This is a shareware product. Feel free to experiment with it and find whether it is of interest to you. Freely distribute as many copies of this product to friends and associates as you wish. The only restriction on copying is that you include all the files, without modification, that were originally included in your copy of this software (including this file).
If you use this product on a regular basis, or use it for educational purposes, I ask you to please register your copies with the author. The registration fee of $15 (including all taxes) per copy 'in use' supports the development of this product and subsequent versions. Through the registration process the author can determine your needs and include them in subsequent releases of MyStars! 'In use' refers to each copy of this software in your use. Generally this means 1 copy, but for educational or lan environments it refers to the maximum number of copies generally in use by different users at your institution.
When you register this product, you will receive, through the mail, a registration number. When entered into the program, this will immediately enable the setting of dates from 1000BC to 3000AD on your copy. It will also guarantee you an automatic upgrade to the next version of MyStars! with the moon enabled, to be sent to you by mail. Other enhancements planned for the next main release include zooming capability and faster calculations. Enhancements will be developed on a per request priority. If you have requests, send them along with your registration fee.
To register, send $15 (U.S. or Canadian) with your name, postal address and current version number of MyStars! to:
David Patte
Relative Data Products
365 Sherwood Drive,
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada
K1Y 3X3
10 percent of all registration fees will be donated to a registered charitable Nature Conservancy Organization dedicated to the promotion and maintanance of green spaces and wildlife on this planet.
DISCLAIMER:
THIS SOFTWARE IS SUPPLIED WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND THE AUTHOR IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT LOSS ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
This software has been extensively tested for bugs. If any bugs are found the author would be more than pleased to hear of them so that they may be removed from subsequent releases.
2.0 WHAT THIS PROGRAM DOES:
MyStars! is a windows program that shows the position of stars, the sun and the planets as they would be seen from any position on earth. It also allows you to vary the time of view (what did the stars look like the day that I was born?). Various options allow you to view the planet names, constellation names, and several celestial coordinate grids as well.
An animation option allows you view a series of views separated by fixed intervals of time.
3.0 INSTALLATION
To install MyStars! simply copy all the files included with this package to any directory on your hard disk. A new sub-directory under your main windows directory is recommended. Then from the windows program manager, select File New. Select Program Item, then browse and select the the file mystars.exe that you have copied. Pressing OK will add the remaining information to allow you to run the program.
| If you are replacing an old version of MyStars, remove the old MyStars files from you directory before copying in the new files.
4.0 STARTUP:
Double-click on the icon for MyStars!. When MyStars! is started, ∞f the product is not yet registered, a dialog box appears displaying registration information. If you have been sent a registration number press the Register button, enter your registration number and press OK, otherwise press the Continue unregistered button. Once the copy is registered, this dialog box will not appear at startup.
Then the View From dialog box appears. Enter the location from which you wish to view the stars, then press OK. Pressing cancel will use the default location 45N, 75W (Upstate N.Y.).
Then the View At Dialog box appears. To use the current system time and date, simply press cancel. This will show you the sky as it appears now. Otherwise adjust the date and time to specify your requested view.
A rotating earth appears to indicate that calculations are being performed. When the rotation stops, the sky is displayed. You can modify the options and view at any time (even during the calculation process) by using the pull down menus.
5.0 COMMANDS:
OBJECTS: This allows you to select which astronomical objects will be computed and displayed. As objects are selected a check mark is placed beside the object type in the menu. Reducing the number of selected objects will reduce the time required to complete computations.
Objects Stars: Compute and display the stars.
Objects Planets / Sun: Compute and display the planets and sun.
Objects Moon: Disabled in this shareware product. To get a copy with the moon enabled, please read the registration information above.
VIEW: This allows you to select which view is required.
View From Location: Selecting this from the menu will pop up a dialog box allowing you to select the position on earth from where you want to view the sky. You can select one of the cities from the list provided, or select a any latitude or longitude. Note that Latitudes and Longitudes may be entered in degrees and minutes (ie: 45 30 N), or as decimal degrees (ie: 45.5 N). Convenience scrollers are provided to increase and decrease the angles by five degrees. Three special convenience options can also be selected; North Pole, South Pole, and Greenwich Meridian.
View At Date/Time: Selecting this from the menu will pop up a dialog box allowing you to select the date and time when the view of the sky is wanted.
The date is specified as year/month/day and convenience buttons are provided to move the date ahead or back one day. The time is specified as hour:minute:second in 24 hour format (midnight is 0:00:00) and convience buttons are provided to move the time ahead or back one hour. You can also choose whether the displayed time is Local time, or Greenwich Mean time. When Local time is selected, you can specify whether Daylight Savings Time or Standard Time is selected.
View Towards Direction: Selecting this from the menu will pop up a dialog box allowing you to specify the view azimuth and altitude. The azimuth is the direction (North, South, East, West) you are facing. The projection is type of view required, either Horizontal (looking towards the horizon), or Zenithal (looking straight up).
Changing the projection will change the look of the display. The horizontal view shows what you would see in front of you. The horizon is a straight horizontal line, and the top of the curve is the line that would be drawn from the horizon at your far left, over your head, and down to the horizon point at your far right. Objects behind you are not visible in this projection.
The zenital view is what you would see if you lay down on the ground looking straight up. The horizon is now a circle, and the point straight up is in the centre of that circle. You can imagine that your feet are pointing in the direction of the chosen azimuth.
View Upto Brightness: Selecting this from the menu will pop up a dialog box allowing you to specify the magnitude and relative brightness of stars to be shown. Reducing the magnitude will reduce THE NUMBER of stars to be computed and shown. This will also reduce the amount of time required to perform calculations. The percentage brightness acts as a general brightness control for the current stars being displayed. Use the brightness control if the displayed stars are not bright enough for you display. Brightness has no effect on computation time. Neither of these controls have any effect if the Objects Stars selection is not enabled.
OPTIONS: This pulldown allows you to enable and disable various symbols and lines on the display. Adding options to the display may slow down some calculations.
Options Planet Names: This enables labels to be displayed for the planets and the sun. These will be displayed above the planet/sun if the object is enabled and visible in the current view. If two planets are close to each other in the display, the names may overlap each other.
Options Constellation Names: This enables labels to be displayed for the displayed star constellations. These names will be displayed centred within the currently displayed stars of each constellation. If no stars of a particular constellation are displayed, the constellation name will not be displayed.
Options Constellation Codes: Since the constellation names can easily clutter the display, this option enables the abbreviated constellation code name to be displayed instead of the full constellation name. As above, if no stars of a particular constellation are displayed, the constellation code will not be displayed.
Option Altitude Lines: This will draw altitude lines at 15 degree intervals parallel to the horizon. Altitude indicates the angle above the horizon.
Option Azimuth Lines: This will draw azimuth lines at 15 degree intervals perpendicular to the horizon. Azimuth lines indicate the compass directions (ie: North, South, East, West).
Option Declination Lines: This will draw declination lines at 30 degree intervals from the celestial equator. Declination lines are the projection of the terrestrial latitude lines and hense at 30 degree intervals correspond to 60 degrees south, 30 degrees south, the equator, 30 degrees north and 60 degrees north.
Options Right Ascension Lines: This will draw right ascension lines at 30 degree (2 ArcHour) intervals perpendicular to the celestial equator. Right ascension lines are similiar to the projection of terrestrial longitude lines, except that the start point, right ascension 0, is generally a fixed position in the stars and corresponds to the position of the sun on the first day of spring.
Options Ecliptic Line: This will draw the ecliptic. This corresponds to the path of the orbit of the sun during the year.
Options Celestial Longitude Lines: This will draw celestial longitude lines at 45 degree (3 ArcHour) intervals, and hense correspnds to the position of the sun on the first day of spring - equinox (0 degrees), mid-spring(45), first day of summer - solstice (90), mid-summer(135), first day of autumn - equinox(180), mid-autumn(225), first day of winter - solstice (270) and mid-winter(315). Note that the ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect at celestial longitudes 0 and 180. These points are called the vernal(spring) equinox and the autumnal(fall) equinox.
ANIMATE: Selecting this option will pop up a dialog box which allows you to set an automatic recalculation interval. During Animation mode, the specified time inverval is added to the view-at time, calculations are redone, and the dispaly is refreshed. This repeats until Animation mode is stopped. Note: During animation mode, other options and commands ARE STILL permitted. This allows you, for example, to change the View-Towards-Azimuth or View-From-Location, or disable the Object-Stars display without stopping the animation process. It is even possible to reset the View-At-Time if necessary.
By Hour. Auto recalculate for each hour.
By Sidereal Day. Auto calculate for each sidereal day. A sidereal day is the time it takes for the earth to do one rotation relative to the position of the stars. This is slightly less than one civil day. If this option is selected, the stars will not seem to move. It is most useful in viewing the relative motion of the sun compared to the background of stars.
By Civil Day. Auto calculate for each civil day. A civil day is 24 hours, and is the mean time it takes for the earth to do one rotation relative to the sun. This option is most useful for viewing the daily movement of stars and planets.
Stop Animation. Select this when you wish to stop the auto-recalculation mode.
6.0 Update Log
Version 1.0a
- Optimized sidereal animation in order to reduce calculations.
- Modified coprocessor and 486 checking to use winflgs
Version 1.0b
- Fixed calculation bug which caused segmentation errors for machines with coprocessors, and removed 486 check from winflgs check.
