Much older history of this Web site

Jost Jahn provided some files to display limiting magnitude fields developed by the IMO (International Meteor Organization).

Some free C/C++ code for extracting RealSky and DSS images was posted.

(29 Jul 1998) A new pulsar dataset and .TDF (text definition file) for it were posted. Using these, one can easily display pulsars in Guide.

(29 Jul 1998) Some new data on the forthcoming A2.0 catalog were posted.

For the mathematically inclined, a description of the method of Herget, used for preliminary orbit determination in FIND_ORB, was added.

An updated version of the Guide 6.0 software with the ability to show more 'realistic' stars was posted. Also, the Spanish, French, and Italian versions have been brought completely up-to-date. Finally, Guide can now (usually) compute magnitudes for many satellites, even if the satellite elements lack the necessary data (as happens most of the time).

The users manual for the Charon astrometry software has been almost completely rewritten, finally documenting several features (such as the ability to show CCD images as 'backgrounds' in Guide, and to use Tycho and A1.0 stars for reference stars) that have been lurking in the software, in undocumented or poorly documented form, for a while.

Andrew Gerasimenko has provided a file allowing you to show meteor shower radiants as a user-added dataset .

Fraser Farrell has provided a file allowing you to show the Bennett catalog as a user-added dataset . The Bennett catalog is a sort of Southern Hemisphere version of the Messier catalog.

A new version of Guide 6.0 was posted, with still higher precision for planetary positions; the ability to reset the background color; and the ability to run from the hard drive, with a "minimal" 11 MBytes .

The format of the Tycho "extras" file is finally documented, with some sample source code provided; if you want to read data such as parallaxes and BT and VT magnitudes in your own software, you can now do so.

If you already have the free AC 2000 (Astrographic Catalog 2000) CD-ROM , available from the US Naval Observatory, you can now display the AC stars in Guide, as a user-added dataset. Click here for details and the necessary files to do this.

Information about an asteroid occultation on 31 May, visible in New Zealand and Tasmania , has been posted, with a chart.

Robert Orso has e-mailed files to display Minor Planet Center (MPC) astrometric stations as a user-added dataset overlaid on charts of the Earth.

Finally, some new interesting events involving the new ability to get views from other planets were posted.

Also, a set of tables generated with Guide , showing data such as lunar phases for 1998-2002 , lunar eclipses from 1950-2059 , and so on, was added.

Also, some data on the 11 Mar occultation of a magnitude 9.28 star by the asteroid 94 Aurora was posted.

HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL (and admittedly only useful to perhaps ten people on the entire planet): Information about doing last-minute astrometry was posted. This is a technique used to vastly improve the accuracy of predictions of asteroid occultations; you get some CCD images of the asteroid and star shortly before the event, measure the asteroid position (and sometimes the star position), and use those measurements to fine-tune the prediction.