Description of "The Earth Centered Universe Lite"

The Earth Centered Universe (ECU) Lite (note that V4.0 is shipping, however this description is reflective of V3.2A) is a Planetarium Program for amateur astronomers, educators, and sky enthusiests. It is capable of simulating many of the features visible in the Earth's night sky. You only need to enter your location and the time; the local sky will then be simulated on the screen in a colorful display.

This includes a database of stars, the planets, Sun, Moon, comets, asteroids, "and deep sky" objects. It also prints high quality star charts.

ECU is a tool for the observing amateur astronomer, but is equally useful to the "armchair" astronomer or astronomy student.

Some of ECU's Features

• ECU is lightning fast compared to many other astronomy programs and runs very well on older computers that you might use in the field (e.g. older laptops).
• The sky can be drawn as either in Sky Atlas (north is up) mode or Local Horizon (up in the local sky is up) mode.
• It exhibits a colorful display - the colors of all screen elements are controllable by user. Fonts can also be set.
• High quality star charts can be printed which are highly customizable by the user including titles, legend, fonts, and border dimensions.
• ECU status displays include the local time, universal time, latitude and longitude, RA/DEC, AZ/ALT, field size, magnitude limits, sidereal time, and Julian date.
• ECU contains the following databases and objects:
• The Yale Bright Star Catalog (9,100 stars to magnitude 6.5) - included are many "common" names for the bright stars
• The SAO Star Catalog (stars to about magnitude 8 included)
• A subset of the Saguaro Astronomy Club deep sky database (V7.2) containing the brightest 2085 of all types, including of course the Messier Catalog (to about magnitude 12)
• Enter the orbital elements for up to 400 comets and minor planets (asteroids) (can be download from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center ready to use in ECU's orbit format)
• The nine planets, the Sun, and the Moon
• Deep sky objects are drawn their correct size, shape, and orientation (when this information is included in the database).
• ECU is very easy to use. Most operations are performed with the mouse. A "toolbar" is provided for most common functions and for those who prefer to use the keyboard, there are many hot-keys.
• Clicking on an object causes an information box to pop up. All objects provide their RA, DEC, azimuth, altitude, rise and set times, and magnitude (if known). Other information provided is as follows:
  • The Sun: distance in AU, kilometers, and light travel time; angular size; solar longitude
  • The Moon: distance in kilometers; angular size; phase angle; phase age in days; its illuminated fraction in percent
  • The planets: distance in AU, kilometers, and light travel time; angular size; phase
  • Comets and asteroids: distance to the Sun and the Earth in AU, kilometers, and light travel time; solar elongation; phase (for asteroids)
  • Yale stars: Yale number; HD number; SAO number; Flamsteed/Bayer designation, color (B-V); spectral type; proper motion
  • SAO stars: SAO number; spectral type
  • SAC deep sky objects: a varying amount of information, but usually their name (and alternate name); Dreyer description, angular size; position angle; object class; notes
• The user can display up to 25 images of an object (image viewer not included)
• The user can add observing notes about any object.
• The user can measure angular distances on the sky with the mouse. Several angular formats are provided.
• All user settings can be saved to named configuration files for later retrieval. Comet and asteroid elements can be saved to or loaded from separate ASCII files.
• The time can be set as local mean time, UTC, or from the computer's clock (local or UTC). Dates can be entered from 4713BC to 9999AD.
• The observer's location is entered by latitude and longitude or from a list of cities (add your own, too).
• The sky can be displayed as white on black or black on white, or, of course, in full color. Special "night vision" modes protect your night vision when ECU is used in an observatory.
• ECU displays the horizon line, ecliptic line, RA/DEC grid (auto scaling), constellation lines, boundary lines, labels for bright stars, constellations, Messiers, coordinate grid, etc.
• Extensive text labels are provided for all types of objects.
• Several field "targets" of programmable angular size, including rotatable rectangles, can be drawn to represent the field of view of your main telescope and finder scope respectively. You can place up to 25 of these "targets" anywhere on the sky.
• The user can center the display at any RA/DEC, AZ/ALT, bright star, constellations, Messier object, named deep sky object, point on the horizon (north, south, etc.), or solar system object.
• The object databases can also be searched.
• ECU's animation mode allows time increments from 1 minute to four years. The display can be "locked" to the Sun, Moon, a planet, an AZ/ALT or an RA/DEC. Trails of objects with time labels can be drawn.
• A dialog box to display the rise/set times of the Sun and Moon on the current day is provided. It also shows the times of civil, nautical, astronomical twilight, and the phase of the Moon.
• An online printable User's Manual is provided.
• System requirements: Any PC capable of running Windows 3.1, 95, 98, Me, NT, Me, 2000, or XP; VGA or better screen; minimum 4M free memory; Mouse; Windows compatible printer.
• Customer Support is provided by free e-mail, telephone, or mail support

Price:

ECU Lite V4.0 is sold as a downloadable product for only $29.95CAD. After payment you will be sent by e-mail a download address and unlock code.

(The Earth Centered Universe, The Earth Centered Universe Lite, and ECU are trademarks of Nova Astronomics. Other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.)

Go back to The Earth Centered Universe home page.

Last Updated: October 2007 by Webmaster, Nova Astronomics.