          The Earth Centered Universe (ECU) V3.0A for MS-Windows 3.1
                       (also operates with Windows 95)

            A Shareware Planetarium and Telescope Control Program
			 for Amateur Astronomers

                               Version 3.0A
                         Released November 1996

			     Nova Astronomics
			      (David J. Lane)
			       PO Box 31013
			   Halifax, Nova Scotia
			     Canada  B3K 5T9

		   Voice: (902) 443-5989 (evenings GMT-4)
			    Fax: (902) 445-5790
			      CIS: 71601,247
                        Internet: info@nova-astro.com

        Available on Compuserve in Lib 7 or ASTROFORUM as ECUSHA.EXE
Available on Internet via the WWW home page: http://www.nova-astro.com

        The Earth Centered Universe (ECU) V3.0A is a Planetarium and 
Telescope Control Program for Amateur Astronomers.  It is capable of
simulating many of the features visible in the Earth's night sky.
You only need to enter your geographic location and the time; the
local sky will then be simulated on the screen in a colourful display.
        This includes a database of over 15,000,000 stars (CDROM version),
the planets, Sun, Moon, comets, asteroids, and 10,000+ "deep sky" objects.
It prints high quality star charts using any Windows-compatible printer
and also controls modern computerized telescopes.
	ECU is a tool for the observing amateur  astronomer, but is equally 
useful to the "armchair" astronomer.

Some of ECU's Features

- ECU is fast compared to many other astronomy programs.  It uses mostly 
  integer math for drawing the sky, so a math co-processor is not needed.  
  It is  fully supported, however, to improve the speed of solar system 
  calculations.
- Either a Sky Atlas or Local Horizon Mode is supported.
- It exhibits a colourful display - the colours of all screen elements 
  are controllable by user.  Fonts can also be set.
- high quality star charts can be printed on any Windows compatible 
  printer or plotter.  These charts 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.
- Includes the Yale star catalogue (9100 stars to magnitude 6.5), the SAO 
  star catalog (about 250,000 stars to magnitude 9.5), and a deep sky 
  database containing over 10,000 objects including the Messier Catalog.  
  Also include the Hubble Guide Star Catalog (about 15,000,000 stars) on
  CD-ROM.
- Deep sky objects are drawn their correct size, shape, and orientation (when
  this information is included in the database).
- Includes the planets, the Sun, the Moon, and up to 50 comets and asteroids.
- Add up to 4000 of your own objects.
- 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.
  Planets, the Sun, and the Moon provide their distance (AU or km), angular 
  size (" or '), and phase (or age).  Comets and asteroids provide their  
  distance to the Sun and the Earth in AU.  Yale stars provide their Yale 
  number, HD number, SAO number, Flamsteed/Bayer designation, spectral 
  type, and proper motion.  SAO stars provide their SAO number, and spectral 
  type.  Deep sky objects provide a varying amount of information, but 
  usually provide their name (and alternate name), Dreyer description, 
  angular size, classification, etc.  
- The user can display up to 25 images of an object.  A sampling of solar
  system images are provided with ECU.                              
- 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 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 effects of observer's parallax, nutation, precession, light travel 
  time, aberration, and atmospheric refraction can be individually controlled.
- The sky can be displayed as white on black or black on white, or, of 
  course, in full colour.  Two "red" modes protect your night vision when 
  ECU is used in an observatory.
- ECU displays the horizon line, ecliptic line, RA/DEC grid (autoscaling), 
  constellation lines, boundary lines, labels for bright stars, 
  constellations, Messiers, coordinate grid, etc.
- Extensive text labels are provided for all types of objects.
- Field circles of programmable angular size can be drawn to represent the 
  field of view of your main telescope and finder scope respectively. 
- 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 database
  can also be searched by entering text.
- 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.
- Extensive support is provided for the Meade LX200 telescope series and 
  for most models of digital setting circles including Nova Astronomics 
  Micro-Guider.  This includes a cross hair or field circles on the screen, 
  and coordinate readout.  For the LX200, hand controller support is provided 
  and the scope can also be "slewed" to an object.
- 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, and astronomical 
  twilight.

- An 95+ page User's Manual is provided, and much, much more!
- System requirements:  386/486/Pentium 100% PC compatible; 
                        Math co-processor beneficial; 
                        Windows 3.1 or 95; 
                        VGA or better screen; 
                        minimum 2M free memory; 
                        Mouse; 
                        Windows compatible printer.
- Customer Support is provided by free e-mail, telephone, or mail support

Price:  ECU V3.0A with all features and databases: ($65 CDN) $50US
        Shipping and Handling: ($5 CDN) $5US
	(Canadians must add 7% GST. Nova Scotians must add 11% PST)

