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{{Short description|Renderer for planetary and Solar System images}}
[[Image:Xplanet_europe_ortho.jpg|thumb|Xplanet-generated rendering]]
'''Xplanet''' is a renderer for [[planet]]ary and [[Solar System]] images, capable of producing various types of graphics depicting the Solar System. It is normally used to create [[computer wallpaper]]s, which may be updated with the latest [[cloud]] maps or the regions of [[Earth]] which are in [[sunlight]]. Xplanet is [[free software]] released under the [[GNU GPL]].

== Flat maps ==
Xplanet can be used to produce [[cartography|projected maps]] of any planet (but typically Earth), for example [[Mollweide projection]]s which show the whole Earth at once, or [[Mercator projection]]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]]'s moons casting an eclipse onto the planet.

== Technical ==
Xplanet runs on [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X]] and other [[Unix]] operating systems and also on [[Microsoft Windows]], 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 [http://www.mkoe.de winXPlanetBG]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} to assist in updating the configurations and helps to download the cloud maps automatically. [http://www.OSXplanet.com/ OSXplanet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807022746/http://www.osxplanet.com/ |date=2007-08-07 }} is an interactive wallpaper derivative for the [[Mac OS X]].<ref>Rob Griffiths, [http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050413095930977 OSXplanet - Display planetary desktop images], macosxhints.com, Apr 13 2005, Pick of the Week</ref>

==Incorporation into other utilities==
[[File:Csq-mapper-globe-view.jpg|thumb|Example "globe view" produced with the online c-squares mapper; conversion from flat map to orthographic projection uses Xplanet, installed as part of the mapper utility]]
The c-squares mapper, a web-based mapping utility constructed at [[CSIRO]] in Australia in 2002 for displaying the spatial extent of [[c-squares]] on the surface of the Earth, was upgraded in 2005–2006 to incorporate Xplanet software in order to display "globe views" (example at right). These views are user-rotatable and zoomable and can offer more realistic views for either [[Pacific Ocean]]- or [[Geographical pole|polar]]- centred data than are possible with a flat map (e.g. [[Equirectangular projection|equirectangular]]) projection.<ref>[http://www.obis.org.au/csquares/help.html obis.org.au: C-squares mapper help]. Accessed 7 December 2020.</ref> A technical description of the c-squares mapper installation process (version 3 onwards), which also requires installation of Xplanet, is available at http://www.marine.csiro.au/csquares/mapper_README.html (also available via [https://sourceforge.net/projects/csquares/ Sourceforge]).

==XplanetFX==
Until 2013, XplanetFX was a GTK-frontend for Xplanet under Linux. It provided a simple to use GUI to configure Xplanet and schedule renderings. It also claimed to produce higher quality renderings. XplanetFX was free software released under a permissive [[License proliferation#Vanity licenses|vanity license]]. It closed down when many of the sources it used were shut down or paywalled.

==See also==

*[[Wikipedia:Producing maps with xplanet]]
*[[EarthDesk]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links==
*[https://xplanet.sourceforge.net/ Project page]
*[http://www.mkoe.de/content/view/17/40/ winXPlanetBG a Windows GUI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922071837/http://www.mkoe.de/content/view/17/40/ |date=2007-09-22 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070813062249/http://thomas-wehr.homeip.net/space/iss-position.php Sample output of xplanet: ISS-Position]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070813062157/http://thomas-wehr.homeip.net/space/earthview.php Sample output of xplanet: Mercator view of Earth enhanced with various data like satellites, quakes, active volcanos]
*[https://archive.today/bC0N7/ XplanetFX a Linux GUI]

[[Category:GIS software]]
[[Category:Free science software]]
[[Category:Astronomy software]]
[[Category:Free educational software]]

Xplanet - Revision history

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