This is a brief description of the parameters recognized by Celestia v1.4.1 in DSC files (Deep Space Catalogs). DSC Galaxy functionality has undergone a substantial improvement when compared to the previous versions of Celestia.
A DSC catalog file can be used to describe three classes of objects: OpenClusters, Nebulae or Galaxies.
A DSC object definition consists of its class, a quoted name, and its parameters enclosed in braces:
Class "name" { ...parameters... }
"name" is the name of the object. Multiple names can be speciied within the quotes if they're separated by colons (:).
Currently used only to associate the specified "name" with a position in space.
Places a glowing model at the specified position and orientation
Uses all of the parameters used for OpenCluster plus
Places a glowing image of a galaxy at the specified position and orientation
Uses all of the parameters used for OpenCluster plus
The Type is shown in Celestia's on-screen informational display. It also determines which PNG image in Celestia's Models directory is used to define the shape of the Galaxy's image.
Nebula "M16" { Mesh "1995-44-a.3ds" Axis [0.205007 -0.737927 -0.642989] Angle 146.298 RA 18.31404 Dec -13.8311 Distance 7002 Radius 3.45 InfoURL "http://hubble.stsci.edu/newscenter/archive/1995/44/image/a" }
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