Skylab2 Version 1.4 for DOS

INTRODUCTION

SKYLAB2 is a user-friendly computer program that animates basic celestial motions on MS-DOS® and compatible computers. It can also be used from Microsoft® Windows® as a full-screen application. The program was developed to augment classroom instruction of Introductory Astronomy and it has many uses for amateur and professional astronomers. The menu-driven, window-oriented user interface makes SKYLAB2 easy to use, even for novice computer users.

SKYLAB2 was developed in 1990 by J. C. Maffei with R. J. Pfeiffer (Dept. of Physics, The College of New Jersey) and J. K. Wooley (Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Eastern Michigan University).

SKYLAB2 animates the following celestial motions...

• The motions of the sun, moon, and major planets seen on a Mercator-type map of the celestial sphere (with or without stars) in the equatorial, ecliptic, galactic, or horizon coordinate systems, with trail option.

• The precession of the north celestial pole seen on a polar projection map centered on the north ecliptic pole.

• The 3-D motions of the sun, vernal equinox, moon, and selected planets as seen on the surface of the celestial sphere from an external viewpoint. Includes diurnal motion in general for an object of any declination as seen from any latitude.

• Solar and lunar eclipses as seen from any location on the surface of the earth.

• The 2-D diurnal motions of the sun and moon seen on an "hour-angle clock" with simultaneous display of the phases of the moon and the lunar orbit, as seen from far above the north geographic pole.

• The 3-D heliocentric solar system, including the nine major planets and Halley's comet, as seen from any heliocentric angle and practical distance.

SKYLAB2 also provides a tabular ephemeris of the sun, moon, and major planets including rise and set positions and times.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

The program requires...

     • MS-DOS® Version 2.1 or higher operating system
     • CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, or HERCULES® graphics card
     • 512K or 640K of RAM (depending on graphics card and DOS version)
     • Math-coprocessor (recommended)
     • Printer (optional)

Click Skylab2 Download Area to download a copy of the demo version.

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