Dear ShareWare Vendor/Sysop: This file contains my distribution policy and information on the shareware version of "The Earth Centered Universe (TM)", or ECU (TM), for Windows. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ECU is protected under international copyright treaties and I (David Lane) retain all rights to this software. As a shareware distributor, you have permission to distribute my shareware in its original electronic form as long as you: * identify it as shareware (with an appropriate definition) * leave all intellectual property (copyright) notices in place * please notify me, if you are publishing it in a catalog or CD-ROM * do not distribute the files "YBSC2.ECU", "SAC2.ECU", "SAO1.ECU", "SAO2.ECU", "PINDEX.ECU", or "PTERMS.ECU", should they inadvertantly become part of the shareware package that you have received ..and as long as I do not request that you stop. That's it. You may archive our programs, unarchive them, use your own installation routines, include them with other programs on the same diskette, and do essentially anything you want as long as you follow these simple rules. I want the widest possible distribution, and don't want to stand in your way so long as you are honest with our mutual customer. My normal distribution sequence is: 1 New versions are offered to our registered users and are automatically shipped to new registrants. 2 New versions are posted on CIS in the ASTROFORUM (Lib 7 as ECUSHA.EXE). They are also posted on the Internet by anonymous FTP at "hercules.stmarys.ca" as "/pub/ecu/ecushare.exe" 3 I send copies of major revisions of ECU to distributors who have notified me of their interest. If you are a catalog house, send me a copy of the catalog in which the program appears and I will send you a copy of any major updates to my software. If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact me: Nova Astronomics (David J. Lane) 4-26 Randall Avenue PO Box 31013 Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada B3K 5T9 Voice: (902) 443-5989 (evenings GMT-4) Fax: (902) 445-5790 CIS: 71601,247 Internet: dlane@hercules.stmarys.ca International: If you are a publisher interested in translating and supporting ECU in another language, please contact me to discuss an agreement for your language and country. If you are interested in providing registration and support services outside of North America, I am interested in working with you. Languages: ECU is available in English and French (currently at V1.5) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Package Name: "The Earth Centered Universe" for Windows V2.0A (commonly abbreviated "ECU") Distributed Name: ECUSHARE.EXE (ECUSHA.EXE on Compuserve) Major Heading: Sky Visualization Program for Windows Requirements: MS-Windows 3.x 386SX or higher (486 recommended) 1M bytes free RAM from within Windows EGA or better monitor Math co-processor beneficial Windows-compatible printer supported First Release: March 1992 This Release: May 1995 Purchase Price: $50.00US ($70.00CDN) $15.00US ($20.00CDN) for upgrades Customer Support: free e-mail, telephone, or mail support Key Words: Astronomy Stars Planets Comets Constellations Planetarium Sun Moon Galaxies Nebulae Charts Telescope Short Description: ECU V2.0 is a shareware Sky Visualization Program for Microsoft Windows 3.1 called "The Earth Centered Universe". It is capable of simulating many of the features of the Earth's sky. You only need to enter your geographic location and the time and the local sky is simulated on the screen in a colourful display. This includes, but is not limited to the stars, planets, Sun, Moon, comets, asteroids, and "deep sky" objects. Constellation, Constellation boundary, coordinate grid, ecliptic, and local horizon lines are also displayed. It prints high quality star charts to any Windows-compatible printer and also controls modern computerized telescopes. ECU is designed as an observing tool for the observing amateur astronomer, but is equally useful to the "armchair" astronomer or other interested person interested in the night sky. Long Description: ECU V2.0 is a shareware Sky Visualization Program for Microsoft Windows 3.1 called "The Earth Centered Universe". It is capable of simulating many of the features of the Earth's sky. You only need to enter your geographic location and the time and the local sky is simulated on the screen in a colourful display. This includes, but is not limited to the stars, planets, Sun, Moon, comets, asteroids, and "deep sky" objects. Constellation, Constellation boundary, coordinate grid, ecliptic, and local horizon lines are also displayed. It prints high quality star charts to any Windows-compatible printer and also controls modern computerized telescopes. ECU is designed as an observing tool for the observing amateur astronomer, but is equally useful to the "armchair" astronomer or other interested person interested in the night sky. Some of the features of ECU are listed below: - the sky is simulated in either a "sky atlas" or "local horizon" mode - fast operation - mostly integer math so math processor is not needed, but is supported to improve speed of solar system calculations, etc. - colourful display - colours of all screen elements controllable by user with scroll bars - high quality customizable star charts can be printed on any Windows compatible printer or plotter. All fonts are fully programmable - continuous display of LMT, UTC, latitude and longitude, RA/DEC, AZ/ALT, field size, and star and deep sky mag limit - the display of Siderial and Julian Date are available - databases: Yale star catalogue to 6.5 magnitude SAO star catalogue to 9.5 magnitude SAC deep sky database (over 10,000 objects) planets, Sun, Moon, comets, and asteroids supports the Hubble Guide Star Catalog CD-ROMs which contain about 15,000,000 stars - very easy to use - zoom box, center image, zoom in/out, etc. all done with the mouse. Scroll bars for RA and DEC or Alt/Az. Hot keys and buttons for common functions - click on an object and an information box pops up. All objects give RA, Dec, azimuth, altitude, rise and set times, and magnitude. Planets/Sun/Moon give distance (AU or km), angular size (" or '), and phase (or age). Comets and asteroids give distance to the Sun and the Earth in AU. Yale stars give Yale number, HD number, SAO number, Flamsteed/Bayer designation, Spectral type, and proper motion. SAO stars give SAO number, and spectral type. Hubble stars give their catalog number, deep sky objects provide a varying amount of info but usually provide the name (an other name), Dreyer description, size, classification, etc. Their coordinates can be precessed to the current date/time. - the user can display up to 25 images of each object, if they exist, through the use of an external viewer. No images are provided with ECU. - measure angular separation on the sky with the mouse. It also provides the difference in RA/Dec and Alt/Az - load and save all settings to named configuration files - load and save comet and asteroid elements to separate ASCII files - undo last operation - time set as LMT, UTC, or system clock (daylight savings flag, too.) - time format as 24 hour or am/pm - observer's location entered by lat/long or pick list of preprogrammed cities (add your own, too) - control the effects of observer's parallax, nutation, precession, light travel time, aberration, and atmospheric refraction - show sky as white on black background or black on white background, or in full colour - also supported are two "red" modes to protect your night vision if used at the telescope - set magnitude limits of deep sky and stars (with scroll bars) - select type of deep sky objects displayed (with check boxes) - displays horizon line, ecliptic line, ra/dec grid (auto scaling), zenith marker, constellation lines, and IAU constellation boundary lines - labels for bright stars, constellations, messiers, coordinate grid, etc. - extensive labelling of objects. - fully configurable font support is provided - Two circles and one rectangle of a programmable angular size can be draw at the centre of the sky display that are intended to represent field of view of your main telescope, finder scope, and camera respectively. - center on - RA/DEC - Azim/Alt - bright stars - constellations - messiers - points on horizon (north, south, etc.) - solar system objects - search the database and center on the object found - animation mode - time increments in steps from 1 minute to four years or a user selected arbitrary increment - set direction either forward or reverse - lock to Sun, Moon, Planet, alt/az or ra/dec - trails of objects supported - extensive support is provided for the Meade LX200 (and LXD) telescope series. This includes a moving cross hair or variable size field indicator on the screen, a real-time coordinate readout, and hand controller support. It also allows the scope to be "slewed" to an selected object - extensive support is provided for many models of digital setting circles. This includes a moving cross hair or variable size field indicator on the screen and a real-time coordinate readout. It also aids the user in finding a selected object - prints high quality star charts on any Windows-compatible printer with customized titles, programmable borders, scale factors for deep sky and stellar symbols, etc. - A dialog box to display the rise/set times of the sun and moon on the current day is provided. It also shows the times of civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight. - and much, much more! - system requirements: 386/486 100% PC compatible 486 recommended Math co-processor beneficial MS-Windows 3.x (standard or enhanced mode) EGA/VGA or better color screen 1M Bytes free memory from within MS-Windows 80x87 (or 486DX) recommended but not required Mouse Windows compatible printer supported - Distributed Name: ECUSHARE.EXE (ECUSHA.EXE on Compuserve) - Shareware fee - $55.00US ($70.00CDN) - $15.00US ($20.00CDN) for upgrades - Customer Support is provided by free e-mail, telephone, or mail support