always show the brighter Messiers to visitors when they want to see some deep sky.
Barry
Last edit: barrykgerdes 2013-11-21
Well now that I think about it again, I can see that using the 'limiting magnitude' feature on the DSOs, set at around mag. 7 say, eliminates plenty of the NGC objects and leaves mostly Messiers. So this accomplishes the same purpose really!
Apologies if my post came across as a criticism, Stellarium is a wonderful resource and much gratitude to all the developers. And yes I did make a donation:)