The Galilean Moon Plotter V1.6 beta

About

How to use

System Requirements

Registration and Copyright

Acknowledgements

History


About

The Galilean Moon Plotter (GMP) is a very easy to use Microsoft Windows program which allows you to plot the positions of the four Galilean Moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) for any date and any time. It is also possible to create a monthly diagram that will show you the movement of these four moons during a whole month. The diagram looks like most diagrams printed in astronomical magazines,  books and annuals. It will also tell you some physical ephemerides of Jupiter itself.

Originally, I wrote this program for my own personal use. I do like observing Jupiter and the different phenomina of his moons. But then, last year 1997 I decided to make it available to everyone who might be interested.

I have tried to obtain the highest possible accuracy in this program. Therefore there might be short periods of calculation. The algorithms used in this program are based upon Astronomical Algorithms by Jean Meeus (Willman-Bell, 1991).

Enjoy this little Freeware program,

Michael Moltenbrey

email: 	Compuserve: 	100736,3553

Internet: 	Michael_Moltenbrey@compuserve.com

February 1998


How to use

GMP is a very easy to use program designed for Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT. The first thing you will see is the title screen. At ist bottom there youll find an emtpy text box named Reg.-No.. There you can enter the registration number of the program if you do have it. For more information about how to register and what it means siimple click here.

If you have the Registration number, please enter it , if you dont have it click on the button Continue. After this the title screen will disappear and you will be presented the following screen:

There you can see six white text boxes (named Year, Month,...). Your system time and date should be visible. First please to click on menu Options.

There you will be presented a list with several time zones. Choose your time zone! For example, if you live in Germany, choose the following zone GMT+1  : Berlin, Rome Stockholm. Others work similar. Please press the Okay-button after this. Your time zone will be stored in the file User.dat in the programs working directory. This is only a one time operation!

Then you can enter the date and time the program should calculate. Then press Calculate. After this GMP will show you the data on the screen. By pressing the Now!-button, your current date and time will appear in the boxes.

By pressing the following buttons you will be able to see the movement of the moons.

<< means that GMP will calculate their positions one hour backwards, where >> means one hour forward. Unfortunately you cannot change this intervalls in this Beta-release of GMP. In the complete version you will also be able to see animations, etc.

If you click on menu Monthly Chart, GMP will draw a monthly diagram of the positions of the four Galileans relative to Jupiter. These are similar to thos printed in many astronomical magazines, etc. The diagram will be drawn for the current month you have enter in the text box Month.

Well, thats all!


System Requirements

The Galilean Moon Plotter V1.6 beta requires the following hard- and software:

I.	Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT

II.	4 megabytes of ram

III.	about 200 kilobytes of free harddisk space

IV.	Microsoft Visual Basic runtime library V5.0 : msvbvm50.dll

V.	the following DLL: oleaut32.dll

I did not include the runtime library and oleaut32.dll because of your download time. Both are relatively large files but should be already installed on most of the computers. E.g. oleaut32.dll is absolutely necessary for every 32-bit program  written in Visual Basic 5 and lots of other programs. the runtime library can be found on many Shareware CD-ROMs.


Registration and Copyright

The Galilean Moon Plotter V1.6 beta is Freeware. That doesnt mean it is place in the public domain. All Rights remain with the author of the program.

GMP V1.6 beta is Copyright © 1997-1998 by Michael Moltenbrey. All rights reserved.

This Freeware version of Galilean Moon Plotter may be distributed, copied and uploaded to ftp-servers, bulletin boards as long as all files accompanied with this program are included and there are no reasonable charges beyond costs for duplication and shipping.

You may not modify, patch, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on this software; or remove any proprietary notices or labels on this software.

This license will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with the limitations described above.

Registration

As mentioned above GMP is free software, so no, absolutely no costs will be caused by the registration. This version of GMP isnt crippled in any way. The registrations purpose only is to get some more feedback about this program. By registering you will help improve the program if you accompany a comment or suggestion with it. You will get further notices about future releases if you want to. Registration is absolutely FREE!

You might register GMP at ist home in the Internet:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Michael_Moltenbrey/sdw2.htm

You also might register it by sending an email to the author:

Compuserve:	100736,3553

Internet:	Michael_Moltenbrey@compuserve.com

You will be emailed the Registration-Number within 14 days. Then you can enter it in the program.

Liabiltilty

The author is NOT liable for any damages or loss of date which might be caused by the use of this program, nor his he liable for anything which might be caused by the use of this program. No claims can be made towards the author! It is the users risk to use this program!!


Acknowlegements

Please send any comments, suggestions or questions to:

Michael Moltenbrey

Goldaeckerstr. 18

70771 L.-Echterdingen

Germany

Special thanks to Jean Meeus for his book Astronomical Algorithmens

Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows 95 and Windows NT are trademarks or registered trademarkes of Microsoft Corporation.

CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe, Inc.


History

Version 1.0	First released version, was Shareware

Version 1.5	Easier to use, new working surface, placed into Freeware

Version 1.6b	many new features, new GUI, easier to use