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D E E P S K Y D A T A B A S E
R E F E R E N C E M A N U A L
January 1990
Archive PC Specialists
PO Box 59
Flanders, NJ 07836-0059
201-850-4414
Copyright (c) 1988 Archive PC Specialists
All Rights Reserved
L I C E N S E
Archive PC Specialists
Copr. (c) 1988
This software is not public domain software, neither is it free
software. Use of non-registered copies of this software by any
person, business, corporation, governmental agency or other entity
is strictly prohibited.
Registration permits the user the license to use this software
only on a single computer. A registered user may use the software
on a different computer, but may not use the software on more
than one computer at the same time.
No user may modify this software in any way, including but not
limited to decompiling, disassembling, adding to, or otherwise
reverse engineering the software.
i
W A R R A N T Y
Archive PC Specialists
Copr. (c) 1988
Archive PC Specialists warrants that all disks provided constitute
an accurate duplication of the software product and Archive PC
Specialists will replace any disks found to be defective within 30
days from date of purchase, except where those disks have not been
distributed by Archive PC Specialists. Archive PC Specialists will
not honor this warranty where the product has been subjected to
physical abuse, or used in defective or non-compatible equipment,
or subjected to data retrieval or de-encryption attempts.
Archive PC Specialists warrants that the program will perform in
compliance with the documentation supplied with the software product.
If a significant defect in the product is found, the purchaser will
be entitled to a refund, so long as the purchaser can produce the
defective product and registration number in its entirety. In no
event will such a refund exceed the original purchase price of the
product.
Except as provided above, Archive PC Specialists disclaims all other
warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose, with respect to defects in the diskette and documentation.
In no event will Archive PC Specialists be liable for any loss of
profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited
to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Use of this software product for any period of time constitutes your
assumed acceptance of this agreement and subjects you to it's
contents.
ii
O R D E R S
If you or your company desires to purchase/register our software,
please print the file `order.frm' if you do not need an invoice for
purchases. This is the order form. To print it to your printer type
`copy order.frm prn'. If you need an invoice for purchases, please
see the `INVOICES' section.
iii
I N V O I C E S
If your company desires to purchase/register our software and you
need an invoice form, please print the file `invoice.frm'. To print
it to your printer type `copy invoice.frm prn'. This invoice can
be submitted to the accounts payable department in many cases.
iv
R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M
To become a registered user, you must fill out and mail in the
registration form. To register, do the following:
From the DOS prompt type `copy register.frm prn'. This will
print the registration form on your printer. If you wish to view
the registration form type `type register.frm'. This will put
the registration form on your screen. Using the pause key on your
keyboard will allow you to pause to read it. Repeating this
procedure with `order.frm' will also allow you to view/print it.
v
P R E F A C E
Technical Support
Registered users may direct questions to ARCHIVE PC by calling in
on our hot line and asking for "Customer Service". You must have
your registration number handy, as well as the following informa-
tion about your computer:
Make and Model number
Disk type
Monitor type
Display type
DOS revision level being used
Printer type
Be prepared to give a specific explanation of your problem.
ARCHIVE PC SPECIALISTS
PO BOX 59
FLANDERS, N.J. 07836
201-850-4414
Hours 10AM to 6PM EST Monday-Friday
About This Manual
This is a reference manual describing the operation of the data
base manager. It is not intended as a tutorial on Astronomy or
Data Base Management Concepts. For more general information on
astronomy see:
Burnham, Robert Jr. Burnham's Celestial Handbook
Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1978 Three Volume Set
vi
C O N T E N T S
LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
ORDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
INVOICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
REGISTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
PROGRAM OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
THE MAIN MENU SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
DATA BASE ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
LOADING A DATA BASE FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A TYPICAL VIEWING SESSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Hard Copy Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SEARCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Window Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Wild Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Exact Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
SORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
FILTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PIPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
BROWSE MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Keys and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SEARCH MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Keys and Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
EDIT MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Keys and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Keys and Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Block Mark and Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Block Mark and Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
RA and DEC FILTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
PRECESSING THE RA AND DEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
THE SIDEREAL CLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
THE PHOTO and WWV/TRANSIT TIMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
YOUR DISPLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
YOUR PRINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PRINT SPOOLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
THE SPEAKER & ERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
DISK DATA ERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Changing the default colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
ON LINE HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
FIELD LENGTHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
vii
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
This data base was designed especially for Astronomers!
This is a RAM oriented data base that lets you set up your own,
private, viewing WINDOW in the sky, display celestial data,
do searches, sorts, filter data, view sidereal, standard and UT
time, precess data base entries, activate photo/astrotimers,
transit timer, and also enable you to maintain a data base(s)
of celestial data. It will also allow you to determine what is
visible for any day on any given sideral time at your particular
longitude and latitude. The data in the data base is resident
in the computer memory `all' the time that the program is in use,
avoiding long delays in searching/loading/editing data.
The data base was designed to be simple enough to use in the DARK
and will work on any IBM or compatible clone. (Some astronomers
actually take their LCD or EL portables outside when they view).
Viewing WINDOWs can be set up by specifying RA and DEC coord-
inates when you do a WINDOW search. The celestial objects
visible in the WINDOW can be routed to the printer for hard
copy. The hard copy is all you need to do your viewing, since
it will contain the necessary information on the RA and DEC
coordinates of all the celestial objects within that WINDOW.
This allows you to observe without books. A planning session
for viewing using books and charts might take hours. With this
data base you can plan a viewing session in under five minutes.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
* Minimum of 256k memory for Window 1000, Window QRX
* Minimum of 384k memory for Window 2000
* Minimum of 512k memory for Window 3000
* Minimum of 640k memory for Window PLUS
* Monochrome, Color, LCD, or EL display
* Minimum of one floppy drive 360k capacity
* Printer IBM or IBM compatible
* Minimum 84 key keyboard
* DOS 3.1 or highger
* NO Graphics required!
1
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
Place the disk that was sent to you in drive A or B.
Copy the "entire" contents of the disk to your hard/floppy
drive. Place a write protect tab on the original and put it
away in a safe place.
2
THE MAIN MENU SCREEN
Dispalyed on the MAIN MENU directly above the options block are-
1.Gregorian date-this is the present date from the
computer clock and date.
2.Julian date-this is the Julian date which you
may find useful in recording your observations.
3.Savings time or Standard time-this is the time
from the computer clock. Savings or Standard will
be displayed depending whether it is Daylight
Savings Time or Standard Time.
4.UT time. This is universal time, or the GMT
time plus your time zone.
5.Sidereal time-this is the up to the second,
"real time" update of sidereal time.
6.Latitude-a reminder of what your latitude is
set at for the program.
7.Longitude-a reminder of what your longitude
is set at for the program.
Displayed directly beneath the information block is the Main
Menu Options block. This is the block you will use to select
the functions you wish to perform. Here is a brief explanation
of what each function does-
Option FUNCTION
---------------------------------------------------------
B Dispalys/edits/creates a data base file.
EDIT MODE is entered via this menu option.
ESC exits this mode and returns to MAIN MENU
MODE. (see `EDIT MODE' explanation below)
S Allows you to search using the WILD card
option or set up a specific WINDOW by doing
a WINDOW search, or EXACT match search.
Example:A WILD card search on the phrase
`PLAN' would produce a listing of all the
PLANETARY nebula in the data base.
(see `SEARCHES' explanation below)
M Ability to change the Latitude/Longitude/DST
setting should you move or take your portable
computer to Mexico, or if the President
extends the Standard Time.
L The data file to be loaded is specified when
menu item is selected. This allows selection
of different data files without having to
exit the data base.
C Clears the data base of all data. Data is
NOT saved.
<ESC> Exits the data base. You will be asked to
"save" or "not save" the data base.
3
After your menu selection has been performed the program will
jump/load to the sub-menu/window to the screen for the item you have
selected. The sub-menu screens will also allow you to observe all
the REAL TIME data exactly as the MAIN MENU screen. Sub-menu screens
are exactly like the MAIN MENU screen in that you move the menu bar
and press <ENTER> for the desired action. HELP screens are available
by pressing <F1>. Using the <ESC> key will allow you to `back out'
of the currently active screen.
`Hot' keys can also activate the menu selections. For example: if
"B" were typed from the main menu mode, then the `Browse' would be
activated. If `M' were typed, then the "Modify Latitude/Longitude"
menu would be activated.
Either method of pressing <ENTER> with the arrow keys or pressing
the `hot' keys will work to access menu items.
DATA BASE ORGANIZATION
The data base is organized into several fields. Thes fields are:
Constellation,Object,RA (right ascension),DEC (declination), and
Comments.
This is the most popular format for this type of an accumulation
of data. The constellation names follow the most popular atlases
such as Burnhams, Nortons, Uranometria 2000, and the RNGC
(Revised New GeneralCatalog). Abbreviations and mnemonics are
virtually the same. (See ABBREVIATIONS on page 18). Search
criteria keys on these abbreviations. To be compatible with the
rest of the world, you should try to use the same mnemonic or
abbreviation for deep sky objects, stars, quasars etc. This will
also make it easier to transfer new data to the data base. It will
also allow other astronomers to understand the data without
having to know how to use the data base.
Having such a massive amount of deep sky data avaiable requires
that the design be simple. You'll see this when you do a deep
sky "search" for clusters on WINDOW'S 3000. Since the system is
RAM based, it will find all the clusters in less than 2 seconds.
It actually takes longer to list it to the screen than for the
computer to find it!
4
LOADING A DATA BASE FILE
Moving the Menu bar (using the UP and DOWN arrow keys then
pressing <ENTER>) or pressing `L', will enter the FILE LOAD mode.
In this mode, file names of different data base files may be
loaded. For example: The data base file of 1000 deep sky objects
might be loaded and then modified. The data base of variable stars
might then be loaded/changed/modified/added to etc. and another
data base file loaded etc. (call/write ARCHIVE PC to find out more
about data base files available).
The File Load Menu will prompt you to enter the name of the file
you want to load. An automatic check will be made to insure that
the file specified actually exists.
Once a file drive, subdirectory, name, and extension have been
keyed in, a check will be made on the syntax. If the there is an
error, the program will afford another opportunity to change the
file name. If the drive, file, etc. specified does not exist,
an appropriate message will be displayed. The following are some
valid names for files, which follow normal DOS syntax rules for
file names/extensions etc:
a:\sky100.fil
c:\sky\sky3000.fil
b:\sky\stars\deepsky.fil
deepsky.fil
In the case of the last two names, the default directory (logged
directory) would be tested first for the existence of the file.
In any case, DOS will afford the opportunity to retry, abort, or
fail as necessary.
Remember! Normal DOS syntax and filename rules are followed at
all times in specifying the name of the data file to be loaded.
You will not be asked if you desire to save the old file, before
the new file is loaded. Pressing <F10> will save the file BEFORE
the new file is loaded. The file will be saved and a backup file
with the file extension ".bak" will be created of the old data
base that existed before your changes were made.
If a directory listing were done, it would show two files for
sky100.fil if sky100.fil had been changed/modified etc. For
example:
sky100.fil
sky100.bak
Sky100.bak would be the original version of sky100.fil before
the changes/modifications were made. This backup copy is
always available in case you make an error and desire to go
back to your old version. In other words, the DOS "rename"
command would be used to rename the file extensions/names to
a new/old name to retrieve/change/modify file names.
5
A TYPICAL VIEWING SESSION
For example:
You have decided to view objects only within a 2 hour WINDOW in RA
of your meridian and + or - 10 degrees of your zenith. You have
selected these because they offer the best conditions for viewing
deep sky objects. You see from the MAIN MENU screen that it is 2100
hours sidereal time. Of course this time matches the RA coordin-
ates of any star map. (Star maps always list the RA and DEC this
way.) Hours are specified as 00 to 23 and minutes as 00 to 59,
with 0000 hours being the same as 2400 hours etc. Now all you have
to do is type in the correct values for the WINDOW search to
work. Since it is 2100 hours sidereal time and you want a 2 hour
WINDOW centered around your meridian, you know that the numbers to
type in are 1900 and 2200. Since your latitude is 43 degrees, that
is the zenith. The zenith is always your latitude. You can get
this from any state map. Your latitude is the number of degrees
north or south of the equator. Simple arithmetic tells you if your
zenith is 43 degrees, and you want your WINDOW + and - 10 degrees
from your zenith, the numbers to type in will be +3300 and +5300.
You need to specify the + so the computer knows you want a lat-
itude(or DEC) north of the equator. The zeros (00) tacked on the
end specify `0 minutes' of DEC. This format of a + or - followed
by four digits must always be followed. Declination is always
specified in degrees and minutes, with the degrees being from
00 to 90 and the minutes being from 00 to 59. The + or - tell
the computer whether it is north or south of the equator. Now
that you have typed in these WINDOW coordinates, and selected the
hard copy option, the computer will do the rest. Here is a sample
listing of what it produced-
CONST. OBJECT RA DEC COMMENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CYGNUS M 29 2022 +3822 CLUSTER 7.0 DIA 7' 20 STARS MAGS 8...
CYGNUS M 39 2130 +4813 CLUSTER 5.0 DIA 30' 25 STARS MAGS 7...
CYGNUS NGC6811 1937 +4627 CLUSTER 9.0 DIA 15' 50 STARS MAGS11...
CYGNUS NGC6819 1940 +4006 CLUSTER 10.0 DIA 6' 150 STARS MAG11...
CYGNUS NGC6826 1943 +5024 PLANETARY 8.8 DIA 25" 11M CENTRL STAR
CYGNUS NGC6857 2000 +3323 PLANETARY DIA 40" 14M CENTRAL STAR
CYGNUS NGC6866 2002 +4351 CLUSTER 8.0 DIA 8' 50 STARS MAGS 10...
CYGNUS NGC6888 2011 +3816 NEBULA DIFFUSE DIA 18' X 12'CRESCENT
CYGNUS NGC6910 2021 +4037 CLUSTER 6.5 DIA 8' 40 STARS MAGS 10...
CYGNUS NGC6913 2022 +3821 CLUSTER 7.0 DIA 7' 20 STARS AKA M29
CYGNUS NGC6914 2023 +4210 NEBULOSITY DIA 6' 9M STAR
CYGNUS NGC7000 2057 +4408 NEBULOSITY DIA 100' N. AMERICA NEBULA
CYGNUS NGC7026 2105 +4739 PLANETARY 12.0 25" X 6" 15M STAR
CYGNUS NGC7027 2105 +4202 PLANETARY 9.0 18" X 11" BLU-GRN
You can now take this list with you to use as a guide to what
you can see. All you need to do is use the telescope setting
circles to locate the objects, since all the RA's and DEC's
are listed. Needless to say, it might take hours to research
this information from books and star charts, and then copy all
the pertinent information to a sheet of paper. That is time you
could have spent "observing"!
6
SEARCHES
Searches can be made exclusive or inclusive simply by the order
in which the RA is entered. In the case above, the lower limit
was entered as 2200 and the higher limit as 1900, then this would
exclude all objects between 1900 and 2200, and include all the
objects between 2200 and 1900 hours RA. Searches in declination,
of course, will not do this because DEC is always specified with
a + and -. To do an exclusive search in DEC, one of the poles would
be specified as a limit. IE the search would be initiated with
limits +90 to + 70 or -90 to -70 for example. In actuality, there
is really no exclusivity to the DEC searches, because, of course,
the DEC doesn't "wrap around" like the RA does.
WILD card search will search for all occurrences of a specified
string. In other words if M 1 were typed in, the search results
would be, M 1, M 10, M 11, M 12.....M 101 etc. since M 1 was the
wild card part.
EXACT match search on the string M 1 would produce only M 1, since
an EXACT match was specified.
If a listing of all the Messier's is desired, then the WILD card
search would be selected, and the search string would be specified
as `M ' (M space), which would produce all the Messiers in thedata
base. For the NGC's, the string specified would be `NGC' or `NG'.
If a "Filter" is present, the search data will be passed through
it and the specified "filter data" will be "removed" from the
listing to the crt/printer/disk outputs.
To list all the SPIRAL galaxies in the data base, you would select
WILD card search, and use the word SPIRAL as the search string.
Following this format will allow you to list SPIRALS, ELLIPTICALS,
CLUSTERS, NEBULAS, etc. because the COMMENTS block always starts
with the `type' of deep sky object. We recommend using this format
since it follows all the classifications of deep sky objects used
by everyone else in the world. (ie SPIRAL, GALAXY etc.)
Setting the HARD COPY toggle will produce hard copy of all searches.
Setting the PIPE toggle will "PIPE" the data from the search to the
specified disk file, in addition to printing it on the screen.
This disk file can be loaded via the "Load" option from the main
menu screen. This data is then available for changes etc. If you
specify an existing file, it will be overwritten with the new data!
ALL selected search menu items will be highlighted with a `* ' star.
The search options will toggle (flip/flop) the `* ' on or off
according to the selection made.
Sidereal time is always displayed in the upper right hand corner
of the screen as a reference point during listings of search data.
Search mode is NOT case sensitive! Search mode "HELP" is available
by pressing F1 from the search mode menu screen.
7
SORT
The sort option is selected from the "Search" menu. Sorts can be
done on any field of the data base. Sort time will vary with
computer processor speed. Sorts of 300 items or so takes around
60 seconds in a 4.7 Mhz. PC. Sorts of 3000 objects can take up to
two "hours". An appropriate message is displayed on the
screen during sorts. A sort may NOT be done at the same time a
search is being done. The sort must be performed first, and then
the search initiated. All sorts are done in RAM!
To view the sort results, you must return to the main menu and
use the "Browse" mode.
FILTERS
The filter option is selected from the "Search" menu. Filters can be
done on any field of the data base. The filter string must be the
leftmost characters of the field. ie:The string "AND" will filter
out the constellation "ANDROMEDA". The string "SPIR" will filter
out "SPIRAL" if<E>xclusive is specified. For any field meeting the
filter requirments, the entire line of the data base file that the
filter data appears on will be eliminated from the output. Filters
can not be done during sorts. Filters can be done on any type of
search. <I>nclusive filters work just the opposite fo <E>xclusive.
<E>xclusive Filter: filters out only the data specified.
<I>nclusive Filter: filters out everything except the data specified.
Ex:<E>xclusive + `quasar'. Filters out all `quasar's from display.
<I>nclusive + `quasar'. Only `quasar's are displayed.
PIPE
Data can be "piped" to a disk file for use later. A sort can be done
and the data can be automatically piped to a disk file. `Any' type of
search can be piped to disk.
Pipe file names follow general DOS rules for filenames and extensions.
If a duplicate file name exists, "it will be overwritten!". Pipe
assumes the user knows what file name is desired. No checking is done
to see if the filename exists already!
HARD COPY or PRINTOUTS
You can obtain a printout of a search by selecting the hard copy
option from the search mode. Once it has been selected, it will be
highlighted by a `*' appearing to the left of the hard copy menu
line. Selecting it again, will shut it off or flip flop it.
8
BROWSE MODE HOT KEYS
Browse mode is used to page through the data base in a "data
safe" mode. The data can not be accidentally deleted or changed
in this mode. Sidereal time is always displayed in the upper right
hand corner of the screen as a reference point.
The following keys are active in "Browse":
KEY FUNCTION
----------------------------------------------------------
F1 HELP screen.
F2 Enters EDIT MODE. (allows `editing' of data base)
F7 Enables/disables the audible 1 second timer.
F8 Enables the photo timer.
F10 Saves the entire data base to disk.
UP ARROW Moves the cursor up one line.
DOWN ARROW Moves the cursor down one line.
ESC Exits BROWSE and returns to MAIN MENU mode.
a-z or A-Z The character keys `a' through `z' will cause a
jump to the appropriate constellation that begins
with the letter pressed. ie:Pressing `p' will
cause the next constellation appearing with a "P"
in its name to jump to the top of the screen.
"Autopositioning" positions forward only. ie:From
`a to z' not `z to a'.
SEARCH MODE HOT KEYS
Search mode HOT keys are used in a similar manner to the BROWSE
mode HOT keys. The following keys are active in "Search":
KEY FUNCTION
----------------------------------------------------------
F1 HELP screen.
F7 Enables/disables the audible 1 second timer.
F8 Enables the photo timer.
F10 Saves the entire data base to disk.
UP ARROW Moves the cursor up one line.
DOWN ARROW Moves the cursor down one line.
C Selects WILD card search.
W Selects WINDOW search.
E Selects EXACT match search.
S Selects `SORT'. Calls `SORT MENU'.
H Toggles/Selects `HARD COPY' option.
F Toggles/Selects `FILTER' option. Calls `FILTER MENU'.
P Toggles/Selects `PIPE.' Calls `PIPE MENU'.
B Begins a search.
<ALT><F10> Loads in a new data base file.
ESC Exits SEARCH and returns to MAIN MENU.
9
EDIT MODE
EDIT MODE is entered by pressing the <F2> key while the data is
on the screen and MAIN MENU item "Browse.." or "B" has been selected.
Prior to pressing <F2>, the cursor should be positioned ON the
line that the editing is to be done. That is done by using the UP/DOWN
ARROW keys.
When in EDIT MODE, the `*otyp' symbol will appear on the bottom line
and blink, indicating EDIT mode is in overtype mode. ie:Any letters
typed will overtype the data on the screen where the cursor is at.
In "EDIT mode the following keys are active and will perform the
following functions:
KEY FUNCTION
----------------------------------------------------------
F1 HELP screen. EDIT MODE HELP explains/lists the
function the various keys perform. The Greek
alphabet is also listed here.
F2 Enters EDIT MODE.
F3 INSERT RECORD. Inserts a new line(record) above
the line the cursor is at. `*' flashes on the bottom
of the screen and `ins' appears next to it.
F4 DELETE RECORD. Deletes the line(record) where the
cursor is at.
F5 APPEND RECORD. Appends (adds) a record to the very
end of the data base, after the line the cursor is
at. Use this to expand the data base from the bottom.
F6 Precesses the RA & DEC of the line the cursor is on.
F7 Enables/disables the audible 1 second timer for
timing tranisits or doing astrophotography.
F8 Enables the photo timer.
F10 Saves the entire data base to disk.
DELETE DELETE's the character where the cursor is at.
INSERT Toggles between INSERT "ins" mode and OVERTYPE
"oty" modes. IE: INSERT will remain active until
the INSERT key is pressed again.
LEFT ARROW Moves the cursor left one character.
RIGHT ARROW Moves the cursor right one character.
UP ARROW Moves the cursor up one line.
DOWN ARROW Moves the cursor down one line.
ENTER Locks in the field changes and moves to the
next field.
ESC Exits the EDIT MODE and returns to MAIN MENU
mode.
TAB Tabs over to next (right) field, positioning
cursor at field location 1. Locks field changes
in.
SHIFT TAB Back tab. TAB's backwards. Cursor is positioned
at position 1 of previous field. Both TABs wrap
around from first to last field of the line.
BACKSPACE Backspaces one position, deleting the character
that precedes the cursor.
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Pressing <F1> while in EDIT MODE will bring up Edit Mode Help.
While in EDIT MODE, typing on the keyboard will change the data
where the cursor is at. Any data where the cursor is at is
automaticaly deleted. This is called a `overtype' mode. Overtype
is always active in EDIT MODE, except when INSERTing or DELETEing.
Overtype mode will only type over the characters that are visible
on the screen. If it is desired to go beyond the last character
displayed, then INSERT will allow this. You CAN NOT INSERT past
the end of the field. The speaker will beep if this is attempted.
EDIT MODE fully supports the GREEK alphabet. This support is
achieved by a special key filter to allow the "symbols" that have
no english alphabetic equivalent to be displayed. Pressing <F1> will
give a listing of what keys to use to type Greek letters. This will
be quite useful when creating databases with stars. The following
is a list of the key that must be pressed and the resulting display
symbol it will produce on the CRT "AND" printer.
KEYS SYMBOL
------------------------------------------------
ALT B BETA
ALT D DELTA
ALT S SIGMA
ALT G GAMMA
ALT P PI
ALT V PHI
ALT L LAMBDA(very close approximation)
ALT X XI(very close approximation)
ALT Y PSI(close approximation)
ALT T THETA
ALT W OMEGA
ALT Q The degree symbol
ALT F The infinity symbol
Keys not listed above, such as E for Epsilon, can be accessed
by using the `E' key. We urge you to use all upper case letters to
represent all the other letters of the Greek alphabet not listed
above. In fact, that is why they are not listed above. Because
they are accessible from the normal ASCII keys on the keyboard.
Examples: Z=Zeta, H=Eta, I=Iota, N=Nu. A listing of the Greek
alphabet can be obtained from almost any dictionary.
To move around the data base, the keys mentioned in the KEY FUNCTION
table above are used. For example, using the DOWN ARROW key will
move the cursor down one (1) line at a time. If the cursor is on
line 24, then the next line will scroll up onto the screen. The
UP ARROW key works in a similar manner.
Pressing F2 will enter EDIT MODE. In this case all keyboard keys
listed above, including character keys, are active. Exercise
caution in this mode, as any keys pressed will go directly to the
screen and RAM!
11
We recommend making a copy of the original "skyviews.fil" that is
supplied with the data base. Doing this will allow you to become
familiar with the EDIT mode (as well as the other modes) and
allow you to fall back to your backup copy if you lose some data
while learning. Making this backup copy WILL NOT void your warranty.
To key in new data, use F3, F4, or F5 to insert a new line at the
desired spot, and then type in the data. The cursor will be autom-
atically positioned at the new line, except in the case of F5,
where new lines will scroll down.
If <ESC> is pressed before typing of the line is finished, then EDIT
MODE will be exited immediately. The line will be stored as it was
left, even if unfinished.
The actual writing of the data to disk WILL NOT BE DONE until
<F10> is pressed.
To delete a record, place the cursor on the line you wish to delete,
and press F4. This will delete that line (record) from the data base.
Errors in RA or DEC will be flagged by a beep on the speaker,
and a message block on the screen. (This is the automatic RA
and DEC filter). The cursor would then go back to the beginning
of the RA/DEC field and a correction would have to be made.
Corrections in this case must be made using the INSERT, DELETE,
and/or overtyping the data.
BLOCK MARK and MOVE
The block mark & move is activated by pressing either of the shift
keys and the UP or DOWN ARROW keys at the same time. This will
mark the block to be moved by highlighting it in a different
background color. Once the block has been marked, the cursor must
positioned to a line of the data base that "is NOT" marked. The
lines that are marked can then be moved to the spot the cursor
is at by using the CTRL F10 keys. Both of these keys must be
pressed at the same time for the block to move. The place where
the block "was" will be automatically closed up. After the block
is moved, the highlighting will be removed and the screen will be
repositioned with the new text lines at the top of the screen.
BLOCK MARK and WRITE
Block mark & write works exactly as block mark & move with the
exception that the marked block can be written to a file. Pressing
ALT F10 at the same time will write the marked block to the file
specified. You will be asked to supply a file name at that time.
After the block is written to the file, it will be automatically
unmarked.
12
RA and DEC FILTERS
The RA and DEC filters are active all the time while in EDIT MODE.
When you enter into the RA and DEC fields of the data base, then
type the RA or DEC, and after ENTER or TAB is pressed to move to
the next field, the RA or DEC filter will flag a bad character by
beeping the speaker. For instance: if you had typed in the
RA as 2602, the RA filter would catch this error, since RA only
goes up to 2359. IE: RA has specific limits and can only be a
number within these limits. The same applies for the DEC. We
astronomers know the DEC will never exceed +90 degrees or go
lower than -90 degrees, and never contain letters of the alphabet.
The RA and DEC filters will catch all such errors and alert you
through the beep from the speaker. Of course, there are no such
restrictions for the CONSTELLATION, OBJECT or COMMENTS fields.
Valid ranges for the RA and DEC are:
RA 0000 to 2359 (hours and minutes respectively)
DEC +9000 to -9000 (degrees and arc minutes respectively)
PRECESSING THE RA AND DEC
To precess the RA and DEC, you must be in EDIT MODE. From EDIT
MODE pressing the F6 key will precess the RA and DEC of the line
the cursor is on. A small WINDOW will appear on the screen
requesting the "Start epoch". This is the epoch of the
coordinates that are on the screen, or the ones you just typed in.
A value later than 1799 AD must be entered. After entering the
"Start epoch" and pressing <ENTER> the next line will request
the "Ending epoch". This can be no greater than 2200 AD. You
need not type in the `AD'. The next line that appears will say
"<ESC> or <ENTER>". <ESC> will exit without making any changes.
If <ENTER> is pressed, the RA and DEC will be changed from the
epoch of `start' to the epoch you have specified. Pressing <ESC>
at any time before the precessing has been done will abort the
precessing and go back to the previous mode.
The accurqcy of the precession is well within 10" in RA and
1/6 arc minute in DEC. The RA and DEC will be automatically
rounded to the nearest whole minute/arc minute by the part of
the program that does the math.
After the precession is done, the computer will return to the
EDIT MODE automatically.
Remember! Pressing <F10> will save your changes to disk!
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THE SIDEREAL CLOCK
The sidereal clock is extremely accurate. It will tell the
sidereal time to + or - 1 minute. This is possible because all
calculations are based on your longitude. Since your time zone is
15 degrees wide, any times that come from the computer clock or
your wall clock or whatever, reflect this. This could cause a 1
hour error in the calculation of Sidereal time! Hence the usage of
your longitude. The D and S tell the computer if it is Daylight
Savings time or Standard time. The computer must know this also
to be accurate. It must be remembered that you will have to update
this manually twice a year for the program to be accurate. You
will need to use the "Change Latitude/Longitude" option in the
MAIN MENU to do this. This was necessary in case the President
of the United States extends standard time as was done several
years ago. Some computer programs do not allow for this. Of course,
those programs will be at least one hour off if the President
decides to change things again. The sidereal clock is displayed
at all times! It is even displayed during listings to the screen
so you can keep tabs on what is visible or not for that date and
time.
DOS 4.0 users must use the 24 hour method of setting the computer
time. Using the optional 12 hour method will not work for astro-
nomy, as you might have guessed, because star charts are always
broken into a "24 hour" segment.
14
THE PHOTO and WWV TIMERS
With the photo timer enabled (F8), you can select the precise time
for your exposures. The computer will time out and sound the beeper
when the time you specify has expired. A loud, shrill, 5 second
sound will occur. After this, the timer will disconnect itself.
The WWV "one second" timer makes a beep similar to the National
Bureau of Time Standard station WWV. This one second beep can be
used to approximate transits by counting the beeps when the timer is
enabled (F7). Pressing F7 again will shut the timer off (toggle it).
YOUR DISPLAY
This product will work on Color monitors, Monochrome monitors,
LCD and Backlit LCD portables. The program automatically senses
if Color is present on your system and sets the mode of operation
accordingly. No graphics adapter is required!
If you desire to use a color monitor in the BW80 mode, or have
a LCD portable which emulates color and wish to use it in the
BW80 mode, you can override the automatic sensing by typing the
following when you run the program:
sky b then press <ENTER>
The space, then the `b' tells the program you desire to override
auto sensing. This is especially useful with LCD portables, since
the cursor becomes a block cursor and is much easier to see.
YOUR PRINTER
This product will work on any IBM or fully compatible IBM printer.
No non-compatible printers are supported.
PRINT SPOOLER
We highly recommend the use of a print spooler for the hard copy
output.
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THE SPEAKER & ERRORS
The speaker will beep on:
1.BAD DATA
2.Wrong RA character (Z for example is not a number)
3.Wrong DEC character (B for example is not a number)
4.A non printable character (F10 for example)
5.Trying to INSERT past the end of the field.
6.Using the transit timer. (enabled/disabled via F7)
7.When the interval timer (photo timer) has timed out.
DISK DATA ERRORS
Errors occur from time to time on computer floppy/hard disks
because:
1.The drive door is open.
2.The write protect tab has not been removed.
3.The media is defective. ie:bad disk.
4.The disk drive is bad. ie:requires cleaning/maintenance.
5.The disk is not formatted.
6.The disk is full.
Should one of the situations occur, an appropriate message will
be displayed on the screen. All of the above mentioned things
should be checked "BEFORE" another attempt is made to save
data.
FILES
The following files should be present on the distribution disk:
file name function
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. sky.exe the program
2. skyviews.fil the data base file
3. latlong.fil the latitude/longitude/time zone file
4. colors.fil the colors file
5. readme.doc reade me document
6. manual.doc manual document
7. register.frm registration form
8. invoice.frm invoice form
9. order.frm order form
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COLORS
If you have a color monitor and want to change the default colors
to something else, do the following:
1.From the Main Menu press the F9 key. This will bring
up the Color Selection Menu.
2.Follow the ForeGround and Background guides to select
the colors most suited to your system.
3.Using or Mixing ForeGround colors in the BackGround and
vice versa is unpredictable. This is because of the
hardware design. A little experimentation will show
immediate results on the display box in the upper
center of the screen. As you select a color, it is
immediately displayed.
4.To exit the Color Select Menu, simply press <ESC> key
at any time. All the selected colors will be loaded.
If you did not change them, then they will remain as
they were. Only changes are loaded into the system.
5.Just before returning to the Main Menu, the Color
Select Menu will store the colors you selected to disk
on the color file called "colors.fil". You can view
this with a normal ASCII editor if desired.
The following colors may be changed using the Color Menu:
1. Text Letter Color
2. HighLight Letter Color
3. Main BackGround Color
4. Help BackGround Color
5. Submenu BackGround Color
6. Border BackGround Color
7. Message BackGround Color
If you have a monochrome system or a color system operating
with the `b' option, the Color Select Menu is disabled.
ON LINE HELP
If you forget or get stuck, the on line help facility is
always available. Pressing the F1 key will call up the paged
Help Screens. These screens give a quickie memory jog to the
key functions in the system. The Greek alphabet hot keys are
also shown here. There are also some short samples on searches,
sorts, and filters.
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FIELD LENGTHS
Field lengths of the data base are as follows:
1.Constellation 18 characters max.
2.Object 10 characters max.
3.RA 4 characters max.
4.DEC 5 characters max.
5.Comments 38 characters max.
ABBREVIATIONS
As you probably noticed, there are a number of abbreviations
used on the printouts of the Deep Sky data. Here is a listing
of what they stand for:
ABBREVIATION MEANING
-------------------------------------------------------
9.0 designates a magnitude(9.0 in this case)
DIA stands for diameter
15M designates a star magnitude(15 in this case)
20' 20 minutes
33" 33 seconds
-1045 Declination(south) minus 10 degrees 45 minutes
+5500 Declination(north) plus 55 degrees 00 minutes
AKA Also Known As
MAGS 10... MAGnitudeS 10 and on
MAGS 10...15 MAGnitudeS 10 to 15
2' X 4' dimensions of an object in minutes
4" X 5" dimensions of an object in seconds
CENT or CENTL CENTraL
2011 RA 20 hours and 11 minutes
CLUSTER a galactic cluster
GLOBULAR a globular cluster
NEBULA a nebula (may be followed by the word DIFFUSE)
PLANETARY a planetary nebula
SPIRAL a spiral galaxy
ELLIPTICAL a elliptical galaxy
IRREGULAR a irregular galaxy
DIFF. DIFFuse (usually follows NEBULA)
ELONG ELONGated (usually used with galaxies)
NEB Nebula or nebulosity
SL. Slightly
MAG. Magellanic
SM. Small
LG. Large
QUASAR Quasi Stellar Radio Source
RADIO SOURCE An astronomical object emitting radio waves
18