Hi all,

A few points on this...

To get Guide 8 or 9 to show UCAC4, you definitely need the software
from http://www.projectpluto.com/new.htm . You should then be able to
go into Extras... Toggle User Datasets, and select UCAC4, and turn
it On and adjust labels and the fields of view at which it is shown.

If you don't see UCAC4 in the Toggle User Datasets list, then you're
probably missing the file 'ucac4.tdf'. Click on it here and save it
to your Guide folder...

http://www.projectpluto.com/ucac4.tdf

...and start Guide up again, and it should appear in the list.

Next problem is telling Guide where to find the data. For this,
you can hit Alt-J and add a line such as

UCAC4_PATH=c:\ucac4

Or you can edit the file 'guide.dat' and add the line that way.

One method you can use for testing: put the UCAC4 DVD in your
DVD drive, and set

UCAC4_PATH=d:\

(I assume here a drive letter d:; obviously, you may have to change
that.) Side 1 of the disk has all the data south of declination -14.2;
side 2 has all the data north of that. I'd suggest that you just zoom
in to a point at declination -14.2. You should hear the spinning of the
DVD drive (a good diagnostic that Guide is looking in the right place)
and about half your screen should be filled with UCAC4 stars.

Note that by default, a screenful of UCAC4 stars won't look all that
much different from a screenful of UCAC3 stars. If you right-click on
the UCAC4 star, though, it should say something like "4UC318-081678",
followed by a 2MASS identifier. (Otherwise, you'll get Guide's UCAC3
data, with a "3UC" designation.)

Another thing: On the DVDs, the actual data files live in a 'u4b'
subdirectory, and have names from z001 to z900. If you've set the
UCAC4_PATH to be, say, c:\ucac4, Guide will check for files in both
c:\ucac4 and c:\ucac4\u4b.

-- Bill