Radio-Sky Planetarium

Radio-Sky Planetarium 1.2

Cass A seen by radio.

Here is a sky viewer with the amateur radio astronomer in mind. RSP 1.2 is not just a sky viewer with a radio source database. It was originally written as an observation scheduling tool. From there it evolved into useful educational device. We are not trying to fool you. This is a program written for the DOS operating system. As such, it is not as graphically advanced as a lot of modern Windows programs.... but just look at what it can do:

The sky can be displayed in galactic or equatorial coordinates. There is even a polar view available for the sky within 30 degrees of the celestial poles. Pulsars, supernova remnants, extragalactic sources such as active galaxies and quasars, the Sun, and Jupiter, are all available to you. What's more, the database is completely open ended. We even provide you with the tools to make your own database for RSP 1.2. Information screens (like the one above) and spectral tabulations are available for sources at the press of a mouse button. You can establish an observing schedule with source transit information with just two button presses! A schedule file is produced which can be used to automate your radio telescope observations. Throw your radio telescope beam pattern on the screen and maintain a real time display of what sources are in your antenna pattern. Other features include:

Horizon, Meridian and Date Lines.
Galactic Equator.
Celestial Equator.
Zoom with fully adjustable aspect ratio.
Accurate from 1899 to 2099 AD.
Map based latitude and longitude changes.
ALTAZ / RADEC display.
Find Feature.
Adjustable beam pattern.
Minimum flux filter.
Adjustable symbol size.
Saves any display to PCX file.
50 help screens.
Extensive on disk documentation.
Stars down to mag 4.6 available as guideposts.
Mouse friendly clock and calender controls.
Real time displays of local, GMT, and local sidereal times.
Tools for default editing, database creation, and precession of databases.
Additional databases available.

Note that because Windows is not required, this is a great program to leave running on that dusty old AT computer to keep a constant picture of what is in your antenna beam during drift scans.
Requirements: MS DOS, 512k ram, CGA, EGA, or VGA monitor., hard drive. Recommend: mouse, VGA.

Additional Databases for Radio-Sky Planetarium 1.2

The following compilations of radio sources have been produced for your convenience. The survey data is not copyrighted by us. It is free to all. Numerous other surveys are available in raw text form via internet. Information and software tools are provided with RSP12 which allow you to produce your own compilations. If you don't want to download and convert then you may want to order these preformatted surveys from us.

The RSP Formatted Multiple Survey Catalog 1.0 This is a compilation of 6734 radio source records of flux greater than or equal to 10 Janskys. The information was extracted from from a "master source list". The nature of this catalog differs from others published by Radio-Sky in that no effort was was made to combine multiple observations of a single source into one record. Thus, fewer than six thousand different sources are actually represented. The multiple observations still have importance in that most were done at different frequencies. Click here to see a screen showing a plot of all of these sources.

Parkes Survey in RSP Format - This diskette contains a catalog of 5051 sources extracted from the PKSCAT90 catalog. The sources herein are those which exhibit a flux density of at least 1 Jansky at one of the observed frequencies. The original survey and catalog are the results of work done by the Australian Telescope National Facility. Sources in the galactic plane and within the Large Magellanic Cloud are largely excluded, as these sources were the subjects of other detailed surveys. Telescopes used for the survey included the Parkes radio telescope and telescopes at the Molonglo and Culgoora observatories.

The RSP Formatted Green Bank 4.85 Ghz Sky Survey This is a compilation of 10,549 sources of flux greater than or equal to 100 millijanskys (.1 Janskys), at 4.85 Ghz, extracted from the 87GB catalog of radio sources. The survey covers 0 to 75 degrees in declination. Sources of more than 20 arcminutes in extent are suppressed. Some strong sources are thus not represented. The survey was taken using the now defunct 300 ft. telescope at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.