alcyone software - Software Products

Planet's Orbits

Planet's Orbits (for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP) is an accurate digital orrery with a wealth of functionality. The program uses the DE404 ephemeris (accurate for dates between 2000 B.C. and 6000 AD) for the calculation of planetary (except Pluto) and lunar positions. The calculation of the positions of the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus is done by the various analytic theories given in the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomial Almanac (1992).The positions of the other objects (asteroids, comets) are calculated by it's osculating orbital elements. Therefore the positions of these objects are accurate only for a small period of time.The version 1.7. shows the positions and trajectories of various spacecrafts.The most noteworthy functions are date specification (past, future), 2D/3D orbital animation and custom zoom, orbits of 10000+ asteroids and comets from different databases, simple database handling and updates, printing, statistic, and information windows. This education software is listed under astronomy.

Keywords: functionality spacecrafts 2d 3d orbits orrery pluto saturn satellites of jupiter uranus windows 98 ephemeris information windows almanac comets period of time accurate digital asteroids databases orbital elements statistic slimbrowser income tax return

C88

C88 is an informational tool for amateur astronomers. It provides detailed informations about the celestial sphere objects, visible with naked eyes and for the use of an eyepiece of a modest amateur telescope to observe deep sky objects. Complex informations about the planets, sun and moon completes the functionallity of the program. C88 bases on the extensive data of the Bright Star Catalogue (9110 entries) and of the Saguaro Astronomy Club Deep Sky Database (10700 entries). These catalogues provides basic data (i.e. positions, magnitudes, sizes, spectral data, catalogue references) as well as specific data, like double/multiple star informations, variability data or - in the case of deep sky objects - object classifications and descriptions. The data can be printed out in several types of lists and orders. The "solar system section" of C88 gives informations about the pysical, observational and optical parameters of the planets as well as it's orbital and rotational data. This is a shareware listed under astronomy, science category.

Keywords: optical parameters planets informational tool saguaro astronomy club deep sky objects spectral data amateur telescope variability data amateur astronomers celestial sphere bright star catalogue multiple star naked eyes catalogue references sky database solar system section performance report card navigation interface

Alcyone Ephemeris

Alcyone Ephemeris is an accurate and fast astronomial ephemeris calculator covering the period 3000 BC to AD 3500. It calculates heliocentric, geocentric, and topocentric positions of the Sun (Earth), Moon, and planets in ecliptical, equatorial, and horizontal coordinates, with optional corrections for parallax and refraction; rectangular coordinates, velocity, acceleration, apparent diameter, magnitude, phase, lunar libration, orbital elements, differences for all of these, and more. In addition Alcyone Ephemeris offers a wealth of functionality: plotting ephemeris data, searching for specific values, scripting to write programs for more complex computations, saving in the as HTML files to export output to spreadsheets, word processors and web pages, and printing. Alcyone Ephemeris is a education software.

Keywords: planets orbital elements sun earth moon horizontal coordinates geocentric html files spreadsheets ephemeris data apparent diameter scripting heliocentric rectangular coordinates parallax refraction magnitude equatorial acceleration velocity alcyone word processors mini browser nicely