Thread: graphing planetary moon orbits by date

I am trying to create a graph/spreadsheet that shows the positions ("side view" versus "top") of 4 moons orbiting a planet by time and date. As the time/date increases or decreases, I want to see the positions of the moons move relative to one another around the fixed planet. I've seen it done in other programs such as Java, but I want to do this using only excel and incorporate it into a larger spreadsheet. For what it's worth, my VBA skills are minimal.

Thanks in advance,

Rob

Thanks for answering so quickly. There is a simple java applet on the following web site:

http://www.shallowsky.com/jupiter.html

This is the basic thing that I am trying to do in Excel. I'm not trying to do anything too fancy. I have made an astronomical viewing log in Excel and when I look at Jupiter or Saturn, I would like to record which moons I am viewing. The graph needs to be adjustable by date/time to show the current (by date/time) positions of the moons.

Rob