StarDome PLUS: Observing Tables

StarDome PLUS lets you generate raw numerical information on planets, comets, asteroids, and deep-sky objects. StarDome PLUS presents the data as plain-text tables that can be copied from the display and pasted into other documents.

The dropdown menu on the left offers you a choice of tables. Select the table type you want. If applicable, select from options presented in additional menus, then click Generate Table. StarDome PLUS will create your table. As you experiment, bear in mind that you can clear out any tables you've generated using the Clear Tables button in the Options panel (bottom right).

StarDome PLUS' Observing Tables also supply extra information about some types of events found using the previous/next control. To turn on this feature, click the Show Event Messages checkbox.

Explore the tables

Ephemeris. This table gives you information about all of the planets for a given moment, or about one planet over a range of times.

To provide information for your specific location, click on the Topocentric checkbox in the Options panel. Otherwise, positions are geocentric (correct only for the Earth's center) and times are given in UT (Universal Time, essentially equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time).

Additional ephemeris options include:

Julian date
Delta T (the esitmated difference, in seconds, between Universal Time, which is based on Earth's irregular rotation, and the constant timescale employed in astronomical calculations)
Apparent right ascension and declination (either geocentric or topocentric)
Astrometric right ascension and declination (positions referred to the January 1, 2000, locations of stars; results can be either geocentric or topocentric)
Altitude and azimuth
Magnitude (on the astronomical brightness scale, where negative numbers indicate the brightest objects; not given for comets)
Illuminated fraction (how much of the visible surface is illuminated by the Sun; not given for asteroids and comets)
Angular diameter (not given for asteroids and comets)
Solar elongation (angular distance east or west of the Sun)
True and apparent ecliptic coordinates, and true heliocentric ecliptic coordinates

When you choose All Planets, All Comets, or All Asteroids, the table produced will show information for these objects at a single moment. If you chose a single planet, however, you have the option of generating data over many different time spans and time intervals, ranging from a single moment to a year's worth of daily or weekly positions.

Rise/Set Times. This table gives rise, transit, and set times for a selected planet, starting at the date entered on the clock, for a period of one week, one month, or one year.

If Sun is selected, the table includes twilight times. In the Options panel, you may select whether civil, nautical, or astronomical twilight is shown.

Lunar Phases. This table gives the times of lunar phases for 1, 5, 10, or 20 years.

Equinox/Solstice. This table will display the times of equinoxes and solstices for 10 years.

Galilean Moons/GRS. This table give the times of events involving Jupiter's major moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — as well as the the Great Red Spot's (GRS) transit time across the planet's disk. This function allows you to generate Jupiter events for one day, one week, or one month.

MyMessier. This report provides rise, transit, set, and observing information for all 109 Messier objects for the date and location selected — a handy planning aid. Columns include:

Messier catalog number and common name
Rise, transit, and set times
Right ascension and declination
Magnitude
angular size
Minimum telescope aperture required for a pleasing view
Object notes

MyDeepSky. This report provides rise, transit, set, and observing information for some 700 non-Messier objects, including galaxies, galaxy clusters, double and variable stars, and nebulae. The columns are identical to the MyMessier report. For double stars, the size column gives the separation in arcseconds; for variable stars, the period of brightness rise and fall.

	Mercury	Mercury	Venus	Venus
RISE	—		—
SET	—		—
		—		—

StarDome PLUS: Observing Tables

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