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S K Y G L O B E 3.0
A Shareware Product of KlassM SoftWare
Copyright (c) 1992 Mark A Haney
Congratulations! You are the proud owner of a copy of SkyGlobe 3.0, the
fun and easy educational astronomy program. SkyGlobe is distributed as
Shareware to reach the widest possible audience, so let's take care
of the legalities first.
SkyGlobe is copyrighted material. You are granted permission to use
SkyGlobe, and to make as many backup copies for your own purposes as
you want. If you are not a registered user, you are permitted to use
SkyGlobe on a trial basis to see if you find it useful. If you decide
to keep and use SkyGlobe, your copy should be registered.
You are encouraged to distribute copies of SkyGlobe, subject to the
following conditions:
1) All files, except for the file SKYGLOBE.REG, are
distributed together and unaltered.
2) No charge is made for the software.
(A small fee for media and handling is permissible.)
Anyone who receives a copy of SkyGlobe from you should register
their copy if they decide to keep it and use it.
As I am now a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals,
I have included a copy of their standard Shareware and license
wording at the end of this file.
SkyGlobe was originally developed with registered Shareware. Thank
you for supporting the Shareware concept by registering your copy of
S K Y G L O B E ! ! !
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
SKYGLOBE 3.0 ORDER FORM Feb. 29, 1992
Please use this form to register a copy of SkyGlobe 3.0.
Registration ($20) will entitle you to the following:
1) A copy of the current version of SkyGlobe,
with your Home Town as the default city.
2) A Handy SkyGlobe Reference Card.
Shipping Address: Name:
..........................................
Street:
........................................
City, ST, ZIP
..................................
Home Town(s):
(Up to three permitted) ...............................................
Disk Type: 5 1/4" 3 1/2"
(circle one)
Default Video Mode: CGA Hercules EGA VGA
(circle one)
Please make checks ($20) payable to Klassm Software.
MI residents must add 4% sales tax, for a total of $20.80.
For your convenience, I now accept VISA/MasterCard, with a form below.
International customers need pay only $20, which includes airmail
shipping. For those of you without VISA/MasterCard, US dollar checks
drawn on a US bank are safest for me. However, to avoid excessive bank
charges, you might try international money orders or US currency. As a
last resort, I can accept foreign currency, or international checks
denominated in the currency of the issuing bank. Unfortunately, I am
not able to accept Eurocheques. Thank you for your cooperation.
Mail to: KlassM SoftWare
284 142nd AVE
Caledonia, MI 49316-9604
Credit Card Authorization Form:
Card #__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Signature:_______________________________________________
Date of Authorization:___________ Amount:__________ Expiration:______
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy SkyGlobe!
-3-
Table of Contents
Welcome Page...................................................1
Order Form.....................................................2
Table of Contents..............................................3
SkyGlobe 3.0 Files.............................................3
Quick Starting Instructions....................................4
About the Reference Card.......................................5
Time and Date Commands.........................................5
Where are We Looking? (SkyGlobe Directions)....................6
Moving Around (Cursor Keys and More)...........................6
What Do We See? (Stars and Zooms)..............................6
The Planets....................................................7
Finding Planets, Stars, and Constellations.....................8
Changing Viewing Locations.....................................8
Lines and Labels...............................................9
Keeping Track (Screen Displays)................................9
Printing.......................................................9
What is a Toggle? (SkyGlobe Controls).........................10
Special Command Modes (SPACE, Home, and End)..................10
Changing Your Environment.....................................11
Mousing Around................................................12
Windows and Memory............................................12
The SkyGlobe Projection.......................................12
Saying Goodbye................................................12
Thanks for Your Support!......................................12
SkyGlobe Background...........................................13
SkyGlobe Background continued.................................14
Questions & Answers...........................................15
Questions & Answers continued.................................16
Questions & Answers III.......................................17
SkyGlobe Command List.........................................18
Magnitude Levels..............................................19
Definition of Shareware.......................................19
Disclaimer....................................................20
Index.........................................................21
SkyGlobe 3.0 Files
SKYGLOBE.EXE Standalone executable file, containing data for 7000 stars.
SKY8000.DAT Data for additional 8000 stars (7001-15000).
SKY10000.DAT Data for additional 10000 stars (15001-25000).
SKYGLOBE.DOC This file.
README Program description and late news.
SKYGLOBE.ICO A Windows 3.x icon for SkyGlobe.
-4-
Quick Starting Instructions
These instructions will enable you to get SkyGlobe up and
running as quickly as possible. Then you can return to the
manual to learn about some of SkyGlobe's advanced features.
SKYGLOBE.EXE is the only file that is absolutely necessary
in order to run SkyGlobe. If you wish to see more than 7000 stars,
you will need the files SKY8000.DAT and SKY10000.DAT as well.
Make certain these files are in the currently active directory,
type SKYGLOBE, and press the Enter key.
If you are a registered user of SkyGlobe, all you need to do
is type GO and press Enter. SkyGlobe will determine your choice of
video adapter and location from the file SKYGLOBE.REG. You can over-
ride the video settings from the command line by using a command such
as SKYGLOBE E, for instance, to start SkyGlobe in EGA mode. Other
choices are V for VGA, C for CGA, H for Hercules, M for monochrome,
S for SVGA VESA mode, S2 for SVGA mode 6Ah, and S3 for Tseng SVGA
mode 29h.
When you type GO and press Enter, you will be quickly presented
with a view of the southern sky for the current time and date. In the
middle of the top of the screen will be a welcome and copyright message,
which will disappear when you press your first command key. Most of the
commands in SkyGlobe require only a single keypress.
Let's try a few of the commands. First press 'A' to start the
automatic increment of time. The time, as indicated in the upper-
lefthand corner of the screen, will begin to change by five minutes.
Press 'Shift-A' to reverse direction, then press 'A' again to stop
the movement. Press 'B' for Brightness a few times and watch more
stars appear. Most actions in SkyGlobe are reversed by using the
Shift key. Press 'Shift-B', and watch the dimmest stars vanish. Try
'Z' and 'Shift-Z' to Zoom in and out.
Want to set a specific time or date? Try 'M', 'H', 'D' and 'T'
for Month, Hour, Day and Time (in minutes). Change the number of
Constellation Lines displayed by pressing 'C'. Use the cursor keys
to change the Viewing Direction and Elevation. And if you ever need
to use your computer for something besides SkyGlobe, press 'Q' to
return to DOS.
I hope this quick introduction has gotten you well started with
SkyGlobe. More detailed descriptions of the commands appear through-
out the following pages. Have fun!
-5-
About the Reference Card
If you are a registered user of SkyGlobe, you received a Handy
Reference Card that will remind you of SkyGlobe commands. The inside
of the Reference Card contains two lists of the 300 brightest stars,
as well as lists of the constellations and Messier Objects. These
lists will help you when using the Find object command.
Time and Date Commands
SkyGlobe provides many ways to change the Time or Date of the
displayed sky view. You can change the Time forward or backward by a
minute or an hour. The Date can be changed forward or backward by a
day, a month, a year, or a century. Except for tiny changes due to
leap years, only the planets change from year to year.
Use the table below:
Forward Backward
1 Minute Press 'T' Press 'Shift-T'
1 Hour 'H' 'Shift-H'
1 Day 'D' 'Shift-D'
1 Month (30 days) 'M' 'Shift-M'
1 Year 'Y' 'Shift-Y'
1 Century 'J' 'Shift-J'
One of SkyGlobe's most useful features is the Auto-Increment
mode. This gives you the ability to simulate the passage of time on
your computer. To enter or exit this mode, press 'A'. The sky view
will begin to change in a manner that depends on the Auto-Increment
parameters. Use 'Alt-A' to change the increment type from Time to
Date and back. Use 'Shift-A' to change the direction of increment
from Forward to Backward and back. You can also change the speed of
increment. Press '>' to increase the speed, and '<' to slow back down.
Only the active increment type, either Time or Date, is affected by
the '>' and '<' keys.
V3.0 of SkyGlobe adds two new features to the Auto-Increment
mode. Press 'R' to enter (or disable) Real-Time mode. This will
synchronize the Time and Date to the system clock. You still have
control over all commands except those related to Time and Date.
Press 'Shift-R', and the Increment speed will be set to one Side-
real day, or about 1436 minutes. This has the effect of seeming
to freeze the star and constellation display, while allowing the
planets to continue their progress along the ecliptic. This is
useful for learning about retrograde motion, as well as teaching
something about the relative speeds of motions of the planets.
-6-
Where Are We Looking?
Now let's learn about how SkyGlobe interprets directions. The
program assumes you are standing outside and that your eyes are
facing the same direction your feet are pointing. This is the View
Direction. The display shows this direction in degrees, ranging from
0 for due north, through 180 degrees for due south, to 350 degrees
for 10 degrees west of north. The View Direction is also indicated
by abbreviations in the parameter display, as well as along the
Horizon line by initials.
The View Elevation ranges from 0 degrees to 90. The Horizon ap-
pears as a straight line at the 0 degree setting. It might help to
imagine that you are extremely short for this one, so that the ground
covers the lower half of your eyes, but is transparent. The 90 degree
setting is like looking straight overhead at the Zenith.
Moving Around
SkyGlobe provides many convenient methods for rapidly changing
the sky view. The up and down arrow keys change the View Elevation
by 5 degrees. The right and left arrow keys work with the View
Direction. When the View Elevation is near the Horizon these keys
work about as you expect, but nearer to the Zenith they rotate the
view more than they move it. This is correct when you remember that
the View Direction stands for where your feet are pointing. PgUp and
PgDn change Elevation in multiple jumps. Use Alt or Ctrl with the
arrow keys to change the direction in smaller amounts. Finally, you can
change the View Direction instantly to compass points by pressing
'N', 'S', 'E', or 'W'.
What Do We See?
Lots and lots of stars! You can change the number of stars
displayed by pressing 'B' for Brightness to increase the number, or
'Shift-B' to decrease it. The number of stars added or deleted from
the display depends on the number currently displayed. A list which
associates the number of stars displayed with limiting magnitude is
on page 19.
SkyGlobe allows you to adjust the magnification of your sky
view. At a nominal magnification of 1, with the Inflated projection
chosen, (this is the new program default) half of the celestial sphere
is visible. Since the eye can focus on far less area than this, a
certain amount of distortion is evident at low magnifications. Still,
you can use these views to quickly find areas of interest. The center
of the screen is always the most accurate portion. Use 'Z' to increase
the magnification and 'Shift-Z' to decrease it. In common with many
SkyGlobe commands, as described below, you can use 'Alt-Z' and 'Ctrl-Z'
for smaller increments, and 'Home-Z' and 'End-Z' to quickly maximize
or minimize the Zoom index.
-7-
The Planets
You can use SkyGlobe to learn something about the way the
planets move around the Sun. The very word 'Planet' is derived from
the Greek word for wanderer. The ancients, who spent more time out-
of-doors than we do, noticed that a few bright 'stars' seemed to
move against the 'fixed' background of the rest of the heavens.
(Here I mean fixed with respect to each other; they were acquainted
with the slow progression from one season to the next of the whole
'sphere'.) They soon worked out the repetitive patterns the diff-
erent 'stars' followed. We will learn how to simulate this motion
shortly, but first we need to talk about some SkyGlobe features that
are relevant.
Although the stars don't really change from one year to the next,
the planets do. Notice the year displayed on the Date display in the
upper left-hand corner. If this Time and Date are not displayed, press
'F2' to turn this display on. Use 'Y' or 'Sh-Y' to increase or decrease
the year. These planetary positions are now calculated on the fly in
SkyGlobe 3.0. This is a bit slower than previous versions of SkyGlobe,
but the added flexibility of dispensing with the data files is more
than worth it. You can use 'F3' to turn on the planet display, and to
turn on planet labels. EGA/VGA color users see the planets in more or
less appropriate colors. You may need to change the Time or Date to see
your favorite planet.
Now that we have seen the planets, let's see how they move. Change
the Viewing Direction to South and the Time to 12:00 noon. Turn off
Daylight Time by pressing 'V'. Set Auto-Increment Type to Date by
pressing 'Alt-A' if needed. Now press 'A' and watch the show. If you
want to see how the planets stick near the ecliptic, make sure its
display is turned on, by pressing 'F6' if needed. Since your location
may not fall exactly on the Standard Time meridian, the Sun may not
be due South for you at Civil noon. Also notice how it wanders from
side to side throughout the year.
Notice how Mercury and Venus stay close to the Sun. Mars has
positively weird behavior, since it is outside the Earth's orbit, but
relatively close by. It also has an eccentric orbit. The other outside
planets drift more slowly against the background of the stars. You
may see more clearly how the moon goes through its phases, being al-
ways in New Moon phase when near the Sun. Move to Midnight, and the
Moon will be in Full phase when it shows up in the South. Since the
orbit of the Moon is inclined at about 5 degrees to the ecliptic, it
wanders above and below it each month. This motion, which rotates
through an 18 year cycle, accounts for the periodicity of eclipses.
SkyGlobe 3.0 uses calculated planetary positions to allow for planet
display without the need for data tables. For instance, take a look
at the solar eclipse of July 11, 1991. Slowly step through the hours,
and watch how the moon gradually overtakes the Sun. Currently the years
are limited to the range 1900-2099, but this range will be greatly ex-
panded shortly.
Another interesting way to watch the motion of the planets is with
the Sidereal Time mode of the Auto-Increment feature. Find a direction
and a time and date that contain some planets, and press 'Shift-R'. The
time will begin incrementing by 23 hours 56 minutes, or one sidereal
day. The planets, especially the Sun, Moon, and inner planets, will
begin to drift against the unmoving background of the stars.
-8-
Finding Planets, Stars, And Constellations
Let's say you wish to find a planet, or perhaps your favorite
constellation. Press 'F' to access the Find menu. Use the cursor keys
to navigate the menus, using PgDn and PgUp to choose other pages for
other types of Objects. The display will be re-centered at the chosen
object, if it is visible from your latitude. If necessary, the time will
be incremented until the object is above the horizon. The next time
you use the menus, the last chosen object will be under the menu cursor.
Rather than going through the menus, you can quickly identify many
stars by placing the mouse cursor over them. If they are among the
brightest 300 stars, their name will appear in the lower left-hand
corner, if the mouse is on. If you press the left mouse button, the
display will re-center at the mouse cursor. Press the right button
to return the center of the display to old mouse position. The action
of the mouse cursor will appear somewhat erratic during Auto-Increment
modes, since its position is only updated once per display in these
modes. You may prefer not to move it, or to turn it off with Alt-F5.
I would like to say a few words here about nomenclature. The
names of the constellations are well standardized. Many of the
strange names in the southern sky are Latinized names of scientific
implements, since these constellations were named, (by the Western
world, that is), in the beginning of the Industrial Age. Most of the
northern constellation names go back much further. We use the genitive,
or possessive, form of the constellation name to denote star names.
For example, Alpha Centauri means the first star of Centaurus. The
stars were generally enumerated in order of brightness. Since star
brightnesses change with time, this correlation is not always exact.
Many stars also have popular names, which are not standardized nearly
as well as constellations. Most of the names are Arabic in origin.
This reflects the fact that the Arabic world maintained and developed
astronomical knowledge while Europe was struggling through the Dark
Ages. You may want to take my lists with a grain of salt. Fifty-seven
stars have been chosen for celestial navigation purposes by the various
authorities, and labels for these stars appear in a different color
in EGA and VGA color modes.
Changing Viewing Locations
One of the most popular pastimes for new astronomers is seeing
what the sky looks like from other places. Perhaps you're thinking
of moving, and want to make sure the stars will still be interesting
to view from your prospective new home. (They will be!) Rather than
quitting the program and choosing a different location from the menu,
simply press 'L'. Once you make your new choice you will return to
the program with all your other parameters just the way you left them.
Since SkyGlobe 3.0 now has over 230 locations, there are two pages
of locations to choose from. Use the 'End' key to quickly go to the
spot that changes between pages.
If you wish to move a small amount in a compass direction, try
'Alt-N', 'Alt-S', 'Alt-E' or 'Alt-W'. Then you can change locations
without ever taking your eyes off the current display. The east and
west moves simply have the effect of changing the local time by 1
minute. The north-south changes are 1/4 degree, about 17 miles.
-9-
Lines And Labels
One of the most useful features of SkyGlobe is its ability to
quickly and easily change the lines and labels that help our eyes
and minds make sense of the vastness of the sky. This can be very
helpful to the novice just learning the stars. Use the 'C' key
to increase the number of Constellation Lines displayed. As always,
use the Shift key to reduce the number of lines. The Constellation
Lines have been grouped by importance, with some constellations
having several classes of lines. The constellations also have
abbreviations available for display. Use 'F9' to display these three-
letter abbreviations. The 1000 brightest stars can be labelled by
using 'F8' to see more labels, and keep pressing it until the labels
disappear if you want to see fewer, or use 'Shift-F8'.
Two levels of display are supported for RA-Dec grid lines, which
can be controlled with the F7 key.
Labels for the Messier Objects can be turned on or off with the
'F4' key. Use the Reference Card to learn the names of the important
objects.
V3.0 of SkyGlobe has added the capability to display either an
outline or a filled region to represent the Milky Way. Press 'K' or
'Shift-K' to scroll through the levels of display, which affect the
types, brightnesses, and colors of the lines and regions.
Keeping Track
SkyGlobe has two handy on-screen displays to help the user. The
left-hand display will help you keep track of settings such as the Zoom
Index, and will remind you of the Viewing Location. By pressing 'F2' you
can see the Auto-Increment parameters, the Print parameters and other
miscellaneous information. This display can be blanked by pressing 'F2'
yet again, or use 'Shift-F2' to peel off one screen at a time.
A Help screen appears on the right-hand side of the screen. This
display will remind you of the single-key commands of SkyGlobe. Press
'F1', and the function key assignments appear (on non-CGA machines) One
more 'F1', and the list of alternate function keys shows up. Press 'F1'
again to turn off the Help display.
Printing
A snapshot of the screen may be printed with the use of the 'P'
command. You will be prompted to choose a printer type, and the output
will be directed to either LPT1 or LPT2, depending on the setting chosen
with Alt-F7. No matter your video type, a display will be created in VGA
resolution for dot-matrix printing, or SVGA resolution for HP-compatible
laser printing.
-10-
What Is A Toggle?
Many of the display features in SkyGlobe can be instantly
turned off or turned back on by pressing a single function key.
A list follows.
F5-Horizon line F9-Constellation Labels
F6-Ecliptic line F10-Constellation Lines
We haven't yet discussed a few features mentioned in the above
function key list. SkyGlobe can display Right Ascension, Declination
and Ecliptic Lines to help you orient yourself on the celestial sphere.
Notice how the ecliptic passes through the constellations of the
zodiac, and how Orion lies right across the celestial equator.
Try looking north with Auto-Increment mode on. Watch how the sphere
appears to rotate, and how Polaris, very near the celestial pole,
seems almost motionless.
Using the Alt-key in conjunction with the function keys can be
used to control some of the more obscure parameters in SkyGlobe 3.0.
Alt-F1 reduces the display to stars and constellation lines only.
Alt-F2 reduces the display to stars only.
Alt-F3 gradually changes the background color from black to blue.
Alt-F4 enables Twilight Mode, which artificially brightens the
background when the Sun or Moon is above the horizon.
Alt-F5 turns off the mouse position display, independently of the
F2 Parameter Index. This makes mouse centering impossible.
Alt-F6 toggles the Precession flag. With the current range of only
200 years, this is not all that valuable, but it does work.
Alt-F7 toggles the printer port between LPT1 and LPT2.
Alt-F8 controls whether line feeds are added to carriage returns
while printing.
The TAB key is used for an interesting SkyGlobe feature. It will
find the next sunrise or sunset, depending on the current situation.
This feature occasionally stutters if used continually, and please
don't tempt fate by using it too close to the poles, as your system
will probably lock up.
Special Command Modes
The SPACE bar, Home and End keys, and Alt and Ctrl keys, have special
meaning in V3.0, as described on the Reference Card. The SPACE bar acti-
vates Turbo mode, which takes the next keypress and continually feeds it
into the program, until the SPACE bar is pressed again. The Home and End
keys, for many commands, take the next keypress, and either minimize or
maximize the program parameter altered by that key. The Alt and Ctrl keys
often work as very small positive and negative increments for the command
with which they are used. To illustrate this, press Home, followed by 'Z',
to reset the Zoom Index to 1. You will have noticed that you were prompted
to enter the command to be used with the Home feature. Now, press the SPACE
bar. You will be prompted to enter the Turbo key. Let's use the Alt feature
here. Hold down the Alt key, and press 'Z'. The display will slowly begin
to expand, and a message on the bottom of the screen will remind you to
press the SPACE bar when you wish to exit Turbo mode.
-11-
Changing Your Environment
SkyGlobe 3.0 adds the capability to customize many program settings.
In VGA and SVGA color modes, you can brighten or dim the colors with '+'
and '-', and this bias can be saved in the .CF0 file (explained below).
The text color can be changed with '/'. The Background color can be
changed from black through several shades of blue with Alt-F3. You can
select a twilight mode with Alt-F4. This will artificially brighten the
background color when either the Sun or the Moon is visible. The type
of Time display, either AM/PM or 24-hour, can be changed with '='.
Use of the number keys allows for the saving of current program
settings. Up to 10 different settings may be saved, one of which will
be used as the new program default. These keys will create the file
SKYGLOBE.CF#, where # is a digit 0 through 9. When SkyGlobe is started,
it looks for the .CF0 file to get its initial settings. If you would
rather use the default settings, delete or REName this file. If you
want to use one of the other files, just use SKYGLOBE #, such as
SKYGLOBE 4 to use SKYGLOBE.CF4. This scheme allows for the use of
batch files, such as ECLIPSE.BAT=SKYGLOBE 1, where SKYGLOBE.CF1 has
been set up for July 11, 1991. These parameters can be mixed with video
choices, as long as you separate the parameters with spaces.
If you are a registered user, the file SKYGLOBE.REG specifies up
to three custom locations. (For unregistered users, you can use con-
figuration files to use a nearby location as a default, without the
need to go through the Location menu.) These custom locations will
occupy the top three spots in the Location menu. When your order was
filled, your Home Town was placed in the top spot, while Caledonia and
Roscommon occupy the next two. If you move, or you wish to change the
second and third cities, you may use any text editor to do so. But
PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Before you make any changes, you should make a copy
of the file. Then make certain you don't change the lengths of any
field or the whole file. The location name, latitude, and longitude
fields should be self-explanatory. The first three characters refer
to North-South, West-East, and Daylight Time, respectively. Use 'N'
or 'S', 'W' or 'E', and 'Y' or 'N' to specify the hemispheres, and
whether Daylight Time is used. The next two characters refer to the
time zone used. This number refers to the number of half-hours around
from the Greenwich meridian the standard meridian for the time zone is.
Use 10 for Eastern Time, 12 for Central, 14 for Mountain, and 16 for
Pacific. European continental time is 46, not -2 or anything. You can
also use this method to specify a location if you are traveling, such
as an ocean voyage.
SKYGLOBE.REG also allows for the specification of either DOT or LAS
default printer types, and either HER, CGA, EGA, or VGA default video
types. If your order didn't say, I let the program make its best guess.
This can be overridden on the command line, as shown on page 3, or you
can edit the appropriate line in the .REG file.
-12-
Mousing Around
V3.0 of SkyGlobe now adds support for a mouse. The RA-Dec coordinates
of the mouse cursor, along with the name of any object underneath it, will
be displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. If you wish to
re-center the display at the spot of the mouse cursor, press the button.
As long as the chosen spot is visible from your location at some time,
the spot under the mouse cursor will become the new center of the screen.
Pressing the right mouse button will return the screen to the position
before the left button was pressed. You can turn off the position display
with 'Alt-F5', or the right number of 'F2's or 'Shift-F2's.
Windows and Memory
This version of SkyGlobe requires about 430K of free memory to
to run in full-color mode. While every registered copy of SkyGlobe is
run in a Windows DOS box, mostly to test the .REG file, some users may
have trouble with low-memory conditions, depending on their high-memory
managers and setups. If SkyGlobe detects a low-memory condition, its
first remedy is to try to run without loading SKY10000.DAT, then without
SKY8000.DAT. If these remedies are insufficient to run in full-color
mode, SkyGlobe attempts to run in monochrome mode, which only requires
about 240K of free memory. If possible, SKY8000.DAT and SKY10000.DAT
are then loaded, since they require less memory than full color. I am
working on an 8-color mode (as opposed to the current 16 colors) which
will save 64K. This will lower the color memory requirement to about 366K,
which should be well within the range of most users.
The SkyGlobe Projection
SkyGlobe 3.0 now offers a new projection for displaying the sky,
which has become the default projection. It leaves the center, or more
accurate, portion of the original SkyGlobe projection intact, but
Inflates or stretches the edge portion, allowing for a more realistic
portrayal of shapes near the edge. Use 'I' to toggle between the new
and old projections.
Saying Goodbye
Finally, press 'Q' or ESC to return to DOS.
Thanks For Your Support!
I hope you enjoy SkyGlobe! Since SkyGlobe is Shareware, you
are encouraged to please pass it on to anyone who may find it
interesting. Registered Users will automatically hear about future
updates. Any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated.
(Some future plans can be found on page 14.) I can be reached on
CompuServe as 76207,3377, or in care of the address on the order form.
Thanks, and have fun learning about the stars!
-13-
SkyGlobe and the Stars - Some Background Information
Why do we see different stars at different times? The Earth makes
one complete rotation every day. If there were no Sun we could see that
the stars appear to make one complete revolution at the same time. The
North Star, Polaris (#51), is almost directly above the North Pole on
the Earth's axis of rotation. So the stars near the North Star (about
halfway up the northern sky in mid-northern latitudes) make tiny little
circles every day. Farther away from the North Star the stars and the
constellations they form wheel across the sky in huge arcs before they
disappear below the horizon.
Why do we see different stars at different dates? Imagine midnight
in April. The Sun is behind the Earth, and you are facing away from it
if you face due south. Now imagine midnight in October, six months later.
You are still facing away from the Sun. But because the Earth has moved
halfway around the Sun in its yearly orbit, you are looking in exactly
the opposite direction to the one you were in April. So different stars
are visible at midnight, and the ones near the North Star have made half
a revolution. If there were no Sun, you could see that at noon the October
sky is the same as the midnight sky in April.
Before Standard Time Zones were instituted, the Sun was due south
at noon everywhere. That was what noon meant. Now that is true only if
you happen to live near the center of the time zone. If you live in
Michigan, the Sun is due south around 12:30 or so. In New York City,
which near the center line for the same time zone, the Sun reaches due
south a few minutes before noon, over a half hour earlier than in
Michigan. The Sun reaches due south somewhat later in Chicago than
in Michigan, but because Chicago is in the Central time zone this
occurs before 12:00PM. This has to be allowed for to make the display
correct, and is unique to each location. Daylight Saving Time is handled
in a similar manner, and is indicated on the Time Display by the letter
D before the time if Daylight is in use.
The sky can be viewed as a sphere with the Earth at the center, and
the stars as fixed points on the sphere. Any attempt to represent this
3-dimensional space on a 2-dimensional surface inevitably introduces
some distortion. SkyGlobe uses a unique projection that can be calculated
very rapidly and provides quite accurate rendering of shapes as they
appear in the sky, even near the edge of the display. The old ortho-
graphic projection used in earlier versions of SkyGlobe (and still
available through the use of the 'I' command) had fairly severe dis-
tortions near the edges, and was only slightly faster.
-14-
Background Continued
Another issue that must be dealt with is double stars. Perhaps as
many as half of all stars are actually multiple star systems. The naked
eye frequently interprets two dim stars close together as one brighter
star. Many 'stars' that serve as end-points on constellation lines fit
into this category. If these stars were left dim and separate they would
appear 'invisible' at low brightnesses and make constellation shapes
unrecognizable. At higher brightnesses and low magnifications these stars
would be plotted on top of one another as points, still artificially dim.
The solution is to combine magnitudes for these stars. The ordering of
stars in SkyGlobe reflects this combination, so at medium brightnesses
and magnifications the display is as realistic as possible. The dimmer
star is retained at its actual brightness, so at very high magnifications
and brightnesses you will see one artificially bright star and one correct
dim star.
SkyGlobe contains coordinates for 7000 stars in the file SKYGLOBE.EXE.
This represents all the stars visible to the naked eye. These coordinates
were obtained from Sky Catalogue 2000.0 with permission from the publisher,
Sky Publishing Corp. This permission is gratefully appreciated. The files
SKY8000.DAT and SKY10000.DAT contain another 8000 and 10000 stars.
SkyGlobe was programmed mostly in assembly language for maximum speed.
Since there is necessarily a tradeoff between speed and accuracy, the
precision of the star coordinates was carefully matched to the resolution
of the graphics display and the projection algorithm chosen.
Of course, no program is perfect. Any suggestions or bug reports
would be greatly appreciated, and if you have any problems getting this
new version up and running on your system, don't hesitate to contact me.
I can be reached at the address on the order form and Reference Card, or
on CompuServe at 76207,3377.
This copy of SkyGlobe is a fairly early version of a major rewrite
of the program. As such, all major features have been implemented, and it
has been verified that it works properly in many different environments.
However, there are a lot of minor improvements that I plan to add soon,
and no doubt some rough edges to be smoothed. Since this rewrite is such
an improvement over the old version, I have decided not to wait any longer
to release it. If you are a registered user, you can always receive an
un-customized copy of the latest version for $5 ($6 for international
users). Full customized upgrades with a new Reference Card are available
for $10. If you are a Shareware user, it is almost certain that the copy
you will receive, should you decide to register, will contain some enhance-
ments. These should include: more star names, more years for the planetary
positions, more zooms, more navigation features, Greek-letter designations,
more DSOs (with icons), more mouse features, Moon phases, support for more
SVGA cards with a better SVGA display, and better printing.
Thank you for supporting Shareware and...
S K Y G L O B E ! ! !
-15-
Questions and Answers
Why won't SkyGlobe run in color on my system?
There are two different answers to this question. Many people who
have color CGA systems expect SkyGlobe to run in color on their systems.
Unfortunately, the resolution of CGA color mode is only 320x200, which is
insufficient to produce the high quality display necessary for SkyGlobe.
Those of you with EGA or better displays may be equally dismayed
if SkyGlobe comes up in monochrome mode on your system. This is due to
a lack of available memory, and you should notice a message to that
effect when SkyGlobe is started. (You can force monochrome mode with
SKYGLOBE M.) A full explanation of what is happening appears on page
12 of this document. One other possibility is that SkyGlobe may be
using the value in your SKYGLOBE.REG file to start up in CGA mode,
even though you now have a better display available. To change this,
either change your SKYGLOBE.REG file, using the instructions on page
10, or start SkyGlobe with SKYGLOBE V, or use the V.BAT file.
How can I speed up SkyGlobe?
There are really several answers to this question. SkyGlobe always
does what you ask it to do as fast as it can. (We think it's pretty
fast!) The trick is to ask it to do things in a way that seems faster.
The first method involves asking SkyGlobe to do less work. Try
turning off everything you can do without, especially the Milky Way,
planets, and horizon line. Other possibilities: ecliptic, right
ascension and declination lines, extra constellation lines, and
dim stars. In addition, determining the location of the mouse
cursor tends to be a slow operation, so you may want to turn it
off by using 'F2', 'Shift-F2', or 'Alt-F5'.
The second method applies only to Auto-Increment mode. SkyGlobe
starts off changing the view five minutes at a time. You can increase
this rate by pressing '>'. Another way is to change the increment type
to Date mode by pressing 'Alt-A', Then increase the Date increment rate
by pressing '>'.
Finally, you can use several of the helpful keyboard shortcuts
available in SkyGlobe to create just the view you desire. My personal
favorite is Turbo mode, which is entered by pressing the SPACE bar.
When you enter Turbo mode, the next key you press becomes the Turbo
command. This means it will be continually fed into the program, just
as if you were pressing it yourself. You can use this to zoom in with
Z or Alt-Z, and you can sit back and watch it happen, instead of deciding
how many Zs to hit. When you are satisfied, just press the SPACE bar again.
Try this with Alt-arrow keys, or Ctrl-arrows, since not all keyboards are
the same. It's also convenient for Turbo-H or Turbo-M, if you really want
to get to a Time or Date in a hurry.
The Home and End keys can save a lot of time as well. They generally
go immediately to the minimum or maximum values of a command or feature.
With Time or Date commands, this is the quickest way to go to midnight or
-16-
Q & A continued
noon, or the first or 15th of the month, or January or July. End-B is by
far the quickest way to turn on all the stars. Home-Z is the quickest way
to return to the minimum Zoom, and you can follow it with SPACE-Z to get
to some moderate value.
For changing direction quickly, you can't beat the N, S, E, and W
direction commands. PgUp and PgDn can change the View Elevation faster
than single arrow commands. Use the mouse button to quickly re-center the
display at the position of the mouse cursor. And you can use Find to center
the display at a particular object, instead of figuring out how to get
there with the right combination of arrow keys.
Why does Find say No Object sometimes?
The centering position for Find Object is limited to whole degree
increments, so sometimes Find will work, but the No Object message will
appear. Now that Constellation Labels and Messier Object labels are
automatically turned on, and an entire star name is displayed when an
object is found, this should be less of a problem. The mouse cursor will
be very near the desired object, even if it is not right on top of it.
One exception is when the desired object is not ever visible from the
current viewing location. In this case, the direction is changed to bring
the desired object as close as possible to viewing. It should be directly
below the center of the screen. By the way, the closer you are to the
equator, the more objects will appear over the horizon.
Why does the time change sometimes when I Find an object?
If the desired object is not currently above the horizon, but it will
be sometime during the next 24 hours, the time will be incremented until
the object just clears the horizon. It is possible that you are more
interested in the date that an object will appear over the horizon for
a given time. You might be able to use Sidereal Time mode to your advan-
tage here, but there is currently no way to select for date instead of
time, or to defeat the time increment feature.
Why does the screen go blank when I try to start SkyGlobe?
If you attempt to start SkyGlobe in a video mode that is not
supported by your system, the usual result is a blank screen, perhaps
with the DOS prompt changing color. You will usually be able to get
back to DOS by pressing 'Q'. If you are attempting to use SVGA, you
may want to try SKYGLOBE S2 or S3 instead of SKYGLOBE S. The normal mode
used for SVGA is the VESA standard, and you may need to load the VESA
driver that came with your video card before starting SkyGlobe. The S2
is an older commonly used mode (6Ah), S3 is for Tseng chips. More
SVGA support for other cards will be available soon; contact Klassm
Software for an update if you are still having trouble. Otherwise,
try working your way up from CGA to EGA to VGA mode, to see if the
program will work in one of these modes, with SKYGLOBE C, SKYGLOBE E,
and SKYGLOBE V. For a Hercules monochrome system, try SKYGLOBE H.
-17-
Questions & Answers III
Is there a version of SkyGlobe for the Macintosh?
Since so much of SkyGlobe depends on assembly language programming,
porting the program to the Macintosh would be a major undertaking. Now
that V3.0 has some of the front end programmed in C, one small step for
SkyGlobe has been taken in the portable code direction, but there are no
immediate plans at the moment to work on a Macintosh version. There are
still too many improvements to be made in the DOS world!
Why does SkyGlobe always start with the same date, instead of today?
You must have a Configuration file setup for a particular time and
date. Many people wish to save their own default settings for zoom,
brightness, etc., but still wish to have SkyGlobe come up with the system
time and date. To do this, press '0' to create a new default configuration,
but make sure to press '1' when asked whether to use current or system
time. If you wish to save a setup for an eclipse or a birthday, use 1-9
as the Configuration file number, press '0' to use Current as the time,
and use SKYGLOBE 1 (or whatever) to start up with the appropriate settings.
What about Caps Lock?
SkyGlobe attempts to ignore Caps Lock, so the Shift Commands will
operate properly. If for some reason you find some commands behaving
backwards, perhaps SkyGlobe is having trouble identifying the Caps Lock
state, so you may want to turn it off.
What should I do with my old planetary data?
SkyGlobe now calculates planetary positions on the fly, so the old
planetary data files are no longer necessary.
Why can't I get the new SkyGlobe to run from my hard drive?
If you have both the old SKYGLOBE.COM and the new SKYGLOBE.EXE in
the same sub-directory, you will not be able to run the new program. You
either need to DELete SKYGLOBE.COM, or REName SKYGLOBE.COM SKY25.COM.
Why won't SkyGlobe print properly on my system?
When you press 'P', you will be prompted to choose between 9-pin dot
matrix, 24-pin dot matrix, and laser printers. The printout will be
directed to the printer port you have chosen, LPT1 if you didn't change
it, and will insert line feeds for the dot matrix printers. You can change
the port with Alt-F7, and the line feed state with Alt-F8. The aspect
ratio of the printout should be correct, but the current printout may
not quite fill the page. Printing will continue to be improved in future
releases of SkyGlobe.
-18-
SkyGlobe Command List
A-Auto-Increment Mode Use Shift with most commands
B-Brightness to reverse operation of the
C-Constellation Lines command.
D-Date
E-East Use Home with many commands
F-Find Object to minimize the associated
H-Hour feature of the command.
I-Inflate
J-Jump Year Use End with many commands
K-MilKy Way to maximize the associated
L-Location feature of the command.
M-Month
N-North Use Alt with many commands
P-Print to increment the associated
Q-Quit feature a small positive
R-Real-Time amount.
S-South
T-Time (Minute) Use Ctrl with many commands
V-Daylight Time to increment the associated
W-West feature a small negative
Y-Year amount.
Z-Zoom
Space->Turbo mode Continually feeds the next keypress to SkyGlobe.
Left Mouse Button ReCenter Display at Mouse Cursor position.
Right Mouse Button ReCenter Display at old Mouse Cursor position.
F1-Help
F2-Parameter Display
F3-Planets
F4-Messier Objects
F5-Horizon
F6-Ecliptic
F7-RA-Dec Lines
F8-Star Labels
F9-Constellation Labels
F10-Constellation Lines
Alt-F1 Reduce display to Stars & Lines
Alt-F2 Reduce display to Stars only
Alt-F3 Background Color
Alt-F4 Twilight Mode
Alt-F5 Mouse Display
Alt-F6 Precession Toggle
Alt-F7 Printer Port
Alt-F8 Add Line Feeds?
0-9 Save Configuration (0=New Program Default)
TAB Find next sunset or sunrise
+ Brighten Colors
- Dim Colors
= Toggle AM-PM/24 hour Time Display
/ Text Color
-19-
Magnitude Limits
Magnitude Level Number of Stars Magnitude Level Number of Stars
1.00 17 5.80 4080
2.00 49 5.90 4517
2.50 94 6.00 5048
3.00 174 6.10 5605
3.25 226 6.20 6283
3.50 294 6.30 6946
3.75 393 6.40 7709
4.00 535 6.50 8482
4.25 693 6.60 9340
4.50 926 6.70 10417
4.75 1219 6.80 11590
5.00 1636 6.90 12936
5.10 1837 7.00 14351
5.20 2052 7.10 15848
5.30 2313 7.20 17684
5.40 2582 7.30 19642
5.50 2885 7.40 21745
5.60 3251 7.50 24043
5.70 3610
DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE
Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software
before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue
using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs
differ on details -- some request registration while others
require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With
registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue
using the software to an updated program with printed manual.
Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software,
and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific
exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished
programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are
of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs
and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of
distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy
and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a
specific group. For example, some authors require written
permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their
Shareware.
Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You
should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook,
whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes
fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy.
And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware
has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the
product, you don't pay for it.
-20-
DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
Users of SkyGlobe 3.0 must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "SkyGlobe
3.0 is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or
implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability
and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages,
direct or consequential, which may result from the use of SkyGlobe 3.0."
SkyGlobe 3.0 is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the
user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please
do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of
"user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality
software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers
to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and
find that you are using SkyGlobe 3.0 and continue to use SkyGlobe 3.0 after
a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $20 to
Klassm Software. The $20 registration fee will license one copy for use on
any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like
a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of
people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so
long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while
it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different
persons at the same time.
Commercial users of SkyGlobe 3.0 must register and pay for their copies of
SkyGlobe 3.0 within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn.
Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Klassm Software.
Anyone distributing SkyGlobe 3.0 for any kind of remuneration must first
contact Klassm Software at the address below for authorization. This
authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized
by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors,
and such distributors may begin offering SkyGlobe 3.0 immediately (However
Klassm Software must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept
up-to-date with the latest version of SkyGlobe 3.0.).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of SkyGlobe 3.0 along to your friends
for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find
that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the
latest version of the SkyGlobe 3.0 system.
Ombudsman Statement
"This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware
principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member
directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you
resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide
technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP
Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe
message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536."
-21-
Index
Alt Mode 10, also 5,6,8,9,10,11,15,17
ASP 1,19,20
Auto-Increment Mode 4,5,7,8,9,10
Background Color 10,11
Brighten Colors 11
Brightness=Number of Stars 4,6,14,16
Caps Lock 17
Celestial Navigation 8,14
Century Jump 5
Colors 7,8,10,11,12,15
Coming Attractions 14
Command Line Switches 4,11,15,16,17
CompuServe 12,14
Configuration Saving 11
Constellations-Lines 4,9,10,14,15
Constellations-Labels 9,10
Constellations-Finding 8
Ctrl Mode 10, also 6,15
Cursor Keys 6, also 4,15
Date 4,5,7,11,13,15
Dim Colors 11
Directions 6, also 4,7,8,13,16
Double Stars 14
DSOs 9,14,16
East 6,8,11,16
Ecliptic 7,10,15
Elevation 4,6,16
End Key 10,15
ESC=Quit 4,12,16
Faster (= '>' in V3.0) 5,15
Files 4,7,11,12,14,17
Finding Objects 5,8,16
Goto (L=Location in V3.0) 8
Help Display 9
Hercules graphics 4,11,16
Home Key 10,15
Horizon 6,10
Hour 4,5
Identifying Objects 8,12
Inflate Projection 6,12,13
Jump Year/Century 5
K=MilKy Way 9
Labels 7,8,9,10
Laser Printing 9,14,17
Location 8,11
LPT1-LPT2 9,10,17
Macintosh 17
Magnification 4,6,10,14
Magnitude 19, also 4,6,10
Memory Requirements 12,15
Messier Objects 9,14,16
Milky Way 9
Monochrome Mode 12,15,16
Month 4,5
-22-
Index Continued
Mouse Centering 8,12
Mouse Cursor 8,12
Names-Constellations 8,9,10
Names-Stars 8,12
Navigation Stars 8,14
Nomenclature 8
North 6,8,11,13,16
Object Find 5,8,16
Order Form 2
Orthographic Projection 6,12,13
Parameter Display 7,9
Planets 7, also 5,8,14,15
Precession 7,10
Print Command 9,14,17
Print Parameters 9,10,17
Projection 6,12,13
RA-Dec Coordinates 8,12
RA-Dec Lines 9,10
Retrograde Motion 5
Quit 4,12,16
Real Time Mode 5
Reduce Display 10
.REG file 11,12
Shareware Information 1,19,20
Sidereal Time Mode 5,7
Sky Publishing Corp. 14
South 6,7,8,11,13,16
Special Command Keys 10, also 5,6,15,16
Stars-Brightness 4,6,14,15,16
Stars-Finding 5,8
Stars-Labels 9
Stars-Names 8,12
Sunrise/Sunset 10
SVGA 4,9,16
System Time 4,5,11,17
TAB 10
Text Color 11
Time=Minute Increment 4,5
Time Display AM/PM or 24hr 11
Time Zones 11,13
Tseng chips 4,9,16
Turbo Mode 10
Twilight Mode 10
Updates 12,16,19
V=Daylight Time Flag 10,11 13
VESA 4,9,16
Video Modes 4,9,9,16
West 6,8,11,16
Year 4,5,7,10,11,17
Zenith 6,13
Zoom 4,6,10,14
= and / 11
+ and - 11
< and > 5,15
