Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!brunix!omh
From: omh@brunix (Owen M. Hartnett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Info on Voyager Planetarium Software
Message-ID: <13134@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 20 Aug 89 16:01:51 GMT
References: <2997@cbnewsm.ATT.COM>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Reply-To: omh@zaphod.UUCP (Owen M. Hartnett)
Distribution: na
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Lines: 38

I bought Voyager at MacWorld and I love it.

Things that are nice about it:
You can observe the sky in any of three modes, a star atlas type, a local
mode (which cuts out at the horizon and designates the compass points, i.e.
you can display a star chart for the precise time and date you specify) and
a ~rcelstial sphere, which I don't use much, but may be handy for some
people.

You can enter in coordinates for celestial objects as they are discovered,
and Voyager will plot them for you.  (Handy for new comets, you can print
up a star chart s{_howing their location at your observing time.) voyager
will also plot the planets and deep sky objects as well.  There is a find
feature: You type in "Whirlpool" for instance and Voyager will find (and
optionally center) the object, along with a complete data analysis about it
(i.e. RA, Decl, Magnitude, distance, etc.)  The magnitude is computed on
the fly, as is distance, so they will change with time, etc.  

Clicking on an object will present a complete data analysis on it.

You can also observe from another planet or object or anywhere in the universe,
practically.  What was really neat was setting the observation point to the
moon and the time to last Wednesday's full lunar eclipse -- you see the earth
moving in front of the sun. You can also "track" objects and turn on the
"trails" feature to see their orbital paths.

My only thought as to another feature I'd like to see: I suggested to the
author at Macworld that he include an "almanac" feature in the next release 
(i.e. when you booted it up, it would notify you of major phenomenon that
would occur soon, like "Perseid Meteor Shower Peak 8/13" or "total lunar
eclipse 8/16," he thought it a good idea and hopefully would implement it.)

-Owen

Owen Hartnett
Brown University Computer Science

omh@cs.brown.edu.CSNET