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Xplanet is a renderer for planet
Planet

A planet , as 2006 definition of planet by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting a star or Stellar evolution#Stellar remnants that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared the neighbourhood of planetesimals....
ary and solar system
Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and those Astronomical object bound to it by gravity: the eight planets and five dwarf planets, their 173 known Natural satellite, and billions of Small Solar System body....
 images, capable of producing various types of graphics depicting the solar system. It is normally used to create computer wallpaper
Computer wallpaper

The terms wallpaper, desktop picture and desktop background refer to an image used as a background on a computer screen, usually for the desktop metaphor of a graphical user interface....
s, which may be updated with the latest cloud
Cloud

A cloud is a visible mass of Drop or frozen crystals floating in the Celestial body atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body....
 maps or the regions of Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 which are in sunlight
Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectroscopy of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is Filter ed through the Earth's atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon....
.

Planetary images
Xplanet can also be used to render more general views of objects in the solar system, such as a view of the Earth from the moon.






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Xplanet is a renderer for planet
Planet

A planet , as 2006 definition of planet by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting a star or Stellar evolution#Stellar remnants that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared the neighbourhood of planetesimals....
ary and solar system
Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and those Astronomical object bound to it by gravity: the eight planets and five dwarf planets, their 173 known Natural satellite, and billions of Small Solar System body....
 images, capable of producing various types of graphics depicting the solar system. It is normally used to create computer wallpaper
Computer wallpaper

The terms wallpaper, desktop picture and desktop background refer to an image used as a background on a computer screen, usually for the desktop metaphor of a graphical user interface....
s, which may be updated with the latest cloud
Cloud

A cloud is a visible mass of Drop or frozen crystals floating in the Celestial body atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body....
 maps or the regions of Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 which are in sunlight
Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectroscopy of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is Filter ed through the Earth's atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon....
.

Flat maps


Xplanet can be used to produce projected maps
Cartography

File:Mediterranean chart fourteenth century2.jpgCartography is the study and practice of making Geography Map. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that we can model reality in ways that communicate spatial information effectively....
 of any planet (but typically Earth), for example mollweide projection
Mollweide projection

The Mollweide projection is a Map projection generally used for global maps of the world . Also known as the Babinet projection, homolographic projection, or elliptical projection....
s which show the whole earth at once, or mercator projection
Mercator projection

The Mercator projection is a Map projection#Triangular presented by the Flemish people geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in 1569....
s with a rectangular appearance suitable for filling the screen.

It is possible to overlay clouds or text (such as the location of recent events) onto these maps; a popular option is shading areas currently experiencing night.

Planetary images


Xplanet can also be used to render more general views of objects in the solar system, such as a view of the Earth from the moon. In more recent versions, Xplanet depicts eclipses, and some of its images show Jupiter
Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the Solar system by size planet within the Solar System. It is two and a half times as massive as all of the other planets in our Solar System combined....
's moons casting an eclipse onto the planet.

Technical


Xplanet runs on Unix
Unix

Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna....
, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
, and Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
 operating systems, and was derived from an older Unix application called xearth.

It can either generate wallpaper, save the resulting image, or produce textual output detailing the locations of various objects.

Configuration is done by modifying a text file. The Windows version comes with a simple editor called to assist in updating the configurations and helps to download the cloud maps automatically. is a simple GUI for the Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
 version.

See also


  • Wikipedia:Producing maps with xplanet
  • EarthDesk
    EarthDesk

    EarthDesk is a software application for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X that changes the computer user?s computer wallpaper to a constantly updating view of Earth....


External links