From: mike@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Smithwick)
Subject: ANNOUNCING Distant Suns for the Macintosh
Organization: SF-Bay Public-Access Unix
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 18:23:41 GMT

[]


ANNOUNCING DISTANT SUNS FOR THE MACINTOSH (tm), Version 1.0


Virtual Reality Laboratories announces the release of the Macintosh 
version of Distant Suns, the international award-winning desktop 
planetarium.  This now makes Distant Suns the only Planetarium program 
available on all 3 major PC platforms : Windows (tm), Amiga(tm) and 
now the Macintosh.

Distant Suns will allow the user to set up a "virtual reality 
observatory" anywhere on Earth, from a 4713 BC to 10,000 AD. It 
displays up to 10,000 stars (expandable to 250,000), 2,000 galaxies, 
nebulae and star clusters. The viewpoint can be moved from the Earth 
to other points in the solar-system. Program settings may be saved and 
recalled at any time.

Click on an object and you get a detailed summary of information such 
as name, spectral type, magnitude, rise-set time, etc. In the case of 
planets and deep-sky objects user-definable pictures may also be 
supplied.

The user can create smoothly animated sequences to aid in greater 
understanding of celestial phenomena such as eclipses, cometary motion 
and the analemma. Distant Suns can create high quality star charts in 
a device independent way so as to take advantage of the highest 
resolutions possible.

The user may add new objects such as recently discovered comets or 
interplanetary spacecraft. And all of this is done in full color.

Besides the above, Distant Suns has many other functions to aid both 
the amateur astronomer or the casual armchair observer :


   * Lunar phase graph

   * User definable toolbox, letting you display as many or as 
     few options as desired in a button panel format

   * Custom search panel which will permit the user to add desired
     objects or regions of the sky not covered in the normal 
     search options

   * The ability to search for a star based on Greek identifier, HD 
     or SAO numbers

   * Demonstrate the proper motion of stars over a 50,000 year 
     period of time

   * Display individual star-data fields such as distances, 
     magnitude, radial velocity or B-V
     next to all of the stars in the current display

   * Support for monochrome or color displays depending on the 
     system you have

   * Math chip support

   * Print out an ephemeris

   * Follow the Galileo probe as it heads out towards Jupiter and 
     flys by the asteroid Ida next year

   * Use the Flashcard option to help constellation identification

   * Observer's planning guide to aid in setting up observing sessions

   * User customizable on-line tables

   * Quick-look guides to see what is going on any evening at a glance

   * Turn on constellation outlines and names

   * System 7 compatible


Distant Suns requires 2MB RAM, 2.5 MB harddrive space and will work on 
any known Macintosh. 68020 machines with math chips are recommended.

The program is available for a "Suggested retail price" of $99.95, and 
may be found at Fry's Electronics, Egghead and other software dealers.

For further information, contact :


Virtual Reality Laboratories
2341 Ganador Court
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401


805-545-8515 voice
805-781-2257 BBS


Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Windows ins a trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Amiga is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines

----------------------------------------------------

If you have any questions, comments, bug reports or suggestions feel 
free to contact me. I am always interested in how the program may be 
improved as I start work on version 1.1.

----------------------------------------------------

I would also like to thank those on the net who answered my request
for beta testers last February and stuck with it.


Mike




-- 
"There is no problem too big that can't be solved with high explosives"-Rush

Mike Smithwick - ames!zorch!mike

Newsgroups: sci.astro