Jupiter Viewer 2.3 Help
This form enables you to generate a Postscript file showing the
appearance of the Jupiter system at a specified time. All bodies are
rendered with terminators and shadows as appropriate. Selected background
stars can also be included.
In the diagram, Jupiter and the moons are modeled as triaxial ellipsoids,
and are drawn with latitude and longitude contours at 15 degree
intervals. Illuminated regions are indicated with black lines;
unilluminated regions and terminators are shown as light gray.
Penumbral shadows are not indicated.
Optionally, the main and gossamer rings are also drawn. The rings are
are shown in black if illuminated and in gray if not or if the opposite
side is illuminated. The main ring is shown by its inner and outer
boundaries; the gossamer ring is shown by separate Amalthea and Thebe
rings, each indicated by a pair of dashed lines at the ring's upper and
lower vertical limits.
The diagram is oriented with J2000 declination increasing upward and
with right ascension increasing to the left. The frame has
uniformly-spaced tick marks along each axis. The declination axis is
labeled in degrees, minutes and seconds; the right ascension axis is
labeled in hours, minutes and seconds.
Each diagram includes a caption that summarizes the key parameters
used to generate it.
Limitations.
The outer irregular satellites of Jupiter are not shown.
Change History
1.0 (January 28, 1997):
Original Jupiter viewer on line.
1.1 (February 6, 1997):
Additional information at the bottom of the "results" page includes the
sub-solar and sub-Earth longitude.
1.2 (February 11, 1997):
Added a new ephemeris option ("Pre-RPX #2").
2.0 (February 1, 1999):
Added a new ephemeris option ("Post-Galileo").
Added a viewpoint option including both Voyagers, the Galileo Orbiter
and parallax corrections for Earth-based observatories.
Added alternative units (Jupiter radii, kilometers, and instrument
fields of view) to the field of view options.
Revised the diagrams to show the Gossamer Ring as separate Amalthea and
Thebe rings, with the vertical extent of each ring indicated.
Added background star options.
Added an option to suppress latitude and longitude lines, producing
diagrams that are suitable as drawing blanks for amateur observers.
Added distances and light travel time to output table.
2.1 (December 20, 1999):
Added an Io torus option.
2.2 (December 6, 2000):
Added a Cassini viewpoint and various Cassini instrument fields of view.
Also extended the Galileo orbiter ephemeris to September 2003.
2.3 (January 31, 2002):
Added new ephemeris option ("Post-Galileo #2"). Extended ephemeris time
limits for small satellites. Added star name option for diagram center.
Added hour/degree options for right ascensions.
The observation time (UTC) can be entered in a variety of formats.
For example, the following all parse to 0:01:02 UTC on July 4, 1976:
- 1976-JUL-04 00:01:02.00
- July 4, 1976 12:01:02 am
- 12:01:02 am July 4, 1976
- 1976-07-04T00:01:02Z (PDS format)
- MJD 42963.00071759259
- JD 2442963.50071759259
If you want the gory details of how times are interpreted, click
here.
Enter the field of view of the drawing to be generated and select the
appropriate units. Units can be seconds of arc (the default), Jupiter
radii, kilometers (projected at the distance to Jupiter), or the fields
of view of the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini cameras.
Currently, the Jupiter Viewer can use one of four different
ephemerides. Under most circumstances the last option is to be preferred since
it is most recent and therefore most accurate.
-
Pre-RPX #1: Slightly outdated JPL ephemeris from before the 1997 mutual events.
Valid for the period 1996-Jan-01 to 1999-Dec-31. It uses JPL ephemerides
JUP071, JUP066 and JUP067.
-
Pre-RPX #2: Best JPL ephemeris from before the 1997 mutual events and Galileo.
It uses JPL
ephemerides JUP100 for the Galilean satellites and JUP104 for the inner,
smaller satellites. Valid for the period 1973-Nov-01 to 2023-Nov-01 (JUP100)
and 1996-Sep-04 to 2002-Jan-02 (JUP104).
-
Post-Galileo #1: Updated ephemeris for the inner, smaller satellites based
on Galileo and Earth-based observations. It uses JPL ephemerides JUP100
for the Galilean satellites (as above) and JUP120 for the inner, smaller
satellites. Valid for the period 1973-Nov-01 to 2023-Nov-01 (JUP100)
and 1996-Jan-01 to 2010-Jan-01 (JUP120). Also, it uses the latest JPL
planetary ephemeris DE405 for Jupiter, Earth and Sun.
-
Post-Galileo #2: Updated ephemeris for the Galilean satellites based on
further Galileo and Earth-based observations. It uses JPL ephemerides JUP166
for the Galilean satellites and JUP120 (as above) for the inner, smaller
satellites. Valid for the period 2000-Jan-01 to 2023-Oct-31 (JUP166)
and 1996-Jan-01 to 2010-Jan-01 (JUP120).
-
20-May-2002 (JUP5959 + JUP204)
-
08-Jan-2004 (JUP5959 + JUP230)
Four different methods of specifying the diagram center are supported.
Click on the box to the left of the option you wish to use.
Body: The diagram will be centered on the location of the
selected body.
Ring ansa: The diagram will be centered on the ansa of the
selected ring. Specify the east or west ansa using the second box.
Note that east is toward the left in the diagram.
J2000 RA and dec: The diagram will be centered on the specified
pair of right ascension and declination coordinates. The first box is
for the RA and the second box is for the dec. You may also specify
whether the RA is in units of hours or degrees. Enter up to three
values in each box, separated by spaces; these values are interpreted as
degrees/hours, minutes and seconds, respectively. Any or all values can
have fractional parts.
Star name: Enter the name of a star as it appears in the current
list. The name must match exactly.
You may specify the point of view of the diagram. By default, the point
of view is the center of the Earth.
Observatory:
You may select from any viewpoint on the list.
- Earth's center
- Voyager 1: Valid for the period 1979-Feb-06 to 1979-Apr-09.
- Voyager 2: Valid for the period 1979-Jun-25 to 1979-Aug-29.
- Galileo Orbiter: Valid for the period 1995-Jul-01 to 2003-Sep-21.
- Named observatories:
After each
observatory's name, you will see listed its latitude and east longitude
in degrees, followed by its altitude in meters. Note that only very
rarely will a diagram change significantly based on the particular
location of an Earth-based observatory.
Latitude & Longitude:
If your desired observatory or location is not on the observatory list,
you can enter its latitude, longitude and altitude in the three boxes
provided. Latitudes and longitudes can each be specified by up to
three values, interpreted as degrees, minutes and seconds. Longitudes
can be specified either east or west.
If you wish to have an observatory added to the standard list, or to
refine the coordinates of a listed observatory, email the necessary
information to
Mark Showalter.
You can decide which moons to include in the diagram. At minimum,
the Galilean satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are included.
Use the boxes to the left of the list to choose the smallest set of
moons to include. Note that, whatever your choice, the moons appearing
above it in the list will also be shown.
You can decide which ring to include in the diagram, if any. Click
on the box to the left to show the main ring or the gossamer rings. The
gossamer rings are indicated by pairs of dashed lines above and below
the ring plane to indicate these rings' physical thickness.
Optionally, you can include a rendering of the Io torus by
checking the associated box. If selected, the torus is shown as a
dashed line. In the adjacent text boxes you can enter the desired
inclination and radius; default values correspond to the centrifugal
equator at Io's orbit. An inclination of zero corresponds to the
equatorial plane and an inclination of 9.6 degrees corresponds to the
magnetic equator.
You have several independent options for including background objects in the
diagrams. These options make it possible to render diagrams around the
times of stellar or spacecraft occultations. Objects are marked by
pluses and are labeled by name if the
Moon & Star Labels option is activated.
Standard stars:
Check the box to include any of a standard list of stars that happen to
fall inside the field of view of the diagram. The Jupiter Viewer does not
access a star catalog; instead, it only plots stars from a finite list.
To view the current star list, click
here.
This list is updated periodically at the request of the users; if you
would like to have a star added to the list, email the necessary
information to
Mark Showalter.
Additional star:
In addition to or instead of the standard stars, you can specify one
additional star to be included in the diagram. Check the box to the
left and enter the star's RA, dec, and name in the three boxes. You
may also specify whether the RA is in units of hours or degrees. Enter
up to three values in the RA and dec boxes, separated by spaces; the
values are interpreted as hours/degrees, minutes and seconds,
respectively. Any or all values can have fractional parts.
Other bodies:
Check each box to mark the location of the specified body or spacecraft
in the diagram.
Enter a title for the plot in this box. It will appear centered above
the diagram.
Optionally, the diagram will be generated with the name of each moon and
star written above and to the right of its center. You may select the
size of these labels in points, where a point is 1/72 inches.
The diagram is rendered to scale, which means that some of the smallest
Jovian moons may be very hard to see. You may enter a minimum
plotted size for moons in this box. If a nonzero value is used, the
smallest moons will be easier to see. The size is in units of points,
equal to 1/72 inches. A value of ~4 may be appropriate.
If you activate this option, all latitude and longitude lines will be
suppressed in the diagram. This produces a diagram that is suitable for
amateur observers to use as a drawing blank.
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Last updated 23 March 2006
Mark Showalter