"Hallo northern sky" software page

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Welcome to the free planetarium program HNSKY for Windows. It is complete with the SAO, PPM, Tycho-2 star databases, up to date deepsky database containing 26000 objects , Realsky (r) images and access to the external GSC and USNO CDROM star catalogs. Telescope control using the universal ASCOM package, a Realsky viewer (incl. source) DDE controlled from HNSKY and a BMP/JPEG to FITS conversion utility.

Contains:

The next program: "Hallo northern sky" or HNSKY is a planetarium program for windows. Have a try. It is free with 26000 deepsky objects and all stars to magnitude 12 and with the original GSC CD's, GSC-ACT or the USNO UCAC2 to magnitude 16. It displays all planets, the Moon, Sun, moons of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Neptune and a few hundred asteroids and comets. It comes with 255 small DSS deepsky images which will blend in at the right size and orientation. It will run under Windows 95 or later. To install the program you start with the basic package or just put all the files in one directory and just run the main file HNSKY.EXE.

Download small package: (Your are invited to spread/upload free copies on the web. Please do, no permission required !)

Small basic package HNSKY230.EXE (4 mbytes v2.3.0n) complete with small version of the SAO star database (magn. 8), comet, asteroid deep sky databases, several supplements and images of the Moon, Mars Jupiter, M81 and M82. Including several non-english language modules. Download here non-English help files and the latest languagemodules . You can define your own key shortcuts in the English module or any other language module.

Can control many telescopes using ASCOM ! For this you have to download and install the ASCOM program too (4 or 11 mbytes).

Download large version: (Your are invited to spread/upload free copies on the web. Please do, no permission required !)

Large program package	Large basic package HNSKY230_large.EXE (40 mbytes v2.3.0n) complete with small SAO , large TYCHO2 star database, deepsky help file, non-English menus, planetary and 255 deepsky images. Download here non-English help files. Can control many telescopes using ASCOM ! For this you have to download and install the ASCOM program too (4 or 11 mbytes). If you have already the program installed, the latest EXE file only version 2.3.0n plus comet and asteroid files. Reports of HNSKY running under Linux using emulators Please send any new report or information to
Additional FITS images	Extra large Mars map (Color 1000x500 pixels) , large Mercury maps (1440x720 pixels)based on Mariner 10, SVTS and large Jupiter map (Color 600x300 pixels) . Use the large maps only if you have a fast computer or some patience. The planetary FITS files should be placed in your FITS directory. 45 hand made drawings/sketches (880 Kbytes) of Bill Ferris, Todd Nowlan and Rainer Töpler as FITS files. These can blended inside the map. They should be put in an other directory as the Realsky images otherwise they are blend with the Realsky images.
Additional stars databases	Hipparcos see Tycho-1
	LARGE SAO star database (2300 Kbytes) Download the HNSKY star database containing all SAO stars to magnitude 9.5 or so. (258.000 stars) Contains: SAO_HSKY.DAT (Version 2000-1-23).
	LARGE PPM star database (4700 Kbytes) Download the HNSKY star database containing all PPM stars to magnitude 10 or so (470.000 stars). Contains: PPM_HSKY.DAT (Version 2000-1-23).
	TYCHO-1 and HIPPARCOS star databases, more then 1 million stars, total size 10 Mbytes, 4 Zip files containing 32 x D32 files, version 2000-8-10. Hipparcos 118.000 stars, one zip file 1.2 Mbytes containing one DAT file. Version 2000-8-9.
	Tycho-2+ is already included in the large version. You can still download them from Ferguson observatory More then 2.5 million stars. A total of 23 Mbytes in 4 zip files containing 32 x D32 files. Sorted with 0.1 magnitude accuracy. Version 2000-3-14.
	GSC files (15 million stars to about magnitude 15) you can download at CDS the GSC 1.2 (catalog 254) mirrors jp, ru, ca in the compact binary format (303 Mbytes), the GSC 1.1 (catalog 220) mirrors at jp, ru, ca or the GSC_ACT (catalog 255) mirrors at jp, ru, ca in FITS format (2 full CD's !) Some servers provide them compressed by GZIP with extension .gz . Winzip or GZIP can decompress them. 2 CD's with the GSC_ACT in FITS format can be ordered for about $9 at Project Pluto !!! HNSKY can access these CD's directly. You can compress these files to the same compact binary format (total 303 Mbytes) as used for the GSC 1.2 using the EXPORT program .
	UCAC2: Instructions and conversion programs to download and reconstruct the 2 Gbytes large USNO UCAC2 astrometric star catalog containing 48,330,571 stars from Vizier input files. The UCAC2 is covering the sky from -90 to +40 degrees in declination and going up to +52 degrees in some areas. Magnitude about 7.5 to 16. Download also the new intermediate UCAC2 supplement to +90 degrees !! HNSKY can access this catalog directly. This is the only catalog where HNSKY will use proper motion for maximum accuracy. See HNSKY UCAC screenshots.
	For historical and scientific purposes, the complete Bonner, Southern and Cordoba Durchmusterung of the 19 century in a HNSKY database: durchmus.zip Size 10 mbytes containing more then 1.000.000 stars. Only for the very advanced specialists, some conversion programs used to create the star databases hnskypd.zip
Additional supplements Problems solver	Constellations in form of a supplement, Bright Quasars and BL Lacertae Objects.sup, Coordinates from 110 extra solar Planets.sup
	71000 Galaxies supplement based on Leda data Dated 2002-6-11 (1500 Kbytes)
	World map supplement: World map supplement version 3.0 dated 2000-10-22. World map and 2700 cities with there location and relative brightness. Scale 1 : 5.000.000. See screen shot of version 2.0. Included a conversion program to convert coastlines to a supplement.
	GCVS 4.1 variable star supplement. Complete 37382 star version. In this supplement the GCVS is displayed as labels so you can easily cross check with Tycho or UCAC2. To get Tycho star info switch off the supplement. (The smaller 7800 star version is included to the basic package)
	Nextstar 5/8 SAO star supplement : Star supplement containing 10384 Nextstar and SAO star numbers. Version 00-12-15.
	Obsolete with current deep sky database: RC3 galaxy supplement: Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies. Contains 23011 galaxies, v1.0b Dated 2002-5-18
	Obsolete using the Tycho 2+ database: Star supplement Tycho-2: Supplement (star) version 00-3-24 containing the 6395 in Tycho-2 omitted stars as taken from TYCHO-1-main and Tycho reference. Contains HNS_TYC2.SUP. These stars are already included in the tycho2+ star database.
CD covers	Outstanding and waiting for help from volunteers. Are you good in making CD covers, please send your design for HNSKY to . Here are the first designs or or or or or
Conversion tools	Conversion programs/tools Tools for converting GSC 1.1 star database from FITS format to the compact binary format as GSC 1.2. (EXPORT.EXE program) This wil compress GSC 1.1 or GSC ACT from 2 CD's to 303 Mbytes only !! EXPORT.EXE (v 2001) will also export the HNSKY databases to text files (ASCII). Utilities to export GSC 1.1/ACT and USNO A2 to TXT/ASCII files. And finally for experts some DOS programs to create new star databases for the HNSKY program. Total 273 Kbytes, version 2002-9-4.
Asteroids/Minor planets files	Standard asteroid and comet file update (Version 2010 August 6) Latest update from minorplanetcenter.org in compatible TheSky format. Just save to data to the HNS_COM1.CMT and HNS_AST1.AST files or copy paste into the existing files. Large asteroid file containing 10000 asteroids/minor planets (Version 2009 Oct 17) For more asteroids you have to convert original Minor Planet Center (MPC) files (in january 2008, 340.000 asteroids) with the supplied conversion to HNSKY format programs.
DDE demo	DDE or dynamic data interface demos Excel spreadsheet for RA/DEC readout and Delphi 4 program and source code for reading and controlling.(version 2000-11-26).
Telescope interfaces (Obsolete)	Obsolete: Since ASCOM is implemented in HNSKY version 2.1.5, the following programs are more or less obsolete, but maybe a nice example for other programmers: HNSKY to ASCOM interface v0.3 Allows use of the standard ASCOM telescope drivers for LX200, LX200 GPS Autostar, ACL based telescopes, Astro-Physics GOTO mount, Nexstar 5,8,11 GPS, 114GT, Ultima 2000, Skysensor 2000-PC and TheSky-controlled telescopes . Supplementary program HNS_ASCOM.EXE using the DDE interface. Size 180 Kbytes inclusive source code, version 0.2 dated 2002-7-28. You have to download and install the program from ASCOM too (7.2 mbytes). LX200/Autostar control program using HNSKY DDE link LX200.EXE version 1.00b. Source included. Here is and not tested LX50 version.
FITS & REALSKY tools	Realsky and DSS image viewer using HNSKY DDE link (HNS_REAL) Manual or DDE controlled Realsky image viewer. Click on an object and get the realsky image (you have to own the Realsky or DSS CD's). Click on the Realsky image and to center to get cross at HNSKY at the same place. Version 1.0.3e, Dated 2003-4-28. Here are the instructions and screen shot demo's If your FITS directory in HNSKY is set to the HNS_REAL directory, you will get every result blended in the next screen refresh. HNS_REAL can also be used in batch programs to create several images. Complete with Delphi and C source. Can also batch wise convert FITS to BMP. An other possibility is to control HNS_REAL from the provided Excel table.
FITS & REALSKY tools	HNS_FITS version 1.4.0 dated 2003-9-19. Utility program to create FITS files from BMP files with the correct WCS header by entering the position of two reference stars. Screen shot and describtion. This is a great tools to blend your own pictures inside the HNSKY sky map. With three added example files.
Miscellaneous	Excellent by Don Davis painted MOON MAP (1000x1000 pixels JPEG file, 600 Kbytes) of the great Lunar Earth side Geologic map for viewing, printing and so on. One of the best Moon overviews available. Local backup Sky commander DDE program for HNSKY and source by Jack Patterson. A supplement of guide stars made by a Sky commander user.

Updates:

The HNSKY.EXE file only HNSKY.EXE

The new 2008 DEEPSKY .HLP helpfile hns_deep.zip

The deep sky database contains 26000 deep sky objects based on SAC 7.2, Wolfgang Steinicke revised NGC & IC, Kent Wallace SEC (PN) database and many galaxies from LEDA. They are in the standard CSV format with a comma as separator, so they can be read/imported by many programs such as Excel. They contain the latest modern data and many corrections of the last years from sources such as www.ngcic.org

If you have problems with the program or supplementary files read this: Answers to problems HNSKY version 2.0 for win95/98/NT/XP

Questions, suggestions regarding the HNSKY program you could email directly to me han kleijn's email address (in English, Dutch or German) or better post them in the Yahoo group HNSKY:

view messages at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hnsky
Join: hnsky-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
post a message: hnsky@yahoogroups.com

To post a message and to get an answer send back by e-mail you have to join this yahoo group. To prevent too much spam/junk mail there is approval which can take a day or so. This is just there to detect that your are an human being and not a stupid spam producing robot program filling our email boxes.

If you afraid to ask a trivial question at such a place, please do not hesitate and send it to my email address directly.

In this group I will send newsletters as special notice: Newsletters of the "Hallo northern sky" planetarium program

You also welcome to fill my GUESTBOOK

Some stuff to read:

Collecting satellite positional data using video frames and HNS_FITS by Greg Roberts. New 2002-11-20
The README.TXT of the new Saguaro Astronomy Club SAC 7.2 deepsky database
The quest for the ideal planetarium star database by Bill Anderson. Comparison of Tycho, Tycho reference and Tycho-2.
Star chart quality and accuracy by Raymond Bruton
Limitation of star catalogs and humans
The creation story of HNSKY by Han Kleijn
An evaluation of HNSKY by Bill Anderson
An accuracy evaluation of HNSKY by Giuseppe Matarazzo
Errata or correction list for SAC 7.2 Han Kleijn

The HNSKY program has printing facilities and the status can be saved/loaded. Here are some screen shot's of the HNSKY program:

Orion constellation using the GSC CD-rom database and provided FITS images:

===> Many more screen shot's of HNSKY<===

The following Excel 4.0 spreadsheet calculates the required photographic exposure time for all the planets, Sun, Moon, stars and deepsky objects. See comments on main index page:

Download the Excel 4.0 exposure spreadsheet: exposure.zip.

The following Windows program ORB_DEB is a simple windows program which calculates the orbital elements of a minor planet based on three observations/positions using the Gauss method:

Download ORB_DET.ZIP version 1.01.

Here the standard ASCII input file for my HNSKY help file (version 2004-10-3) including the programs to compile it such as the free RTFGEN program . If you can correct my English or the Help file, send a correction to . For major improvements, please contact for the latest version of the help file.

HNSKY 2.30 help file in ASCII format.

Here are some Pascal routines as used inside the HNSKY program. If you have any suggestion to improve them, please let me know:

Pascal source code for some astronomical routines and constellation arrays as used in HNSKY program.

Here are some links and source codes for ephemerides calculation and some other interesting astronomy programs:

Excel table routine for correcting the position of stars and deepsky objects caused by the precession (the shift of the Earth axis and ecliptic), for example equinox B1950 to J2000. Implemented in Excel as a visual basic routine using the rigorous method, so the accuracy around the poles is optimum. Can be used to convert star/deepsky databases in Excel. File equinox1.zip dated 2002-8-22.
Rotation of Jupiter's red spot at Web page about Great Red Spot transit times by Bill Gray's of project Pluto.
The orientation of planetary axis and rotational elements of planets and satellites can be found in the following IAU-IAG report or updated at http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/WGCCRE/constants/, local copy the IAU-IAG report. (great information source)

Other astronomy pages:

Links to other astronomy web pages

Han Kleijn's astronomy experiences.

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