Don Shedrick

Nov, 1999

DAS Focus - November, 1999

COMPUTERS IN ASTRONOMY by Don Shedrick

We plan a session for November’s meeting featuring some useful and interesting software programs for amateur astronomy. To whet your appetite, here are some examples of the programs we will present:

Home Planet

Home Planet is a Microsoft Windows application that calculates the position of the Earth, Sun, Moon, planets, asteroids, comets, and Earth satellites with high accuracy and provides many features, including the following capabilities:

Sky map

Shows stars, planets, satellite, and optionally constellations

Track selected asteroid or comet

Click on object in sky map to view through telescope

Animate to watch Earth rotate and orbit, planets move, Earth precess, stars drift over millennia

Telescope display

Shows stars, planets, satellites, and asteroids/comets

Pan and zoom aim point

Horizon view

Select viewing direction

Orrery

View solar system from any viewpoint

Object catalogue

Specify observing site anywhere on Earth

Set Universal time or Julian date

Accurate from 4713 B.C. into the distant future

Believe it or not, all this capability is completely free. The smaller star data base version is posted on the ASTRO BBS. The larger data base version and more info can be obtained from the Web at: http://www.fourmilab.ch/homeplanet/homeplanet.html

AtomTime

Does anybody really know what time it is? This program does! Any planetarium program needs accurate time to work properly. A neat little program called AtomTime95 will connect you to the Atomic Clock time server in Boulder, CO over the Internet, and fetch the current atomic clock time value. It compares this value to your PC time, displays the difference, and then gives you the option of updating your PC clock to match the atomic clock value. This program is available on the Web at:

http://www.atomtime.com/

Sunrise and Sunset Times

We all can see the days growing shorter, but if you want to know exactly what is happening to plan an observing session, this Web site is for you. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church runs a Web page that allows people to calculate precise sunrise and sunset times for any place in the world for any date. The easy to use site can be accessed at:

http://news.adventist.org/sun/

JupSat

Jupiter is in prime viewing position now, and it is desirable to have info on where Jupiter’s satellites and Great Red Spot are going to be for your observing session. You say your dog ate your latest Sky and Telescope? No problem if you have JupSat95 loaded on your PC. This program calculates the positions of and displays side-on views as they would be seen through one of three optical configurations (Binoculars, Astronomical Telescope, Star Diagonal) and plan views of Jupiter and its satellites, along with the Longitude of Jupiter's Central Meridian for both equatorial and non-equatorial zones. It also displays (and can print) monthly satellite tracks, Great Red Spot transit times and allows animation. To download a copy of this application, go to:

http://indigo.ie/~gnugent/JupSat95/

Solar Eclipse ’99

Listed below are some of the better sites I have found for information and images of the August 11 total solar eclipse across Europe and Asia. These all contain enough other links to keep you occupied for many hours.

The author's photo imaging web site: http://groups.msn.com/firstlightimaging

Sky and Telescope Eclipse Links: http://skyandtelescope.com/search.asp?section=all&terms=eclipse&go.x=19&go.y=5

Fred Espenak’s Mr. Eclipse - this one is huge – even some video animation’s:

http://www.mreclipse.com/TSE99reports/TSE99reports.html

Marco Polo Eclipse Cruisers - The cruise I was on:

http://www.templetons.com/mpeclipse/