.TH starchart LOCAL 6/2/87
.ad b
.SH NAME
planet, moonphase, epoch
.br
\- print phase of the Moon and planetary information, precess data in .star file format.
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBplanet [juliandate]\fR
.br
or
.br
\fBplanet [-z timezone -m month -d day -y year -t hh.mm ]\fR
.br
\fBmoonphase\fR
.br
\fBepoch [ inputepoch ] [ outputepoch ]\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
These programs generate and maintain star chart data in the format used by
the \fBstarchart\fR software tools.
.PP
Planetary information is generated by the program \fBplanet\fR, which calculates
locations a given Julian date, or for the current time (given no arguments).
In common use, an alternate syntax is provided to simplify the calculation of
the Julian date, in which integers for month, day, (mandatory), and year are
given. Time is specified in the form \fBhh.mm\fP or \fBhh\fP on a 24-hour clock
and defaults to 0.00 (midnight). The \fB-z\fP flag (same format as -t) gives
the number of hours the observer is west of GMT (see below).
.PP
A summary is then printed on the standard output giving the right ascension,
declination and distance (in AU's) for the Sun and all planets except Pluto.
This data is additionally placed in the file \fBplanet.star\fR for subsequent
use by charting software.
.PP
The program \fBmoonphase\fP gives the current lunar phase. At present it does
not provide coordinate data for subsequent plotting.
.PP
The program \fBepoch\fP converts right-ascension and declination data within
\fByale.star\fR style datasets from epoch 1975.0 into the epoch 2000.0.
Either the first or both epoch dates may be overridden with command line
parameters (floating point values). The data is read and written from
the standard input and output. Because only the coordinate data is updated
within each line item, the program may be used on either versions of the
reduced Yale data.
.SH BUGS
Daylight savings time may have to be reckoned for in \fBplanet\fP, as the
default \fB-z\fP value during periods of daylight time may or may not be
adjusted relative to GMT. The required code changes would make \fBplanet\fP
installation dependent.
.SH AUTHORS
\fBplanet\fP - F.T. Mendenhall (ihnp4!inuxe!fred)
.br
\fBmoonphase\fP - Keith E. Brandt
.br
\fBepoch\fP - Alan Paeth, University of Waterloo (AWPaeth@watCGL)
.br
\fByale.star\fP - Robert Tidd (inp@VIOLET.BERKELEY.EDQ)
.br
\fBmessier.star\fP - Bob Tidd and Alan Paeth
.SH SOURCES
\fBplanet\fP - \fIAstronomical Formulae for Calculators\fP by Jean Meesus
.br
\fBmoonphase\fP - \fIPractical Astronomy with Your Calculator\fP by Duffett-Smith.
.br
\fBepoch\fP -  \fICelestial BASIC\fP by Eric Burgess (SYBEX 1982)