Tutorial
By using Mitaka, let's take a journey into the amazing universe
brought by the most advanced astronomical sciences.
Here we briefly describe how to install Mitaka and to go through the
universe to the object you want to visit.
See the PDF manual (mitaka_manual.pdf) for details.
Install
Download the zipped file, then decompress it into any folder you like.
Launch
Double click mitaka.exe in the folder to launch Mitaka.
Please wait until all the astronomical data are loaded.
The Night Sky Above the Observing Site
Mitaka shows the sky as viewed from a given location.
This mode is named "Planetarium Mode".
(Just after Mitaka has been launched,
the night sky above the Mitaka city, Tokyo in Japan at 20:00 is shown).
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The night sky is displayed. |
Push the left button of your mouse and drag to see any direction you like.
With the right button or mouse wheel, you can change the viewing angle.
Handling the time
You can bring the time forward or backward.
Bring the mouse cursor to the upper-right corner of the window.
Then, (+) and (-) button will appear as the following image shows.
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Buttons for time handling. |
The time goes forward as you push the (+) button, while the time goes back as you push the (-) button.
Can you see the diurnal motion of the starry sky ?
These buttons dissapear when the mouse cursor is removed from the corner.
The time step is initially set to 10 minutes.
To change it, click the right button of your mouse
over the time-handling buttons.
Then, the following pop-up menu is opened.
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Pop-up menu for setting time. |
You can choose the time interval in this menu,
from 10 seconds to 100 years.
You can also set it directly
by selecting `Set Time...' in this menu.
Going for Space
Let's leave the Earth for the space.
You can take off the Earth by selecting [Landing/Takeoff] - [Landing/Takeoff] from the menu bar
or by pushing the mouse wheel.
Can you see the whole Earth against the background of stars?
Since you launched at night, you are looking the night side of the Earth.
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Is the night side of the Earth displayed ? |
This mode is named "Space Mode".
The target object (now the Earth) is fixed at the center of the view.
To handle the view point, push the left button of the mouse and drag.
Also, if you double-click any point on the surface of a planet,
you can move to over that point.
Let's move to the day side of the Earth.
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The day side of the Earth. |
Use mouse drag with the right button, or the mouse wheel to zoom in/out.
Let's go close to the Earth's surface.
A green crossed pointer appears.
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Green pointer indicating location on the surface. |
You can land on the location pointed by the pointer
by selecting [Landing/Takeoff] - [Landing/Takeoff] from the menu bar,
or by pushing the mouse wheel.
If you land on the day side of the Earth, you will see the blue sky.
If you put the time forward to night, you can see the starry sky at that location.
Then, let's take off again to the space.
You can also handle the time in the space mode
with the (+)/(-) buttons.
Push the (+) button to put the time forward.
You will see that the Earth rotates every 24 hours.
Exploring the Solar System
Now, let's explore the solar system.
Leave from the Earth by mouse dragging with the right button, or using the mouse wheel.
The Earth becomes smaller and smaller, and then you can see only the stars in background.
You can see that the solar system is much larger than the size of the Earth.
After a while, the orbits of other planets and the distribution of asteroids will appear.
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Other planets and asteroids are displayed some time later. |
Blue lines show the orbits of planets. Red circles indicate the distance from the Sun.
We call these red circles "Scale Lines".
With the scale lines, you can grasp the scale of the displayed image.
The units used for the scale lines are as follows:
Unit | Explanation |
Astronomical Unit (AU) |
Averaged distance between the Earth and the Sun. 1 AU is about 150 million km. |
Light Year (l.y.) |
A distance that the light goes in a year. 1 l.y. is about 9.5 trillion km (or 63 thousand AU). |
Until now, the Earth has been selected as the target object, which is located at the center of the view.
Other planets can be selected as the target, too.
Let's make the Mars the target.
Select [Target]-[Solar System]-[Mars] from the menu bar, and then select [Target]-[Move to the target].
Now the Mars is fixed at the center of the view
and you can zoom in/out or Landing/Takeoff the Mars.
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Targeting the Mars. |
In the same way, you can target the other planets such as Jupiter and Saturn.
Enjoy exploring the Solar System.
Let's continue zooming out the Solar System.
You will see the Jupiter exists outside the asteroid belt
and the Saturn is present at a distance of about 10 AU from the Sun.
You will notice that
the planets are so small
compared with the size of the Solar System
that you can only see the orbits and the names of them.
You can exaggerate the size of the planets by
selecting [View]-[Planet/Moon]-[Magnification Rate] from the menu bar.
Going for the utmost end of the Universe
Then, let's go for the utmost end of the Universe.
Dragging with the right button, or mouse wheeling, zoom out further and further.
All planets disappear and (hypothetical image of) Oort Cloud,
the home of long period comets, appears.
Now, you are entering the world of stars.
The unit of scale lines is changed to light year from astronomical unit.
The locations of the stars displayed are all obtained by the astronomical satellite "Hipparcos".
Mitaka displays only the stars located within about 3 thousand light years
because the observational errors for the outer stars are large.
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Stars in the solar neighborhood. |
Beyond the extent of the stars of the Hipparcos catalog,
you can see a complete view of our galaxy, or the Milky Way galaxy.
This is a model of our galaxy based on various observations and theories.
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A Model of our galaxy. |
Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy containing about 200 billion stars.
Since the model of our galaxy is expressed by nearly a million points,
it requires high performance of the graphics card in your PC
to display our galaxy.
If the performance of your graphics card is not enough,
select [Target]-[Extra galactic Object]-[Complete View of Our Galaxy] from the menu bar.
This brings you to just outside of our galaxy.
Continuing zooming out, our galaxy becomes a point and then disappears.
Now, you are entering the world of galaxies.
The displayed points no longer represent stars.
They are galaxies.
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Distribution of galaxies near our galaxy. |
Outside the scale of 1 billion l.y., the result of the latest SDSS observation can be seen.
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The large scale structure of the Universe. |
Although the galaxies seem to be distributed in fan-like shapes,
this comes from the fact that the observation by now has been completed only limited regions.
Actually, galaxies are distributed over the whole Universe.
As you see the galaxies carefully, you will notice that
there are regions where galaxies pack and regions where no galaxy exists.
Such a structure is called the large scale structure of the Universe.
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Now we have reached the end of the Universe. |
Finally, you will reach 13.7 billion l.y. away.
Since the age of the Universe is considered to be about 13.7 billion years,
the end of the observable region of the Universe is here.
Then, let's go back to the Mitaka City.
You can zoom in and in to return to the Mitaka City.
Or, you can select [Landing/Takeoff]-[Landing on Mitaka] from the menu bar
to jump over 13.7 billion l.y. in an eye's blink !
Mouse Operation | Action |
Drag with left button | Change the direction of view. |
Drag with right button(up-down), or wheeling | Zoom in/out (space mode). Adjust the viewing angle (planetarium mode). |
Double click (left button) | Move to above the double-clicked point on the planet's surface. |
Click (+) button on the upper-right corner | Bring the time forward. |
Click (-) button on the upper-right corner | Bring the time backward. |
Right-click on the upper-right corner | Open the pop-up menu for handling the time. |
Push the wheel button | Land on / Take off a planet. |
Mitaka can also be handled by a keyboard.
Key | Action |
Cursor Key | Change the direction of view. |
1 + Cursor Key | Slue the view (space mode only). |
PAGE UP | Zoom in. |
PAGE DOWN | Zoom out. |
4 | Bring the time forward |
3 | Bring the time backward |
Z + 4 | Change the time step longer (up to 100 years). |
Z + 3 | Change the time step shorter (up to 10 seconds). |
S | Land on/Take off a planet. |
X | Open a menu on screen. You can handle this menu with Z and X. |
A | Show/Hide labels. |
F1 | Show/Hide a table of keyboard operations on screen. |
Good Work Today. Have a Nice Evening.
Now, you have learned the basic usage of Mitaka.
There are many other features in Mitaka.
Read the PDF manual and try them !
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