1<sect1 id="tool-solarsys"> 2<title>Solar System Viewer</title> 3<indexterm><primary>Tools</primary> 4<secondary>Solar System Viewer</secondary> 5</indexterm> 6 7<screenshot> 8<screeninfo> 9The Solar System Viewer 10</screeninfo> 11<mediaobject> 12 <imageobject> 13 <imagedata fileref="solarsystem.png" format="PNG"/> 14 </imageobject> 15 <textobject> 16 <phrase>Solar System Viewer</phrase> 17 </textobject> 18</mediaobject> 19</screenshot> 20 21<para> 22This tool displays a model of our solar system as seen from 23above. The Sun is drawn as a yellow dot in the center of the 24plot, and the orbits of the planets are drawn as ellipses with 25the correct shapes and orientations. The current position 26of each planet along its orbit is drawn as a colored dot, along 27with a name label. The display can be zoomed in and out with 28the <keycap>+</keycap> and <keycap>-</keycap> keys, and the 29display can be recentered with the arrow keys, or by 30double-clicking anywhere in the window with the mouse. You can 31also center on a planet with the <keycap>0</keycap>–<keycap>9</keycap> keys 32(<keycap>0</keycap> is the Sun; <keycap>9</keycap> is Pluto). 33If you center on a planet, it will be tracked as time passes in 34the tool. 35</para> 36<para> 37The Solar System Viewer has its own clock, independent of the 38clock in the main &kstars; window. There is a timestep control 39widget here, similar to the one in the main window's toolbar. 40However, this control defaults to a timestep of 1 day (so that 41the motions of the planets can be seen), and it starts out with 42the clock paused when the tool is opened. You may set the date to now 43by pressing the <guibutton>Today</guibutton> button. 44</para> 45<note> 46<para> 47The current model used for Pluto's orbit is only good for dates 48within about 100 years of the present date. If you let the Solar 49System clock advance beyond this range, you will see Pluto behave 50very strangely! We are aware of this issue, and will try to 51improve Pluto's orbit model soon. 52</para> 53</note> 54</sect1> 55