Moons of Jupiter

[Stellaferox]

Hi All,

For those who might need an anstronomical application: this is a little app which shows the position of the 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter in front view and polar view on any chosen date or time. The binocular checkbox displays the moons normal North-South if checked and upside down if not checked with (for use with a telescope). The app has no helpfunction (yet) but explains itself. The yellow resetbutton resets to the time now. Changing the date or time and then pushing the calcbutton calculates the positions and displays the configuration.
The playbuttons moves the time forward or backward. The = button stops the animation. I deliberately didnot use imagebuttons for this to keep the code simple and adjustable for those who want to change it.
The names of the moons:
I = Io
E = Europa
G = Ganymedes
C = Callisto
Have fun!
Marc

PS: The application is updated as promised a few weeks ago.

[Erel]

Very nice. (though I don't have a telescope...)

[Simontelescopium]

Nice, I did something like this when I was using visual basic a few years ago for my old IPAQ and have been meaning to dust off the code and convert to B4ppc (which graduated to) I don't think I'll bother now!

CMHAS - SOFTWARE_JupView

I personally prefer small single purpose programs like this to large bulky programs that try to do everything.

Have you thought about adding transit and eclipse events and GRS transit times?

Simon.

[Simontelescopium]

Originally Posted by Erel

Very nice. (though I don't have a telescope...)

You can see these moons with binoculas (on a tripod) quite easily - you should give it a try! Now is not a great time to view it though

[mjcoon]

Originally Posted by Stellaferox

... this is a little app which shows the position of the 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter in front view and polar view on any chosen date or time.

I've been meaning to write something like that too and didn't make much progress.

So I'd like to contribute an icon for it...

Mike.

[Stellaferox]

Hi All,

Thanks all.

@Simon: I like your program too. Mine was purely written for use with my telescope. I have a few ideas to include such as the transit and eclipse events you suggested and a night view. Also I'd like to improve on the accuracy in the future with more sophisticated algorhitms.

@mjcoon: thanks for your icon. I use it on my laptop now.

Marc

[mjcoon]

Originally Posted by Stellaferox

@mjcoon: thanks for your icon. I use it on my laptop now.

Welcome; I have to have an icon because I've put it in my "Today" screen via "Launcher" which only shows icons.

I'm not sure how the animation is supposed to work (haven't studied the code yet). Maybe it has a bug because it seems to leap about with different increments or decrements (I'm only using "<" and ">", not "<<" or ">>".) For instance it leaps to the early hours of tomorrow (from early evening today) and then advances by fractions of an hour. There's room on the screen to show what the [in|de]crement currently is...

Mike.

[Stellaferox]

Hi mjcoon,

Yes I noticed that too and corrected the problem. In the Timer_Tickloop the time wasn't handled right. Also I corrected a few other bugs. The problem right now is that I cannot upload the file because the screen on my laptop is broken and is out of order for the next three weeks. As soon as it is back I will upload the latest file.
thanks
Marc

[Stellaferox]

Hi All,

Tha application is updated like I promised a few weeks ago. The new version is in the 1st post. Smoother graphics, a few timeconversionbugs and a new algorithm were implemented.
Marc

[mjcoon]

Originally Posted by Simontelescopium

... Now is not a great time to view it [Jupiter] though

No, I find that even on clear nights Jupiter has vanished into the horizon murk before it's dark enough to see. When will it be "back"? And I suppose that will be in the East, which isn't good for me.

To Stellaferox: thanks for the update.

Mike.