---
created: 2009-02-17 09:24:01 +0100
layout: redirect
layout_old: default
redirect_to: https://blog.mbirth.de/archives/2009/02/17/xplanet.html
tags:
- know-how
- software
- linux
- xplanet
title: XPlanet
toc: false
updated: 2012-02-15 15:10:04 +0100
---

XPlanet renders an Earth globe including actual clouds and satellites' positions. It also has data to render the moon,
mars or the sun. You can even put the image on your Desktop so that it shows the current Earth view from space instead
of a boring wallpaper.

To make things a bit easier, there's [this Python script](http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?s=dba5c223bddb4c7d1e119ad00225548d&p=258035&postcount=6)
which handles downloading new cloudmaps and updating the image. I re-wrote that thing to pure Bash:


handle-xplanet.sh
=================

{% highlight bash %}
#!/bin/sh

# Script for using xplanet in Gnome
# made after http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=259290&postcount=10

# XPlanet configuration
BODY="-body earth -latitude 52.51667 -longitude 13.41667"
SCREEN="-geometry 2560x1024 -center +1920+512 -radius 75"
STARS="-starmap /usr/share/xplanet/stars/BSC -marker_file /usr/share/xplanet/markers/brightStars -arc_file /usr/share/xplanet/arcs/constellations"

# other configuration
TMPDIR="/tmp"
PREFIX="xplanet-"
ORIGINAL="${TMPDIR}/${PREFIX}original.png"
OPTIONS="-config /opt/xplanet/xplanet.conf $BODY $SCREEN $STARS -ephemeris_file ephemeris/unxp1800.406"
TIMING="-wait 300 -hibernate 600"

if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
    # Update data
    ./update-cloudmap.sh
    ./update-satellites.sh

    # Update picture
    for f in ${TMPDIR}/${PREFIX}background-*.png; do
	    rm $f
    done
    TIME=`date +"%s"`
    BGFILE="${TMPDIR}/${PREFIX}background-${TIME}.png"
    mv $ORIGINAL $BGFILE
    # set background picture
    gconftool-2 -t str -s /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename ""
    sleep 1
    gconftool-2 -t str -s /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename "$BGFILE"
    # following line is for Compiz
    # dbus-send --print-reply --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.compiz /org/freedesktop/compiz/cube/screen0/backgrounds org.freedesktop.compiz.set array:string:"$BGFILE"
else
    # Initialize
    /usr/bin/nice -19 /usr/bin/xplanet $TIMING -output "$ORIGINAL" $OPTIONS -post_command "/opt/xplanet/handle-xplanet.sh update"
fi
{% endhighlight %}

This script makes use of the following two helper scripts.


update-cloudmap.sh
==================

{% highlight bash %}
#!/bin/sh

CLOUDFILE="clouds.jpg"
URLLIST="update-cloudmap.lst"
UPDATE=$((3*60*60))

URL=`head -n 2 $URLLIST | tr "\n" " "`
NOW=`date +"%s"`
MTIME=`stat -c "%Y" $CLOUDFILE`
DIFF=$((NOW - MTIME))

. ./colors.sh

echo "${BOLD}Cloudmap$NORMAL is $BOLD$BLUE$DIFF$NORMAL seconds old (outdated after $UPDATE)."

DOUPDATE=0
if [ ! -e $CLOUDFILE ]; then
    echo "$BOLD${RED}File not found.$NORMAL"
    DOUPDATE=1
fi

if [ $DIFF -ge $UPDATE ]; then
    echo "$BOLD${YELLOW}File is outdated.$NORMAL"
    DOUPDATE=1
fi

if [ "$1" = "-f" ]; then
    echo "$BOLD${GREEN}Update forced.$NORMAL"
    DOUPDATE=1
fi

if [ $DOUPDATE = 1 ]; then
    aria2c $URL --allow-overwrite=true -o $CLOUDFILE
{% endhighlight %}


This one reads the URL to download from a file `update-cloudmap.lst`:

~~~
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~jml/clouds_4096.jpg
http://www.ruwenzori.net/earth/clouds_4096.jpg
http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/operations/NASA/clouds_4096.jpg
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~jml/clouds_2048.jpg
http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/~es179238/clouds_2048.jpg
http://xplanet.dyndns.org/clouds/clouds_2048.jpg
http://www.ruwenzori.net/earth/clouds_2048.jpg
http://xplanet.arculeo.com/clouds_2048.jpg
http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/clouds/clouds_2048.jpg
ftp://mirror.pacific.net.au/xplanet/clouds_2048.jpg
http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/operations/NASA/clouds_2048.jpg
http://home.megapass.co.kr/~gitto88/cloud_data/clouds_2048.jpg
http://home.megapass.co.kr/~holywatr/cloud_data/clouds_2048.jpg
http://home.megapass.co.kr/~ysy00/cloud_data/clouds_2048.jpg
http://user.chol.com/~winxplanet/cloud_data/clouds_2048.jpg
ftp://ftp.iastate.edu/pub/xplanet/clouds_2048.jpg
http://xplanet.explore-the-world.net/clouds_2048.jpg
~~~


update-satellites.sh
====================

{% highlight bash %}
#!/bin/sh

TLEFILE="satellites/iss+.tle"
UPDATE=$((12*60*60))

FILES="stations.txt science.txt"
BASEURL="http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/"
NOW=`date +"%s"`
MTIME=`stat -c "%Y" $TLEFILE`
DIFF=$((NOW - MTIME))

URLS=""
for f in $FILES; do
    URLS="$URLS $BASEURL$f"
done

. ./colors.sh

echo "${BOLD}Satellite$NORMAL data is $BOLD$BLUE$DIFF$NORMAL seconds old (outdated after $UPDATE)."

DOUPDATE=0
if [ ! -e $TLEFILE ]; then
    echo "$BOLD${RED}File not found.$NORMAL"
    DOUPDATE=1
fi

if [ $DIFF -ge $UPDATE ]; then
    echo "$BOLD${YELLOW}File is outdated.$NORMAL"
    DOUPDATE=1
fi

if [ "$1" = "-f" ]; then
    echo "$BOLD${GREEN}Update forced.$NORMAL"
    DOUPDATE=1
fi

if [ $DOUPDATE = 1 ]; then
    wget -O $TLEFILE $URLS
#    aria2c $URL --allow-overwrite=true -o $TLEFILE
{% endhighlight %}


colors.sh
=========

This is a helper script which provides ANSI colors through variables.

{% highlight bash %}
#!/bin/sh

TPUT=/usr/bin/tput
NORMAL=`$TPUT sgr0`
BOLD=`$TPUT bold`
BLINK=`$TPUT blink`
RED=`$TPUT setaf 1`
GREEN=`$TPUT setaf 2`
YELLOW=`$TPUT setaf 3`
BLUE=`$TPUT setaf 4`
MAGENTA=`$TPUT setaf 5`
CYAN=`$TPUT setaf 6`
WHITE=`$TPUT setaf 7`
{% endhighlight %}


get-ephemeris.sh
================

This script has to be run only once since the ephemeris is valid for several years.

{% highlight bash %}
#!/bin/sh

wget -r ftp://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/eph/export/unix/* -P ephemeris/ --no-passive-ftp -nd -c
{% endhighlight %}


xplanet.conf
============

Finally the configuration file for XPlanet: `xplanet.conf`.

{% highlight ini %}
# This file contains options you might want to customize for each
# body.  It's best to leave this file alone and modify a copy. Use the
# -config option to tell xplanet to read your copy.

[default]                       # Values in this section apply to all
                # bodies unless overridden below.   

arc_color=gray
#arc_file=

#bump_map=
bump_scale=1

cloud_gamma=1
#cloud_map=
cloud_ssec=false                # true if the cloud map is from the
                # University of Wisconsin Space
                # Science and Engineering Center 
cloud_threshold=90

color={255,255,255}             # fallback color in case an image map
                # isn't found 

draw_orbit=false                # if true, draw this body's orbit
                                # about its primary

grid=false
grid1=6
grid2=15

#image=

magnify=1                       # draw the body as if its radius were
                # magnified by this factor 

marker_color=yellow
#marker_file=
#marker_font=
marker_fontsize=8

max_radius_for_label=3          # don't draw a label if the body's
                # radius in pixels is more than this  

min_radius_for_label=.01        # don't draw a label if the body's
                # radius in pixels is less than this  

min_radius_for_markers=40       # don't draw markers if the body's
                # radius in pixels is less than this  

#night_map=

orbit={-.5,.5,2}                # extent of orbit to draw, 
                # {start, end, delta}, where 
                                # start and end are in units of period
                # of revolution and delta is angular
                # increment in degrees to evaluate
                # position 

orbit_color={255,255,255}       # color for the orbit

random_origin=true              # Can this body be considered if
                # -origin random is used?  

random_target=true              # Can this body be considered if
                # -target random is used?  

#satellite_file=

shade=30                        # 0 = black, 100 = same as dayside

#specular_map=

text_color={255,0,0}            # color for text (markers & body label)

twilight=6                      # blend the day and night images for
                                # pixels within this many degrees of
                                # the terminator 

[sun]
"Sun"
color={255,255,166}
max_radius_for_label=0          # never draw a label for the sun
shade=100           # No night side!
map=maps/sun/map.jpg

[mercury]
"Mercury"
color={100, 100, 100}

min_radius_for_label=0          # always draw a label

[venus]
"Venus"
color={161, 129, 70}

min_radius_for_label=0

[earth]
"Earth"
color={28, 82, 110}

cloud_map=clouds.jpg
bump_map=maps/earth/bump.jpg
map=maps/earth/map.jpg
night_map=maps/earth/night.jpg

# I have day and night maps of Australia centered on Alice Springs,
# which are cropped from higher resolution maps.
#map=alice_springs.png
#night_map=alice_springs_night.png
#mapbounds={-1.2,98.7107,-46.2,169.023}  # lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2

#marker_file=capitals.mark
marker_file=earth

min_radius_for_label=0

satellite_file=satellites/iss+

[moon]
"Moon"
color={100, 100, 100}
map=maps/moon/map.jpg
bump_map=maps/moon/bump.jpg
marker_file=moon

[mars]
"Mars"
color={172, 123, 67}
map=maps/mars/map.jpg
min_radius_for_label=0
marker_file=mars

[phobos]
"Phobos"

[deimos]
"Deimos"

[jupiter]
"Jupiter"
color={204, 163, 133}
min_radius_for_label=0

[io]
"Io"
color={212, 182, 52}

[europa]
"Europa"
color={140, 140, 140}

[ganymede]
"Ganymede"
color={150, 150, 150}

[callisto]
"Callisto"
color={70, 70, 70}

[saturn]
"Saturn"
color={244, 199, 134}
min_radius_for_label=0

[mimas]
"Mimas"

[enceladus]
"Enceladus"

[tethys]
"Tethys"

[dione]
"Dione"

[rhea]
"Rhea"

[titan]
"Titan"

color={252,94,7}

[hyperion]
"Hyperion"

[iapetus]
"Iapetus"

[phoebe]
"Phoebe"

[uranus]
"Uranus"

color={105, 197, 238}

min_radius_for_label=0

[miranda]
"Miranda"

[ariel]
"Ariel"

[umbriel]
"Umbriel"

[titania]
"Titania"

[oberon]
"Oberon"

[neptune]
"Neptune"
color={95, 133, 232}

min_radius_for_label=0

[triton]
"Triton"

[nereid]
"Nereid"

[pluto]
"Pluto"
color={206, 180, 153}

min_radius_for_label=0

[charon]
"Charon"
{% endhighlight %}