The World's Largest Collection of Windows Software/The World's Largest Collection of Windows Software - Disc 1.iso/ed_int/moonpo22/moonpo.doc

Text File | 1994-05-16 | 27.2 KB | 563 lines

        ******* WARNING ***** WARNING ***** WARNING ***** WARNING *********
        *                                                                 *
        * THE AUTHOR OF THIS SOFTWARE DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY WARRANTY WHAT- *
        * SOEVER! YOU USE IT OR TRY IT ENTIRELY AND STRICTLY AT YOUR OWN  *
        * RISK. THE AUTHOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE   *
        * TO YOUR COMPUTER, FILES OR ASSOCIATED ELECTRO-MECHANICAL        *
        * DEVICES. NOR IS THERE ANY GUARANTEE AS TO THE ACCURACY OF THE   *
        * RESULTS OR AS TO THE FITNESS OF THE MOONPO PROGRAM FOR ANY      *
        * PARTICULAR PURPOSE.                                             *
        *                                                                 *
        *    REMEMBER, YOU USE IT OR TRY IT SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK!      *
        *                                                                 *
        ******* WARNING ***** WARNING ***** WARNING ***** WARNING *********

        1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

        MOONPO is a Windows 3.x application which can calculate the azimuth
        and elevation of the moon and the sun (and the phase of the moon)
        as a function of the date and time of day at any place on the earth
        (with the possible exception of the poles and precisely where the
        0 or 180 degree meridians cross the equator). It will also compute
        the approximate rising and setting times and the azimuth of the moon
        and sun at those times.

        MOONPO's results are displayed as a table showing the local and GMT
        time in a 24 hour "military" format (for example, 6:34 PM would
        appear as 1834). Azimuth angles are measured clockwise from north
        (so, due south corresponds to an azimuth angle of 180 degrees).
        Elevations are measured from a level horizon (straight up is a 90
        degree elevation angle). Results may be printed on the default
        Window printer and may be saved in an ascii formatted file for
        later printing or other use. Moonpo can also display and print
        simple graphs showing the azimuth and elevation of the sun as a
        function of the time of day. The azimuth and elevation values
        are usually accurate to within about 2 degrees.

        In order to actually run MOONPO you need to know your geographical
        longitude and latitude in at least degrees and minutes. You also
        need to know or figure out a "time zone" value for your location.
        Data for a few cities may be found below.

        Execution of MOONPO requires a computer with at least an 80286
        cpu and an 80x87 math coprocessor or its  equivalent (80486,
        for example).


        MOONPO is distributed as Shareware. That means you may try it for a
        reasonable period (say three weeks) at no cost, but that you should
        register it and pay the registration fee if you use it after the
        trial period.



        2.0 INSTALLATION INFORMATION

        2.1 STANDARD FILES

        The MOONPO files included in the authorized archive are:

             MOONPO.EXE   - Windows 3.x executable application file.
             MOONPO.BMP   - Logo bitmap file.
             MOONPO.DOC   - This file.
             MOONPO.HLP   - MoonPo help file.
             MYLOCALE.INI - User location customization file for MOONPO.
             GSW.EXE      - Graphics server executable file.
             GSWDLL.DLL   - Dynamic link library for graphics server.
             READTHIS.NOW - Minimal installation information.
             ILUM93.DTA   - Some high precision results for MOONPO
                            validation.
             WHATSNEW.220 - Changes from version 1.0.
             VALIDATE.DAT - Antivirus data for McAfee Associates
                            VALIDATE.COM (Version 0.4)


        2.1 RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION INFORMATION

        MOONPO must be installed using DOS commands or the Windows
        File Manager. A few essential instructions follow.

        While some components of MOONPO can be placed in different directories,
        the simplest thing to do is to put all of the files in a single MOONPO
        directory. That makes removal simple.

        Sample MOONPO Installation Procedure:

        This example assumes the following:

        A) Your base Windows directory is C:\WINDOWS.
        B) You will place all MOONPO files (EXCEPT MYLOCALE.INI, which MUST
            be in your base Windows directory) in a NEW directory on fixed
            drive D:
        C) The (de-archived) MOONPO files are on a diskette in diskette
           drive B:, and there are no other files on that diskette.
        D) The installation will be done from DOS or a DOS Window, and that
           your DOS "prompt" appears as C:\>

        Note: in the following example the term <CR> means that you press the
              "RETURN" or "ENTER" key.

        1) Create the MOONPO directory:

           C:\> MKDIR D:\MOONPO <CR>

        2) Copy files:

           C:\> Copy B:\MYLOCALE.INI C:\WINDOWS
           C:\> Copy B:\*.* D:\MOONPO

        NOTE: If you are using OS/2 Version 2.0 or later, you should puy
        MYLOCALE.INI in your \OS2\MDOS\WINOS2 directory.



        3) Running or Preparing to Run MOONPO:

        METHOD 1: a) Click on the Program Manager's "File" option and
                     select "Run".
                  b) Enter D:\MOONPO\MOONPO.EXE and <CR>.

        METHOD 2: (add MOONPO to an existing group of applications)
                  a) Click on (or TAB to) the title bar of the desired
                     group.
                  b) Select the Program Manager's "File" option, and then
                     "New".
                  c) Select "Program Item".
                  d)   i) For the "Description" enter: MOONPO
                      ii) For the "Command Line" enter:
                          D:\MOONPO\MOONPO.EXE
                     iii) For "Working directory" enter: D:\MOONPO
                      iv) Select "OK".

        If all is well, then the MOONPO icon will appear in the program
        group box and you can start MOONPO by clicking on that icon.

        Before running MOONPO, you will probably want to customize it for
        your geographical location. There are two ways to do that:

        1) Edit the MYLOCALE.INI file to reflect your longitude, latitude and
           time zone before starting the MOONPO application. You may use
           any convenient ASCII editor and edit it to replace the sample
           data with that appropriate to your geographical location (also
           see discussion below). Doing that will make it unnecessary for
           you to re-enter your location data each time you want to run
           MOONPO.

           If you use MYLOCALE.INI, be sure to set the "TIMZON" parameter.
           Your time zone is the number of hours you need to add to
           Greenwich Mean Time (or more properly UTC) to get your local
           24-hour time. West longitudes have negative (or zero) TIMZON
           values (they are "earlier"), while East longitudes have
           positive values. If you do not enter a value, one will be
           calculated from your longitude, but it may not be correct
           since local time zones don't adhere very closely to the way
           the earth rotates.

           DO NOT EDIT MYLOCALE.INI USING A WORD PROCESSING PROGRAM (SUCH
           AS WORDPERFECT, WORD FOR WINDOWS OR DOS, ETC) UNLESS YOU ARE
           SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO WRITE THE EDITED FILE IN PLAIN OLD ASCII
           FORM CONTAINING NO EXTRANEOUS INFORMATION INSERTED BY THE
           WORDPROCESSING PROGRAM. MS-DOS'S EDITOR OR THE WINDOWS
           NOTEPAD EDITOR ARE SUGGESTED.


        2) Simply start MOONPO and then enter your location and time
           zone via the "Observer Position" option under the "Control data"
           menu item found on the main MOONPO menu bar. Once you select
           "OK" you will be asked if you wish to save the new data in the
           MYLOCALE.INI file. Choosing "Yes" will save the customized
           MYLOCALE.INI file.



        If you will NEVER want to examine MOONPO's graphs, you can omit
        copying of the "GSW..." files (or delete them later).

        If you already have a copy of GSW.EXE and GSWDLL.DLL in a directory
        named in  your AUTOEXEC.BAT's PATH= statement, then you can probably
        save some diskspace by deleting GSW.EXE and GSWDLL.DLL from the
        MOONPO directory. The GSW.. files probably must belong to at least
        version 2.1, however.


        3.0 RUNNING MOONPO

        When you run MOONPO you will normally want to override the default
        information such as your geographical location, the year and the
        date for which you want to learn something about the positions of
        the sun and moon. So, if you do not know them, you need to learn
        your geographical longitude and latitude. Most road maps show such
        data along the margins and you can probably interpolate to find
        the data for your own town will sufficient accuracy. You will also
        need to enter your time zone, as discussed above. The data just
        mentioned are entered by running the "Control Data" dialog to be
        discussed in Section 3.2.

        You can begin execution of MOONPO.EXE by clicking the Windows
        Program Manager's "File" menu item and then the "Run" item from
        the popup menu. Then you simply enter the complete path name needed
        to locate MOONPO.EXE. If you placed MOONPO.EXE in your base
        Windows directory you can omit the directory portion of the file
        name. MOONPO has no command line parameters.

        If you added MOONPO to a program group, then just start it in the
        usual fashion.

        When you start MOONPO you will be greeted by a more or less blank
        screen. There is no "cursor". There is a standard menu bar at the
        top of the screen. Choices are accessed in the usual Windows manner.

        The menu choices are as follows:

        File  Control Data  Run  Moonrise  Reset Graph  Help


        3.1 The "File" Menu Item

        Clicking on the "File" option brings up a popup menu composed of
        four items: "New", "SaveAs", "Print" and "Exit".

        Selecting "New" simply clears any previous results from the screen
        and memory and resets some internal flags.

        The File "SaveAs" option is chosen to initiate saving of the
        current results into an ascii file. It works pretty much as you
        might expect.

        The "Print" option will dump the currently displayed numerical
        results to the DEFAULT Windows printer. You must handle all
        default printer setup operations via the Windows Print Manager.

        The "Exit" option terminates MOONPO.



        3.2 The "Control Data" Menu Item

        This item also brings up a popup menu with two sub-choices:
        "Observer Position" and "Time of Day".

        If you have not copied the MYLOCALE.INI file to your Windows directory
        you should click on the "Observer Position" choice and enter your
        geographical data, and a time zone value in the spots provided.
        (See section 2.1 (above) for a few comments on time zones, and
        Section 5.0 (below) for sample data.

        If you have made a change in the observer position or time zone
        data, then when you exit from  the dialog via the "Ok" button you
        will be asked if you wish to save the changes in the MYLOCALE.INI
        file. If you answer "yes" then all the file data will be replaced.

        You will need to execute the "Time of Day" dialog to set the month
        and day of the month for which you want  position data. Within
        that dialog you also set the hours for the first and last times of
        day and the increment in minutes for the calculations. All the
        input numbers are expected to be integers with no  decimals, etc.
        Some, but not all, parameters are checked before a run, so if you
        enter any oddball values (like ~23, for example), all bets are off.


        3.3 The "Run" Menu Item

        Choosing the "Run" menu item is the action which actually causes
        something to happen to produce data to be displayed in the blank
        window. There will probably be something of a delay before you
        see any results because MOONPO does all calculations before it
        displays any results.


        3.4 The "Moonrise" Menu Item

        This item initiates iterative calculations which attempt to find
        the APPROXIMATE times at which the moon crosses the horizon (or
        for which the elevation angle is zero). These calculations may
        also take a while if you do not have a fast computer. Those times
        and the approximate azimuth  angles at those times are then shown in
        a popup window. The results are nominal "astronomical" values and
        are not corrected for refractive atmospheric effects or topography.
        Refractive effects advance moon(sun)rise and delay moon(sun)set by
        about half a degree.

        3.5 The "Reset" Menu Item

        Choosing the "Reset" menu item erases the "worksheet" and prepares
        some internal flags for "new" calculations. "Reset" does not,
        however, alter the observer or time of day data. "Reset" performs
        the same actions as the "File New" choice (see above).



        3.6 The "Graph" Menu Item

        Select this item by mouse click or Alt+G to get simple graphs of
        elevation and azimuth angles (in degrees) vs local time (hours).
        They are displayed in an independent window. Negative elevation
        angles will not appear on the graph. The horizontal (abscissa)
        axis is your local time in hours, and the vertical (ordinate)
        axes will be the elevation (above the theoretical horizon) and
        azimuth angles in degrees.

        A displayed graph may be printed using the auxillary menu bar
        options seen at the top of each graph. However, YOUR PRINTER
        MUST HAVE GRAPHICS CAPABILITIES! If it doesn't, you may get a
        lot of blank sheets of paper!. Other options found on the graph
        windows' menu allow you to adjust the size and placement of the
        graph on the page. Use the graph window's Help option to assist
        you if desired. Normally, the graphs are scaled to fill about a
        complete printer page (X and Y scale factors = 1.0). Only scale
        factors smaller than 1.0 are suggested. You can also change the
        placement of a graph on paper by setting the Position offsets
        (entry unit is millimeters). Registered users can save their own
        values for those items.

        Use the Alt + Spacebar keys and then select the CLOSE popup menu
        item to close the graph window if you don't havσ a mouse.


        3.7 The "View" Menu Item

        This command may be used to draw rough sketches of the appearance
        of the moon at three-hour intervals. The views illustrate the
        expected light and dark portions as seen by an observer looking
        directly at the moon at the various times. Sketches are drawn
        clockwise, with the top most sketch being for local midnight
        (0000 hrs), and the lowest one for local noon (1200 hrs). Times
        are shown in a four digit HHMM format, with the date and the
        observer's location shown at the center of the window. Sketches
        may not be properly shaded in cases in which the bright or dark
        portion of a sketch should be a very narrow cresent. Either the
        desired bright crescent may be incorrectly blackened, or a
        crescent which should be blackened may not turn out that way.
        That behavior is a result of the finite size of the pixels used
        in the Windows environment (or perhaps the GSW graphics server ?).
        The background color of the individual sketches is light blue or
        cyan if the sun is above the local horizon at a given time and
        black otherwise.

        Please note that the sketches DO NOT appear on the screen in
        a position that somehow relates to its position in the sky.

        The entire sketch may also be saved in a file with any one of the
        following file types: 1) ".BMP", 2) ".WMF" or 3) ."WFM" by using
        the FileSaveAs command of the File popup menu. Simply specify one
        of the three preceding file "extensions" when you enter the name
        to be used for the file to be created.


        3.8 The "Help" Menu Item

        This one brings up another popup menu from which you can select
        the Index for the MoonPo help file, the Windows Help on Help file
        or maybe the About Moonpo dialog



        4.0 OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

        MOONPO is distributed as Shareware. If you use it after some
        reasonable trial period, please send the author $ 12.50 (US) for
        his trouble. Its the right thing to do! It will also make you feel
        better and will get you on a mailing list for information about
        any fixup versions or future enhanced versions. (Please send
        $ 15 (US) if you want to receive a pristine diskette copy of the
        latest version-in which case also tell me the disk size needed.

        You may not incorporate MOONPO into any commercial package without
        express written approval of the author, but you may feel free to
        give away unmodified copies of the demonstration archive (but not
        individual files) or post copies of it on any BBS which will accept
        it AND which makes no charges other than those made on the basis of
        connect time. The MOONPO version in the demonstration archive will
        function only for years 1991-1994. You can obtain a version usable
        later years by registering your copy.

        If you are using an unregistered copy of MOONPO version 2.1 or later
        which functions outside the years 1991-1994, then is is an ILLEGAL
        copy (and may also give incorrect results!). If you obtained such a
        copy from a BBS, please inform the SYSOP that said copy is NOT
        authorized for public release.


        Send your registration fee as well as any constructive comments or
        suggestions to:

        August Miller
        P.O Box 3512
        Las Cruces, NM 88003-3512 (U.S.A.)

        Internet: [e-mail]

        Note: Please remit registration fees by check or money order. Cash
              never seems to arrive. ALL registrants will receive written
              acknowledgements upon receipt of the registration fee.

        IF YOU ENCOUNTER ANY "ABNORMAL" BEHAVIOR, PLEASE SEND AS MUCH
        INFORMATION ABOUT ITS NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH IT
        WAS OBSERVED TO AUTHOR.

                                * ADVERTISEMENT *

        There is also a SUNPO which provides low resolution angular position
        data for the sun PLUS general estimates of the intensity of solar
        visible, UV-A and UV-B radiation with any one of four user selectable
        models for the atmosphere. Look for SUNPO131.ZIP. The registration fee
        for SUNPO is $ 5.00 (U.S.), or $ 7.50 if you want a directly shipped
        diskette. $ 20.00 will get you a diskette containing both the latest
        SUNPO and MOONPO files.

                                * ADVERTISEMENT *



        5.0 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

        5.1 Geographical Coordinates for some cities:

        In case you don't know where you are, here are a few clues:

                            Latitude       Longitude      TimeZone
                            -------------  ------------   --------
        Atlanta, GA         33D 21M North   84D 22M West     - 5
        Boston, MA          41D 21M North   71D  3M West     - 5
        Chicago, IL         41D 52M North   87D 37M West     - 6
        Dallas, TX          32D 47M North   96D 47M West     - 6
        Denver, CO          39D 44M North  104D 59M West     - 7
        El Paso, TX         31D 45M North  106D 29M West     - 7
        Fairbanks, AK       64D 48M North  147D 51M West     - 9
        Las Cruces, NM      32D 19M North  106D 47M West     - 7
        Los Angeles,CA      34D  3M North  118D 14M West     - 8
        New Orleans, LA     29D 56M North   90D  3M West     - 6
        Phoenix, AZ         33D 26M North  112D  3M West     - 7
        San Francisco, CA   37D 47M North  122D 25M West     - 8
        Seattle, WA         47D 37M North  122D 19M West     - 8

        London              51D 32M North    0D  4M West       0
        Hamburg             53D 33m North   10D  2M East     + 1
        Capetown            33D 55M South   18D 22M East     + 2
        Guayaquil            2D 10M South   79D 56M West     - 5
        Irkutsk             52D 30M North  104D 19M East     + 7
        Bangkok             13D 45M North  100D 30M East     + 7
        Manila              14D 34M North  120D 56M East     + 9 (I think)
        Mexico City         19D 26M North   99D  7M West     - 6
        Rio de Janeiro      22D 56M South   43D 11M West     - 3
        Tokyo               35D 45M North  139D 45M East    + 10

        wherein, "D" means degrees and "M" means minutes. Some of time zone
        values are based on longitude alone. They may be off by an hour or
        so either way in a few cases due to the author's ignorance of local
        customs.

        5.2 Eclipse Warnings

        MOONPO will occasionally issue "Eclipse Warnings". These warnings
        are issued if  the angular positions of the sun and the moon are
        approximately those for which a solar or lunar eclipse might occur.
        Since the precision of MOONPO's calculations is rather low, such
        warnings may well be "false alarms". If you see such a warning and
        are really interested in the possibility of an eclipse, you may
        wish to consult a more precise source of astromomical data for the
        date in question. The magazine "Sky and Telescope" is a good place
        to look and is probably available in your local public library.




        6.0 DISPLAY INFORMATION

        For an observer located as in the sample MYLOCALE.INI file, the screen
        display and the ascii output files look something like:

           Local Global  Lunar  Lunar    Lunar   Solar   Solar Observ.
            time   time  Azim.  Elev.    Phase   Azim.   Elev. Params.

             600   1300     62     -7     -161      69      11    1993
             700   1400     70      4     -160      76      23  21 Jun
             800   1500     77     16     -160      83      35  32.3 N
             900   1600     84     28     -159      90      48 106.8 W
            1000   1700     92     40     -159      99      60
            1100   1800    102     52     -158     116      73
            1200   1900    116     63     -158     168      81
            1300   2000    143     73     -157     235      76
            1400   2100    194     75     -157     257      64
            1500   2200    233     68     -156     268      51
            1600   2300    252     57     -156     275      39
            1700   2400    262     46     -154     282      26
            1800    100    271     33     -154     289      14
            1900    200    278     21     -154     297       2
            2000    300    285      9     -153     305      -9




       7.0 PROGRAMMING INFORMATION

       The numerical algorithms utilized in MOONPO are loosely based on
       information from several sources but primarily use the "low
       precision" equations found in the 1993 edition of the Astronomical
       Almanac for describing the positions of the moon and sun as seen
       from the earth. A recommended reference book for anyone who wishes
       to learn more about doing astronomical calculations on personal
       computer is "Astronomy on a Personal Computer" by O. Montenbruck
       and T. Pfleger, (translated by S. Dunlop) and  published by Springer
       Verlag, 1991. A good source of high precision tables is the
       Astronomical Almanac (published yearly). The developer of MOONPO
       is also indebted to high precision FORTRAN program ILLUM by Ir.
       A. Van Bochove and M. Erlich which has been used for testing the
       validity of the low precison (but faster!) routines.

       All programming and compiling of MOONPO was done using
       Version 1.5 of Borland International's Turbo Pascal for Windows.
       Note however, that the drawing and printing of graphs is
       handled by the GSW.EXE and GSWDLL.DLL routines. The latter
       "runtime routines" are products of Bits Per Second, Ltd. and
       Pinnacle Publishing, Inc. and are included under the licensing
       provisions of their Graphics Server SDK Version 2.2.

       Low precision formulas for the positions of the moon and sun
       have been used to accelerate the calculations. Such results
       should be accurate enough for most purposes at least through
       the end of 1995. (After that time, all bets are off unless an
       updated version is prepared.) Those formulas are not, in
       general, sufficiently accurate for eclipse predictions so you
       may not want to spend a lot of time trying to do that. If
       sufficient interest is shown (as measured by the number of
       registered users .. say 100 or more), a more accurate version
       will be prepared. As already stated above, MOONPO results are
       not corrected for refraction. That would be overkill in view of
       the low precison formulas used for position calculations.





       8.0  VALIDATION OF MOONPO RESULTS

       MOONPO's results have been checked for several geographical sites,
       years and time of year by comparing its results with an updated
       (in terms of ephemeris data) version of program ILLUM by Ir. A.C.
       van Bochove's and M. Erlich. In virtually all cases tested, MOONPO
       results for lunar and solar positions agree with those of ILLUM to
       within two degrees or better. You can make a few judgements of your
       own by printing the file ILUM93.DTA and running MOONPO for the
       same conditions. ILUM93.DTA is a very, very small sampling of
       calculations which were done using the updated ILLUM in testing
       MOONPO.

       9.0 NOTICES

       Microsoft MS-DOS and Windows 3.x  are products of Microsoft
       Corporation.

       Turbo Pascal for Windows is a product of Borland International.

       GSW.EXE and GSWDLL.DLL are products of Bits per Second, Ltd. and
       Pinnacle Publishing, Inc.

       OS/2 is a product of International Business Machines (IBM).

       Revised 16 May 1994