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- Moons of Jupiter Orbital Clock
-
- ── Version 1.00 ──
-
-
- Most of us are familiar with the path and phases of Earth's only
- satellite - the moon. Orbiting the Earth every 27 days or so, the
- moon controls the tides of our oceans, provides illumination at night,
- and also gives us an excellent object to observe in our telescopes,
- binoculars, or just the naked eye.
-
- Imagine what it might be like if the Earth had four satellites of
- different sizes, different orbital periods, different topographical
- and geographical features, all having an effect on the tides and
- eclipsing each other and the sun. Quite a scenario, wouldn't you
- think? That's what it would be like if you lived on the planet
- Jupiter. Although the moons of Jupiter are tiny in comparison to the
- size of the planet itself, they are so varied in features and
- properties that they are the most unique satellites in our solar
- system.
-
- While Jupiter is on the average more than 2000 times farther away
- from us than our moon is, we can still marvel at the four largest
- satellites circling this vast gas giant of a planet. In a telescope
- and even in a pair of strong binoculars, the movements of these moons
- can be observed. Below are the names and some interesting data about
- each of Jupiter's four largest moons.
-
-
- Average Distance Time to Orbit Diameter
- Name from planet (km) planet (km)
- ──────── ──────────────── ───────────── ────────
-
- Io 422,000 1d 18h 28m 3630
-
- Europa 671,000 3d 13h 14m 3138
-
- Ganymede 1,070,000 7d 3h 43m 5262
-
- Callisto 1,883,000 16d 16h 32m 4800
-
-
- And just for comparison, here's the same data for our moon.
-
-
- Moon 384,400 27d 7h 43m 3476
-
-
- All this data for the moons of Jupiter add up to a never ending
- panorama of circling objects. From our viewpoint here on Earth,
- however, we can really see only one dimension of these movements,
- motion that occurs from side to side. That is the purpose of this
- program. To show the relative position of each of the moons in
- relation to Jupiter itself at a given date and time.
-
- To start the program, type the word "JMOONS" in at your DOS
- prompt and press the enter key. After a brief blurb, the first screen
- to appear is where you respond to four inquiries so the program will
- know what you would liked displayed.
-
-
-
-
- DATE, TIME, AND TIME ZONE
-
-
- Here's what the program needs to know:
-
- 1) DATE - The moons will appear in their positions as they
- were/are/will be on the date you type in. The format
- required is MM-DD-YYYY. No dates earlier than January 1,
- 1801 (01-01-1801) will be accepted, nor will any dates
- later than December 31, 2200 (12-31-2200). These aren't
- just arbitrary dates, but a range where the program operates
- fairly efficiently. Dates outside this range produced
- unpredictable results. A quick shortcut around having to
- type in the current date all the time is to just press the
- "ENTER" key. This will retrieve the DOS date from your
- computer. You entered the DOS date when you turned on your
- computer or the DOS date may have been set by your
- computer's internal clock.
-
- 2) TIME - The moons will appear in their positions as they
- were/are/will be at the time you enter. The required format
- for this prompt is HH:MM:SS in military style. That's the
- same as 24-hour format. For example, if the regular time is
- 08:36:15 PM, the corresponding 24-hour format would be
- 20:36:15. If you just press the "ENTER" key, the time will
- be retrieved from DOS. Again, either you set the time
- yourself or your computer's internal clock did it for you.
- By the way, don't worry about resetting the date and time
- before you exit the program, the program does not affect the
- computer's internal date and time. (A few seconds may be
- lost internally while the program is run - a result of doing
- intensive graphics.)
-
- 3) ZONE - This is a value between -12 and +15 indicating the
- number of hours before or after Universal Coordinated Time.
- Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC for short, is the time at
- the zero meridian which crosses the Eastern portion of
- Europe and Africa. This imaginary line passes through
- Greenwich, England, therefore UTC is also known as Greenwich
- Mean Time (GMT). The continental United States covers four
- different zones that are offset from UTC by -5,-6,-7, and -8
- hours when in Standard time and -4,-5,-6, and -7 hours when
- in Daylight Saving Time. These four zones are Eastern,
- Central, Mountain, and Pacific respectively. A table is
- shown at the bottom of the input screen that includes all
- the time zones in North America, Alaska, Hawaii, Australia,
- and a few other locations around the world.
-
- 4) NAME - This field is for descriptive purposes only. Whatever
- 3-letter abbreviation you enter here will be shown on the
- Orbital Clock display. The zone table lists the time zone
- abbreviations for the continental U.S. You may just press
- enter at this prompt if you do not wish to have the
- abbreviation appear or don't know what the abbreviation is.
-
- Now on to the Orbital Clock!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- THE ORBITAL CLOCK
-
-
- The large rectangular box that appears at the top of your screen
- is the window looking into the Jovian system. South is at the top of
- the display, matching a view through a telescope. The large circular
- object in the center is the planet Jupiter, and the four smaller
- objects are the four Galilean satellites. (These are not shown to
- scale in relation to Jupiter.) Just what order the satellites appear
- in from left to right depends on the date and time. Speaking of the
- date and time, they appear at the upper right above the Orbital
- Clock. The satellites are color-coded throughout the program for easy
- identification. Io will appear in red, Europa in blue, Ganymede in
- green, and Callisto in magenta (purple).
-
- You may look in your telescope and see a satellite that is close
- to Jupiter and a little above or below the center of Jupiter. This
- means that all the satellites' orbits are not in line with a head-on
- view from Earth, but inclined up or declined down a bit. The Orbital
- Clock on your screen does not take that into consideration. It shows
- a direct head-on view all the time. Also, the moons may eclipse
- Jupiter and each other so one object may be hidden by another. The
- Orbital Clock will show the satellites at all times whether they are
- behind Jupiter or in front of it. (See the 3- or 15-Day Orbital Graph
- below.) If, however, a satellite passes in front of another satellite,
- the Orbital Clock may show the hidden one and not the real one that is
- in front. (See the Bi-Dimensional display below.)
-
- The table of values in the left center of your screen are the
- apparent distance of each moon from the center of Jupiter and the
- percentage of each moon's maximum apparent distance. The first column
- shows in kilometers how far away the satellite appears to be from the
- center of Jupiter. Of course, each moon is really a fixed distance
- away from Jupiter with only minor variations, but since the Orbital
- Clock shows a head-on view, and the view through a telescope is
- similar, it seems like the different satellites get nearer or farther
- away from Jupiter. The second column of numbers represent the
- percentage of the maximum apparent distance a particular moon can be
- from Jupiter. This is handy if you wish to know exactly when a
- satellite is passing directly in front of or behind Jupiter (the
- percentage will be 0.0000), or when a satellite is at it's maximum
- apparent distance from the planet (100.0000 %). The negative and
- positive values just show which side of the display the object
- appears, negative for the left side and positive for the right side.
-
- Both the Orbital Clock and table of values will be automatically
- updated at the beginning of every minute as shown in the time display.
-
-
-
- ORBITAL GRAPHS
-
-
- When you press the "5" key on your keyboard, the 15-Day Orbital
- Graph is created at the lower right hand portion of your screen. The
- reason it isn't displayed for you automatically is that on some
- computers it may take several seconds to complete. So, it will only
- appear if you request it.
-
-
-
-
- On this graph are 15 days, seven before and seven after the date
- you specified on the Date, Time, and Zone screen. A line will appear
- within this date that corresponds to the time of day you specified.
- In the middle of the graph, running from top to bottom is a thick line
- that represents the diameter of Jupiter. Swirling around this central
- line are four graphs or sine waves. These represent the apparent
- distance of the four moons from Jupiter. Again, South is at the top,
- matching the view in a telescope.
-
- The one wave that completes a period (starting at one point on
- the sine wave and continuing down to the same relative point) of a
- little more than a day and a half and never gets too far away from
- Jupiter belongs to Io. (Appearing in the color red.) The next sine
- wave that completes a period in about 3 and a half days is Europa's.
- (In blue.) The third is Ganymede's with a period of about 7 days
- (green), and the last is Callisto's (magenta) whose period is
- approximately 16.75 days and therefore one full period cannot be shown
- on this graph. You may notice that on the graph the sine waves may
- disappear while about to pass over the center Jupiter line. This
- indicates that the moon, from our view point on Earth, is passing
- behind Jupiter. The very next time that same wave crosses Jupiter, it
- will be visible and indicates that the moon is passing in front of
- Jupiter.
-
- An alternative to the 15-Day Graph is the 3-Day graph. This
- option follows the same description above, but is displayed by
- pressing the "3" key on your computer keyboard.
-
- These graphs are useful for determining when all four moons will
- be to the right or left of Jupiter, or when a particular moon is
- eclipsing Jupiter or another moon, or the rare (maybe impossible) time
- when all four satellites are either directly in front of or behind
- Jupiter.
-
-
-
- BI-DIMENSIONAL ORBITAL DISPLAY
-
-
- Another feature that helps to determine whether a satellite is in
- front of or behind Jupiter is the Bi-Dimensional Orbital Display.
- This display shows a view of Jupiter and it's moons from an angle
- slightly above the head-on view that the Orbital Clock displays. As
- with the Orbital Clock and Graphs, South is at the top. Jupiter is in
- the middle of this window. Satellites that are passing in front of
- Jupiter appear in the lower half of this window, and those passing
- behind Jupiter appear in the upper half. The moons in this window are
- not shown to scale in relation to the size of Jupiter. If they were
- shown to scale, you probably wouldn't be able to see them on this
- small display. The four rings around Jupiter are there just to show
- the paths of the four satellites. Again, the moons are color-coded in
- the same scheme as above.
-
- This display is also updated at the beginning of every minute as
- shown in the time display in the upper right corner of the screen.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Quick Reference to active keys
-
-
- The following keys may be pressed while the Orbital Clock is
- displayed:
-
- "3" = 3 Day Orbital Graph.
-
- "4" = Allows changes in Date, Time, and Time Zone.
-
- "5" = 15 Day Orbital Graph.
-
- "9" = Exits the program and returns you to DOS.
-
-
- Computer Requirements and Notes
-
-
- The Moons of Jupiter Orbital Clock is designed to run on MS-DOS
- compatible machines. Memory should not be a problem, but 256K or more
- seems like a good idea. A CPU that runs at 8 MHz or faster (80286 or
- 80386) is a good idea also, otherwise some of the displays may take
- considerable amount of time to complete. An EGA card and monitor is
- required for this program.
-
-
- The Moons of Jupiter Orbital Clock program is great for rainy
- days, or cloudy nights. Sometimes your favorite observing time
- doesn't coincide with the time Jupiter is in the night sky. Below is
- a general list of when Jupiter is in the sky through 1989.
-
- Key: r = Jupiter rises in the East during twilight.
- R = Jupiter rises in the East after twilight.
- t = Jupiter transits during twilight.
- T = Jupiter transits after twilight.
- s = Jupiter sets in the West during twilight.
- S = Jupiter sets in the West after twilight.
-
-
- 1988 - JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
-
- S S S s r R R R Rt RT rTs TS
-
- Opposition: November 22, 1988
-
- 1989 - JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
-
- tS S S S s r r R R Rt RT rT
-
- Opposition: December 27, 1989
-
-
- A monthly astronomy magazine will be more specific about the
- dates Jupiter rises, transits, and sets, and usually has a chart
- indicating the positions of Jupiter's satellites at a certain time
- every day. These types of publications greatly enhance your knowledge
- of astronomy, and this program can keep you up to date on the moons of
- Jupiter, but don't forget to check out the real thing in your
- telescope!
-
-
-
-
- Moons of Jupiter Orbital Clock
-
-
- by: Andrew Jones
-
-
-
- JMOONS is written in BASIC and compiled using
- Microsoft's QuickBASIC 2.0
-
- JMOONS.EXE and JMOONS.DOC are hereby declared
- public domain and may be freely copied and
- distributed. Comments and inquiries may be
- sent to me through the Starport Information
- Service or to Compuserve ID number 73767,557
- or to:
-
-
- Andrew Jones
- Eagle Rock Village 4-6B
- Budd Lake, NJ 07828
-
-
-
- Bibliography
-
-
- Menzel, Donald H. and Pasachoff, Jay M. 1983. A Field Guide to
- the Stars and Planets. Second Edition, Revised. Boston:
- Houghton Mifflin Company.
-
- Sennitt, Andrew G. 1988. World Radio TV Handbook. 1988 Edition.
- Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Billboard A. G.
-
- Rugg, Tom and Feldman, Phil. 1981. TRS-80 Color Computer
- Programs. Radio Shack Book # 62-2313.
-
- U. S. Naval Observatory. 1987. Astronomical Almanac.
-