Travel to Space/Travel to Space.iso/dos_prog/astronmy/bluesky/main.hlp

Text File | 1990-05-29 | 32KB | 603 lines

          The Help Screen of the Main Menu

Take your further actions by depressing the following keys:

  F1  - Displays this help screen
  F2  - (Reserved)
  F3  - Exits the BLUESKY Planetarium program
  F4  - Shows the sky of the time and place as defined in this
        panel, using the 1,500 stars
        (See below for further help on the Show Sky screen)
  F5  - Same as F4, but using 3,200 stars
  F6  - Shows the major stars in a selected constellation
        along with their associated data.
  F7  - Sets the date and time from the current computer clock
  F8  - Sets the new default parameters of the program from
        the values defined in this panel
  F9  - Resets the parameters of this program to the default
        values set by F8 key
  F10 - Allows selection of the observing location from the
        pre-defined list

This is the Main Menu of the Big Blue Sky Planetarium program
(BLUESKY) that runs on the Video Graphics Array (VGA) display
of IBM Personal System/2 (available worldwide) and Personal
System/55 (available in Far East and U.S.), respectively.  The
date and time, the location and other parameters of your desired
astronomical observation are shown in this menu.

      (Basic input checks, such as the month between 1 and 12,
      are done in executing F4 or F5.  The Year must be between
      -3000 (3,000 B.C.) and 7000 (7,000 A.D.).  Errors will be
      indicated by messages in red color.)

  The Help Screen of the Show Sky Screen (F4 or F5 in the Main Menu)

Take your further actions by depressing the following keys:

  F1  - (Reserved)
  F2  - (Reserved)
  F3  - Exit the Show Sky Menu and return to the Main Menu
        (Also used to return to F6, from F8 and F9)
  F4  - (Reserved)
  F5  - (Reserved)
  F6  - Shows each constellation by connecting the major Greek
        alphabet stars with straight lines
  Shift-F6  - Shows the remaining constellations by one
        keyboard action
  F7  - Adds the right ascension lines and declination lines
        on the celestial sphere
  F8  - Allows Constellation Selection
  Cursor Up or Down  - After the F6 action is completed, allows selection
        of the constellation from the list shown in the left (and) margin(s)
        in the abbreviated Latin names
  F9  - Exhibits the zoomed-up configuration of the constellation
        selected by Cursor Up/Down keys.  The constellation names in
        the lower half of the zoomed-up window are given in Latin,
        English and Japanese, which can be changed to any other
        languages by editing the STAR.NAN file.
  F10 - (Reserved)

The Show Sky screen has shown the celestial equator and north/south poles
in red color; the ecliptic circle and ecliptic north/south poles in yellow
color; the Galactic center with a white cross; the sun, moon, and eight
planets in the shapes as shown in the lower right corner; and the stars in
the shapes according to their magnitudes of brightness from the database of
1,500 (F4 in the Main Menu) or 3,200 (F5 in the Main Menu).

              End of the Help of the Show Sky Screen


            The Big Blue Sky Planetarium - Version 1.2
            -------------------------------------------

            Copyright by Ichiroh Sasaki, Yokohama City, Japan
            May 29, 1990

            The following documentation by Yoshi Mikami,
                                         Fujisawa City, Japan


Welcome to the Big Blue Sky Planetarium!  Since time immemorial, we human
beings have been enamored with the stars in the nightly sky and watched with
awe the movements of the sun, the moon and the planets.  Those who carefully
observed under the clear sky and thought with reason have in time come to
understand the universe we live in.  Our generation, having the modern
computer equipment at home, can watch all these wonders of the universe on
our computer screen, rain, shine or typhoon!

The Big Blue Sky Planetarium was developed during my own study of C language
as a tool to demonstrate the high resolution graphics capability of IBM
Personal Systems.  It displays on IBM PS/2 or PS/55 computer the stars,
planets, sun and moon as viewed from any location of the world at
a specified time, in the northern, southern, eastern, western or zenithal
direction of the skies.  Some additional functions are also provided.

         The Table of Contents of This Documentation
         -------------------------------------------
         1. Operation
         2. Considerations for Your Own Language
         3. Undersatnding the Human History with BLUESKY
         4. The Sources of Data and Logics
         5. Future Enhancements
         6. About This Program


1. Operation

In order to effectively run the Big Blue Sky Planetarium program (BLUESKY),
you will need a more recent, high resolution IBM color display called Video
Graphics Array (VGA, 640 Vertical x 480 Horizontal dots in 16 colors) that
comes with:

     IBM Personal System/2 or Personal System/55
       (Almost all models have built-in VGA)
     with 80386 microprocessor 16MHz and 80387 math co-processor
       (or 80486 microprocessor)
     Hard disk space of 1.3M bytes

(When using the PS/55, available in Japan, under Japanese DOS J4.0, you can
input SWITCH.BAT command to get into PC-DOS 4.0, automatically activating
VGA.  On exiting the BLUESKY program, you can key in SWITCH command again to
return to Japanese DOS.)

A PS/2 or PS/55 will run this program without a 16MHz 80386 microprocessor,
or a math co-processor, or a harddisk, but only very slowly.  The high-end
personal systems, such as PS/2 Model 80 and 5570, may run this program at
a reasonable speed without an 80387; and the low-end personal systems, such
as PS/2 Model 25 or 30, may not run this program.  An IBM PC, XT, AT, 3270PC
or PC Convertible with the older color displays on CGA (Color Graphics
Adapter, 640H x 200V) or EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter, 640H x 350V) can
also be used to run the text portion of the program nicely, but not the main
graphics portion will.  The program will not work on IBM PC Junior, JX or
the MCGA (Multi-Color Graphics Adapter) display of PS/2 Models 25 and 30.

My friends intercepted BLUESKY, tested it on various machines in Tokyo and
other places, of which I merely report in the following table:

  Microp.  MHz PS/55 & PS/2 Mdls  DOS3.3  DOS4.0  Comments
  -------  --  -----------------  ------  ------  ----------------------
  80286    10  5530Z                OK      OK
               M50-286,M25-286      OK      OK
  80386SX  16  5530ZSX              OK      OK
               M55SX                OK      OK
  80386    16  5551S                OK      OK
               M70                  OK      OK
  80386    20  5551T,5571T          OK      OK
               M70                  OK      OK
  80386    25  5551V,5571           OK      OK

  80486    25  5551V                OK      OK    Upgrade Kit
               M80
  Various      PS/2                 OK (AIX 2.1)  DOS Merge
  RISC     20  RS/6000              OK (AIX 3.1)  PC Emulator/X-Window


Tests were done on all hardisk models with VGAs, with or without the 80287/
80387 math co-processors.  Some DOS 3.3 tests were done in PC-DOS 3.3
compatibility mode under OS/2 SE and EE 2.1.  BLUESKY also ran in PC-DOS 3.3
compatibility mode under AIX operating system, on PS/2 and RISC System/6000.

BLUESKY has been tested in Japan to run under PC-DOS 3.3, PC-DOS 4.0, PC-DOS
compatibility mode (PC-DOS 4.0) of PS/55 DOS J4.0, and in the DOS
compatibility mode (equivalent to PC-DOS 3.3) of OS/2 SE 1.1 and OS/2 EE
1.1.  Hardware tests were done on: 5530Z (80286/80287-10MHz), 5530Z-SX
(80386/80387-16MHz), 5550-S (80386/80387-16MHz), 5550/5570-T (80386/80387-
20MHz), 5550/5570-V (80386/80387-25MHz) and 5550-V with the 80486-25MHz
upgrade kit.  Our friends have reported to us that BLUESKY also runs in PC
(80286) Simulator mode on X-Window under AIX 3.1 on an IBM RS/6000
demonstartion machine very slowly, but agreeably, because other CAD/CAM
applications were running in the other three AIX windows!

To start the Planetarium program, make sure that at least 384K byte memory
can be used in the PC-DOS application area, and key in:

     BLUESKY

Then, the main Planetarium menu gets displayed, where you can set the year,
month, day, hour, minute and second of your observing time; the time
difference from the Greenwich Mean Time, the longitude and the lattitude of
your observing location; and the direction of the sky (north, south, east,
west or zenith) that you want to look at.

In this main Planetarium menu, you can depress: F4 key to show the sky using
the 3,200 star database, F5 key to show the 1,500 star database, F6 key to
show stars in a selected constellation, F7 key to set the current date and
time from the computer clock, F8 key to create the new default parameters,
F9 key to re-initialize the parameters by the original default values (F8),
and F10 key to list and select the pre-defined observing locations of the
world.  Basic parameter checks, such as the month between 1 and 12, are done
in this panel.

Pressing F10: Sellect Location key will get you to the Select Observing
Location menu, where you can select the observing location from the 50
cities of the world already supplied with their necessary information.
There are additional 50 entry spaces which you can fill with your favorite
cities by editing the BLUESKY.CTY file.  The format of this file is:

   Positions 1-30:  The location name
   Positions 33-38: The hours:minutes difference from the Greenich Mean Time
   Positions 40-46: The longitude (Use the minus sign or blank for the
                    eastern longitude; or the minus sign for the western
                    longitude) in degrees and minutes
   Positions 48-53: The latitude (Use the plus sign or blank for the
                    latitude north of the equator; or the minus sign
                    for the latitude south of the equator) in hours:minutes

Visit the local library to pick up a world atlas and find out the longitudes
and latitudes of your desired observing locations.  A time zone chart is
normally included in the world atlas, on a separate page.  Another source of
such information is the almanac published each year, such as The Information
Please Almanac (Houghton Mifflin, Boston) or The World Almanac & Book of
Facts (Pharos Books, New York).

When F4: or F5: Show Sky is selected, the program will show first the sky in
the desired direction (zenith, north, south, east or west) with a white
cross at the zenith against the Big Blue background, the celestial north (or
south) pole by a blue cross, the celestial equator (Ten no Sekidoh,
"Celestial Red Way," in Japanese) by a red dotted line, and the ecliptic
(Kohdoh, "Yellow Way"; the sun's path) by a yellow dotted line with the
ecliptic north/south poles with yellow crosses; and then the sun, the moon,
the planets and the stars at the selected time. About 3,200/1,500 stars, all
stars with the Greek alphabet names of the 88 Constellations, have been
selected from the 10,000 stars in the Yale Bright Stars Catalog.  Each star
gets displayed in a different shape, according to the magnitude of its
brightness.  The eight planets, the sun and the moon are also shown in the
recognizable shapes.  The celestial objects are shown, by design, up to 4
degrees below the horizon, in order to provide a wider view of the universe.
A beep sounds and an indication gets displayed, when the display of the
stars is completed.  (Without a math coprocessor, this F4: or F5: Show Sky
process will take a very long time.)  Note: The asteroids, comets, star
clusters,nebulae and meteor showers are not showed in BLUESKY.

At this point, you can further press:

 - F6: Lines key to show the configurations of the constellations
   that are displayed by straight line connections of the brightest stars,
   one by one, as you depress any key.  The abbreviated Latin
   constellation names are displayed on the left margin.  (If you are
   tired of keep pressing the keys, Shift-F6 key will get you the lines
   of all constellations at once.)  A beep sounds when all constellations
   get shown.

 - F7: Sphere key to show the declination (Sekii in Japanese) and right
   ascension (Sekkei) lines.  The DEC and RA, as astronomers call them,
   are used to locate the celestial objects on the star map or globe,
   just as the latitude and longitude are used on the Earth.  A beep
   sounds when finished.  (Without a math co-processor, this part also
   takes a very long time.)

 - F8: Constellation and F9: Zoom Up keys.  Now you can select
   a particular constellation on the left margin by cursor up/down keys
   and press F9 key to show the zoomed-up view of that constellation,
   with the major stars (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, etc.) in spectral
   colors.  The star names are shown in the Greek alphabet and English.
   The azimuth and altitude of the stars are also showed.  You can push
   F3 key to get back to the Planetarium screen.

 - F3: Exit key to get back to the previous menu.  Use F3 to move from F8
   mode to F7, etc.  ("See you again!" will get displayed when you exit
   the program with F3 key.)

When F6: Show Stars in Selected Constellation is chosen in the main menu,
the BLUESKY program will first show the list of 88 constelletions, from
which the user can select the desired constellation.  Hitting Enter key will
display the major stars and their associated data (the Greek alphabet name,
English name if any, Japanese name if any, visual magnitude of brightnes,
spectral class, right ascension, declination and altitude).  A yellow arrow
will point to the star in the constellation chart in the upper right corner
of the screen, as you select each star line by Cursor Up and Cursor Down
keys.  The color of each star in the constellation chart corresponds to
its "spectral class" inthe so-called Harvard classification which you can
learn about in any introductory astronomy text book ("Oh, Be A Fine Girl and
Kiss Me" etc.)

Not enough time has been spent on adding and correcting the names of the
stars.  So, if you are disatisfied with the current star names, please
re-edit them in the YALESTAR.NOV file:

   Positions 104-118: English star name
   Positions 125-139: Japanese star name

After filling out the names of the major stars such as Polaris and Vega, we
went through various astronomy books and textbooks published in Japan, U.S.
and United Kingdom to find the names of other stars.  We found out that they
had mostly Arabic names and that the "Arab learning," which was very
important to the scientists of the early Renaissance period in Europe,
continues to today in the names of stars.

We felt this process and the further transliteralization to Japanese
katakana quite unexciting and wrong, because we have since learned enough
about Chinese astronomy, Indian astronomy and Latin American astronomy with
their beautiful star names, and stopped working on adding the further names
of the stars.  Hopefully, someone from the nation, which was established in
dedication "to the proposition that all men are created equal," can propose
a more equitable distribution of the star names, away from the current
Arabic names.

At any point of time in the BLUESKY program, press F3 key to interrupt or
terminate the program.

Pressing PRNT key will get you printout of the text screens, such as the
Select Location screen, and the graphics screens, such as the Planetarium
screen.  For the graphics printout, make sure you have included DOS GRAPHICS
command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  In order to use IBM Graphics Printer
(5152) or Proprinter (4201) under DOS 4.0, for example, include GRAPHICS
GRAPHICS in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  (You can also type GRAPHICS GRAPHICS at
the DOS prompt if the GRAPHICS statement is not included in the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file.)

In some countries, the local time is advanced one hour during the summer
months, such as in the Day Light Savings Time in U.S. (April-October) and
Australia (November-March).  The BLUESKY program does not take this summer
time into account.

Note: The BLUESKY program generates two small work files (PLANETT.TMP and
PLANETT.WAK) in the default subdirectory or diskette that will be erased at
successful termination of the program.  An interuuption of the BLUESKY
program will leave these two files, which will not affect the subsequent
run of the BLUESKY program.


2. Considerations for Your Own Language

If you are a native speaker of Spanish or any other language, you can edit
the BLUESKY.NAN file to your own language, and can display the constellation
names in your own language under F8 Constellation and F9: Zoom Up functions.
The format of the BLUESKY.NAN file is:

   Positions 1-2:   The number (Do not change=DNC)
   Positions 4-6:   The abbreviation of Latin constellation names (DNC)
   Positions 9-13:  The constellation parameters (DNC)
   Positions 15-33: The Latin constellation names
   Positions 35-51: The English constellation names
   Positions 53-69: The Japanese constellation names
   Positions 71-94: The constellation parameters (DNC)

Both Latin and Japanese constellation names can be changed to your language.
Please do not change the other fields.

We have earlier discussed how to add and/or change the location names in the
BLUESKY.CTY file.  You must supply the hour differences, longitudes and
lattitudes of the added locations.  The help files, MAIN.HLP, LOC.HLP and
CONSTEL.HLP, can also be translated.

An multi-lingual ASTROML.DOC file is included in the BLUESKY package.  It
contains the Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish trans-
lations, now partially incomplete, of the constellation names, astronomical
terms and location names.  Use it if you find it useful.


3. Understanding the Human History with BLUESKY

There are a fair number of amateur astronomers now in Japan who study the
astronomical events of the human history from the modern scientific
viewpoint and believe they have established a branch of science called
"ko-tenmon-gaku" (paleo-astronomy) or "kohko-tenmon-gaku" (archaeo-
astronomy).  Let's take four of their examples, using BLUESKY.

When Pharao Khufu, known to the Greeks as King Cheops, died in 2877 B.C.,
he was buried in the Great Pyramid of Giza near Cairo that he had built
while he was still alive.  He was laid in the chamber from which he could
gaze at the immobile north star through a tunnel.  Question 1: Which north
star did he and his contemporaries recognize?  Set BLUESKY to the year -2877
and find it out.  (It was not Polaris, the North Star, as Alpha Ursae
Minoris, the brightest star of the constellation Little Dipper, is now
called, because the Earth is known to gradually change its north-south-pole
axis from year to year.)

Some astronomers, including Johannes Kepler, suggested that the several
extraordinary planetary positions which occured in the years 7 to 2 B.C
may have influenced the author(s) of the Gospel According to St. Mathew to
record the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem which led the "astrologers
from the east" to Bethlehem "till it stopped above the place where the child
lay."  (The New English Bible)  Question 2: When you set BlUESKY to mid-
February, 6 B.C., in Jerusalem, what do you observe in the western sky in
the early evening?

Every Japanese, young and old, or anybody who has studied the Japanese
history is familiar with the struggle of the Houses of Taira (or Heike) and
Minamoto (or Genji) during the twelfth century, together with the many
characters that appear in the Story of Heike, such as Kiyomori Taira, the
initial winner, Yoritomo Minamoto, the ultimate winner and founder of the
Kamakura Shogunate, and Yoshitsune Minamoto, Yoritomo's half brother who
gallantly fought many battles against the Taira.  According to the more
popular Records of the Rise and Fall of Genji and Heike (Genpei Seisui Ki),
on November 17, 1183, the Taira warriors enjoyed a rare victory in the sea
battle near Mizushima in the Inland Sea, aided by an astronomical phenomenon
that ocurred at the height of this battle, having seen the Genji warriors
"scatter in utter confusion, in the total darkness of night" that occurred
in the broad daylight.  Question 3: When you select Hiroshima (that's near
enough)in BLUESKY, what do you observe at 11:23am in the southern sky?

China's Sung Dynasty saw its grandeur during the reign of its fourth
emperor, Jentsung (Renzong in the Beijin spelling, 1020-1063).  According
to the Summary Records of the Things Past (Shihsuan Yaolan), the Old Man of
the South Pole came to Kaifeng, the capital city, one day and went from
tavern to tavern, drinking rice wine.  Canopus, the brightest star of the
constellation Keel of Argo, was known to the people of northern China by
this name because it was rarely seen there and was believed to bring
happiness to those people who saw it in the low southern sky, in a warm
orange color.  The poet-calligrapher-statesman Su Shi (Su Tungp'o) arranged
the Old Man to be brought to the Palace where he continued to drink a huge
amount of wine.  Emperor Jentsung was immensely pleased to see this apparent
good sign of happiness in his reign.

At that moment, the Court Astrologer hurriedly came to the Throne and
advised to the Emperor that the Old Man of the South Pole was seen visiting
the Imperial Seat Star (Alpha Herculis, the brightest star of the constel-
lation Hercules) in the evening.  The Emperor was even more pleased to hear
this, but, when he looked at the direction of the Old Man, the latter
vanished in a sudden flash of light and was seen no more.  Question 4: What
did the Court Astrologer see at that time?

     Answers to the Questions:

Answer to Question 1.  Alpha Draconis, the brightest star in the constel-
lation Dragon.  It is called by its ancient Egyptian name of Thuban
(Dragon).  As described in any textbook of introductory astronomy, the Earth
changes the direction of its north-south-pole axis in a 25,800 year cycle,
in a movement that astronomers call precession.  In 12,900 years, Vega or
Alpha Lyrae, the brightest star in the constellation Harp, will be known as
the north star.  (Did the people from the Southern Hemisphere, who have
complained about not having a proper "south star" now, find that Canopus or
Alpha Carinae, the second brightest star, will be the south star at that
time?)  BLUESKY is set to handle the years between 3000 B.C. and 7000 A.D.
An attempt to run it with the year -12900 or -25800 will end in a system
abort.  Note: Archaeo-astronomers actually have found a far more interesting
fact: the northern tunnel of the pyramid, a shaft, points to 3 degrees 25
minutes below the north pole, exactly toward Thuban, while at that time the
southern shaft points to the star cluster Hyades in the constellation Bull.

Answer to Question 2:  A triple clustering ("conjunction") of Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn.  Another planetary position that the paleo-astronomers cite, is
a very close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, on
June 17, 2 B.C.

Answer to Question 3:  A solar eclipse.  Paleo-astronomers agree that it was
an annular eclipse, where only 80 percent of the sun was hidden by the moon
at maximum, and therefore believe that the author(s) of the Record
exagerated the situation by calling it as a "total darkness."  The Heike
worriors were more educated from their days at the Court than their Genji
counterparts from the babarian east who apparently could not psychologically
deal with this bad omen from the heavenly sky.

Answer to Question 4: Paleo-astronomers don't know of a good answer.
Perhapse a nova, a super nova or a comet.  BLUESKY now handles the planets
and fixed stars only, and does not include other database.  The constel-
lation Hercules is not in the Zodiac where the planets roam.  The Summary
Records is vague about when this incedent happened.  And, of course, as the
historians point out, there always is a possibility that the storyteller
exagerated what had actually happened, motivated by his desire to add
credibility to Emperor Jentsung's grandeur or to the famous calligraphy of
the Old Man of the South Pole, that Su Shi is said to have drawn, which
existstoday.

Some people have speculated that BLUESKY set at 4:00 am, July 5,1054, shows
the constellation Taurus, the crescent moon, and the American Indian
pictogram of the bursting of the super nova that later became the Crab
Nebula or M1, as described in Robert Burnham, Jr's Celestial Handbook,
Volume III (Dover Publications, N.Y., 1978), p. 1848 (or see its Japanese
edition "Hoshi Hyakka Daijiten" from Chijin Shokan, Tokyo, 1984, p. 296).
This theory, however, does not explain its relationship to the Imperial Seat
Star in the constellation Hercules.


4. The Sources of Data and Logics

Publicly available information has been used in this program, such as:

 - The Yale Catalog of Bright Stars (equinox J2000.0) Revision 3, which
   was made to a public domain database on 9 inch tape under the funding
   from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S.A.,
   in 1981.

 - The movements of the sun, moon and eight planets, are based on the
   method that was established by Maritime Safety Agency (Kaijoh Hoan Choh),
   Tokyo, since 1980.  MSA plays in Japan the role equivalent to U.S. Coast
   Guard in U.S., and its Hydrographic Division (Suiro Bu) provides the
   world's best oceanic charts and, to our interest, independently publishes
   each year the positional tables of the celestial objects (Tentai Ichi
   Hyoh, known in English as the Japanese Ephemeris), whose U.S. equivalent
   is the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac published by U.S. Naval
   Observatory.

The calculation logics used were as follows:

 - The apparent place (shi-ichi in Japanese) of each star is calculated
   after five adjustments on the star chart position: the proper motion
   (koyuh-undoh), precession (saisa-undoh), mutation (shohdoh), annual
   parallax (nenshuh-shisa) and annual aberration (nenshuh-kohkohsa).
   This apparent place is then adjusted by the diurnal aberration
   (nisshu-kohkohsa) and the effect of refraction (taikisa) which is now
   fixed at the atmospheric pressure of 1013 millibar and the temperature
   of 10 derees Celsius.  The polar motion (kyoku-undoh) is not taken into
   account due to lack of proper equation.

 - The sidereal time (kohseiji) is set at the apparent sidereal time (shi-
   kohseiji) which is calculated as the mean sidereal time (heikin kohseiji)
   plus the equation of equinoxes (buntensa).

The Blue Sky Planetarium program does all these detailed calculations,taking
too much time on the low-end personal systems, but offers the most accuarate
positions of the celestial objects.

The main reference books used are:

 - Koh Nagasawa, Tentai no Ichi Keisan (Positional Calculations of the
   Celestial Objects), Chijin Shokan, Tokyo, 1987, 250 pp.
 - Ichiroh Hasegawa, Tenmon Keisan Nyuhmon (Introduction to Astronomical
   Calculations), Kohseisha Kohseikaku, Tokyo, 1986, 303 pp.
 - Kuniji Saitoh, Ko-tenmongaku (Paleo-Astronomy), Kohseisha Kohseikaku,
   Tokyo, 1989, 215 pp.
 - Hydrographic Div. of MSA, Tentai Ichi Hyoh (Japanese Ephemeris), Nihon
   Suiro Kyohkai, 1989, 508 pp.
 - R.J. Jastrow and M.H. Thompson, Astronomy: Fundamentals and Frontiers,
   Third Edition, John Wiley & Sons (Japanese translation by Fumitaka
   Satoh and Shinji Narita, Tenmongaku, Kyohritsu Shuppan, Tokyo, 1978)
 - Japan Astronomical Association (Ed.), Seizu Seihyoh Meguri (A Guide-
   book of Star Charts and Astronomical Tables), Seibundoh Shinkoh Sha,
   1989, 142 pp.
 - Editing Committee, Tenmon Nenkan 1990 (Astronomical Yearbook 1990),
   Seibundoh Shinkoh Sha, Tokyo, 1989, 186 pp.
 - Editing Committee, Tenmon Kansoku Nenpyoh 1990 (1990 Astronomical
   Observation Handbook), Chijin Shokan, Tokyo, 1989, 222 pp.


5. Future Enhancements

The BLUESKY users who are patient enough to read this help screen thus far
are rewarded with the existence of two hidden functions in this release:

     Shift-F4: Show Planetary Movements
       Shows the planetary movements along the ecliptic, the path of the sun.
       Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune are included.

     Ctrl-F4: View Comets and Their Positions
       Viewing the recent comets and their positions.  Select a particular
       comet to get its positional parameters every five days.

They will be in the future release included in the Main Menu.

The Blue Sky Planetarium program will in the future be enhanced to support:

   - Major star clusters and nebulae

   - User interface in compliance with the System Application Architecture
     (SAA)

   - Dynamic movement of the celestial objects in the star chart every ten
       minutes, using 500 stars

   - PS/55 display under Japanese DOS and PS/2's 5814 BGA (both use
     1024H x 768V)

   - Easier and better printout

   - Separation of the messages from the program, for easier translation

   - Operating System/2


6. About This Program

The Blue Sky Planetarium program is made available to you, as it is, without
any warranty or guarantee.  It is the user's responsibility to decide if it
can be used to your own benefit.  It is also the user's reponsibility to
obtain a working copy of this program, so that you are free from any harmful
components that may enter into the Blue Sky Planetarium package during the
re-distribution process.

A brief history of the BLUESKY program is:

  Version 1.00 (12/22/89): After two years of research and experiment, all
  available functions including the "hidden functions" have been packaged
  and sent together with the documentation for a preview with a very
  limited number of people in Tokyo, Houston and Madrid, in time for the
  holiday season in U.S. and Europe.  An outstanding success.

  Version 1.01 (12/29/89): An initial public release, excluding the "hidden
  functions," became available in Japan, U.S., Europe and Oceania in time
  for the holiday season of January 1 in Japan and the rest of the world.

  Version 1.2 (05/25/90): A major revision including the F6: Show Stars in
  Selected Constellation.  Other added functions are: proper handling of the
  locations with non-round hour time differences, choosing 3200 vs. 1500
  stars in the database, and some SAA user interface considerations (F3:
  Exit, F7: Previous Page, F8: Next Page, etc.).  Released shortly before
  the June-July rainy season in Japan.

The best of the astronomical research efforts in U.S., Japan and Europe have
been used in the BLUESKY program: the Yale Star Chart from U.S., and the
calculation method of the sun, moon and planets from Japan, both of which
use as the base the worldwide agreement made in the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) conference in Grenoble, Europe, in 1976, regarding
the use of Year 2000 and others.  In spite of all the technological and
economic competitions which go on in the day-to-day life in this earthly
world, we can look at any joint human effort such as the BLUESKY program and
agree that, to the universe, we the people of the world are united as one
entity and that we will continue to learn together, live together and work
together now and toward the twenty-first century.

                     End of the Help Screen