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-
- Stars
-
- The program reads from a catalog of several
- hundreds of the brightest stars. The user can scroll
- through it and make his/her selection. Star names are given
- with the traditional Greek denomination (example: "ALP LIB"
- = "Alpha Librae"), followed by the standard Arabic name
- ("ZUBENELG" = "Zubenelgenubi") and the DM number ("-15
- 3966"). The catalog is a selection from the "STAR1" catalog
- provided with the U. S. Naval Observatory "Floppy Almanac"
- (v. 1.50.88). The catalog is an ordinary ASCII file and can
- be altered or amplified by the user; one can also
- substitute it with another catalog using the same format.
-
- The user can also enter the program by providing
- his or her own information relative to any star; needed are
- the name of the star, its Right Ascension 1950.0 or 2000.0,
- its Declination 1950.0 or 2000.0 and its proper motions in
- Right Ascension and Declination in arc seconds per century;
- parallax, radial velocity and visual magnitude are not
- necessary but can be entered as well to provide a fuller
- picture.
-
- One can leave the star routine and make changes to
- the time and place input, and then return to the star
- routine without having to reenter star information or scroll
- through the catalog. Star positions are displayed for both
- the 1950.0 equinox and the 2000.0 equinox, in addition to
- the equinox of date.
-