MyStars! Version 1.1a 1.0 GENERAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION 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 $20 (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 and will allow the moon to be visible. It will also guarantee you an automatic upgrade to the next version of MyStars! to be sent to you by mail when it becomes available. Enhancements planned for the next main release include star names, NGC objects, M-objects, and object tracking. Enhancements will be developed on a per request priority. If you have requests, send them at any time. To register, send $20 (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 the Nature Conservancy of Canada, a registered charitable conservancy organization dedicated to the promotion and maintanance of green spaces and wildlife. Note to Overseas users: Please do not send personal cheques unless they are drawn on an American or Canadian bank. Postal money orders are more effective and preferred. 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 generates 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 is recommended. Then start the Windows setup program and chose "setup specified application" from the menus specifying the file mystars.exe that you have just copied. (1.0c) If you are upgrading from an older version of MyStars!, make sure the new files must be placed in a new sub-directory. Also, you cannot run two different version of this program at the same time. 4.0 STARTUP: Double-click on the icon for MyStars! When MyStars! is started, ìf 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 in the box 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 (1.0c) the last default location or 45N, 75W (Upstate N.Y.). Then the View At Dialog box appears. To use the current system time and date, simply press OK. 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: 5.1 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. 5.2 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, select any latitude or longitude, or (1.1) you can click on the map of the earth. 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. Four special convenience options can also be selected; North Pole, Equator, 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 convenience 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. (1.1) To reset the time to that of the current system clock press Reset/Now. - View Towards: This leads to selection by either Altitude and Azimuth or by Right Ascension & Declination. The specified direction/position is then placed in the centre of the display, and a checkbox remains in the pulldown menu to indicate the method last chosen. (1.1) See mouse selection described below for a shortcut method of selection of view. - View Towards Altitude & Azimuth: Selecting this from the menu will pop up a dialog box allowing you to specify the view altitude and azimuth. (1.1) The altitude is the number of degrees up or down from the horizon you are looking, Either Horizontal (looking towards the horizon), or Zenithal (looking straight up), or (1.1) Nadiral (looking straight down), or (1.1) any variation in between. Convenience scrollers allow the altitude to be modified in 5 degree increments. The azimuth is the direction (North, South, East, West) you wish to face. Convience scrollers allow the azimuth to modified in 5 degree increments. Changing the view 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. The zenital view is what you would see if you lay down on the ground looking straight up. The horizon is now a circle around you, 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. (1.1) Inversely, the Nadiral view is what you see facing straight DOWN towards the ground (if you could see through the earth). The earth is in front of you and the stars are around the horizon. - View Towards Right Ascension & Declination (1.1): Selecting this from the menu will pop up a dialog box allowing you to specify the right ascension & declination to look at. Celestial positions are specified in right ascension & declination. Declination corresponds to terrestrial latitude lines in that the declination straight up from latitude 60 is declination 60. Convenience buttons are provided to set the view towards the North Celestial pole (Dec 90), the celestial equator (Dec 0), or the South Celestial pole (Dec -90), and convenience scrollers allow the declination to be adjusted in 5 degree increments. Right ascension corresponds to terrestrial longitude, except that because the earth rotates, the right ascension straight up from any longitude on earth is constantly increasing as we move under the stars at that right ascension. Right ascension 0, is a fixed position in the stars and corresponds to the position of the sun on the first day of spring, the vernal equinox. Note that it is standard to indicate the right ascension position in 'hours' as opposed to degrees. Convenience buttons are provided to set the view towards the vernal equinox (RTA 0h), the summer solstice (RTA 6h), the autumnal equinox (RTA 12h), or the winter solstice (RTA 18h). Convenience scrollers are provided to adjust the right ascension in 0h20m (5 degree) increments. If this option is chosen your view altitude and azimuth will be modified in order to face the specified stellar coordinate. That coordinate position will be maintained even if you change your viewing time or location, meaning that the same stars will remain in the center of the display. - 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 your monitor. Brightness has no effect on computation time. Neither of these controls have any effect if the Objects Stars selection is not enabled. - Above Horizon Only (1.1): This option limits the view to only those objects above the viewers horizon. Normally this option is on, and the earth, in green, prevents viewing objects below the horizon. When disabled, the earth disappears and objects below the horizon become visible. - Ahead Only (1.1): This option limits the view to only those objects in the field of view ahead (in front of) the viewer. When disabled, the view is allowed to wrap around and fill the display area. - Zoom In / Zoom Out (1.1): These options will allow you to zoom into the stars at the center of the display. Note that zooming in will also automatically increase the displayed magnitude of visible stars by 0.5. The caption line will indicate the current scaling factor. 5.3 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 Object Names (1.0c): This enables labels to be displayed for the planets, the sun and the moon. These will be displayed near the object if the object is enabled and visible in the current view. If two objects 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 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. (1.1) The Zenith (Z) and Nadir (N) are shown as well (in blue) if visible. - 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 Compass (1.1): This will draw the compass coordinates (the azimuths) at the horizon (N/S/E/W). - Option Declination Lines (with Equator) (1.0c): This will draw declination lines at 30 degree intervals from the celestial equator. The Celestial Equator is shown with a dashed line. The declination lines at 30 degree intervals correspond to 60 degrees south, 30 degrees south, the equator, 30 degrees north and 60 degrees north. (1.1) The north (N) and south (S) celestial poles are shown as well (in cyan). - Options Right Ascension Lines: This will draw right ascension lines at 30 degree (2 ArcHour) intervals perpendicular to the celestial equator. The Equinoxes are shown using a dashed line. - Options Ecliptic Line: This will draw the ecliptic. This corresponds to the path of the orbit of the sun during the year and it crosses the celestial equator at the vernal(spring) equinox and the autumnal(fall) equinox. - Options Celestial Longitude Lines: This will draw celestial longitude lines at 45 degree intervals, and hense corresponds 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). (1.1) The north (N) and south (S) ecliptic poles are shown as well (in yellow). - Options CrossHair (1.1): This will draw a crosshair through the center of the screen as an aid in identifying the centrepoint of the current view. 5.4 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 display is refreshed. This allows the display to show the changes that occur on a day by day basis, for example. 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. - In Real Time (1.0c). Auto recalculate in real time so that the display remains a constant reflection of the current sky. - By Minute (1.0c). Auto recalculate for each minute. - 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. 5.5 MOUSE EFFECT(1.1): The mouse can be used as a short-cut for entering the view-to data as opposed to using the pull down menus. Clicking the left button on the display will center the display toward/on the specified position. Note that the effect will be slightly different depending on whether Alt/Azi or Rta/Dec was last specified using the pulldown menus. If Alt/Azi was last specified, the new Alt/Azi at the selected position will be remembered and the software maintains this new viewing direction. If Rta/Dec was last specified, then the Rta/Dec at the selected position is remembered, and the software maintains this new celestial coordinate for further viewing. 6.0 SHUTDOWN When the application is shut down, the Objects selected, and the View selected (except for the date/time, and the zoom factor) are remembered for the next run. 7.0 Update Log Version 1.1a, September 93 - Enhanced drawing speed Version 1.1, September 93 - See embedded markers (1.1) - file formats changed (again) - shutdown data increased to maintain new options. - map added to view from menu. - screen layout modified to add new data. - scale factor added to caption line. Version 1.0c - See embedded markers (1.0c). - At shutdown, the list of objects selected and the view parameters selected (except the time) are automatically saved for the next run. - View from selection is improved to detect the location name. - Calculation speeds are increased for machines without coprocessors. - The data file formats are changed. - The screen layout is modified to have region titles and is better centred. - The Nature Conservancy of Canada has been chosen to receive 10% of all registration fees. Version 1.0b - Fixed calculation bug which caused segmentation errors for machines with coprocessors, and removed 486 check from winflgs check. Version 1.0a - Optimized sidereal animation in order to reduce calculations. - Modified coprocessor and 486 checking to use winflgs