Re: Star charts

[Mike Simonsen <mikesimonsen@mindspring.com>]

Nice work, Michael!

Understanding that this is just a beta version, here are some things that
might make it a little more useful.

1- Field scale and orientation, e.g. North up West right, 30' FOV.
This could be a simple legend or ticks or grids.
2- Labeling the variable(s) in the field.
3- Sexigesimal coordinates as an option for display.
Decimal degrees doesn't bother me particularly, but eventually when
comparing to other datasets the conversion will have to be made. Why not do
it up front.
4- Beware non-orthographic display nearer to the poles.

This chart shows the potential to be quite useful in selecting stars in a
particular field to download data for, as another option to the currently
available scheme.

It is of course limited by the same things as any commercially available
software, in that it is only as good as the DB it is based on, whether it is
GSC, Tycho, USNO, TASS, etc. So there will likely be artifacts, missing
stars, galaxies plotted as stars and some of the other problems that plague
these applications.

Welcome to my nightmare.


Mike Simonsen (SXN)
C. E. Scovil Observatory
Imlay City, MI, USA