Help
The Planets Version 2.02 |
I will write a full HELP page shortly. Most of the functions operate in exactly the same was as Version1.
However, This version contains a major new enhancement:
The facility to SAVE YOUR DEFAULT SETTINGS!
In the package which you downloaded, there is a file called "location.dat"
This file contains the System
II Longitude of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
and also the list of cities
which are displayed in the "drop-down" menu. If you know your own home
coordinates, you can customise it so that your home location always appears at
the top of the list. The " location.dat " file is a plain text file
which can be edited using a suitable text editor (eg NOTEPAD).
The 1st line of this
file is the System II
Longitude of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (in degrees). Its a good idea
to check this value against other sources (eg Sky and Telescope magazine).
I will try to quote an updated value on the Castle Point Astronomy Club
website. Over recent years, the GRS longitude as drifted a few degrees
every year. One degree difference between the actual value and the value
in this file will give an error of 1.6 minutes in the calculations.
The 2nd line of this file is the new "configuration" line consisting of 10 characters. Each character controls a different feature.
Character | Options | Default value |
1st char = STARTUP SCREEN | 0=skymap 1=Jupiter 2=Saturn 3=Solar System 4=Ecliptic Circle 5=LocationInput |
5 (Location Input) |
2nd char = SUMMERTIME | Y=yes N=no |
N (no) |
3rd char = FLIP N/S | Y=yes N=no |
N (no) |
4th char = FLIP E/W | Y=yes N=no |
N (no) |
5th char = SHOW NAMES | Y=yes N=no |
Y (yes) |
6th char = GALILEAN PREDICTION PERIOD | 0=24
hour 1=7 days 2=1 Month |
1 (7day) |
7th char = Galilean Timezone | 0=Universal
Time 1=Local Time |
1 (Local Time) |
8th char = Galilean Shortlist | Y=Ignore
invisible events N=List All Events |
Y
(events when Jupiter is down or Sun is up are ignored) |
9th char = Saturn Pointers | Y=yes N=no |
Y (yes) |
10th char = Track Real Time | Y=yes N=no |
Y (Track Real-Time on startup) |
To make this information clearer, the following chart may also help.
+---------1st char: Startup-screen.
| (0=skymap, 1=Jupiter, 2=Saturn, 3=Solar System
| 4=Ecliptic Circle, 5=Location-Input)
|
|+--------2nd char: Summertime.
|| (Y=yes, N=no)
||
||+-------3rd char: Flip N/S.
||| (Y=yes, N=no)
|||
|||+------4th char: Flip E/W.
|||| (Y=yes, N=no)
||||
||||+-----5th char: Show Names.
||||| (Y=yes, N=no)
|||||
|||||+----6th char: Galilean Prediction period.
|||||| (0=24-hour, 1=7-day, 2=1-month)
||||||
||||||+---7th char: Galilean Prediction timezone.
||||||| (0=Universal Time, 1=Local Time)
|||||||
|||||||+--8th char: Galilean Prediction short-list.
|||||||| (Y=visible events only, N=all events)
||||||||
||||||||+-9th char: Saturn's Moons Pointers.
||||||||| (Y=Yes, N=No)
|||||||||
|||||||||+10th char: Track Real Time.
||||||||||(Y=Yes, N=No)
||||||||||
||||||||||
5NNNY11YYY
The remainder of the
file is the list of
cities which are displayed in the "drop-down" menu. If you know your
own home coordinates, you can customise it so that your home location always
appears at the top of the list. Each line must be in the following format:
Town and Region [tab]
Country [tab]
Latitude [tab]
Longitude [tab]
Timezone
Where Latitude is in decimal
degrees from -90 to 90 (negative for Southern hemisphere)
Longitude is in decimal degrees from 0 to 360 (increasing as you go West)
Timezone is the hour difference from Greenwich Mean Time (negative values as you
go West)
I hope to have a more in-depth help file available very soon. I designed my application to be as self-explanatory as possible. If, however, you do have any problems getting the application to work, then please contact me.
Brendan Murphy
brendan@cpac.org.uk
Visit www.cpac.org.uk to see if I
have updated the program.