SKYCAL.TAR.Z -- Astronomical almanac calculator and calendar programs

	John Thorstensen
	Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
	Dartmouth College
	Hanover, NH 03755

	John.Thorstensen@dartmouth.edu


To obtain from the NOAO FTP archive via INTERNET:

	% ftp iraf.noao.edu (or 140.252.1.1)
	login: anonymous
	password: [email address]
	ftp> cd contrib
	ftp> binary
	ftp> get skycal.tar.Z
	ftp> quit


===========================================================================
REVISIONS -- 1994 September --- bug fix (V4.1)

Works around a problem with incorrect dates (all zeros) printed on
Silcon Graphics and perhaps others.

REVISIONS -- 1994 September version (V4)

The calendar-printing program is unchanged from V3.  The calculator
program is considerably revised; the most important revisions are:

1) Can read a file of objects; user can then set to coordinates
   of an object by name or have the object list sorted according
   to a number of different criteria.  Very useful while observing.
2) Can produce a log file of output results while running interactively.
   [N. B. -- This feature requires a working ANSI c-compiler; the standard 
   Sun "cc" compiler fails, and the ANSI version "acc" fails
   because of a known compiler bug.  However, the Open Software
   Foundation's "gcc" compiler *does* create working code for
   sparcstations.  A binary version is distributed for those who
   need it.]  


REVISIONS -- 2001 February -- SKYCALC AND SKYCALENDER V5 - README

This contains the V5 version of the observer's almanac tools,
skycalc and skycalendar.  

Skycalc is an interactive tool which conveniently handles the 
time-and-the-sky calculations commonly encountered in optical 
astronomy.  It has many features useful for planning observations 
and at the telescope.
  
Skycalendar prints a table of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, 
moonset, and so on, organized on a nightly (double-dated) basis 
for any site.  

This version (posted 2001 February) incorporates some minor
upgrades, bug fixes, and enhancements over V4.  Most notably, 
for skycalc: 

- colon-separated times and coordinates are now permitted; 
- the program can be set to read the system clock every time
  output is called for;
- certain small pieces of copyright-protected code have been excised
  and replaced with original or public-domain versions;
- one can now save non-menu site paramters in a file. 

And for skycalendar:

- more TeX output options are supported (e.g., one month per page
  in landscape mode).

The two subdirectories are as follows:

src - contains the source codes for skycalc and skycalendar.

doc - contains a manual in four forms - plain TeX, dvi, postscript,
  and PDF. Sorry, no HTML manual yet.


*** INSTALLATION ***

V1-V4:
    To extract, compile, and link (under UNIX):

	    % zcat skycal.tar | tar xf -
	    % $cc skycalc.c -lm -o skycalc
	    % $cc skycalendar.c -lm -o skycalendar

    where $cc is a C compiler.  Note that skycalc.c requires an ANSI c-compiler
    as noted below.

V5:

    If you're on an X86 Linux machine, it should suffice to simply install
    the executables in skycal-linux.tar.Z to someplace in your path (e.g.,
    somewhere like /usr/local/bin, or $HOME/bin).  You may want to rename
    the executables "skycalc" and "skycalendar".  It's conceivable that
    pre-Red-Hat-6 Linices might have some kind of problem -- I haven't
    tested this.

    If you're on another UNIX machine, you should be able to compile 
    the source by typing

    cc skycalc.v5.c -o skycalc -lm 

    -- that's really all there is to it! -- and copying the output 
    ("skycalc" in this example) into your path.  The code is one
    gigantic slab of C.  I know that the freebie pre-ANSI compilers
    on old SUN machines used to have troubles because the code uses some 
    distinctly ANSI features, but the free gcc compiler should handle it
    perfectly.

    If you have another OS (e.g., the Evil Empire OS) and compiler, 
    you're on your own -- I know that old Windows C compilers used to 
    choke on skycalc because it is a gigantic monolithic file with a 
    bunch of routines in it, but I can't imagine why the industry would 
    maintain these limits for modern machines.