P-165: Solar System Viewer Update 2

I had just about finished my Solar System Viewer project, but I realised that it was really too simple, even for a demo. It was just a 3D enviroment with selectable 3D models of the planets in the solar system, and I was going to add some camera options, and maybe the ability to change the lighting and other options.

The main goal was to create a simple demo that I could use with the Oculus Rift when it is released, but I feel that even a demo should have some more substance than that. The other reason I decided to change the scope of the project was that I had some trouble finding high-resolution royalty-free images of all of the planets in the solar system, and low resolution images don’t look good up close.

What I have decided to do is to add realistic Ephemeris information to the project using the NASA JPL’s (Jet propulsion laboratory) “Horizons” telnet program. This telnet server provides a massive quantity of customisable and searchable information on a multitude of celestial bodies. It is even possible to change the observation location to almost anywhere on Earth, as well as determine Ephemeris information for comets, asteroids, etc. The server also allows any date and time to be entered and used for the Ephemeris calculations, past or future.

I have used a TCPObject to connect T3D to the Horizons telnet server, and then I have programmed a sequence of commands to get the 3d (XYZ) position of the 9 planets (Including Pluto) in our solar system for the 20th of January 2016. This information is below. The system is quite easy to use, I got all of this done in one day, having never even heard of the system before.

My project should, therefore, be able to allow the user to enter any date (within reason) and then display the position of the planets (and possibly other celestial bodies) at that date. This is not unique, there are a few websites and programs that do this, but it is still pretty good for a simple demo.

Planet list:
Mercury 1 -2.852769719431435E-01 1.896938983993940E-01 4.167247718703761E-02
Venus 2 -5.836684621484177E-01 -4.254550735859408E-01 2.784806916432334E-02
Earth 3 -4.865232482763093E-01 8.552781000595664E-01 -2.861251069581170E-05
Mars 4 -1.645722568240086E+00 -7.919079780032585E-02 3.873076817899258E-02
Jupiter 5 -5.219188829224774E+00 1.455774034750517E+00 1.107405631422570E-01
Saturn 6 -3.619113284602816E+00 -9.331267232671722E+00 3.062678428854338E-01
Uranus 7 1.884245433196816E+01 6.622121036687532E+00 -2.193949335932336E-01
Neptune 8 2.797238564171213E+01 -1.072005714668952E+01 -4.238491678523356E-01
Pluto 9 8.591788717529724E+00 -3.187513401730793E+01 9.244942361328958E-01