DEAR BILL, IN ORDER TO MAKE A BETTER USE OF CHARON AND GUIDE
IN MINOR PLANETS ASTROMETRY, WE WOULD LIKE THE FOLLOWING
IMPROVEMENTS:

ABOUT CHARON:
1 TO OBTAIN THE BLINK ACTUALLY FOR EACH IMAGE IT IS
NECESSARY TO GO OUT AND AGAIN IN THE PROGRAM (HITTING “Z”):
IS IT POSSIBLE TO SELECT STRAIGHT FROM A MENU THE IMAGE
FILES TO BE BLINKED?
2 IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE THE SAME FOR WRITING THE NAME OF
THE MINOR PLANET IN THE E-MAIL TO BE SENT TO MPC?
3 IS IT POSSIBLE TO INSERT IN THE MENU A FUNCTION THAT
AUTOMATICALLY ALLOWS THE BLINKING WITHOUT THE NEED OF
REPEATEDLY PRESSING THE “B”?
4 IS IT POSSIBLE TO INSERT IN THE MENU A FUNCTION THAT
ALLOWS TO BLINK AGAIN THE SAME IMAGES AFTER THE FIRST
BLINKING, HOURS OR DAYS LATER, WITHOUT REPEATING AGAIN THE
LOADING PROCEDURES? (A KIND OF MEMORIZATION OF THE IMAGE
COUPLES OR TRIPLETS AND SO ON)
5 IS IT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE THE DIMENSION OF THE MINOR
PLANET CENTROID BOX DURING REDUCTION? (THE WEAKER MINOR
PLANETS NEED A BOX OF 3x3)
6 WHEN WILL WE SEE CHARON IN WIN32?

ABOUT GUIDE:
1 THE SCREEN AND PRINTED IMAGE STAR DIMENSIONS ARE
DIFFERENT IN SIZE, AND NORMALLY THE PRINTED ONES ARE
SMALLER. IS IT POSSIBLE TO EQUALIZE THEM, OR SIZES ARE
DEPENDING UPON THE PRINTER TYPE, SETTING, ETC.? (AN OBSERVER
WITH CCD CAMERA HAS SOME PROBLEM TO RECOGNIZE THE FIELDS)
2 THE VARIATION LINE OF MINOR PLANETS IS GIVEN IN DAYS:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
ASTORB.DAT GIVES VARIATION LINE AS A SIGMA CORRESPONDING TO
60% OF PROBABILITY.
THE CERES VARIATION LINE IS 30’ (ARCMINUTES)?
3 WE THINK THAT IT SHOULD BE MORE CORRECT TO SHOW NUMBERED
MINOR PLANETS WITH NUMBER AND NOT WITH NAME.

THESE QUESTIONS ARE FROM AT LEAST 5 DIFFERENT GUIDE USERS,
SO PLEASE DON'T SHAME ME FOR THE NUMBER OF THEM.
THANK YOU AS USUAL

ANDREA PELLONI