Previous page  Page 53   Next page    Table of Contents 

for example.) Create Star List is used to generate a list of stars, down to a specific limiting magnitude, that cover the area currently shown on the screen. To use this option, first find the area of interest, and set the field size to cover it. Select this menu option and enter a limiting magnitude. (If you enter, say, 20, you'll get all the stars in the area.) Guide will pause to gather data for stars in the area you've requested that are brighter than the limiting magnitude you entered. When it is done, it will show you the list of stars on the screen. For each star, the GSC number, RA, dec, and magnitude will be listed. If the data comes from the Tycho or Hipparcos catalog, numbers for that star from several catalogs may be shown: the HD, PPM, Yale, SAO, and Hipparcos numbers can be listed. If the data comes from the GSC, then you get different data: an "object type code" (0 for stars, 3 for "non-stars") and a plate identifier. The format of the RA and dec is the currently selected one (see pages 13 and 32), as is the epoch. Once the list is generated, you can save it to an ASCII file or print it much as you would any other help topic. A few warnings about the list are in order. If a star appears in both Tycho/Hipparcos and in the GSC, it will have data from both catalogs. Sometimes, this is useful (which is why the second line is not removed), but in most cases, one will want to pay attention to the Tycho data and ignore the GSC data. If a GSC star appears on more than one plate in the GSC, it will appear more than once in the list. (Multiple appearances are common, since the plates overlap quite a bit.) The "Miscellaneous Tables" option originally just listed a few tables of interesting, but not easily categorized, events. Clicking on it now brings up a long list of tables of events, such as planetary occultations, transits of Mercury and Venus, dates of meteor showers, and more. If text appears red in the table, it refers to an event that occurs below your horizon. If the text is yellow, the event is less than ten degrees above the horizon (visible, but not by much). If it's in green, the event is more than ten degrees above the horizon. You can click on any such colored text to cause Guide to recenter on the object/event in question. 17: THE EXTRAS MENU The Extras menu offers the following options:
Previous page Page 53 Next page Table of Contents