Hi pendleton,
Nice to see you again! I've located several programs for you,
starting with freeware, then shareware (free to test for 30 days) and
'paid up front' programs. In addtion, you'll find the last link
provides many free downloads for your interests.
*****
Planet's Visibility v.2.0 (freeware)
http://www.alcyone.de/PVis/english/ProgramPVis.htm
Planet's Visibility was written by Noel M. Swerdlow, The University of
Chicago and
Rainer Lange, alcyone software.
"Planet’s Visibility presents a 3-color graph that shows when a
planet, the moon or the sun is visible during any year from 3000 BC to
AD 6000 at any location on the earth. The vertical axis marks the
months of the year, the horizontal axis marks the hours of the day.
The three colors create a contour map effect and show whether the body
is under the horizon (black) and invisible, above the horizon with the
sun (light color) and invisible, above the horizon without the sun
(shaded color) and so possibly visible. The times of sunrise and
sunset can be shown on all the diagrams. By moving the mouse over the
diagram, the date and time along with the object’s altitude, azimuth,
and magnitude, or the phase of the moon, are displayed. In addition,
Planet’s Visibility computes the dates of visibility phenomena, first
and last visibility, acronychal rising and cosmical setting, with much
supplementary information. These phenomena are very useful for
historical purposes. Since the computation of these phenomena is
complex and uncertain, alternate methods are provided and parameters
can be altered by the user to find what appear to be the best results.
There are also diagrams of solar and lunar eclipses, of the rotation,
inclination, illumination, and apparent size of the bodies, and of
Jupiter’s satellites. The settings for the computations may be saved,
the graphics may be saved, pasted into documents, and printed, and the
tables for visibility phenomena may be accumulated, edited, printed,
and saved as .rtf files to be pasted into documents and printed.
Documentation is available.
Planet's Visibility is freeware and runs under Windows 98, ME, 2000
and XP."
*****
Planet's Orbits v1.6 (shareware for 30 days free)
http://www.alcyone.de/POrbits/english/ProgramPOrbits.htm
"Planet's Orbits (for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP) is an accurate digital
orrery with a wealth of functionality. The program uses the DE404
ephemeris (accurate for dates between 2000 B.C. and 6000 AD) for the
calculation of planetary (except Pluto) and lunar positions. The
calculation of the positions of the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and
Uranus is done by the various analytic theories given in the
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomial Almanac (1992).
The positions of the other objects (asteroids, comets) are calculated
by it's osculating orbital elements. Therefore the positions of these
objects are accurate only for a small period of time.
The most noteworthy functions are date specification (past, future),
2D/3D orbital animation and custom zoom, orbits of 10000+ asteroids
and comets from different databases, simple database handling and
updates, printing, statistic, and information windows.
This site shows some of screenshots of the program, which illustrate
the capabilities of Planet's Orbits.
Planet's Orbits is shareware. That means you may use the software for
a trial period of up to 30 days for free, but there are some
restrictions in functionallity. To use the unlimited functionallity,
you will need to register the software."
*****
SkyMap Lite 2003
http://www.skymap.com/smlite_main.htm
"Chris Marriott's SkyMap Lite 2003 is a CD-ROM planetarium and
star-charting program for Microsoft Windows 98 or later. SkyMap Lite
is designed to appeal to the novice, or the more "casual" astronomer
who doesn't require the more sophisticated features of SkyMap Pro."
$34.99 + $3 Shipping (USPS 3-5 days)
*****
Samples of SkyMap Pro 6
http://www.skymap.com/smp_samples.htm
"The following links illustrate a number of "sample screens" from
SkyMap Pro 6. Each contains one or more "screen shots" taken directly
from the program, together with text explaining what the illustration
shows."
*****
Astronomy Software
http://www.nightskyobserver.com/software.htm
SkyMap Pro 9 on CD-ROM with printed tutorial manual, US$94 each.
"SkyMap is a 'planetarium' program that draws maps of the sky, as seen
from anywhere on Earth, for any date between 4000BC and 8000AD. The
program is very accurate (Planetary positions, for example, have a
mean error of less than a half second of arc). Two different types of
the map can be drawn; a 'Horizion' map, showing a local view of the
sky as seen by an observer, and an 'Area' map showing a detailed view
of a small area of the sky on an RA/Dec grid.
SkyMap Pro 9 is a sophisticated star charting and planetarium program.
It can display the sky as seen from any location on earth for any date
between 4000BC and 8000AD, showing fields of view ranging from the
entire visible sky down to a detailed telescopic "finder chart" for a
faint galaxy. The program also provides a powerful set of tools for
observation planning and recording.
Although SkyMap Pro 9 has the power to satisfy the needs of even the
most demanding user, the program is easy to learn to use, and is
primarily controlled with the mouse using simple "toolbars". A printed
tutorial manual and detailed "on line" help system provides extensive
operating instructions and reference information.
SkyMap Pro 9 is the end result of more than fifteen years of
development work (work on the program started in 1986) and the program
is used by many thousands of astronomers all over the world. The
program's evolution has always been primarily guided by feedback from
existing users of the program, thus making it the ideal tool for use
by the practical amateur astronomer.
If you decide that SkyMap Pro 9 doesn't meet your requirements for any
reason during the first 30 days after you've bought it, simply return
the complete package in good condition, together with your original
invoice or sales receipt, to either our UK or US publishers and we'll
give you a full refund of your original purchase price (excluding any
shipping costs)."
*****
StarFinder Planetarium FREEware for Beginning Stargazers
http://www.geocities.com/freestarfinder/
"StarFinder is a small, FREE, planisphere program (Windows
9X/ME/NT/2000) for the beginning stargazer. It displays a whole-sky
map of the stars, planets, Moon, Sun, and some deep sky objects for
any date/time and lattitude. Explore how the sky changes from
hour-to-hour or month-to-month. Looking for a constellation? Select it
from a pop-up menu of all the constellations and adjust the time (and
possibly latitude) of the map until the constellation's outline shows
up. Print maps for your outdoor viewing. For more information, browse
the online User's Guide."
*****
ASTRONOMY - FREE SOFTWARE
Assorted freeware astronomy downloads
http://freehomepages1.tripod.com/freewareastronomy.html
*****
Google search: day + year astronomy software, astronomy programs, map
sky year
Best regards,
tlspiegel |
