Procyon

* P R O C Y O N 2.06c * --------------------------------------------------------- Probably the most extensive Astronomy program for the Series 3a/3c. _ Yale Star Database. _ Full Messier Coverage _ Full NGC Coverage _ Ephemeris _ Reference Star DataBase _ Constellation Lines _ Lots of beautiful pictures and sounds ------[About PROCYON Light and Pro]------------------------------------------------ If you also have obtained a file named PROCYON.KEY, then you'll also need the Procyon Auxilary-pack (from http://www.xs4all.nl/~psion) which upgrades the Light version to the PRO-version. Without these the program will work as the Light version. ------[About PROCYON]------------------------------------------------------ When we take a long look at the sky on a clear, starry night, have you not been awed by the vastness and the beauty ? The distant stars and galaxies appear to be fixed and unchanging, but actually you are observing a small portion of a dynamic and revolving universe. PROCYON is a Universe in the Palm of your Hands... It is, as far as we know, the most extended Astronomy software for the Psion Series 3a and 3c. This small program is packed full of information iincluding the Yale Star Catalogue, all Messier and NGC Catalogues, Graphs and Tables, and much, much more! ------[Installation]------------------------------------------------------- Put all Procyon files in a \APP\PROCYON directory located on any drive. Procyon.Opa can also be in the \APP\ directory. The Procyon.* files should be in the same directory, but the other files can be on any disc, None of these files will be altered so they can all reside on a Flash. Procyon will search for these files on the Internal Disc M:, then A: and B: M:\OPD\Procyon.Cfg will be used to store Preferences. If you have registered Procyon, you will need a file \APP\PROCYON\Procyon.Key **< Please be sure to set your decimal seperator to Dot '.' >** ------[Menu Options]------------------------------------------------------- Edit: Date/Time Change the Date/LocalTime or SummerTime. Edit: City Enter a city of your choice. Searches through all cities known to the World application. Edit: User Location Manually edit a location. Edit: Preferences Use this to set your preferences. High Precision only in Pro version. Edit: Show Options Sets the items you want to see. The option Mirror Image allows to choose between Normal and Mirror Image presentation. Mirror Image shows the Jovian and Saturnian Moons as viewed through a telescope with a Zenith Prism Edit: Graph Options Sets the type of graph to be drawn, and the individual planets you want to see (pretty time-consuming). Find: Constellation This options reveals the stars belonging to the same constellation. Find: Identify Identifies a specific object using the crosshairs. The crosshairs are controlled by the cursor keys. Find: Track Plots the path of a Comet or Asteroid using any user-made database (made in DATA) with a series of positions (e.g.Halebopp.dbf). Line 1 in such a database has to be the R.A. [0.00¯23.59] Line 2 in such a database is reserved for the Dec [-90¯+90] Find: Position Shows the position (RA, Dec) of a single object. Find: Mars Meridian Calculates the Central Meridian (C.M.) of Mars. Shows the position of the C.M. on the Mars map and after pressing a key the currently visible part of Mars. Find: Red Spot Shows when the Jovian Red Spot passes the Central Meridian. Because the position of the Red Spot is variable, the latitude can be updated using Preferences (Psion-O) For the latest position of the Red Spot see Sky & Telescope magazine. Find: Zenith View Shows the stars between 50 and 90 degrees height Object: Binary Stars Calculates the orbit of a Binary Star and indicates the position in the current year. Object: Variable Stars Calculates the next minimum or maximum of a Variable Star. For Algol: Flashing cursor shows current phase/magnitude. Object: Starname Seeks a star specified by (part of) Name (e.g. Procyon). Object: Messier Enter (part of) a name or number of a Messier object. Pictures of the Mesier objects are only shown in the Pro version Object: NGC (only entire database in Pro version) Enter the NGC number. Object: Planets Shows the position of a Solar System or user-specified object Object: Asteroids/Comets (only full database in Pro version) Enter the name of a Comet or Asteroid. Object: Lunar Eclipse (only in Pro version) Shows during a luunar eclipse the position of the Moon relative to the Earth shadow. For dates of Lunar eclipses use first option Full/New Moon (Psion-Shift-P). Navigate to a date with the indications LE . Press Enter and subsequently press Shift-Psion-L. The line represents the path of the Moon Show: Jovian Moons Displays a twin-view of Jupiter and his moons. The positions of the Moons at other times are displayed by using the cursors as indicated. Show: Moon Displays the Moon Phase and additional information. Show: Full/New Moon Displays the dates of Full and New Moon. SE: Solar Eclipse, LE: Lunar Eclipse To show eclipses, navigate to dates marked as a lunar eclipse and press Then press Shift-Psion-L to show the eclipse Show: Solar System Shows top view of our Solar System. Show: Saturn View Shows Saturn with rings and moons. Use 0-9 to zoom in and out. Show: Event Base The Zoom function focuses on the region of interest. Feel free to explore and expand this Database. Show: Graphs Shows a Graph of the magnitude, size and Declination of the planets. Show: Invert View Inversion facilitates observation of faint stars. Special: Info Useful Information. Special: About Info about PROCYON and its Designers. Special: Ephemeris Display compiled data of Solar System objects. K% indicates Moon Phase (0 = New Moon; 100 = Full Moon). For other items see Dictionary. Special: Rise/Set Displays the times of Rising and Setting of Sun and Planets. Special: Symbols Summary of the Symbols used. Special: Rebuild Initiates a Rebuild of the screen. Special: Zoom Zoom in on the region of interest. Use the cursors and press Enter to identify within the Zoom region. Special: Quit Gosh... Just try it. ------[Dictionary]--------------------------------------------------------- Altitude: Angle of elevation in degrees of a star above the horizon, ranging from 0ø at the horizon to 90ø in the Zenith. Asteroids: The minor planets, most of which move around the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Several thousands of asteroids are known; the largest is Ceres. Astronomical Unit (AU): Mean distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is equal to 149,597,900 Km. Azimuth: Angle of a celestial object measured from the south point of the horizon westward to the meridian . Because of the earth's rotation, the azimuth of a body is changing all the time. Cluster: A collection of stars which are often associated. Comet: A member of the Solar System, moving around the Sun in an orbit which is generally highly eccentric. Declination: The angle measured in degrees perpendicular to the plane of the equator, ranging from -90ø to +90ø. Ecliptic: A circle representing the apparent path of the Sun along the sky. Most planets move close to this plane. Ephemeris: A table giving the predicted positions of a moving celestial body, such as a planet or comet. Galaxy: System of stars; there are many kinds, and they differ widely in size and luminosity. GMT: Greenwich Mean Time, time at the meridian of Greenwich. Also known as Universal Time (UT). Julian Day: (JD) The number of days, starting from noon on 1 January 4713 BC. Latitude: The angular distance of a celestial body from the nearest point on the Ecliptic. LST: Local Sidereal Time, hour angle of the vernal equinox. Magnitude: Scale for expressing the apparent brightness of a celestial object. A fainter star has a higher magnitude. The naked eye in the city can view stars up to magnitude 5. Messier Catalogue: A compilation of Nebulae and Clusters created by the 18th-century French astronomer Messier. Meteor: A small particle which after entering the Earth's atmosphere burns up leaving a trail of light. The streak of luminosity is known as a Shooting Star. Nebula: A mass of tenuous gas in space together with what is loosely termed 'dust'. NGC: New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters . Phase: The apparent changes in shape of the Moon and planets depending from what direction the light of the Sun hits the object and the viewing angle from Earth. Planet: A non-luminous body moving around a star. There are nine known major planets in our Solar System. Planetary nebula: A faint often circular nebula surrounding a star. They visually resemble a planet. Radiant: Point on the celestial sphere from which meteor of a given shower appear to radiate. Right Ascension: The angle measured eastward in hours along the equator between the meridian of an object and the meridian from a specific point in the constellation Pisces (vernal equinox). Ranging from 0 to 24 hours. Vernal Equinox: Point in the constellation Pisces that is reached by the Sun around March 21 and marks the beginning of the spring. Universal Time (UT): See Greenwhich Mean Time (GMT). ZHR: Zenith Hourly Rate, average number of meteors per hour during maximum (approximate rate of activity). ------[Light vs Pro]------------------------------------------------------- You may be currently using the Light Version of Procyon. This version is free for non-commercial use, but we would appreciate it if you send us a postcard saying whether you like this program. If you really like this program or use it regulary you could consider registering for: Hfl 35, DM 35,- US$ 25 or UKœ 20. But the most convenient way to register is via Compuserve. Just GO SWREG and register for PROCYON (registration ID # 7318). It will only cost you US$ 25 including shipping / handling. It is also possible to register via RegNet (http://www.swregnet.com) for program ID 988. The fee is $30. With the key-file system there is no need to re-install, which can be a lengthy process considering the size of the full version, and no need to reformat your Flash-disc. Just add the 'Procyon.Key' file to the \APP\PROCYON directory The registered version called Procyon Pro has a number of extended features and bonus Database-files such as: Yale database extended from magnitude 4.0 to magnitude 5.0 (1600+ items). Full NGC coverage and search options (7800+ items) Reference-star Database available in Zoom-window. More than 750 Combined Minor Planets and Comets ! Bonus pictures of all 110 Messier Objects ! Procyon searches for a file called Procyon.Key in any \APP\PROCYON directory. If this file is present it wil verify the key and switch to PRO mode if the key is considered valid. ------[Tech Info]---------------------------------------------------------- This version of Procyon can require up to 128 Kb of free memory. (Procyon pro Just doesn't fit on a 1 Mb Flash :) The following files are absolutely required to run Procyon: Procyon.Opa (Main Program). Procyon.Ovl (Overlay). Procyon.Grp (Graphic). Yale.Bin (Yale Bright Star Catalogue). Messier.Bin (Messier Nebula). We strongly advise you to use the following files: Moon.Pic (Used for building Moon Phase). Star.Pic (Used by Intro Screen). Jovian.Pic (Used by 'Jovian Moons'-view). Marssurf.pic (Marsian Surface) The following files are all optional: All *.Pic files (Graphics used by Procyon). All *.Wve files (Sound-files used by Procyon). Binary.bin (Binary Stars Database) Variable.bin (Variable Stars Database) Event.Dbf (Event Base). Mplan.Bin (Asteroids en Comets). Milkway.Bin (Milkyway Outline). Procyon.Hlp (Procyon help-file resource) The Saturnian moons option is based on emperical formulae. All calculations are performed with 16 digit precision. We've done our best to achieve the most optimal performance in such a 'small' program. If you find any bugs, irregularities, just have smart ideas how expand the program or have even better algorithms, please contact us! You may wish to grab the Procyon screen as a standard Psion PICture- file. That is possible by pressing Control+Shift+Psion+'S' together. A file called Screen.Pic will appear in the root of your internal disk. Using the different editor programs you can edit or print it. Sometimes it is necessary to set your Decimal-separator to Period; especially if you use a European Psion, Procyon will not warn you to set the separator to Period ! Files like Comet.dbf, Event.dbf and the Multiple Tracking files can cause trouble because they all use the . as the decimal separator instead of the European comma. Thanks to all the testers and contributers out there, who have supplied ideas, support, bug-reports and other useful stuff. ------[Contacting Us]------------------------------------------------------ If you got any questions, suggestions, want more technical information or just want to congratulate us, we can be reached at: -----Snail Mail----- Vampire Vengeance c/o Wilgenlaan 14 6241 BJ Bunde The Netherlands ----Electronic Mail--- sussenbach@med.ruu.nl CompuServe: 100561,122 sussenbach.p@net.hcc.nl psion@xs4all.nl ----INTERNET Homepage Pedro van Can------ http://www.xs4all.nl/~psion ------[Revision History]--------------------------------------------------- Procyon 1.01 and before ----------------------- Internal version, never distributed. Procyon 1.02 ------------ Updated Messier.Dbf, had some anomalies. Problems fixed within Yale.Dbf search routine. [PRO] Pictures of ALL Messier Items (110 pictures) optional. [PRO] Faster Calculation in High Precision Mode. [PRO] Enhanced precision of Planetary Positions. Procyon 1.03 ------------ Rebuild with Current or Set Time. Summer time combined with Date & Time. Implemented Cursor-speed up with the Psion key. Re-arranged Menu-items and added some nice lines. More Preferences (still working on them) Grid added. Graphic display of the Planetary Magnitudes over the current year added. Procyon 1.10 ------------- Dsseldorf and other cities with an Umlaut could not be chosen; this is now fixed. Conversion of Yale.dbf, NGC.dbf, Messier.dbf, Refstar.dbf, Mplan.dbf to Binary files. You cannot edit these files yourself, but they have the advantage of smaller file-size and faster file-access. All files group together in any \APP\PROCYON directory so they don't cluther your System Screen (DATA / RECORD) anymore. Problem fixed with occasional Grey text instead of Black. (This is really a Problem in OPL !) User-defined location option added. Places are now retrieved from the World-application, which has the advantage of more places, correct spelling and there's no need to use Places.dbf anymore. Fixed problem with Eventbase residing on Flash. (Write-protect error). Quick finding options added in both Messier and Starname. Constellation Lines added. Fixed and expanded the Yale.Bin file, more useful information. Fixed some problems with Rise or Set Times of the Sun. [PRO] Expanded Minor Planets Database (Mplan.Bin) to 750+ Objects. Procyon 1.11 ------------- Fixed some problems in reading World Data. Corrected some spelling mistakes. Minor corrections in High-precision calculations. Procyon 1.12 ------------- Major bug in the Asteroids/Comets algorithms corrected, many thanks to George Sobala for pointing that out. Added extra Graph Types. Fixed a bug in the User-object naming. Fixed Latitude/Longitude in User Location which were reversed. You couldn't change the contrast within Graph, now you can... Procyon 1.13 ------------- Added Milky Way option. Fixed a bug in the Messier-routine. Inversed View is now stored into Cfg file. Enhanced the Precision of the Moons of Saturn. Improved the picture quality of Pluto and Mars. Change format of Multiple-Tracking File Slightly. Added HaleBopp.Dbf. Procyon 1.14 ------------- Minor Planets are now kept in Mplan.bin and the Comets in Comets.dbf. Comets.Dbf is searched first, so you can add your own data to this database file, which has priority over mplan.bin. GMT offset now accepts decimal hours. Fixed problem in User-location being different from Info. Procyon 1.15 ------------- Calculation of the Central Meridian of Mars; presentation of full Mars Map and visible part. Calculation of time that Red Spot passews the Jovian meridian Calculation of minima and maxima of Variable Stars. Plotting of orbits of Binary Stars. Binary and Variable stars calculation. Corrected some minor errors. Procyon 1.16 _____________ Includes now Comets with elliptic as well as parabolic orbits Extended Event database including more than 10 Total Solar Eclipses Calculation of Dates of New and Full Moon Enhanced accuracy for Moon position In Zoom option Sun and Moon at scale Brightness-time Plot of Algol and indication of current mgnitude Procyon 1.17 ____________ Many improvements in lay-out en speed Bug in Asteroid option fixed Format Comet.dbf changed Comet/Asteroid and User-object is now visible in zoom and identify Conjunction-checker would report wrong Messier nummer, fixed Procyon 2.00 _____________ As of now, the only difference between the Pro version and the light version is the presence of a Key-file called 'Procyon.Key'. Procyon will switch to Registered Pro-mode if the keyfile is valid. If there is no key-file or it is invalid, Procyon will continue to operate as a Light-version. All items are now visible in zoom. Several cosmetic changes. Changes in Email-adres and Home-page. Drastic speed improvement when building reference-stars. Visible part of Marsion surface is now 360 degrees. Lunar Eclipses are shown. Slightly Improved accuracy. Procyon 2.01 _____________ Asteroid/Comet databases would not be closed if an object was not found. Second search would then state that the database was in use, which of course it wasn't. Automatic identification within 'Identify'. This way you can always know which star/constellation crosshairs is nearest. Fixed bug in Name-Next-To-Crosshair function. Procyon 2.02 _____________ Improved Help-system bij discarding help-application and using the build-in system-help, which uses less resources. Extended limiting magnitude from 3.0 to 4.0 in the light-version, this way constellations show more nicely with 520 stars. Procyon 2.03 _____________ Added support for Cyclone drive on C: Added the Collapse Search option when searching a record from a database. Added Constellation Search option Procyon 2.04 _____________ Fixed problem with Grid in Marsian surface Fixed problem that Constellation search would only work in PRO mode Optimised Constellation lines Enhanced Flashing Constellation Search Procyon 2.05 _____________ Bugs in Mars meridian and UT calculations are fixed. Red Spot latitude is now adjustable. Improved constellation lining. New option to find stars belonging to the same constellation and the corresponding name. Lunar eclipse shows path of the Moon. Jovian moons can move step-wise. New option of Zenith View. Procyon 2.06c _____________ Added visibility graph of Mercury and Venus. Enhanced Jupiter and Solar system map Minor bug-fixes. Fixed bug in zoom-mode Fixed bug in Help-mode Clear skys end enjoy the program when clouded-out! J. Sussenbach, P. van Can