The development of CNebulaX from an MSDOS program
through more than 10 years
This project started in 1993, from an MSDOS program called LECTOR, which managed the 5.2 release of the database
created by the Saguaro Astronomical Club (SAC). In spite of have been completely
superseded by the current databases, I never changed the database names (SAC.DAT/SAC.IND pairs) to honor their good work. This
amateur group was a true pioneer in the systematic development of deep sky observing
projects, and I think that all of us must acknowledge this fact; at least I
want to. LECTOR read directly the SAC52.TXT file and was
able to prepare some types of reports, print-outs and celestial maps, but it was
very limited and I needed a better tool.
Some years later I developed a first true
database manager able to cross searching conditions very fast, an MSDOS project called INDEX. It has been an excellent tool during many
years, even today, but with the time, I wanted more power that what I could get
in an MSDOS environment. That was the origin of CNebulaX.
INDEX - the seed of
the project
In its final release (4.3), INDEX was
split in two EXE modules and is still fully valid for preparing special maps.
The main module has been publicly available for many years, but it is definitely
obsolete and I am not distributing it anymore. Do not ask for it, since nowadays it
requires emulators to run properly and I cannot maintain it properly from XP
computers. The new program CNebulaX is far better: use
it instead.
This is an example of what INDEX was
able to do: the area surrounding Minkowski 1-64 as an
example of the charting mode. It could display other types of finder maps. The
star database was AC2000 (4,600,000 stars), and in the
latest release it could plot GSC maps (5 million
stars). Charts like these could be tiled and printed making mosaics (9 by page,
here
you have a PDF
example), or stored making a huge collection of favorite objects. I still use
it for preparing special maps. My current collection for instance (whose index
is indeed the PDF constellation guide given above) includes about 5000 maps of
deep sky objects, that is managed from the INDEX auxiliary module, the second
program above mentioned.
The
navigating window of the main module used two standard zoomed windows (see
below): (a) 5
degrees for explorations, and (b) 1.5 degrees
for detailed maps. From both windows, one could explore (moving, checking data,
jump to near objects, add the objects to the observation list, etc) using 5
degrees, and when more detail was required, swap to 1.5 degrees to see fainter
objects, returning then to the exploration zoom. The CNebulaX
zenith tip was introduced in INDEX. The image at the left is the exploration
zoom (5º default), and the e small square below is the navigation
window. Clicking there, the user could move to a neighboring area, or open an
all-sky view. The data of any object within the chart could be consulted just
clicking them or pressing ENTER once close enough to your target object. Making
observing list was as simple as clicking on an object and pressing A (add
object). The same has been implemented in CNebulaX,
but quite more elaborated.
When
more magnification are needed, the view could be swapped to the detailed
zoom view (1.5º default), which showed all stars and secondary
objects in the area. A wide range of operations were possible from the atlas
window. For instance, checking its visibility and optimal magnification, the
current position in the sky and evolution with time, the instants for the
nearest maximum/minimum if it is a variable star, or the observations of that
object recorded in the database. The user could compile help files storing his/her
own observations or including notes of other observers, and have access to them
in a few seconds.
The
observation programs could be presented in many ways: maps, lists or exported
to files. The plot by these lines shows an example in galactic coordinates:
Using
the object's data (magnitude and size), the naked eye limiting magnitude, the
transmission factor, telescope (aperture and focal length), eyepieces and barlows/compressors, the program tells you whether the
object (star or extended DSO) is visible or not, and the best eyepiece/barlow. It applies a system based on the Clark's method and
Blackwell's eye response surface. In this case, M13 at LM=6.3 in a (T)254 mm is
best visible at the minimal magnification, as common sense tells us. If
you want to know in detail how to predict the visibility of an extended deep
sky object (or stellar object), please read this PDF document or have a look to this HTML document. Finally, here you have some plots to
calculate the visibility through some standards telescopes
WINDEX and SkyIndex- the first WINDOWS releases
Windex - This was the Beta 1.0 in an early
development stage. The primitive toolbox contained less controls, and the
viewer was always undocked, but the essential features are well visible. However,
major bugs were still present and the program was not functional: configuration
problems were not solved and I needed more time to debug it, and enhance its
capabilities.
SkyIndex/SkyViewer - And this is the look of SkyIndex, a more evolved release that has been available in
the net. It still contained some bugs, some of them affecting the setup. Luckily,
the cooperation of other people helped me to find most of them.
