User manual MEADE WRITING A GUIDED TOUR

[. . . ] Comment Line Information in the Tour program that is not displayed, such as authorship, revision history, copyrights, etc. All comments begin with a "/" character in column 1 of the line. For example: / Extreme Objects / (c) 2000 Meade Instruments Corporation Command Line This line contains programming commands, including: RA and DEC coordinates, a title string, a description string, and a keyword. RA: Enter the Right Ascension of an object in the following format: HH:MM:SS. [. . . ] Use the format described in the Command Line section. The following commands specify objects that are already in the Autostar database. If these commands follow the command AUTO SELECT, the object's title displays on line 1 and its description scrolls across line 2. Do not add a description string after the following command lines; these commands access objects with existing description in the Autostar database. NGC xxxx Enter NGC followed by the desired New General Catalog number and Autostar provides the user with a description of the object from its database. For example: NGC 4256 IC xxxx Enter IC followed by the desired Index Catalog number and Autostar provides the user with a description of the object from its database. For example: IC 1217 SAO xxxxxx Enter SAO followed by the desired SAO number and Autostar provides the user with a description of the object from its database. For example: SAO 30200 Messier xxx Enter MESSIER followed by the desired Messier number and Autostar provides the user with a description of the object from its database. For example: M 101 CALDWELL xxx Enter CALDWELL followed by the Caldwell number and Autostar provides the user with a description of the object from its database. For example: CALDWELL 17 PLANET "name" Enter PLANET and then the name of the desired planet in quotes. Autostar provides the user with a description of the selected planet from its database. For example: PLANET "Pluto" MOON This command accesses information about the Moon from the Autostar database. SATELLITE "name" Enter SATELLITE and then the name of the desired satellite in quotes. Autostar displays information about the satellite from its database. For example: SATELLITE: "Intl Space Stn" 2 ASTEROID "name" Enter ASTEROID and then the name of the desired asteroid in quotes. Autostar displays information about the asteroid from its database. For example: ASTEROID: "Ceres" COMET "name" Enter COMET and then the name of the desired comet in quotes. Autostar displays information about the comet from its database. For example: COMET: "Halley" LUNAR ECLIPSE If LUNAR ECLIPSE is part of the tour, Autostar checks its database every time the tour is activated to see if a lunar eclipse is visible that evening. If no eclipse is visible, this option is skipped and the tour proceeds on the the next object. METEOR SHOWER If METEOR SHOWER is part of the tour, Autostar checks its database every time the tour is activated to see if a meteor shower is visible that evening. If no meteor shower is visible, this option is skipped and the tour proceeds on to the the next object. [. . . ] For example, an astronomy professor may require his students to observe six objects, four of which Autostar automatically slews to in a tour. The students would have to manually slew to the last two objects. He would then place AUTO SLEW ON before his first required object and AUTO SLEW OFF after the fourth object. #END To end a tour, type the command #END on a separate line at the very end of the tour. [. . . ]