Older history of this Web site

  • (14 November 2001) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: There is now a button to download USNO A2.0 data via Internet with a single mouse click for display on-screen. With this addition, you can zoom into a given area and, with three clicks, get a DSS image, GSC-2.2 data, and A2.0 data for that area. Also, the new version enables display of the time zone in the legend, plus more powerful handling of mouse clicks in the legend area.
  • (4 November 2001) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: There is now a way to download DSS images via Internet with a single mouse click. There's a function to download and display GSC 2.2 data, and a way to change symbols used for deep-sky objects.

    • (4 November 2001) Update to Find_Orb posted: The Find_Orb orbit determination software can now work from planetary positions based on JPL's DE ephemerides, instead of analytic series such as ELP, PS-1996, and VSOP. This doesn't result in much improvement in accuracy, but it does speed the program up. Click here for details. Also, the source code has been updated slightly to address some problems when compiled under Linux.

  • (10 August 2001) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new version shows a sharp terminator on airless objects; has a control to show images in reversed (photographic) mode; includes a fix to the orientations of three Galilean moons; and provides two new bitmaps for Mercury.

    • (10 August 2001) Display of Herbig-Haro objects and Shakhbazian compact galaxy clusters: Owen Brazell sent me .TDF files to enable display of these datasets. Click here for information about the Herbig-Haro data, and/or here for information about the Shakhbazian data.

  • (5 June 2001) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new version has some fixes for problems with installing Guide to a hard drive, and a way to display notes for NGC and IC objects from Steve Coe's observations. There is also a somewhat experimental way to set Guide's viewpoint to that of any solar system object.

    • (5 June 2001) Find_Orb runs in and is documented in French: The Find_Orb orbit determination software can be run in French; click here for further information. Also, you can click here for Find_Orb documentation in French.

    (5 June 2001) Dunlop 100 catalog as a user-added dataset: Another dataset courtesy of Giuliano Pinto, from the article on pages 112-115 of the June 2001 issue of Sky & Telescope. This allows display of the top 100 objects from James Dunlop's catalog of Southern Hemisphere deep-sky objects. Click here for details.

  • (20 May 2001) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: You can now show time/date labels on planet trails, display Millennium Star Atlas page numbers in the legend, and get something vaguely resembling toolbar tips. There is an improved way to install Guide to the hard drive. There are also some new controls for LX-200 focus and chart rotation.
  • (30 April 2001) New quasar catalog: The Veron-Cetty & Veron quasar catalog is now up to version 10, almost doubling the number of quasars shown in version 9. Click here for details.
  • (26 April 2001) Updates to FIND_ORB: The Find_Orb freeware to determine orbits from observations has several useful new functions. Click here for details.
  • (19 April 2001) Updated extra-solar planet dataset: Oliver Kloes has sent several updates to his dataset of extra-solar planets, with several new objects added and some data for older objects revised.
  • (15 January 2001) Display of ephemerides from assorted services: Guide can now display the results generated by the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP (Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page) service; the Minor Planet Ephemeris service; the NEODyS ephemeris service, and the JPL Horizons ephemeris service. You can click here for details on how to display these ephemerides in Guide.

  • (30 November 2000) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new version offers a 'generic object' finding capability, where you can just enter an object name and let Guide figure out what catalog should be used; a function to simplify movie-making; and the ability to display six newly-discovered satellites of Saturn.
  • (8 August 2000) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: You can now switch the display of times to the GST, LST, TD, and LMT scales, treating these just as if they were "time zones". A way has been added to re-define Delta-T; this can be helpful to people doing historical work with occultations and eclipses, because there are several formulae floating around for approximating Delta-T at distant dates. Also, some minor changes to outer satellites were made.

    • (8 August 2000) New datasets displayable in Guide: Guide users have been quite active in the last few months in creating new datasets for display in Guide, as well as in enabling display of existing datasets. These include the Almagest star catalog (catalog assembled by Ptolemy, and used for centuries thereafter); the RASS (ROSAT All-Sky Survey) of X-ray sources; a catalog of extragalactic variables; and an update to the catalog of extrasolar planetary systems to include two recently-discovered systems.

    (8 August 2000) Updated index: The index to these pages has become somewhat outdated over the last year or so. It is much more current now, and you may wish to skim through it for items of interest to you.

  • (13 June 2000) New and revised user-added datasets in Guide posted: Masaki Kouda has sent in overlays to display constellation names in Japanese, and an alternative set of constellation lines. Oliver Kloes has sent a user-added dataset file for displaying, and giving some notes about, extra-solar planetary systems. The user-added dataset file for displaying stars from the Sloan ACR (Astrometric Calibration Regions) has been on this site for a long time, but has just been updated so that the ACR can be controlled as a single big dataset, instead of 16 small datasets.

    • (13 June 2000) New page discussing encoders: I get a lot of questions about telescope encoders, and telescope control in general. Some of these issues are now addressed on this page.

  • (15 May 2000) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new software allows for the use of NGC-IC Project data, the display of some very minor natural satellites , faster MPCORB asteroid display, a (long-overdue) fix to picking of objects for eclipses/occultations, NexStar support, and a somewhat complex method for user-specified guider chips.

    • (15 May 2000) List of hotkeys posted: I hope to soon have this "built in" to Guide, but at present, you can click here for a list of hotkeys in Guide. This list was generated automatically, and includes a few hotkeys accidentally omitted in previous lists. There are also some basic instructions for resetting hotkeys to different functions.

  • (30 January 2000) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new software includes time interval marks for 'eclipse' mode; the ability to filter asteroids by orbital parameters; display of the three new irregular Uranian satellites; a few new 'miscellaneous' tables of events, including world-wide asteroid occultation predictions and transits of Mercury and Venus; and, also for eclipse mode, a way to filter display of cities according to their level of importance.

    • (30 January 2000) New HTML version of the Guide user manual: Last June, Andrew J. P. Maclean (a dot maclean at bigpond dot com) provided an HTML version of the Guide user manual. The printed manual has been updated quite a bit lately, and an HTML version generated automatically. You can click here to see the table of contents. Or you can click here to download the entire manual (about 120 KBytes).

  • (6 January 2000) Ability to show files of MPC observations: Guide can now show files containing astrometric data in the 'standard' MPC format, in which each observation is stored in one line of 80 characters. This should be of use to people doing asteroid astrometry. The observations will be plotted on-screen. Click here for details.

    • (6 January 2000) New Italian 'event' files: Giuliano Pinto has sent in Italian versions of the 'miscellaneous event' files. This includes a list of lunar occultations visible from Italy in 2000. You can get all this in the Italian update .ZIP file for Guide.

    (6 January 2000) Improved "large format" toolbar buttons: On 17 February 1999, the ability to show large toolbar buttons was added. But at the time, quite a few buttons only existed in the default (normal-sized) form, so you got a mix of large and normal buttons. A few have been added from time to time, but you can now click here to get "large format" versions for all toolbar buttons (about 77 KBytes).

  • (29 December 1999) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new software includes a new 'Miscellaneous' entry in the Tables menu; a fix for a Y2K bug in loading MPC orbital elements; and a better time zone dialog.

    • (29 December 1999) New version of the IMO fields dataset posted: Jost Jahn has provided an updated version of the IMO (International Meteor Organization) limiting magnitude fields, for use in Guide. Click here for details.

    (29 December 1999) Updated version of the ZC user-added dataset: Masaki Kouda provided some new files for the ZC (Zodiacal Catalogue), with notes for most double and variable stars. Click here for details.

  • (21 December 1999) Information about Guide 8: Some information about the next version of Guide (what it will contain, when it will be ready, update cost, etc.) have been posted here.

    • (21 December 1999) Updated software for Guide 7 posted: The new version includes a fix for some problems in importing DSS images via Internet; the ability to click on events in 'help' to display them; several improvements allowing better geographical names on Earth charts; a new hotkey option for non-English versions; the ability to make lists of satellite passes, and get satellite rise/set times; and finally, a way to run the entire USNO A1.0 or A2.0 from the hard drive.

    (21 December 1999) Czech-language support: Jan Manek has provided some files that allow Guide to display most of its text in Czech. Click here for details.

    (21 December 1999) Some random pieces of data about Guide: In response to some inquiries on the Guide users Mailing List, this page of assorted data about Guide was created. So far, it describes some details about how the geographic names in Guide are stored and used; how USNO Ax.0 'V'-band magnitudes are inferred by Guide, and a way to improve them a little; a photometric recalibration of the GSC; and a totally new way to do 'last minute astrometry' (LMA) for asteroid occultations.

    (21 December 1999) File to display the USNO ZC (Zodiacal Catalogue): There are now files to show two different versions of the ZC, as 'user-added datasets'. Click here for details.

  • (18 Nov 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: You can import DSS images into Guide via the Internet. There is a new way to specify your location as a city, ZIP (US postal) code, or MPC code, useful both for setting up star charts and when in the eclipse/occultation mode. Also, Germany has been reunified on Guide's eclipse/occultation maps; and some assorted small improvements were made.

    • (18 Nov 1999) Mailing list for Guide users: Jost Jahn has created a Guide user discussion forum. Click here for details.

  • (2 October 1999) Updated information for GSC-ACT: The page describing GSC-ACT has been overhauled, and includes new sections on accessing GSC-ACT data via Internet and describing the amount of improvement of GSC-ACT over GSC 1.x (that is, over earlier versions of the GSC.)
  • (14 September 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: Better overlay editing tools were added, and a fix to a bug in the Guide/Charon link was made.

    • (14 September 1999) File to display 100 prominent double stars: Stephen O'Leary has provided the files needed to show the Astronomical League's list of double stars. Click here for details.

  • (4 September 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: Some major changes have been made to the capabilities and user interface. new controls over most on-screen objects. There is a link from Guide to Charon; some revisions to the CCD dialog; revisions for animation, making ephemerides and trails; display of outer planet satellites (J-6 through J-13, Phoebe, Nereid, Caliban, Sycorax); a new way to sync the LX200; an easier way to enter a user-added horizon; some new toolbar bitmaps; and a way to change Guide to use a "Windows standard" style zoom box.

    • (4 September 1999) USNO Ax.0 information: There were some questions on the Minor Planet Mailing List (MPML) regarding the layout of files in the USNO A2.0 catalog. This page lists which files are on which disks, and what file sizes result after filtering out fainter stars. There is also a similar page for A1.0 users.

    (4 September 1999) Notes for translators: Keeping track of all the changes in Guide tends to make things difficult for the eight translators. There are now some notes for translators that may help. (People not doing translations will probably not find this very interesting!)

  • (27 August 1999) Updated version of Charon posted: Charon has been modified to allow for much easier setup and use, with no need for command line parameters. In the past, you've had to provide a filename and target object name on the command line; this has been fixed.

    • (27 August 1999) Cassini astrometry: A page showing astrometry from the recent Cassini flyby was posted. This also provides a good example of the use of the Find_Orb orbit determination software.

    (27 August 1999) Files for display of the Virgo Cluster Catalog (VCC): Thomas O'Hara has sent in the file needed to enable display of the Virgo Cluster Catalogue (VCC) in Guide. You can click here for details on accessing the data and display files.

  • (31 July 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: Guide has been modified to allow it to use the LX-200 "long format" for coordinates; a hotkey for immediate access to solar eclipses has been added; and the controls over user-added datasets have been thoroughly revised. A bug in "hour angle" scopes has been fixed. Some hotkeys for contrast adjustment on planets and images were added. You can now get abbreviated menus, leaving more room for toolbar buttons. Guide now can offer Magellan II control, and has better handling of views from high altitudes, such as from geostationary orbit. Also, there are some more "large toolbar" buttons.

    • (31 July 1999) New AAVSO charts: Guide already shows the areas covered by AAVSO charts. But the dataset it uses was last updated in 1995, and many charts have been produced since then. Lance Shaw has sent an updated version of this data; click here for details.

    (31 July 1999) New text about calendars: Giuliano Pinto sent in a Italian-language version of the text about the Chinese calendar. (You can click here for the original, English version.) In addition to this, there is now some discussion of the Bahá'í and Celtic Tree (Druid?) calendars. (As is mentioned in the Celtic Tree discussion, I'm looking for more information about that calendar; please e-mail me if you have any.)

    (31 July 1999) New "interesting events": The fact that Guide now has better handling of views from extreme altitudes means that it's now possible to simulate views from geostationary orbit and views from all five Earth-Moon Lagrange points. Some description is given here as to why these viewpoints are interesting and of how to achieve them in Guide.

  • (12 July 1999) Jean-Noël Moreau has provided a French-language version of the Charon users manual.

    • (12 July 1999) Steve O'Leary has provided files to allow Guide to show the alignment stars used by the JMI-III system.

  • (10 July 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: Guide has been modified to allow it to display many new planet features, such as sunspots, features on several new planets, continents and countries on the Earth, and more. Also, the new version supplies much more extensive "notes" for planets than was previously the case; and you can get date conversions to the Chinese calendar in 'Quick Info'. Also, some miscellaneous small changes were added.

    • (10 July 1999) Guide in Dutch and French: Siebren Klein has sent in some more files for the Dutch version of Guide. Click here for details. Also, Jean-Noël Moreau has sent in an updated version of the French users manual. You'll also see that in the current version of Guide, some additional text in dialogs and menus has been translated into these languages.

    (10 July 1999) New quasar data: Guide 7.0 already shows quasars, AGNs (active galactic nuclei), and BL Lacertae objects. But there are new and improved versions of these catalogs; Guide can now display them as user-added datasets. Click here for details.

    (10 July 1999) A more complete "big-button toolbar": For some time now, it's been possible to download a "big-button" version of Guide's toolbar, and toggle between normal and big buttons using Ctrl-U. But many buttons lacked large versions. Steve O'Leary has extended this toolbar a bit; click here for details.

  • (2 July 1999) Chinese-language Guide: David Wu, a Guide user in Taiwan, has made it possible to run Guide with most menus and other text in Chinese. Click here for details.

    (1 July 1999) Italian-language Guide manual: Giuliano Pinto has provided an Italian-language version of the Guide manual.

  • (23 Jun 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: The software can now provide better control over planet display, including lat/lon grids on planets; and can show arrows indicating proper motion, similar to those on the Millennium Star Atlas.

    • (23 Jun 1999) Map of where Guide users are: A world map showing where Guide is used was posted here.

  • (16 Jun 1999) Updated software for Guide posted: The software can now show data to a fixed, rather than "floating", magnitude limit; display RA/dec "side labels" outside the chart area on printouts; and includes some miscellaneous small changes.

    • (16 Jun 1999) HTML version of manual: Andrew J. P. Maclean, a Guide user in Australia, has created an HTML version of the text for the Guide manual. (You can also download the entire HTML-ized manual, as a 150 KByte ZIPped file, by clicking here.)

    (16 Jun 1999) Japanese mailing list, Web site: A link was provided to a Japanese version of parts of this site. Also, there is now a mailing list for Guide users in Japan.

    (16 Jun 1999) Updated GET_DSS source code: Patrick Chevalley, the author of "Cartes du Ciel", sent in some revisions to the GET_DSS source code; these have been posted. (This does not affect Guide users, but if you're using the GET_DSS code in your own applications, you may have an interest in the changes.) Click here for a list of the changes.

    (16 Jun 1999) Rarely-asked questions: In addition to the FAQ for potential new Guide users and the FAQ for current Guide users, there is now a list of rarely-asked questions. Most involve truly obscure (and useless) aspects of Guide, but some may be of interest to you.

    (16 Jun 1999) Format of SAO: Claudio Costa asked for information about the format of the SAO data on the Guide CD-ROM. It has been posted here.

    (16 Jun 1999) More extensive lunar features: The 'original' file of lunar features included only major craters. But there are also a lot of smaller craters designated by letters. For example, if you look at this Guide chart of the area around the crater Clavius, you will see craters "Clavius W", "Clavius O", and so forth inside and close to Clavius. If you don't see these when you run Guide, just download the current "Planets Extras" file (about 150 KBytes) into your Guide directory.

  • (26 May 1999) Fixed Clementine software: Richard Hagenston pointed out a problem with the software provided to get high-resolution lunar views from a Clementine CD-ROM. A fixed version of that software has been posted. If you tried running CLEM_BMP.EXE and ran into trouble, click here to get the 'corrected' CLEM_BMP.EXE.

    • (26 May 1999) Updated French manual: Jean-Noël Moreau has provided an updated version of the French-language users manual for Guide 7. Click here for details. The new manual, which is in Word format, is about 170 KBytes in ZIPped form.

    (26 May 1999) NSVS display: John Greaves has provided a file to enable display of the New Suspected Variable Supplement (NSVS) in Guide.

  • (20 May 1999) High-res lunar maps/planet features/comet tails: An updated version of Guide was uploaded that can show higher-resolution lunar images (about .5 km resolution). Also, it includes some new functions for planetary observers and uses a more accurate formula for comet tail lengths.

    • (20 May 1999) New Spanish manual: Alberto Romero has provided a Spanish-language version of the Guide 7.0 users manual. Click here for details.

    (20 May 1999) Sloan ACR and German city display: Files were provided to allow display of the Sloan ACR (Astrometric Calibration Region) data in Guide, and of better German city names on eclipse charts when running Guide in German.

    (20 May 1999) New catalogues in Charon: It's now possible to use ACR data and GSC-ACT data in Charon.

    (20 May 1999) Some text about the communication protocols for NGC-Max/MicroGuider III/Ouranos/Sky Wizard type encoders was posted. This is the sort of data you would need if you wanted to write your own software to read the encoder positions and set the resolution used.

  • (8 Apr 1999) An updated version of the Guide 7.0 software was uploaded, with a long list of new features. It makes possible the display of alternative bitmaps for some planets; for example, you can see Venus as a cloudy planet, or as a radar-imaged planet with no clouds, and three different views of the Earth, and so on. The same feature lets you display labelled craters/features on the Moon and Mars, find craters/features by their names, and list all craters/features in a given area.

    • Also, there is better control over the LX-200, including "arrow" buttons to slew the scope and a selection of speeds. A new "slide show" feature has been added, allowing you to set up, then replay a sequence of views. A fix to a Y2K bug involving artificial satellites was added, and better Russian-language city data for eclipse mode was posted. The new software can (probably) control the Meade Magellan I system , and has a useful improvement for "real-time" animation. Finally, some more hotkeys were added.

    (8 Apr 1999) Charon can now make use of the Minor Planet Center MPCORB database. Click here for details.

  • (24 Mar 1999) Several people reported that the 17 Mar 1999 version didn't display asteroids correctly in the "Quick Info" section. The current version of Guide now on this site fixes this bug. Also, Giuliano Pinto sent current Italian-language updates; these are included.

    • Also, the new version includes some useful options for navigating in the geographic (eclipse) mode and some improvements for hotkeys.

    (24 Mar 1999) An updated version of Charon, with the ability to blink-compare two or more images and to display images in different palettes, such as pseudocolored or "red mode", was posted.

  • (20 Mar 1999) Igor Rozivika provided a file of interest to Russian users of Guide. It allows Guide, in eclipse mode, to label 4198 cities in the former Soviet Union, in Russian. Click here for details. In addition, this file contains updated Russian text for several menus and dialog boxes, and for the list of functions in the "Toolbar" dialog.

  • (17 Mar 1999) An updated version of the Guide 7.0 software was uploaded, with the ability to use the new MPCORB asteroid database, some small improvements for scope control with encoders, and some assorted improvements for Russian and Italian users.

    • (17 Mar 1999) A file was posted that lets you show the LX-200 alignment stars.

    (17 Mar 1999) A previously undocumented feature in DOS Guide, the ability to print using GhostScript, is now documented.

  • (17 Feb 1999) An updated version of the Guide 7.0 software was uploaded, with a workaround for a problem some people have in making .BMP files, a method to make changes to the geographic names shown on eclipse charts, a way to switch to larger/alternative toolbar buttons, and some assorted improvements for languages. A fix to a bug with the Ultima 2000 was added.

    • Some small changes to Charon were posted.

    Some text about the origin of the term "blue moon" was posted. This is a follow-up of sorts to an article in the March 1999 Sky & Telescope.

    A belated announcement: the list of events of Galilean moons and of Great Red Spot transits for 1999 has been posted.

    A way to display full constellation names, rather than the usual three-letter designations, was posted.

    The FAQ for prospective new Guide users had some new questions and answers added, and an FAQ for current Guide users was posted.

    Some discussion of the Chinese calendar and Persian (Jalali) calendar was posted, along with some sample code in C/C++ to handle computations involving these calendars. (Source code for all the calendars listed on the calendar page on this Web site is now available. Previously, a few had been left out. Also, Guide now shows the current date in the Persian calendar, under "Quick Info".)

  • (5 Jan 1999) An updated version of the Guide 7.0 software was uploaded, with support for the SA2.0 catalog and added. (Also, Charon can now make use of this catalog, though with some difficulty; click here for details.) Calendar enthusiasts will note that "Quick Info" now shows the current date in the Julian, Hebrew, Revolutionary (French Republican), and Persian (Jalali) calendars.

    • Also, the C/C++ source code for handling conversions in these calendars was posted.

    Also, Jean-Noël Moreau has provided an French-language manual for Guide 7.0. (He had long since provided the French-language manual for Guide 6.0 on these pages.)

    Also, Maroti Tamas has provided a new version of his MPG (Minor Planet Guide) software. This can show some interesting charts and tables of minor planet behavior.

    Also, some information and a fix for Guide 7.0 problems with the AMD K6 chip has been posted.

    Also, a file allowing you to display Brian Skiff's LONEOS.STDS catalog, a compilation of photometric standards, has been provided.

  • (21 Dec 1998) Some people have noticed that, when you zoom in on Venus in Guide 7.0, you get orange surface features. This is from a radar map generated by the Magellan satellite, and was probably not an excellent choice. To replace this with a more "realistic" view, you can download and unZIP this file in your Guide directory. (It's not necessary to update your software to get this to work. In fact, it ought to enable Guide 6.0 to show Venus in a "realistic" manner, too.)

    • The one minor problem you'll see with this is that the clouds rotate at the (very slow) rate of Venus' surface. The real clouds on Venus happen to rotate roughly once every four days, presumably creating a brisk wind. This will be difficult to simulate well.

  • (21 Dec 1998) A few USNO A2.0 users who tried the new support for A2.0 CDs in Guide found that it crashed or hung up. It looks as if the problem has to do with the index file; some browsers tried to read it as a text file, corrupting it. If you're having problems with A2.0 use in Guide, just download this file (about 120 KBytes) and unZIP it in your Guide directory. (If you already have the 16 Dec 1998 version of Guide 7.0, it's not necessary to download the software again. Only the index changed.)
  • (16 Dec 1998) An updated version of the Guide 7.0 software was uploaded, with a fix to a problem with a toolbar button and a fix for a problem with the features shown on Mars. Also, some improvements were made, such as support for the USNO A2.0 set of CDs.
  • (27 Nov 1998) The information on Guide 7.0 shipping has been brought up to date (almost everything is shipped now). Also, some new comments on USNO A2.0/SA2.0 have been posted.
  • (23 Nov 1998) Guide 7.0 is (finally) shipping; click here for details as to what has been/will be shipped.
  • (14 Oct 1998) New data on availability and new features in Guide 7 and on the availability of the USNO A2.0 were posted.
  • (24 Sep 1998) An updated version of the Guide 6.0 software was uploaded, with the ability to switch to the Russian language and to show tables of solar eclipses.

    Some data on availability and new features in Guide 7 were posted.

    The data on translating Guide to new languages and the discussion of accuracy have been updated significantly.

    The Charon astrometry software was updated to fix a bug in its "settings" menu, and to provide support for a few extra video modes. If you have been experiencing problems in getting Charon to work, you are urged to give it another try and to report any troubles you have with it.

    Also, Jean-Noël Moreau has provided the file required to run Charon in French. If you have Guide set to run in French, Charon will detect that fact and switch languages.

    An update on the availability of the USNO A2.0 catalogue was posted (briefly, it looks as if it should be ready soon.)

  • (2 Sep 1998) A page listing C/C++ source code available on this site was added. Also, some new source code for computing the positions of asteroids and comets was posted, and the grid control that is the entry point to this site had a few items added to it.

    • Click here for the history of the site previous to 2 September 1998.