Use the list view to get at all the project files.

In this version the constellation graphics are mapped more accurately to the sky.

Made two changes: (1) When the user enters +/- 90° in the star's altitude field the azimuth does not change, (2) The direction labels in the horizon diagram switch to all 'N' or all 'S' at the poles.

Changed "constellations..." to "star patterns...".

Now with constellations menu.

Gave the simulator the new NAAP appearance.

changes:

• added zenith and nadir labels
• made the selected star's position editable by textfields
• fixed a few bugs

The html code for embedding this file is:

<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" WIDTH="300" HEIGHT="310" id="sunPathDiagram003" ALIGN=""> <PARAM NAME=FlashVars VALUE="str1=A&str2=B&str3=C&lat=41&initAz=240&initAlt=35"> <PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="http://physics.unl.edu/~astrodev/flashdev2/sunPathDiagram/sunPathDiagram003.swf"> <PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high> <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#000000> <EMBED src="http://physics.unl.edu/~astrodev/flashdev2/sunPathDiagram/sunPathDiagram003.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#000000 WIDTH="300" HEIGHT="310" NAME="sunPathDiagram003" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></EMBED> </OBJECT>

where str1, str2, and str3 are the labels for the summer, equinox, and winter sun paths, respectively. lat is the latitude for the stickfigure. initAlt and initAz are optional parameters that define the orientation of the celestial sphere on initialization.

Use list mode to view.

Note that the toScientific function combined with the displayText function now provides a more convenient way of displaying numbers in scientific format.

See also this.

Changed the project name to gravCalc.

Added Slovene translation, and fixed some quirky behavior with the language panel that appears after the simulator has been open for several hours.

Updated the simulator to appear consistent with our more recent simulators. For the most part the behavior is identical to the previous version. Two differences are:

• the stickfigure on the globe is visible whether or not the horizon diagram is visible
• the panel contents are visible by default

Made the direction labels in the horizon diagram change to all "N"s or all "S"s at the poles.

Note about versions: this version is derived from 066b. I don't know why I made a 066b version instead of a 067 version, but since this is the version that has been on the website for over a year (from July 2009) I think it must be safe to use. I don't know what the difference is between 066 and 066b, but it must be something minor if I didn't want to change the version identity in the About dialog.

Added title bar.

Improved the accuracy of the plot so that the solstices and equinoxes fall on the most likely dates: March 20, June 21, September 22, and December 21.

Also fixed it so that number of daylight hours reported when clicking on the equinox events will always be 12 (in earlier versions this wasn't working at latitudes of +-90°).

Changed the x-axis range.

Recompiled with the updated HR diagram component that fixes the mac label spacing problem.

Added a mask to remove the rounded ends of the spectral lines.

Added a mode feature to separate the "free parameters" preset from the others.

Added the ability to show the boat location on the map. This feature can be disabled (preset C). For question writing purposes the boat is draggable with the coordinates shown below.

The observer can be dragged anywhere along the road (presets A and B) or only at discrete locations (C). The error can also be user controlled (A) or fixed (B and C).

Adjusted the style properties of the example so that the sky background is white.

Land features were removed from the earth in the upper right panel.

Now with stickman.

Put units on the vertical axis.

Added the new title bar and fixed a small problem.

Fixed a problem with the Draggable Star component that occured when the star was on the far side of the sphere.

PhaseDisc.as

Constellations Activity Idea

Present a draggable 3D volume of space filled with stars. Ask students what would that part of the sky look like to an observer at a given location. Ask students to identify asterisms and come up with constellations based on that perspective. Direct students to drag the volume around to see where those bright stars are relative to each other. Ask if it seems the stars making up the constellation are associated in space. (Possible easter egg: have the volume include the stars of the big dipper or other recognizable feature, but don't mention the fact.)

to do:

• HR diagram
• flip eccentric orbits (periastron at right)
• distance readout on diagram (fade out?)
• star mass selector or slider
• planet distance slider
• time readout on timeline cursor
• vertical bar in hab plot mirroring cursor time
• justifiable pessimistic and optimistic settings
• star, planet histories below timeline
• animation feature
• mass, lum, temp readouts
• black hole, neutron star, white dwarfs representations in diagram
• improved planet artwork
• habitable zone label and arrow in diagram
• star data in single compressed binary
• proper layout
• loader, with feedback and fade-in
• full titlebar
• use scientific notation for planet and star properties
• pause animation on mouse interaction (planet drag, timeline interaction)
• [not reproducing consistently] bug: select 30Msol, sweep time cursor to end, alternate between 3My and end (is it due to changing x targets?)
• bug: uncheck show ref orbits, drag planet to right to zoom out, recheck, change assumptions while watching labels
• bug: drag planet to right for a bit, change assumptions

Fixed initialization bug.

Made the Sun and Moon discs draggable.

Fixed the appearance of the direction arrows a bit.

Now the movie will look for the images file in the following locations:

• transitimages.swf
• animations/coordsmotion/transitimages.swf
• transitImages.swf
• animations/coordsmotion/transitImages.swf

Updated the appearance. The images file is still expected to be at animations/coordsmotion/transitimages.swf (the classaction location).

This version is identical to 037 except it expects the images file to have the following relative url:

animations/coordsmotion/transitimages.swf

The images used in this explorer are kept in a separate file (transitImages.swf) which must be in the same folder as the transitMovie.swf file. The other files: transitImages.swf, transitImages.fla.

Fixed a small bug which made the right side of a curve fill not quite vertical in certain limited circumstances. Example: open v016, set scaling mode to custom, set curve 1 peak height to 2, and sweep curve 1 temperature in the range 2100-2400.

Made the component easier to use with attachMovie.

Changes:

• added a remove() function to the curve object
• added a visible property to the curve object
• fixed a problem with the peak labels introduced in version 12
• fixed the longstanding potential for problems when plotting a curve that greatly exceeds the height of the plot area
• added the ability to change the axes label colors, either through the properties inspector or with the function setAxesLabelColor
• improved the accuracy of the curveTo approximation of the curves

updated documentation

Recompiled with the updated HR component that fixes a label positioning bug that occurs on mac.

Fixed the label positioning problem on mac.

Changed class names and linkage names to avoid problems when a movie loads swfs with different versions of this component. Otherwise, this component should be functionally identical to version 040.

updated documentation

Major changes:

• The biggest change is that the internal conversion functions (e.g. getTypeFromLogTemp) have been updated to better fit real data. These functions can be tweaked more if necessary (a newly created editor makes this relatively easy).
• Made changes to how the distance modulus shifting occurs. The property apparentMagnitudeOffset has been removed and the property distanceModulus behaves differently now. Any existing implementations of the component that use these properties will need to be rewritten.
• Updated the star lists and changed the default appearance of these groups.
• Improved and standardized the way styles are set for some things (e.g. the spectral type style settings). There are potential backwards-compatibility issues with some of the changes, but I doubt if anyone was using the old methods.
• Added the ability to add a group of stars from a list when using addObjectLayer.
• Added the removeObjectLayer and removeAllObjects functions.
• Modified updateObjects so one can now update just a subset of parameters.
• Updated the live preview and fixed it so that the component can be added by attachMovie.
• Added a property skipInitUpdate, which if true will cause the component not to update itself after initialization. It can be set in the init object if using attachMovie or at the bottom of the live update panel in the authoring environment. This should improve efficiency if you're going to immediately change the component settings after initialization.
• Address issues with the luminosity class lines.
• Compatibility problems with AS2 have been fixed.
• Numerous bug fixes.

Squashed a tiny bug (angle between vectors not defined in certain situations).

Made it so that there is always a selected gas, assuming that there is at least one gas in the chamber.

Fixed a problem that would cause light circles to disappear or flicker.

Made the time slider range dynamic (it still won't go past 100 Gy, a limit that's needed to keep the integration lookup table from growing excessively large).

This version lets you sweep the time slider and keep lightcones, but the slider works only up to the latest time that has been animated. It is just not possible in flash 6 to integrate instantly (or even reasonably quickly) over the whole slider domain. In flash 9 it would be possible.

The light circles probably aren't done right.

Added draggable center and reset button.

Fixed a problem with the set preset button not being enabled after property changes.

Updated the About dialog box.

Added Help and About info boxes as well as Option D (earth) to the presets menu.

Added the titlebar.

Added the credit link.

Made it so that the center of mass label is visible even when inside one of the masses. Also put in new sliders.

This is the simplified version — version 6 has the additional features.

Updated the appearance of the About dialog window.

Added the titlebar.

This component has seven functions:

• setStarPosition(az, alt)
• setShowStar(bool)
• setShowPositionArcs(bool)
• setShowPositionLabels(bool)
• setShowSphereLabels(bool)
• setLatitude(lat)
• setShowCelestialFeaturesAndLabels(bool)

The sphere will automatically reposition itself when setStarPosition is called unless the autoRotate property is false.

This component requires the celestial sphere component to be in the library.

This component has five functions:

• setStarPosition(ra, dec)
• setShowStar(bool)
• setShowPositionArcs(bool)
• setShowPositionLabels(bool)
• setShowSphereLabels(bool)

The sphere will automatically reposition itself when setStarPosition is called unless the autoRotate property is false.

For this to work both the celestial sphere and globe ("Globe Component v2") components must be in the library.

First light. There are five stars: magnitudes 1 through 5. The saturation magnitude is 3 (so the middle star is just saturated), the PSF radius is 7 pixels, the bit depth is 16 bits, and there is a gaussian noise profile with mean 5000 counts and standard deviation of 3000 counts. The data mapping is linear.

Tracks are for stars 0.8 to 120 solar masses.

Added a day/night terminator feature (see showDayAndNightRegions property below). Updated documentation:

methods:

• addLine(defObj) - adds a latitude and/or longitude line to the map; valid properties for defObj are lat and lon, as well as the optional style properties thickness, color, and alpha
• removeAllLines() - removes all lines created with addLine
• addObject(linkageName, name, posObj, initObj) - adds an object (that is, a movieclip) to the map; linkageName specifies the movieclip to attach, name identifies the object, posObj gives the location (defined by lat and lon properties), and initObj is an optional argument used when attaching the movieclip
• setObjectPosition(name, posObj) - repositions an attached object; posObj should have lat and lon properties defined
• passDataToObject(name, dataObj) - since objects can wrap around the edge of the map the component attaches several copies of the object; this means that if you want to communicate with an object you actually need to communicate with several movieclip instances; this function accomplishes that task by calling the function receiveData on each movieclip instance with dataObj as the argument (so you'll need to define a receiveData function on your objects)
• removeObject(name) - removes the attached object with that name
• removeAllObjects()- removes all objects attached with addObject

properties:

• numberOfLatitudeDivisions, numberOfLongitudeDivisions - these set how many horizontal and vertical divisions to use for the border and grid; call updateGrid and updateBorderAndLabels after changing
• borderWidth, borderLightColor, borderDarkColor, borderLabelMargin - these properties control the appearance of the border; call updateBorderAndLabels after changing
• useKiribatiIDL - this property specifies whether to use the international date line with the relatively new Kiribati borders; call updateIDL after changing
• IDLLineThickness, IDLLineColor, IDLLineAlpha - these are the style properties for the international date line; call updateIDL after changing these properties
• gridThickness, gridColor, gridAlpha - these are the style properties for the latitude and longitude grid lines; call updateGrid after changing these properties
• defaultLineThickness, defaultLineColor, defaultLineAlpha - these are the default style properties to use for lines created with addLine
• showLongitudeGrid - shows or hides the lines of longitude
• showLatitudeGrid - shows or hides the lines of latitude
• showIDL - shows or hides the international date line
• showBorderLabels - shows or hides the labels around the border
• longitudeOffset - the longitude of the map along the left edge
• allowDragging - specifies whether the map can be dragged to change the longitude offset; if onDragHandler is defined a function with that name will be called (on the parent of the component) when the the map is dragged
• showDayAndNightRegions - shows or hides the day and night regions (default is false)
• sunDeclination, sunLongitude - these properties control the shape and longitude offset of the day and night regions (if you want an icon on the map to indicate where the sun is at zenith you will need to add an object)
• terminatorThickness, terminatorColor, terminatorAlpha, nightSideFillColor, nightSideFillAlpha, daySideFillColor, daySideFillAlpha - these properties control the appearance of the day and night regions; call updateDayAndNightRegions after changing

methods:

• addLine(defObj) - adds a latitude and/or longitude line to the map; valid properties for defObj are lat and lon, as well as the optional style properties thickness, color, and alpha
• removeAllLines() - removes all lines created with addLine
• addObject(linkageName, name, posObj, initObj) - adds an object (that is, a movieclip) to the map; linkageName specifies the movieclip to attach, name identifies the object, posObj gives the location (defined by lat and lon properties), and initObj is an optional argument used when attaching the movieclip
• setObjectPosition(name, posObj) - repositions an attached object; posObj should have lat and lon properties defined
• passDataToObject(name, dataObj) - since objects can wrap around the edge of the map the component attaches several copies of the object; this means that if you want to communicate with an object you actually need to communicate with several movieclip instances; this function accomplishes that task by calling the function receiveData on each movieclip instance with dataObj as the argument (so you'll need to define a receiveData function on your objects)
• removeObject(name) - removes the attached object with that name
• removeAllObjects()- removes all objects attached with addObject

properties:

• numberOfLatitudeDivisions, numberOfLongitudeDivisions - these set how many horizontal and vertical divisions to use for the border and grid; call updateGrid and updateBorderAndLabels after changing
• borderWidth, borderLightColor, borderDarkColor, borderLabelMargin - these properties control the appearance of the border; call updateBorderAndLabels after changing
• useKiribatiIDL - this property specifies whether to use the international date line with the relatively new Kiribati borders; call updateIDL after changing
• IDLLineThickness, IDLLineColor, IDLLineAlpha - these are the style properties for the international date line; call updateIDL after changing these properties
• gridThickness, gridColor, gridAlpha - these are the style properties for the latitude and longitude grid lines; call updateGrid after changing these properties
• defaultLineThickness, defaultLineColor, defaultLineAlpha - these are the default style properties to use for lines created with addLine
• showLongitudeGrid - shows or hides the lines of longitude
• showLatitudeGrid - shows or hides the lines of latitude
• showIDL - shows or hides the international date line
• showBorderLabels - shows or hides the labels around the border
• longitudeOffset - the longitude of the map along the left edge
• allowDragging - specifies whether the map can be dragged to change the longitude offset; if onDragHandler is defined a function with that name will be called (on the parent of the component) when the the map is dragged

Data comes from here and here. Background plot is from Doggett and Branch 1985.

This component is used to find the answer to the question "today the sun is X of the ecliptic moving Y", where X and Y are "north" or "south". The component has a function, getAnswer(), which will return an object whose properties indicate what the correct answer is and what feedback string should be used, if any. The feedback string is defined if the current day is within a given window of the closest equinox or solstice.

The example above can be used to test the results for days other than the present day (solstice and equinox table for reference).

The algorithm used will work until 3000CE, after which we will have to replace it with something else.

Corrected the module name in the About dialog.

Replaced the moon image.

Example parameters to draw a figure-eight are:

{width: 200, height: 60, a: 1, b: 2, delta: 1.5707963267949}

Changed the spelling of "gasses" to "gases".

changes:

• added title bar with about, help, and reset options
• relabelled the "reset" button to "start over" so as not to be confused with the reset option on the title bar
• added a pause at peak checkbox

Added a maxwell distribution option (input preset number 7). Note that specifying a maxwell input distribution with a filter distribution will not produce a combined distribution.

distributionViewer2 (source)

This file expects either input or filter (or both) to be defined. When both are defined the combined distribution is displayed.

Use this file (source) to edit or review the input and filter lists.

You may find this editor useful for determing values to use. Documentation:

The movie can be embedded at any size, although if it is too small the axis titles will be cropped. A reasonable minimum size is 320×225.

The following are general settings. All are optional.

• maxSpeed - This property specifies the right limit of the x-axis. The default is '1000'.
• axesColor - This is the color used for the axes, including tickmarks and labels. The default is '000000'.
• defaultTemp - This is the temperature used for a curve if the temperature is not specified. The default is '300'.
• defaultMass - This is the mass used for a curve if the mass is not defined. The default is '32'.
• defaultLabel - This property determines what label (if any) is used for a curve if a label has not been individually specified. It should be one of the following values: 'letter', 'number', or 'none'. The first two options will cause each curve to be labelled with a unique letter or number, as in a multiple choice question. The default is 'none'.

Curves can be added by using the following properties, where X is the curve number, which should start at 1 and go consecutively. At least one of massX or tempX must be defined; all the other properties are optional.

• massX - The mass for the curve. If left undefined defaultMass will be used.
• tempX - The temperature for the curve. If left undefined defaultTemp will be used.
• labelX - The label used for curve. If left undefined the label used will depend on the value of defaultLabel.
• colorX - This is the color of the curve's line as well as the fill beneath it. The default value depends on the curve number. By default the curves are colored blue, yellow, green, and red.
• labelColorX - This specifies the color used for the label text. The default value depends on the curve number. By default the curves are colored blue, yellow, green, and red.
• fillAlphaX - This is the alpha of the fill beneath the curve. The default is '30'.
• lineAlphaX - This specifies the alpha of the curve's line. The default is '100'.
• lineThicknessX - This specifies the thickness of the curve's line. The default is '1'.

Note that masses (including defaultMass) can also be set with the following strings (case is important). The mass used is given in parentheses.

• 'Xe' (131)
• 'CO2' (44)
• 'O2' (32)
• 'N2' (28)
• 'H2O' (18)
• 'NH3' (17)
• 'CH4' (16)
• 'He' (4)
• 'H2' (2)

If you specify a curve's mass using one of these strings, and defaultLabel is 'none', and labelX is undefined, then the curve's label will be the molecular formula for the gas.

Documentation for the component:

Methods

• addPlanet(name, defObj, linkageName) - This function adds a planet movieclip to the component. name should be a valid actionscript identifier since it will be the name given to the movieclip. Properties of the defObj will be defined on the newly attached movielip (it is used as the initObject). See the section on defining planet locations below, as well as the section on the default planet movieclip, to see what properties this object should have. linkageName is an optional argument to specify which movieclip to use for the planet disc. If left undefined the default, "EC Planet Disc", will be used.
• addAngle(name, defObj, linkageName) - This function adds an angle movieclip to the component. name should be a valid actionscript identifier since it will be the name given to the movieclip. Properties of the defObj will be defined on the newly attached movielip (it is used as the initObject). See the section on defining angles below, as well as the section on the default angle movieclip to see what properties this object should have. linkageName is an optional argument to specify which movieclip to use for the angle. If left undefined the default, "EC Angle", will be used.
• update() - Call this function after making changes.
• reset() - This function removes all planet and angle movieclips.
• setOrbitRadii(r1, r2) - Sets the orbit radii (it does not matter in which order they are given). There is no need to call an update function after calling this function. The defaults are 75 and 150.
• getGreatestElongation() - This function returns the greatest elongation, in degrees, possible for the given configuration. This value depends on the relative sizes of the orbits. Note that this function always assumes the inferior planet configuration, even when in superior planet mode (since greatest elongation has no meaning in that case).
• addSun(linkageName) - Call this if you want to use a different sun icon. The default linkageName is "EC Sun Disc".

Properties

• mode - This property determines whether the observed planet is inferior or superior to the observer's planet. The value should be "inferior" or "superior". The default is "inferior".
• orbitThickness, orbitColor, orbitAlpha - The orbit style. Defaults are 2, 0x505050, and 100. Call updateOrbits after changing these properties.
• minOrbitSeparation - The minimum difference between inner and outer orbits, as well as the minimum size of the inner orbit. The default is 20.

Defining a Planet Location

The properties that can be used to define the planet's location are type, pAngle, eAngle, eString, wrt, and useFarSide. The following describes their use.

There are two types of planets: observer and observed. By default planets are assumed to be observed planets, so you will have to set type to "observer" if it is supposed to be an observer's planet.

There are essentially two ways that the location of the planet can be specified: either by the position angle (the angle with the sun at the vertex) or the elongation angle (the angle with the observer planet at the vertex). Defining by position angle is simplest and can be accomplished with the pAngle property, which specifies planet's position in degrees CCW from the +x axis (or degrees CCW from another object, see the comments for the wrt property below).

For elongation the eAngle property is used. This should be in degrees, where eastern elongations are positive and western elongations are negative. Alternately, elongation configurations can be defined descriptively with a string, eString. This string can be the full description or an abbreviation (e.g. "western greatest elongation" or "wge").

The wrt ("with respect to") property specifies which other planet the position is relative to. For planets defined by the position angle this property is optional, but for planets defined by an elongation angle or elongation description there must always be another planet (even if only implied). In the elongation cases the wrt planet must be of the opposite type. Note that when a planet has an elongation definition but lacks the wrt property the component uses the first object it finds of the opposite type, so in cases where there is only one such object it can be OK to leave the property undefined. Still, be aware of the ordering issue (see the ordering section below).

When in the inferior planet mode if an elongation is greater than the greatest elongation the component will reduce it down to the greatest elongation. For elongation angles less than the greatest elongation there are two points on the orbit that can have that value, so the component will assume the near position unless the useFarSide property is true.

Comment on the Order in which Planets are Added

The order planets are added is important since the component will process them sequentially. Planet positions defined by elongation need to be defined with respect to a planet of the opposite type whose position is defined by position angle. Therefore the first planet added to the component needs to be defined by position angle and not with respect to any other planet.

Defining an Angle

An angle needs to have planet1 and planet2 properties, which are the names of the objects the elongation angle is to be drawn for. Naturally one of these objects should be an observer planet and the other an observed planet, although it does not matter which is assigned to planet1 or planet2.

Default Angle Movieclip Options

The following properties can be set via the defObj when adding the angle movieclip. Call the update function on the angle movieclip if any of these properties have changed after it has been attached.

• lineMargin - This the number of pixels beyond the outer orbit that the lines should extend. The default is 30.
• lineThickness, lineColor, lineAlpha - These control the style for the lines, arcs and arrowheads. The defaults are 2, 0xffc050, and 100.
• labelColor - The color for the elongation angle text. The default is 0xffc050.
• labelBackgroundColor, labelBackgroundAlpha - These specify the color and transparency of the fill behind the angle text. The defaults are 0x000000 and 60.
• labelDistance - This is the extra distance from the arc where the label is placed. The default is 12.
• arcRadius - This is the radius of the arc. The default is 30.

Default Planet Movieclip Options

The following properties can be set via the defObj when adding the planet movieclip. Call the update function on the planet movieclip if any of these properties have changed after it has been attached.

• label - The text for the label. The default is undefined.
• labelAngle - If this property is defined then the label will always be placed at the given angle, which is measured in degrees CCW from right. The default is undefined.
• labelDistance - The position of the label from the disc center. The default is 20.
• discRadius - The radius of the planet disc. The default is 8.
• outlineThickness, outlineColor, outlineAlpha - These control the disc outline style. The defaults are 1, 0x909090, and 0.
• discColor - If this is defined the disc will be this color. If the property is undefined then the disc will have color 0x9090ff (blue) when the disc is for an observer planet and 0x909090 (gray) for an observed planet. The default is undefined.
• labelColor - The label color. The default is 0xffffff.

Just drag the "drawPhaseDisc Function" clip to the library to use the following function:

MovieClip.prototype.drawPhaseDisc = function(definition, optionsObj) {
	// definition - the desired phase can be given in two ways:
	//		- if 'definition' is a number it is assumed to be the phase angle in degrees;
	//		the phase angle is the angle between the observer and illumination directions
	//		as measured CCW from the the observer direction (e.g. an angle of 90° means
	//		that the right half appears illuminated, ie. first quarter)
	//		- if 'definition' is an object with x0, y0, x1, y1, x2, and y2 properties the function
	//		will calculate the phase angle assuming that these are the screen coordinates for the
	//		illuminator, observer, and observed body respectively; that is, the disc will be drawn
	//		for an observer at body 1 looking at body 2, being illuminated by body 0
	// possible properties for the optionsObj object (all optional):
	//		radius - disc radius (default 70)
	//		lightColor = the color for the illuminated part of the disc (default 0xe0e0e0)
	//		darkColor = the color for the unilluminated part of the disc (default 0x404040)
	//		x, y - the coordinates for the center of the disc (defaults are 0, 0)
	//		lineThickness, lineColor, lineAlpha - the outline style (defaults are 1, 0x202020, and 0)
	//		doClear - boolean specifies whether to clear the mc before drawing (default true)
	// note: the function returns the phase angle in degrees in the range [0, 360) - this may be
	// useful when giving object positions for the definition

Added key speeds and labelled the axes in the distribution plot.

Here is all the code contained in the movie above:

MovieClip.prototype.drawDashedLine = function(startX, startY, endX, endY, dashLength, gapLength) {
	// this function will draw a dashed line between the indicated endpoints; the given dash
	// length and gap length will be approximated as closely as possible such that there is
	// a complete dash touching both endpoints
	var dx = endX-startX;
	var dy = endY-startY;
	var length = Math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy);
	var n = Math.round((length-dashLength)/(dashLength+gapLength));
	var f = dashLength/(dashLength+gapLength);
	var mx = dx/(n+f);
	var my = dy/(n+f);
	var lx = f*mx;
	var ly = f*my;
	for (var i=0; i<=n; i++) {
		var x = startX + i*mx;
		var y = startY + i*my;
		this.moveTo(x, y);
		this.lineTo(x+lx, y+ly);
	}
};

var mc = this.createEmptyMovieClip("exampleMC", 1);

mc.lineStyle(0, 0x000000);
mc.drawDashedLine(70, 12, 169, 183, 4, 2);

mc.lineStyle(0, 0xff0000);
mc.drawDashedLine(169, 183, 392, 302, 3, 3);

mc.lineStyle(0, 0x000000);
mc.drawDashedLine(392, 302, 447, 110, 2, 6);

mc.lineStyle(0, 0x0000ff);
mc.drawDashedLine(447, 110, 70, 12, 12, 12);

In version 002 the planet and star discs would be drawn only if there were no labels. Now it is possible to have labels and discs by using the boolean showDiscs. The default for this property is true when no labels have been added and false when there are labels.

One necessary consequence of these changes is that there is no longer any margin to the curve on the radial velocity plot.

Now the planet and star discs will be drawn if no labels are added. In this case a red cursor dot will appear on the radial velocity curve and the following flashvars will be parsed:

• animate - boolean to have the diagram animate (default is false)
• period - the period of the animation in seconds (defaut is 5)
• starAngle - specifies the position of the star in degrees ccw from right (with the earth at left); default is 0 (note that there is no planetAngle flashvar in this component)

The native size of the movie is 650×300. Accepted flashvars:

• orbitDirection - 'cw' or 'ccw' (default is 'ccw')
• earthArrowAngle - in degrees ccw from left (default is 0); this causes the entire diagram to rotate; so, for example, if a label is given an angle of 0° it will always be at the opposite of the center of mass no matter what the value of earthArrowAngle is
• starLabels, planetLabels - these are comma/semicolon delimited lists of labels; the semicolons separate the labels and the commas separate the parts of the label; each label consists of three parts: the angle, the label to show on the diagram, and the label to show on the velocity plot (note that the angle goes first, unlike for exoplanetOrbitDiagram); the angle is measured ccw from right where the earth view is at left (so 0° is always at the opposite side of the center of mass from the earth)

The above example has the following flashvars line: planetLabels=0,a,A;90,d,D&starLabels=0,c,C;90,b,B&orbitDirection=cw&earthArrowAngle=180

New flashvars:

• animate - boolean to control whether the diagram is animated; default is false
• period - the period of the animation in seconds; default is 5
• showStarDirectionArrow, showPlanetDirectionArrow - these booleans can be used to toggle the visibility of the direction arrows individually (they are parsed after showDirectionArrows, so thier value(s) dominate); the default is to show the arrows
• showEarthArrow - boolean to show/hide the earth direction arrow; the default is true
• perimeterLabels - this comma/semicolon delimited list adds labels around the perimeter; the format is the same as for starLabels and planetLabels below, except that the angle is measured ccw from left (like the earth arrow angle); these labels will rotate with the earthArrowAngle (so 0° always corresponds with the view from earth arrow)

Note that earthArrowAngle still is meaningful (everything will be rotated) even if showEarthArrow is false.

The flashvars line for the example above is showEarthArrow=f&perimeterLabels=A,0;B,90;C,180;D,270

Now labels can be added to positions on the star and planet orbits. This is done using the starLabels or the planetLabels flashvars. If either of these variables is used it should consist of a semicolon delimited list of label items, where each label item is a comma delimited list of (1) the label text and (2) the angle (where the angle is in degrees counter-clockwise from right if the earth is at left -- the same definition as for planetAngle and starAngle). For example, the demonstration page above uses the following flashvars line:

starLabels=A,0;B,90;C,180;D,240;E,320&showStar=f

The native size of the swf is 300×300. The following flashvars are accepted:

• starOrbitRadius - in pixels, default is 18; the planet's orbital radius is fixed at 94
• showPlanet - can be 'T' or 'F' (or '1' or '0'), default is 'T'
• showStar - can be 'T' or 'F' (or '1' or '0'), default is 'T'
• planetAngle - in degrees counterclockwise from right (assuming that the view from earth is from the left), default is 180, but see note below
• starAngle - in degrees counterclockwise from right (assuming that the view from earth is from the left), default is 0, but see note below
• earthArrowAngle - in degrees counterclockwise from left, default is 0, changing this value causes the planetAngle and starAngle to change correspondingly (so they are effectively independent of this setting)
• showDirectionArrows - can be 'T' or 'F' (or '1' or '0'), default is 'T'
• orbitDirection - can be 'cw' or 'ccw', default is 'cw'
• starOrbitDirection, planetOrbitDirection - both of these must be set for either to have an effect; these properties override the orbitDirection property

Note regarding the planet and star angles: if only one of these properties is defined the other will be assigned so that the bodies are on the opposite sides of the center of mass (the physically correct situation). The only reason for defining both properties is if you want to model a physically incorrect situation.

The doppler shift in this component is set with the setShift function, where the shift is the pixel offset from the center. Most of the appearance parameters can be adjusted in the live preview.

The demonstration swf above looks for the shift flashvar (the shift is given in pixels; the default is 0). The native size of this swf is 310×120. The width can be changed in the embedding block but the height should always be 120.

Added arrow labels. These can be displayed using the following flashvars:

• labelX - The label string. The substrings '_AU_', '_AD_', '_AL_', and '_AR_' will be replaced by arrow characters pointing up, down, left and right.
• labelSizeX - The font size of the string. the default is 12 points.

The flashvars line for the example above is "showNumbers=1,3&showEnergies=1,3&start1=1&end1=3&label1=1_AR_3".

The native size of this swf is 150×250. The following optional flashvars control the appearance of the lines and labels:

• showEnergies - A comma delimited list of the levels for which energy labels should be shown. Use '0' to indicate the limiting level. Alternatively, use 'all' to show the labels for levels 1 through 4 plus the limiting level. The default is to show no labels.
• showNumbers - A comma delimited list of the levels for which the level numbers should be shown. Use '0' to indicate the limiting level. Alternatively, use 'all' to show the labels for levels 1 through 4 plus the limiting level. The default is to show no labels.
• labelColor - Use to set the color of the labels; the default is '000000'
• levelColor - Use to set the color of the level lines; the default is 'a0a0a0'

Arrows can be added with the following flashvars, where X is the arrow number starting at 1 and going consecutively:

• startX - (required) The starting level for the arrow (the tail). Use '0' to indicate the ionization space.
• endX - (required) The ending level for the arrow (the head). Use '0' to indicate the ionization space.
• offsetX - Sets the x position of the arrow as an offset from the center axis. The default is 0. This property would be useful if you add two arrows that overlap.
• colorX - Sets the color for the arrow; the default is 'ff0000'.
• alphaX - Sets the alpha for the arrow; the default is '100'.

The flashvars line for the example above is "showNumbers=1,3&showEnergies=1,3&start1=1&end1=3".

Slight changes have been made to the component: a change in how the size is set when attaching using attachMovie and the inclusion of more embedded characters for the default label.

Besides these changes to the component this demonstration swf has been changed so that the appearance of the example sinusoid can be set using flashvars. The width and height of the component will adjust to the size of the stage (ie. the swf size specified in the embedding html block).

All of the following flashvars are optional:

• amplitude - in pixels, default is 60
• wavelength - in pixels, default is 80
• offset - in pixels, default is 0
• showAxis - can be 'T' or 'F' (or '1' or '0'), default is 'T'
• curveThickness - default is 1
• curveColor - in hex (without '#' or '0x' in front), default is '999999'
• curveAlpha - default is 100
• axisThickness - default is 1
• axisColor - in hex, default is 'cccccc'
• axisAlpha - default is 100

Labels are added at positions posZ where Z denotes the label number, running consecutively from 1. The position should be given in pixels. Each label can be customized with the following optional flashvars:

• colorZ - in hex, default is 'd00000'
• textZ - default is no text
• textAngleZ - in degrees clockwise from up, default is 0
• textRadiusZ - in pixels, default is 7
• textSizeZ - in points, default is 12
• dotRadiusZ - in pixels, default is 3

notes:

amplitude, wavelength, offset - These properties determine the shape of the curve. Values are in pixels.

width, height - These properties set the dimensions of the plot area.

addLabel(linkageName, name, position, initObj, depth) - This function adds a label (movieclip) to the curve. If the linkage name is null or undefined the "SCII Default Label" found in the resources folder is used. name should be a valid actionscript identifier since it will be used to provide a reference to the movieclip. The position is the x-coordinate of the label. The optional argument initObj will be used when attaching the label movieclip. The last argument, depth, is also optional.

The "SCII Default Label" movieclip has the following properties:

• labelColor - the color of the label (both the text and dot)
• text - the text to place next to the label
• textAngle - in degrees, clockwise from up, default is 0
• textRadius - approximate distance, in pixels, between the text and the dot, default is 7
• textSize - point size of text font, default is whatever the text size is in the embedded font field
• dotRadius - radius of dot, in pixels, default is 3

These properties can be set by defining them on an initObject and passing it to addLabel. Afterwards, they can be set on directly on the the movieclip instance. Call update on the label movieclip after changing these properties.

setLabelPosition(name, position) - Sets the position (x-coordinate in pixels) of a label.

removeLabel(name) - Removes the label.

showVerticalAxis,showHorizontalAxis - Properties toggle visibility of the axes.

setAxisStyle(thickness, color, alpha) - Sets the linestyle of the axes. Use null to leave a parameter unchanged.

setCurveStyle(thickness, color, alpha) - Sets the linestyle of the sine curve. Use null to leave a parameter unchanged.

Expanded the list of font characters that are embedded by default (characters like * and + and < were not getting embedded). The default font load is now about 10 Kb (up from 8 Kb). Of this, 1.5 Kb is in Verdana Italic for the value field and the remaining 8.5 Kb is in Verdana for the label and unit fields.

You can still specify your own fonts movieclip; however, the 10 Kb of Verdana will still be embedded unless you remove or de-export the default fonts movieclip. Alternatively, you can edit the default fonts movieclip directly to include just the fonts you need.

The embedded font characters now include all characters on the keyboard plus °±µ·×÷…‹›. The alt-xxxx sequences for entering these extra charaters are:

• ° 0176
• ± 0177
• µ 0181
• · 0183
• × 0215
• ÷ 0247
• … 0133
• ‹ 0139
• › 0155

This update fixes a potentially serious problem where the slider could get locked up in an infinite loop. If this were to happen while using the live preview in the authoring environment the flash program would become unresponsive and you'd lose your unsaved work (at least in Flash 6).

Example scenario: you are editing a movie and you have a slider on the stage with a range of 0 to 10, an initial value of 0, and the precision is in fixed digits. If you were to change the precision mode to significant digits Flash will become unresponsive and you will have to have Windows shut down the program, losing unsaved work.

Please note the following rule: if precisionMode is "significant digits" or if scalingMode is "logarithmic" the value range must be strictly greater than zero. The slider will misbehave (but usually not crash) if this rule is broken. However, the problem is fatal (an infinite loop) if the value is zero and the scaling is in significant digits.

Unless a Flash movie violates – or can potentially violate – the above rule there is no need to go back and update the slider. This update merely prevents violations of the rule from making the flash movie unresponsive, and potentially causing the authoring environment to crash. Therefore, I recommend using this version in new movies, and being careful about adjusting the slider parameters when working with old movies.

Added the ability to show/hide the value field (via "show value field" in the properties inspector or the showField property).

made two fixes related to the tab (mouse free) mode:

• fixed it so that tabbing-off the value field does not result in the change handler being called unless the value was being edited
• fixed the problem that would cause double incrementing when adjusting the grabber position with the arrow keys

Changed the colors on the spectral type slider to match the blackbody colors we use.

Fixed an oversight were it was possible to open the about and help popups by tabs (no mouse) but not to close them.

Fixed a problem affecting the horizon plane when making a movie in Flash 7.

Shaded band functions on the celestial sphere component:

• addShadedBand(frontName, backName, name, parameters, [surface, [hemisphere, [initObject]]]) - name defines the name the band will be known by to access it specifically; see the description of setLinkageNames() below for a description of the frontName, backName, surface, hemisphere, initObject properties; see setParameters() for a description of the parameters argument
• updateShadedBands()
• showShadedBands()
• hideShadedBands()
• removeShadedBands()

Methods of a shaded band include:

• setParameters({dec1, dec2, [ra, tilt]}) - the dec1 and dec2 (or alt1 and alt2) parameters determine the range of the band; the optional ra (or az) and tilt parameters can be used to define a band in any arbitrary orientation (see the circle documentation for an understanding of what these parameters mean, or see the celestial_sphere101 example)
• setLinkageNames(frontName, backName, [surface, [hemisphere, [initObject]]]) - frontName and backName are the linkage names of the clips in the library (these should be discs 200 pixels wide); the optional parameter surface can be the strings "inner" or "outer" and determines whether the band appears on the inner or outer surface of the sphere (default is outer); the optional parameter hemisphere can be the strings "below", "above", or "full" and determines whether the band appears below or above the horizon plane, or both (default is both); the initObject parameter can be an object whose parameters get passed to the front and back movieclips when they are attached
• setBorderStyle(thickness, [color, [alpha]]) - sets the linestyle of the border
• remove() - removes the band
• update() - updates the band

Properties of a shaded band include:

• visible - toggles the visibility of the band (no update required)
• showBorder - toggles the visibility of the border of the band (no update required)

Additional notes:

When the front and back shaded movieclips are attached to the library they get three variables defined on them (in addition to any that are passed by an initObject):

• _sphere - a reference to the sphere that the clips are a part of
• _shadedBand - a reference to the specific shaded band that the instances belong to
• _side - a string, "front" or "back", that tells the clip which side of the sphere it is part of

The declination and altitude ranges don't require the tilt and ra (or az) parameters, but one situation that does is putting a band on the ecliptic. The following line defines a band that extends 10° above and below the ecliptic:

sphere.band.setParameters({dec1: -10, dec2: 10, ra: 0, tilt: 23.4});

This new version has a number of changes, the most significant of which is that circles are rendered twice as fast.

documentation

This is a new version of the globe component. It is designed to be easier to use, and can be used either as an object of the celestial sphere component (plug-in), or as an isolated component (standalone) with a live preview.

When used in the celestial sphere there is no need for the programmer to manually update and position the globe (unlike the earlier globe component), all of that happens automatically. For example, you do not have to define a onMouseUpdate function that repositions the globe when the user drags the celestial sphere around. To add the globe to a celestial sphere instance, all you need is the following line of code:

sphereMC.addObject("Globe Component v2", "globe");

Then, if you want to show sun shading, you would add the following:

sphereMC.globe.instance.showShading = true;
sphereMC.globe.instance.setSunPosition({ra: 0, dec: 0});

All function calls and changes to property values take effect immediately -- you do not have to call an update function.

Note: if you want to show the equator or other features on the globe you still need to do the sphere in a sphere trick.

The transit simulator has to wait on this component, which I thought would be much easier to assemble that it has turned out be. Nevertheless, this component is almost done.

example:

 demoMC.addSweep("blueSweep", {centerAngle: 0, duration: 0.1}, {fillColor: 0x0000ff});

 demoMC.addSweep("greenSweep");
 demoMC.greenSweep.setStyle({fillColor: 0x00ff00, fillAlpha: 60, showOutline: true, outlineColor: 0x909090});
 demoMC.greenSweep.setDefinition({startAngle: 90, duration: 0.25});

properties:

 eccentricity
 semimajorAxis
 showOrbit

methods:

 addSweep(name, defObj, styleObj)
  - name should be a string, defObj and styleObj should
    adhere to the rules below for sweeps
 removeAllSweeps()
 setOrbitStyle(styleObj)
  - styleObj can have properties thickness, color, and alpha
 setCenter(type)
  - type should be "ellipse center" or "ellipse focus"

sweep methods:

 setDefinition(defObj)
  - defObj should have a duration property (a number
    between 0 and 1) and one of startAngle, centerAngle
    or endAngle, which define the position of the sweep
    in degrees
 setStyle(styleObj)
  - styleObj can have properties fillColor, fillAlpha, showOutline,
    outlineThickness, outlineColor, and outlineAlpha
 remove()