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SpaceEngineer
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

24 Nov 2016 11:31

As many of you may know, SE's star catalog has some errors in it, such as errors in spectral class, magnitude, and missing data. The goals here are to 1) identify stars which have errors, and 2) make new catalog scripts to fix these errors.

For this you will have to overwrite the existing HIP star and remake the entire system for your script. You can use the Remove parameter in the script to do this. Keep in mind that you can also update the physical parameters of the stars in the system while you make it, including things like age.

For a tutorial on how to add stars, look here. Pay close attention to the need to use two catalogs per star system in some cases.

To expedite the process of building this catalog and adding it into SE, you should try to resolve all errors with your systems before posting them. When you finish your script for a star system (or many of them) you may post it in this thread.

Feel free to just post the name of a star that has an error even if you don't want to make a catalog fix. A list of stars that need fixing will make things a lot easier on the scripters.

Good luck!
 
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Mosfet
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

02 Dec 2016 10:15

Since IAU decided to choose for some stars an official name I checked and for some of them there wasn't the official one. the code is:
Star "Merga/HR 5533/h Boo/38 Boo/HIP 72487/HD 130945"
{
    RA        14 49 18.7
    Dec        46 06 58
    Dist    46.8603535
    Class    "F7 IV"
    AppMagn    5.75781242
}

Star "ZET Eri/13 Eri/HIP 15197/HD 20320/Zibal/HR 984"
{
    RA        3 15 50.02656
    Dec        -08 49 11.0220
    Dist    36.7917547
    Class    "A5 V"
    AppMagn    4.79687524
}

Star "RHO Pup/15 Pup/HIP 39757/HD 67523/Tureis/HR 3185"
{
    RA        8.12575032
    Dec        -24.3044355
    Dist    19.2344693
    Class    "F2 II"
    AppMagn    2.82812515
    FeH        0.35
}

Star "BET2 Sgr/HIP 95294/HD 181623/Arkab Posterior/HR 7343"
{
    RA        19 23 13.2
    Dec        -44 47 59
    Dist    42.5170052
    Class    "F2 III"
    AppMagn    4.27
}
Other stars have the same issue, like:
[ALF] Centauri > Rigil Kentaurus
[ALF] Piscis > Alrescha
[ALF] Trianguli > Mothallah
[IOT] Ursae Majoris > Talitha
[BET]1 Scorpii > Acrab

I noticed that there are issues in the search catalog in two cases:
Asterope, from the Pleaides open cluster, it's also an asteroid. But when you select the star, you're directed to the asteroid.
Atlas, also known as 27 Tauri, it's also a moon of Saturn. Same issue here.
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SpaceEngineer
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

03 Dec 2016 04:58

Other stars have the same issue, like:
[ALF] Centauri > Rigil Kentaurus
[ALF] Piscis > Alrescha
[ALF] Trianguli > Mothallah
[IOT] Ursae Majoris > Talitha
[BET]1 Scorpii > Acrab
Is is alternate names? Looks like a bit changed writing of names which are already in SE (Rigel Kentaurus -> Rigil Kentaurus)
 
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Mosfet
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

03 Dec 2016 07:19

https://www.iau.org/public/themes/naming_stars/
Well, they are, actually. As my understanding, they took all the names in literature, I mean quite a lot, and they have chosen an "official one", among existing traditional names.
For some stars there are dozens, and I searched alfa Centauri myself, because I've seen "Rigil Kentaurus" in books or maps.
Apparently they are both used. I thought before "who cares?", but since now is somewhat official, I guess it could be used more in literature, so it could make sense to have the official name in SE among others.
Alrescha it's another naming nightmare, by the way :)
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

28 Feb 2017 07:28

2MASS J21265040-8140293, an exoplanet orbiting around the red dwarf TYC 9486-927-1 (2MASS J21252752-8138278).

In SE, there are two bodies with the exoplanet's name, the parent red dwarf (which has the exoplanet as b), and a brown dwarf 33 ly behind it.
Attachments
scr00041.png
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JackDole
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

28 Feb 2017 09:23

XBrain130,
these are two different objects:
'2MASS J21265040-8140293' is the brown dwarf, '2MASS J21252752-8138278' is the Red Dwarf.

But:
The brown dwarf is, according to Wikipedia, the Exoplanet who orbits 'TYC 9486-927-1'.

That means the distance of 33 light years is wrong and the brown dwarf should be removed.

This can be done with this 'script':
// -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
// Name: Remove_2MASS_J21265040-8140293.sc

// Put in 'addons\catalogs\stars'

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RemoveStar  "2MASS 21265-81402/2MASS J21265040-8140293"

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Or you can use this .pak file. It retains the known names for the planet / brown dwarf.
TYC_9486-927-1.pak
(1.46 KiB) Downloaded 1069 times
JackDole's Universe 0.990: http://forum.spaceengine.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=546
JackDole's Archive: http://forum.spaceengine.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=419
JackDole: Mega structures ... http://old.spaceengine.org/forum/17-3252-1 (Old forum)
 
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

08 Mar 2017 05:51

// -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
By the way, SE doesn't use unicode. Coding must be CP-1252.
 
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Mosfet
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

21 Mar 2017 19:57

It appears that asteroid Chiron, a Centaur, could have rings too like Chariklo, at least according to a reinterpretation of previous measurements in which the presence of twin cometary jets was assumed.
It turns out that a pair of rings quite similar to those of Chariklo could be present instead, so what was considered a peculiarity could be a trend among Centaurs. By using HarbingerDawn's textures for Chariklo, we could put a ring on it:
Asteroid    "Chiron/(2060) Chiron"
{
    ParentBody     "Sol"
    AsterType      "Centaur"
    Radius          117   // 144
    RotationPeriod  5.918
    Albedo          0.075 // 0.048
    AbsMagn         6.5   // 6.2
    SlopeParam      0.15
    Orbit
    {
        Epoch            2456401
        MeanMotion       0.0195367
        SemiMajorAxis    13.6532
        Eccentricity     0.380366
        Inclination      6.92945
        AscendingNode    209.356
        ArgOfPericenter  339.33
        MeanAnomaly      122.844
    }
    Rings
    {  // Texture by HarbingerDawn
        Texture     "Chariklo-rings.*"
        InnerRadius        324
        OuterRadius        346
        // 7 and 3km, 12km gap
    }
}
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

12 Apr 2017 19:54

As elsewhere noted, asteroid (10) Hygiea in SolarSys.sc has diameter value placed instead of radius, so the script should be:
Asteroid    "Hygiea/(10) Hygiea"
{
    ParentBody     "Sol"
    Radius          215.5
    Mass            1.45124e-5
    RotationPeriod  27.623
    Albedo          0.01 // fake
    AlbedoBond      0.01 // fake
    Albedo          0.0717
    AbsMagn         5.43
    SlopeParam      0.15
    Orbit
    {
        RefPlane       "Ecliptic"
        Epoch           2456401
        MeanMotion      0.177388
        SemiMajorAxis   3.13703
        Eccentricity    0.116109
        Inclination     3.8419
        AscendingNode   283.418
        ArgOfPericenter 312.758
        MeanAnomaly     121.957
    }
}
Place the script under addons/catalogs/planets/, or download the pak file to be simply placed under addons/.
Attachments
HygieaFix.pak
(785 Bytes) Downloaded 961 times
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

21 Apr 2017 09:42

PH1 b (aka Kepler 64 b) is an exoplanet in a quadruple system that orbits the AB pair, but in SE it orbits the whole system's barycenter instead.
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

22 Apr 2017 07:18

All fixes added.
 
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Permian Therapsid
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

25 Apr 2017 13:28

Hello, I have found some data errors and missing designations and classifications in the Solar System objects data. I did already post some of that on the thread "General questions about SpaceEngine". I have been busy for some time so I was unable to post this before. I did also discuss this on the thread "COMMUNITY ADDON - Double/Multiple Asteroids fixes for SE" primarily concerning bug in the addon on barycenters.

Mosfet did already make a fix concerning Hygiea, but I think the other problems I have found have not yet been fixed. I did also find some new problems conserning comets. It seems that the diameter gained from absolute magnitude calculations seem to be off for some comets. For example comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) is given nucleus magnitude in JPL small body database as 6.1 and albedo as 0.04. Calculation gives comets diameter as 400km but studies on this comet have revealed that its size is probably about 60 km.

Some other comets on Space Engine, not C/1995 O1 itself have been given this kind of mega-sized diameter values which are probably wrong considering C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp). These most obviously wrong diameters given to comets in SE are C/2010 U3 (included as 470 km!!) and 110P/Hartley (included in SE as 439 km!) when it really is estimated to be only 4,3 km in diameter. Comet C/2006 S3 (LONEOS) is in SE as diameter 295 km, I am not sure but that may be wrong, seems quite large for a comet considering the error on comets 110P and C/2010 U3. Other curious comet is C/2009 P1 (Garradd) that is listed in SE as 115 km that seems also a bit large.

Following is a list of objects included in SE with errors that I have discovered so far:


Following comets have inaccurate properties:

Comet C/2010 U3 - diameter wrong: 470 km / correct: ? km  
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top

Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) - Included in SE as 66 km, that is the value given by studies but magnitude gives 400 km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Hale-Bopp
ww.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/asteroids/sizemagnitude.html

Comet 110P/Hartley - diameter wrong 439 km / correct: 4.3 km (13.3 mag)
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=110P

Comet 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson - diameter wrong: 386.57 km/ correct: 5.6 km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=47P

Comet 9P/Tempel - diameter wrong: 67 km / correct: 6.0 km
Rotation wrong: 2.559 d / correct: 40.7 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=9p

Comet 10P/Tempel - diameter wrong: 83.85 km / correct: 10.6 km
rotation wrong: 42 h / correct: 8.93 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=10p

Comet 31P/Schwassmann-Wachmann - diameter wrong: 74.38 km / correct: 6.2 km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=31p

Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu - diameter wrong: 205.59 km / correct: 9 km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=117P

Comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh - diameter wrong: 72 km / correct: 4.46 km
rotation wrong:  d / correct:  h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=74P

Comet C/2011 KP36 (Spacewatch) - diameter wrong: 93 km / correct: 55.100 km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=
C/2006 S3 (LONEOS) - diameter probably wrong: 295 km / correct: ? km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - Is the diameter wrong?: 115 km
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top


Following asteroids have inaccurate properties:

Hygiea - diameter wrong: 862 km /correct: 407 km 
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Hygiea

Interamnia - diameter wrong: 181.76 km /correct: 306.313 km
rotation wrong: 7.922 d /correct: 8.727 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Interamnia

Davida - diameter wrong: 132.49 km / correct: 270.327 km 
rotation wrong: 9.258 d /correct: 5.1297 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Davida 

Cybele - diameter wrong: 106.82 km / correct: 237.26km 
rotation wrong: 10.335 d /correct: 6.0814 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Cybele

Europa (asteroid) - diameter wrong: 142.67 km / correct: 303.918 km 
rotation wrong: 8.952 d /correct: 5.6304 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Europa

Hebe - diameter wrong?: 167.29 km / correct: 185.18 km 
rotation wrong: 8.24 d /correct: 7.2745 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Hebe

Astraea - diameter wrong?: 109.82 km / correct: 106.699 km 
rotation wrong: 10.175 d /correct: 16.806 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Astraea

 Iris - diameter wrong?: 204 km / correct: 199.83 km 
rotation wrong: 7.457 d /correct: 7.139 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Iris

Flora - diameter wrong?: 136.87 km / correct: 147.491 km 
rotation wrong: 9.104 d /correct: 12.865 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Flora

Metis (asteroid) - diameter wrong?: 137.19 km / correct: 190 km 
rotation wrong: 9.083 d /correct: 5.079 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Metis

Parthenope - diameter wrong?: 124.55 km / correct: 142.887 km  
rotation wrong: 9.560 d /correct: 13.7204 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Parthenope

Victoria - diameter wrong?: 80.2 km / correct: 115.087 km  
rotation wrong: 11.893 d /correct: 8.6599 h 
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Victoria

Egeria - diameter wrong?: 104.67 km / correct: 222.792 km
rotation wrong: 10.429 d /correct: 7.045 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Egeria

Irene - diameter wrong?: 144.88 km / correct: 152 km 
rotation wrong: 8.864 d /correct: 15.028 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Irene

Eunomia - diameter wrong?: 217.17 km / correct: 231.689 km
rotation wrong: 7.255 d /correct: 6.083 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Eunomia

Psyche - diameter wrong?: 166 km / correct?: old estimate 253 – new 196 km
rotation wrong: 8.295 d /correct: 4.196 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Psyche
http://www.occultations.org.nz/planet/2 ... psyche.htm

Philippina - diameter wrong?: 45.82 km / correct: 50.491 km 
rotation wrong: 15.828 d /correct: 5.899 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Philippina

Nemesis - diameter wrong: 69.73 km / correct: 162.515 km
rotation wrong: 12.79 d /correct: 77.81 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Nemesis

Lutetia - diameter wrong?: 84.73 km / correct: 95.76 km 
rotation wrong: 11.571 d /correct: 8.1655 h
(Realistic shape and texture are missing.)
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Lutetia


Following TNO:s have inaccurate properties:

Chaos - diameter wrong: 238.43 km /correct: 600+140−130 km
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1204.0697v1.pdf
Huya – rotation wrong? 13 h / correct? 5.28 h
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/a ... 38628.html
 
Sedna – diameter wrong: 1700 km / correct: 995 ± 80 km 
rotation wrong: 2.6 d / correct: 10.273 h 
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Sedna
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012A&A...541L...6P

Quaoar – diameter wrong? 1250 km / correct: 1073.6 ± 37.9 km
rotation wrong? 17 h/ correct: 8.839 h? 
http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/20 ... 329-13.pdf
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/a ... 50000.html
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Quaoar

Varuna – rotation wrong: 3.5 d / correct: 6.3436 h
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Varuna

2010 EK139 – diameter wrong? 414.77 km /correct:? 470+35-10 km
rotation wrong: 5.266 d / correct: 7.07 h
minor planet designation (alternate name) is missing, that is: (471143) 2010 EK139 
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=471143
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012A&A...541L...6P


Following dual classification objects (minor planet and comet) are missing one or another designation. One is shown with only its minor planet designation, others are displayed with comet designations only (inconsistent data in game). Some of them also have incorrect properties:

Chiron / (2060) Chiron - comet designation is missing, that is: 95P Chiron
Also Chiron's coma is missing
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Chiron
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/li ... tatus.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... d_its_coma

Echeclus / 174P Echeclus - diameter wrong: 8.57 km / correct: 59 km
rotation wrong: 16 h /correct: 26.802 h 
minor planet designation (alternate name) is missing, that is: (60558) Echeclus
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Echeclus
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/li ... tatus.html

Elst-Pizarro / 133P Elst-Pizarro - diameter wrong: 0.774 km / correct: 3.200 km
pyörähdysaika väärä: 20 h /correct: 3.471 h
minor planet designation (alternate name) is missing, that is: (7968) Elst-Pizarro
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=133P
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/li ... tatus.html

LINEAR / 176P LINEAR - diameter wrong: 0.763 km / correct: 3.5 km
minor planet designation (alternate name) is missing, that is: (118401) LINEAR
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=176P
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/li ... tatus.html

Wilson-Harrington / (4015) Wilson-Harrington / 107P Wilson-Harrington – is missing entirely from the game
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=107P
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/li ... tatus.html


Dwarf planets and TNO:s have their minor planet designations (alternate names) shown in the game. Following dwarf planets are missing their minor planet designations (inconsistent data in game):

Pluto - Minor planet designation (alternate name) is missing, that is: (134340) Pluto 
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Pluto
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/TNOs.html
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/dwarf_planets
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_sea ... _id=134340
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/mp ... 06R19.html


Pluto's moon Nix seems to be missing realistic shape and texture. Following moons/dwarf moons are missing their satellite designations (inconsistent data in game): 

Galilean moons of Jupiter

Dysnomia of Eris

Moons of Pluto

Moons of Mars
https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Planets

Following interesting objects are missing from SE:

Moon of TNO 1998WW31 is missing, TNO:s Arawn, 1992 QB1, 1993 RO and 1993 SB are missing. 1992 QB1, 1993 RO, and 1993 SB are all early discovered TNO:s and so it would be nice if they would be included. Arawn was studied realively close by by New Horizons spacecraft so there is relatively accurate info on its properties.

Asteroids Steins, Mathilde, Annefrank and Braille are missing. These asteroids have been studied close by by spacecrafts, so there is accurate data on them.

Comets 81P/Wild and 103P/Hartley that were studied close by spacecrafts are missing.

Also, considering their diameters, why are Neptune's Nereid and Proteus classed as moons but Eris' Dysnomia as a dwarf moon?
 
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

25 Apr 2017 18:45

Permian Therapsid, it would be much easier to everyone if you make and attach a fixed comet/asteroid catalog file, than typing this wall of text. It is easy: just extract a catalog file from data/catalogs/Catalogs0980.pak (open it as a zip archive), find needed sc file inside, open it in notepad and edit. SE scripts are simple, parameter names are self-explanatory, and here is a detailed documentation if something is not obvious.
Pluto's moon Nix seems to be missing realistic shape and texture
Do you know any source where those shape and texture can be downloaded? If such are exist, then we can add this to SE, otherwise sorry.
Following interesting objects are missing from SE:
So take a notepad and add them! This is easy and could be a great contribution to SE. This thread is exact place for such tasks, some community members can give you an advice.
 
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Permian Therapsid
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

26 Apr 2017 12:19

Permian Therapsid, it would be much easier to everyone if you make and attach a fixed comet/asteroid catalog file, than typing this wall of text. It is easy: just extract a catalog file from data/catalogs/Catalogs0980.pak (open it as a zip archive), find needed sc file inside, open it in notepad and edit. SE scripts are simple, parameter names are self-explanatory, and here is a detailed documentation if something is not obvious.
Thanks, I have not yet been able to read all of this guide but I am studying it right now.
Pluto's moon Nix seems to be missing realistic shape and texture
Do you know any source where those shape and texture can be downloaded? If such are exist, then we can add this to SE, otherwise sorry.
I have found sources that does have New Horizons data on Pluto II Nix, Pluto III Hydra, Pluto IV Kerberos and Pluto V Styx. It includes images that reveal surface features of Nix and Hydra and the shapes of these minor moons. This data however does not have the actual shape modes themselves, but these images do give some information of shapes and surface features.

I wonder that based of these images is there any possibility that someone who has 3D editing skills and program could create an approximate shape models for Nix and or Hydra and maybe for Kerberos and Styx too? And based on the surface data, would it be possible to create a surface texture map for Nix and maybe Hydra and add that on the model? I can not do that myself, as I do not have such program nor do I have experience creating 3D models and adding textures for them.

Or do you think that this data is not enough for creating accurate enough models? Or that even if it is possible, no one on SE forum could help creating the models/maps based on this data?

Sources:

General Pluto's small moons:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/de ... d=PIA19847
http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/spa ... moons.html
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-la ... moons.html

Nix/ Pluto II
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... ix_by_MVIC
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... x_by_LORRI

Hydra/ Pluto III
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... a_by_LORRI

Kerberos/ Pluto IV
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... s_by_LORRI
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/last-of-pl ... w-horizons

Styx/ Pluto V
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... x_by_LORRI
http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/spa ... izons.html
Following interesting objects are missing from SE:
So take a notepad and add them! This is easy and could be a great contribution to SE. This thread is exact place for such tasks, some community members can give you an advice.
I will try do that after I have studied the guide well enough. I do have Notepad++, but for now I have not been able to open the files showing any understandable text. Maybe I just need to read the guide all through and figure out what I nee to do before I try to open the catalogs file on SE files.

After I have figured out how to do this, I will fix the wrong rotation rates and diameters for asteroids and comets based on JPL small body database data. I will also create files for the interesting objects that are currently missing from the SE catalog. There are just few things that I hope you could help me with beforehand.

When I want to edit an object that already exists in SE catalog and want to keep most properties the same as they are listed in catalog, like orbit for example and do not want to duplicate the object, can I just load the file searchs the object and just change those parameters I want?

If I want to change objects type, in the case of Chiron for example from "asteroid" to "comet" can I do this without duplicating the object? Another question about Chiron but this is also about some other objects like Echeclus and several moons. These objects are missing some of their official designations that are listed for other similar objects as alternate names in SE catalog.

For example Chiron is listed in SE only with its name and minor planet designation like this: [Chiron/ (2060) Chiron] but is missing its comet designation 95P/Chiron. In SE comet names are missing the "/" for understandability reasons I assumume, so the all the designations of Chiron should read as: [Chiron/ (2060) Chiron/ 95P Chiron]. Echeclus is listed only with its comet designation 174P Echeclus, but should be as: [Echeclus/ (60558) Echeclus/ 174P Echeclus]. So if I do change the name parameters, does this mean I have to do something if I want to avoid duplicating these objects?

The last thing I think I want to ask you for now, is about changing classifications of moons/dwarf moons Dysnomia, Nereid and Proteus. In recent estimates Dysnomia thought to be much larger than previously estimated and this is included in current SE version. Should I change Dysnomia from dwarf moon to moon? I do also think that Proteus and Nereid should be listed as dwarf moons instead of moons. Do you think these changes would be a good thing to do?
 
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COMMUNITY ADDON - Catalog Fixes for SE

27 Apr 2017 08:29

I have found sources that does have New Horizons data on Pluto II Nix, Pluto III Hydra, Pluto IV Kerberos and Pluto V Styx. It includes images that reveal surface features of Nix and Hydra and the shapes of these minor moons. This data however does not have the actual shape modes themselves, but these images do give some information of shapes and surface features.
To add a 3D model to SE, one need a complete, full-sphere elevation map (DEM, digital elevation model) of the body, as well as albedo texture. No other way is possible. Photo is not enough.
I will try do that after I have studied the guide well enough. I do have Notepad++, but for now I have not been able to open the files showing any understandable text. Maybe I just need to read the guide all through and figure out what I nee to do before I try to open the catalogs file on SE files.
Did you tried to open the pak file in notepad++? pak file is a zip archive, open it with winzip or 7z or whatever. Inside you will find a sc files, which are human-readable scripts, open them with notepad++.

Read about this, as well as catalog patch/update/replacement methods in the introduction to SE modding.

For massive catalog fixes, probably the easiest way is to extract original catalog files (like Asteroids.sc) to the appropriate folder (data/catalogs/planets) and edit it. The file with the same virtual path as the original will override the original one. It would easy to me to include your fixed script files into the next release.

There is another way to do this - just create a new file (e.g. "Asteroids-fix.sc"), and describe there only changed parameters for existing objects. Changing a class from asteroid to comet is possible by using Remove command for Chiron, and then adding a full description for is as a comet. But I think the first method (replace full catalog files) is better.

BTW, you can add a coma to Chiron without turning it into a comet. Just add the CometTail tag, as described in the creating a planet manual.

Dwarf moon in SE is an irregular shaped object orbiting a planet. We do not know anything about Dysnomia's shape, but can expect it to be spherical or irregular based on its mass or size. Proteus is an example of borderline case - it is "almost spherical" with a diameter of 400 km - comparable to spherical Miranda and Mimas. Nereid is almost the same size (340 km), so it can be "almost speherical" as well. I classified them as moons to separate them from a population of other Neptunian moons, which are significantly smaller. Dysnomia probably can be re-classified as a moon if it has diameter >300 km.
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