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SSCO's Astronomy Software

Astronomical Freeware and Shareware

Software Systems Consulting has developed a series of software program to aid the serious amateur astronomers in CCD imaging, spectroscopy and in the creation of CCD time lapse animation's. This software is available for direct downloading over the net.


M17 Imaged with the Pictor 216XT using DOS Pictor View

DOS Pictor View 3.03

DOS Pictor View 3.03 is a DOS based software program for the PC to control the Meade Pictor series of CCD cameras. It allows you utilized DOS PC's to image with your Meade CCD camera. The simplicity of the DOS orient software makes it a easy and reliable choice for CCD imaging. This software was developed by SSC to test the Pictor 208XT and 216XT during their development. The software copyright is held jointly by Meade Instruments Corp. and SSC.

Omega Centarus Globular Cluster

License

DOS Pictor View software is distributed as Freeware. The software is a copyrighted work of Software Systems Consulting and Meade Instruments Corporation. The software is distributed free of charge by the Meade Instruments Corporation and Software Systems Consulting subject to the following license restrictions:

i) Subsequent redistribution of the software shall be complete, unmodified copies of the program and documentation files.

ii) Copyrights notices shall be prominently displayed.

Only very limited user support of this software is available. Suggestions and comments should be sent to Software Systems Consulting (support@ssccorp.com). Telephone support is not available for this product. This Software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

NGC 891 imaged from San Clemente with DOS Pictor View

Installation

To run the program you will need to create a DOS directory to hold the program and then unpack the program and its documentation files. The following sequence of DOS commands will create a directory for this program and its documentation files, assuming the distribution files are on a floppy disk in the A: drive:

C:
MD \DOSPVIEW
CD \DOSPVIEW
A:PVINSTAL

The program will be unpacked into your directory leaving the creating the following files:

DOSPVIEW.TXT - Program User's Manual
DOSPVIEW.EXE - The Program File
DOSPVIEW.OVR - The program overlay file
DOSPVIEW.DAT - Program Configuration File
4038MW01.FTS - Sample Image File
M027MW01.FTS - Sample Image File
4631MW02.FTS - Sample Image File

Click here to download your copy of DOS Pictor View.

CCD Spectral Analysis Program

Comparative Spectra Made with a 4" SCT and SSC's Spectroscope Software & Grating

SSC's CCD Spectral Analysis Program can turn the average amateur telescope and CCD camera into a powerful spectrograph. The program includes software to generate a full aperture diffraction grating of 100 or 200 lines per inch on an overhead slide transparency film using a standard laser printer and an interactive CCD Spectra Analysis program capable of calibrating spectra to a accuracy of 10 angstroms or better. Performs the following operations:

  • Graph Spectra
  • View Spectra
  • Spectral Comparison
  • Filter Band Pass Computation
  • Generation of Black Body Radiation Curves
  • Presentation of Reference Spectra from the NSSDC Standard Spectra Catalog CD ROM
  • Spectra Response Normalization
  • Digital Wavelength Readout
  • FTS Spectral Image Export

Comparative Spectral Graph from several stars

Shareware License

SSC CCD Spectra Software is distributed as Shareware. You may download and evaluate the software for of two weeks. If you decide not to retain the software, please delete it from your disk. If you choose to retain the software, you should register it with SSC. Registering your software entitles you to receive future updates and to receive email software support from SSC via email at support@ssccorp.com. To register you software see the registration form included in the software documentation package.

The software is a copyrighted work of Software Systems Consulting The software is distributed as Shareware by the Software Systems Consulting subject to the following license restrictions:

i) Subsequent redistribution of the shall not be complete, unmodified copies of the program and documentation files.

ii) Copyrights notices shall be prominently displayed.

iii) Users who retain the software beyond the two week evaluation period must register their copy of the software with SSC and pay the $19.95 registration fee.

Limited support of this software is available to registered users. Suggestions and comments should be emailed to support@ssccorp.com. Telephone support is not available for this product. This Software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Installation

To run the program you will need to create a DOS directory to hold the program and then unpack the program and its documentation files. The following sequence of DOS commands will create a directory for this program and its documentation files, assuming the distribution files are on a floppy disk in the A: drive:

C:
MD \SPECTRA
CD \SPECTRA
A:SPINSTAL

The program will be unpacked into your directory leaving the creating the following files:

SPECTRA.TXT - Program User's Manual
SPECTRA.EXE - The Program File
SPECTRA.DAT - Program Configuration File
GRATE100.EXE -Program to generate 100 LPI Grating
GRATE200.EXE -Program to generate 200 LPI Grating
REGULUS.SPC - Sample Spectra File
MU-UMA.SPC - Sample Spectra File

Click here to download your copy of CCD Spectra.

FTS Timelapse Animation Builder

Click Image for Time Lapse Sample ( 1.8 Megabytes)

FTSMOVIE 1.0 is a DOS based software program for the PC to used to build and view CCD time lapse animations. It allows you to process a sequence of CCD images into a time lapse video presentation without the drudgeryt of processing each image individually. The software can directly display animations or batch process large sequences images into PCX or BMP image files that can be utiltized to create GIF, AVI, and Quicktime animations with many Windows based animation tools such as ULEAD systems GIF animators.

This software is distrbuted as freeware. Download FMINSTAL.EXE to obtain the files. It is a self extracting archive. Create a directory and execute file in a DOS windows as shown below:

 C:\> MD CCDMOVIE
 C:\> CD CCDMOVIE
 C:\CCDMOVIE\> FMINSTALL
 

This will unpack the application, documation and samples. See the file FTSMOVIE.TXT for instrcutions.

GPS Geodesy and Time Standard

This program is desinged to allow you to easily synchonize your PC's clock with the UTC time provided by a GPS. Additionally, it will allow you to average together as many as 5000 position reports from your GPS to provide a accurate fix on you location by averaging out the random errors introduced into GPS by the military. After a long period of averaging, your GPS should be able locate your position with a circular probability of error of about 30 feet. This software is useful to astronomers who need to accurately determine both position and time in order to perform accurate astrometry and occultation timing.

Installation

To installt he program, Download the Software and unzip it into a scratch directory. Then run the SETUP.EXE program and follow the on screen instructions. In order to use the program you must have a GPS that supports NMEA 183 revision 2 or higher. You must configure your GPS to output NMEA strings over its serial port at 4800 BPS. This is standard for most devices.

Connect the GPS to your PC as follows:

DB 25 Pin Adapter

DB 9 Pin Adapters

GPS Data

3

2

GPS Ground

7

5

The program needs to be configured to know the offset from UTC time that is the native time for your PC. If you run you PC on UT, enter a UTC Offset of 0. Otherwise, refer to the table below:

Time Zone

UTC Offset

EDT

-4

EST

-5

CDT

-5

CST

-6

MDT

-6

MST

-7

PDT

-7

PST

-8

Shareware License

SSC GSP Geodesy Software is distributed as Shareware. You may download and evaluate the software for of two weeks. If you decide not to retain the software, please delete it from your disk. If you choose to retain the software, you should register it with SSC. Registering your software entitles you to receive future updates and to receive email software support from SSC via email at support@ssccorp.com. To register you software see the registration form included in the software documentation package.

The software is a copyrighted work of Software Systems Consulting The software is distributed as Shareware by the Software Systems Consulting subject to the following license restrictions:

i) Subsequent redistribution of the shall not be complete, unmodified copies of the program and documentation files.

ii) Copyrights notices shall be prominently displayed.

iii) Users who retain the software beyond the two week evaluation period must register their copy of the software with SSC and pay the $5.00 registration fee.

Limited support of this software is available to registered users. Suggestions and comments should be emailed to support@ssccorp.com. Telephone support is not available for this product. This Software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Shareware Principles

SSC's development of astronomical software has arise out of our interest in the hobby and our consultative work for Meade Instruments Corp. It is our desire to distribute the fruits of our efforts for the benefit of all in the astronomical community. The support and distribution of this software is not without cost. If you find the Shareware programs below useful, please register them.

Visa and MasterCard Order welcomed.

SSC Observatories Offices:
1303 S. Ola Vista
San Clemente, CA 92682
Email: observatory <at> ssccorp.com


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