December 28, 1989 REFERENCE PROGRAMS ON ASTRONOMY Programs on Programs on Disk 1 Disk 2 STARCAT.EXE CONST88.EXE READ.ME ASTNOTES.EXE SOLARSYS.EXE CONSTNAM.EXE ASTCONV.EXE These are reference programs that I originally wrote for my own use. They may be copied and freely distributed as long as they are not sold without my written permission, but does not exclude a charge for the disk and reasonable handling. Please keep all of the programs together. If you are using these programs and find them to be of value, a registration fee would be appreciated. $30 is suggested, but feel free to pay whatever you think is fair. If any suggestions, corrections, additions, and updates are submitted of sufficient value, I will include you on my registered user list regardless of the amount of the payment. Anyone wanting a copy of the programs may send me $20, 2 disks and a prepaid mailer. If you send $30, I will take care of all the messy details. Please mention if you need a disk format for other than MS-DOS 360K. Michael G. Worst 3860 Bristol Drive Beaumont, Texas 77707 Page 2 STAR CATALOG Version 5.6 Star Catalog Version 6 and Star Catalog Plus Version 1 have been withdrawn. It has turned out that I didn't have permission to use informa- tion from one of my sources after all. Version 5.6 is merely Version 5.5 with a few corrections and functions added, for instance, it can also now call the Astronomy Conversions program, and I've added the capability of backing up through the screens. Mainly though, is I used a function that does faster screen updates. This is a listing of the named and designated visible stars for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The limit of naked-eye visibility is generally magnitude 6, but I included stars down to magnitude 6.5 for completeness. I also included some of the more interesting stars that are somewhat dimmer, and the stars within twenty light years, more or less. The entries should be pretty straight forward. The only abbreviation I used, for example, 23".4 sep., means "23.4 arcseconds separation." There are 60 arcseconds to an arcminute, and 60 arcminutes to a degree. A fingertip held at arms length is about 1 degree wide, which can be confirmed by comparing with the full moon, which is a half degree wide. In this version I changed all of the arcsecond designations to the style used by astronomers, namely placing the " before the decimal point. It seems a bit awkward, but that's the way things go sometimes. In multiple star listings, the first magnitude is generally the combined magnitude, and the second, and sometimes third, are for the second and third stars, respectively. I found it less confusing to do it this way, and a lot easier. One thing I had to contend with much of the time was discrepancies, quite often from different places within the same source. A few times I had to resort to just plain guessing, but I think that the information presented here is as accurate as I can make it. I tried to keep the listings neat and tidy, but it wasn't always easy. But then, the universe itself isn't neat and tidy. I didn't include the coordinates and some other information, as there is only so much room on a computer screen, and I would probably still be working on version 4! If anyone has questions or want more information, just drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. There are almost 1700 entries in this version. There are a number of cross-referenced stars, as all of the stars with proper names also have Greek and Flamsteed Number designations. Also some stars have more than one proper name. STARCAT is written in C and compiled by Borland International's Turbo C compiler. Their address is 1800 Green Hills Road, P.O. Box 660001, Scotts Valley, CA 95066-0001. Page 3 CONSTELLATIONS 88 Version 2.1 This version has been completely re-written in the C language and compiled by Mix Software's Power C compiler. This program can now be run on either a Hercules card or a CGA card. It will automatically configure itself to whichever card you have. Of course, with the higher number of pixels in Hercules graphics mode, the screens look a bit smaller and are in the upper left as compared to CGA. Due to the pixel limitations, some of the constellation lines look a bit awkward, but I tried to make everything look as good as possible. But, as with a lot of things in life, we have to make some compromises here and there and live with the result. This program shows all 88 constellations in the Northern Hemisphere, the Zodiac, and the Southern Hemisphere. Only the stars with proper names are designated with their Greek letters or Flamsteed numbers. I would have liked to show all the Greek letters in each constellation, but it looked too cluttered. The constellation lines are also shown but are not necessarily the most common or official ones. The three maps I used didn't always agree so I used the ones that seemed the most logical, or I knew from memory to be the correct ones. The proper names are taken directly from STARCAT. I corrected a few minor mistakes in this version, and added the capability of turning the constellation lines on or off. Just pressing the "L" key will do it; it's not necessary to press the shift key also. It's also not necessary to press the shift key with the "?" to bring up the help info. Mix Software's Power C compiler is the easiest to use that I have seen, and also has the largest function library. I recommend this one for beginners, but it is also good for professional projects. It's an incredible bargain at only $19.95. The manual alone is worth it. Their address is Mix Software, 1132 Commerce Drive, Richardson, TX 75081 214- 783-6001. Page 4 ASTRONOMY NOTES Version 2.3 This is a listing of miscellaneous facts and figures that I've come across from time to time and wanted to put them in a place where I could find them. Its name is ASTNOTES.EXE, and has been rewritten in the C language. It can now call up the Astronomy Conversions program without having to get out of ASTNOTES. I recently added a function that will return to the same screen after returning from ASTCONV.EXE. Also I've used a function that provides a faster screen update. This was compiled by Borland International's Turbo C compiler. SOLAR SYSTEM Version 4.3 This is a listing of facts and figures about the planets, moons, and asteroids of the Solar System. All of the measurements are in the metric system. Its file name is SOLARSYS.EXE and was also rewritten in the C language. It can also call up the Astronomy Conversions program, and was compiled by Borland International's Turbo C compiler. I hope to add graphics to this one someday. This also has a faster screen update. This has also been modified to return to the same screen after returning from ASTCONV.EXE. Also, I added the names for the newly discovered moons of Uranus, and a name (Helene) for one of the moons of Saturn. CONSTELLATION NAMES This is a list of the constellation names with their abbreviations and other information. It is just a reference list and is not copyrighted. Its file name is CONSTNAM.EXE, and I wrote it in the C language for practice. ASTRONOMY CONVERSIONS This is a public domain program that I converted from BASIC to C as an exercise, and was compiled by Borland International's Turbo C compiler. It's included for the users convenience. I recently re-worked the front end as I got tired of going in and out of menus all the time just to get a conversion or two. This program should be located in the default drive and directory, or on the PATH, so the other programs can find it.