MWO Online
StarMap

Fill out the form below and we'll create a PostScript Star Map for you!

Downtime News!

January 3, 2000: As you've no doubt noticed, StarMap has been down for some time. This happened because we moved the website to a new server and that means porting 11,000 lines of FORTRAN code to Linux. I've just been authorized to attempt to get this running again, so hopefully I will have StarMap working within the next two weeks. Thanks for your patience.

Bob Donahue

P.S. I will also try to add one or two new features, if things go well.

When you have completed and submitted the form below, a PostScript file will be returned to you. This file contains printer control commands, formatted for a PostScript printer, for the StarMap. There are several methods of viewing this file. You may choose to either print it or view it on-screen, as your hardware and software permit.

Software for viewing PostScript files: Ghostscript, and I've heard that Adobe Illustrator also works well.

There is now a What's New page, and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page regarding StarMap!

Date/Time (be sure to use leading zeroes!)

This is the date and time for which you want the StarMap to be generated, which does not have to be the current date and time. If you do not enter a date or time, the system will assume you want the StarMap generated to show the stars as they would appear right now.

First enter the date. The date must be entered as a series of eight numerical digits with no punctuation. For example, April 3, 1997 would be represented as "04031997" (excluding quotes).

Date (mmddyyyy, if blank today): (No slashes!)

Next is the time. The time must be entered in Universal Time, which is approximately the same as the time in Greenwich, England. (For purposes of StarMap, the two may be considered to be equivalent.)

The time must be represented as a series of four numerical digits with no punctuation, with hours past noon represented as numbers greater than twelve. Examples: 3:05am would be "0305" (excluding quotes). 4:27pm would be "1627" (excluding quotes).

The Universal Time at the moment this form was requested is:


U.T. Time: (hhmm, if blank now): (No colons!)

Location

You need to choose a location in the list of pre-recorded locations or enter a latitude and longitude. (If you don't know your longitude/latitude, you might try the U.S. Gazeteer which also has several non-US metro areas, or the Geographical Name Server at geogns.rutgers.edu port 3000, or MapQuest.) A graphical map that works for the entire planet is also available courtesy of Xerox.

Latitude (xx.x degrees):

For longitudes to the west of Greenwich, England (for example, anywhere in the United States), the indicated longitude should be positive. For longitudes to the east of Greenwich, England (for example, anywhere in mainland Europe or Asia), the indicated longitude should be negative. Note that if you got your longitude information from MapQuest, the given longitude would have this backwards, and should be reversed.

Longitude (xxx.x degrees):

Optional Parameters

The Limiting Magnitude indicates how faint the faintest stars shown on the StarMap should be. Specify a number from 0 to 6. 0 is brightest, 6 is faintest.

Limiting Magnitude (0-6):

Check the following if you want constellation stick figures shown on the StarMap.

Constellations:

The Constellation Magnitude Limit indicates how faint the faintest stars connected in constellation stick figures should be. Setting this to a lower number than the Limiting Magnitude will reduce the number of constellation stick figures shown on the StarMap.

Constellation Magnitude Limit:

The Meteor Showers feature indicates on the StarMap the radiants of meteor showers active for the date and time for which the StarMap is created. Meteors will be seen primarily in the area of the sky surrounding the radiant. This area is indicated with an X on the StarMap.

Meteor Showers:

Selecting one or more of the following will cause the selected reference lines to appear on the StarMap.

Reference lines:

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Send a message to Scrassipes @ mtwilson.edu .
Yes, believe it or not, this program is written entirely in FORTRAN mostly because I used the MONGO graphics package to generate the plots. With a little more work, I'll have a generalized FORMS interface in FORTRAN written, just in case anyone is ever interested in such a thing...

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