----- PLEASE DO NOT MODIFY THE FOLLOWING NOTICE -----
Original 3.0.1 version © 2008 by Dale E. Lehman. This software is open-source freeware. Permission is granted to modify this software and distribute modified or unmodified copies as freeware. No commercial use of this software is to be made without express written consent from the author. VarStarSearch is provided "as is" and the author assumes no liability for damages resulting from its installation or use.
The author would like to thank the following people who helped beta test this version of VarStarSearch:
Note: Users of a prior version of VarStarSearch, please read the note in "Starting VarStarSearch" regarding preference settings.
As of version 3.0, VarStarSearch has been recoded in Java. As a result, the Java virtual machine (JVM) version 6 or higher must be installed. Chances are you already have this installed. If not, you can download it from http://www.java.com. You can also click on the "Do I have Java?" link on that page to verify your Java installation.
This rewrite allows VarStarSearch to be run on multiple platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. The program has been tested on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Linux. (Max OS X users, please see the first item in "Known Issues".)
Version 3.0.1 is being distributed as an executable JAR file. The application can be installed by unzipping the distribution file and then can be started by double-clicking on the file VarStarSearch.jar. Future releases will also provide platform-specific icons for launching the application.
In addition to rewriting the program in Java, the following enhancements have been incorporated since version 2.0:
The following issues are known to exist in VarStarSearch 3.0.1:
VarStarSearch should run on all platforms for which a Java 6 virtual machine is available, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux PCs. It been tested on Windows XP and Linux. (Max OS X users, please see the first item in "Known Issues".)
Two packages are available for download: the installer package and the source code package. The installer package provides files necessary for running VarStarSearch. The source code package provides all source code files and can be used for modifying, compiling, and running the software. Both packages are provided as compressed files.
To install VarStarSearch from the installer package, uncompress the files to a working folder using a ZIP-compatible compression utility.
To install the source code package, uncompress the files to a working folder using a ZIP-compatible compression utility. You can then use your favorite tools to work with the source code. The package includes all java classes, required third-party jar files, and a compiled javadoc. It also includes the compiled program.
Note: An Ant build script called createpackages.xml is included in the distribution, but this script only creates the distribution packages. It is assumed for now that you will be using a tool such as NetBeans or Eclipse for development and that those tools will generate the necessary Ant script for compilation. createpackages.xml currently assumes a NetBeans directory structure is in use.
To launch VarStarSearch, double-click or otherwise execute the VarStarSearch.jar file.
Note: If the launch fails, chances are you either don't have the correct Java virtual machine installed or you have it installed but your system can't locate it. Visit http://www.java.com for further information.)
The first time VarStarSearch is run on your computer, no database will be available. You will be prompted to download the variable star database from the AAVSO Web site. You must be connected to the Internet for this process to run successfully. However, you have the option of continuing without downloading the database. You might wish to do this if you have already downloaded the database for another purpose (for example, if you had a previous version of VarStarSearch installed). If so, you can use the Preferences dialogue box (explained below) to locate the existing file.
Note: Prior versions of VarStarSearch used the Windows registry to store preferences. Version 3.0.1 uses an xml file, userprefs.xml, which is stored in the application folder. Therefore, preferences stored by a previous version of VarStarSearch will not be picked up. The XML file is editable with a text editor, but generally it is safest to modify settings via the Preferences dialog in the program.
As of this writing, the database used for VarStarSearch is found at http://www.aavso.org/observing/charts/united.txt
This file is the chart database used by the AAVSO's Web site software, not the validation file. It is similar to the validation file, but contains more information. All information provided by this file is available through VarStarSearch, including the charts themselves, which can be downloaded with VarStarSearch.
Note: AAVSO is no longer making updates to this file. A new database is in use, but a downloadable version has not yet been released. VarStarSearch must therefore make use of the chart database until such time as a new database is available. This may mean that some targets of interest will not be available through VarStarSearch until a future version.
It should be noted that VarStarSearch has no control over the quality of the data in the database. Some formatting errors have been noted in the file. This can result in errors in the search results. VarStarSearch makes the assumption that all data needs to be available for viewing, so it attempts to compensate for data formatting errors and unknown data formats. For the most part results will be good, but users should be aware that some results returned from a search may not completely match the search criteria. Any stars for which major formatting problems are found will be loaded as an error list. This list can be viewed using the "Display Errors" button on the status bar.
The search results display includes the following information about each selected star:
Details can be displayed for each selected star, including the above information and the following additional information:
All of this information is presented exactly as it appears in the AAVSO database.
When the program is first started, a list of stars meeting the default criteria (based on your preference settings) is displayed. This list can be modified by changing the search criteria. After you change these settings, click the Display button to redisplay the search results based on the new settings.
Two types of criteria can be adjusted to tailor the list of stars displayed for your observing interests: Location information and stellar properties information.
The location information that can be adjusted includes the following:
The constellations list is derived from the database itself. If no items are selected in this list, all constellations will be included in the search. You can select a single constellation by clicking on its abbreviation. Multiple constellations can be selected by holding down the <control> key while clicking on additional constellations. <control>+clicking on a selected constellation will deselect it. To select a range of constellations, click on the first one and hold down <shift> while clicking on the second one.
If you select constellations, the RA and declination limits will be ignored. If you intend to use the RA and declination limits, be sure to clear the constellation selections.
The minimum declination setting must be less than the maximum declination setting. However, the minimum RA setting may be less than the maximum RA setting in order to allow "wrapping around" from 23:59 to 00:00. Selecting a month in the RA Month drop-down list will automatically set appropriate RA limits for that month. You can also manually enter RA limits as desired. By default, the RA limits will be set for the current month when the program is launched.
Note: Consistency checking is done on the declination limits even if the declination is not used due to constellations being selected. This ensures that declination values are legal in the event that you clear constellations selections.
The stellar properties information that can be adjusted includes the following:
Eight checkboxes are available for selecting variable star categories. Each category includes a number of types, as defined in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS). Checking a category box will cause all associated types to be automatically selected in the type list. Unchecking a category box will cause all associated types to be automatically deselected in the type list.
The types list is derived from the database itself. The types of some items in the database cannot be determined, but these stars can be viewed by selecting the first type in the list: [blank/error]. If no items are selected in this list, all types will be included in the search. You can select a single type by clicking on its abbreviation. Multiple types can be selected by holding down the <control> key while clicking on additional types. <control>+clicking on a selected type will deselect it. To select a range of types, click on the first one and hold down <shift> while clicking on the second one.
You can both use the category checkboxes and manually select types in the type list. You could, for example, check the "Cataclysmic" category, which results in types N, NA, NB, NC, NL, NR, SN, SNI, UG, UGSS, UGSU, UGZ, and ZAND being selected. You could then manually deselect any of these types, and manually select additional types.
Because the list of types is long and many codes may not be familiar to you, a link to the GSCV web page containing descriptions of all variable star types has been included. You will find this link to the right of the types list. Simply click it and the description page will be loaded in your default web browser.
There are two ways to use the magnitude settings: by magnitude range and by maximum magnitude only:
Note: Maximum and minimum magnitudes refer to the brightest and dimmest points of a star's cycle, respectively. Therefore, the maximum magnitude is numerically smaller than the minimum magnitude.
The Preferences/Edit menu command opens the Preferences dialouge, which allows you to customize the default search criteria as well as a couple of other options. The following settings can be changed through this dialogue:
To view details for a star, click on the star in the list and then click the Details button, or double-click on the star in the list. The Details dialogue will open, showing all data on the star as given in the AAVSO database.
In the event that an error was detected in the star's data, an error comment will also be displayed. (As of the current version, these errors will all be related to problems in interpreting the magnitude range.)
The AAVSO Charts list displays all of the charts files available from the AAVSO Web site. You can download a chart by double-clicking on its name in the list. You will be prompted to provide a name and location for saving the chart. You must be connected to the Internet to download chart files.
If you set your preferences to automatically display light curves or quick look data and you are connected to the Internet, the appropriate AAVSO web page will also be displayed. You can also modify some of the parameters used to display these pages and then click the "Get Light Curve" or "Get Quick Look Data" buttons to display them.
By default, light curves are built using the last 400 days of data. You can change the data set displayed on a light curve using the "Last Days", "Start Date", and "End Date" fields, then clicking the "Get Light Curve" button. The "Last Days" field must be a numeric value of no more than 5 digits. "Start Date" and "End Date" can be entered either in MM/DD/YYYY format or as a Julian date greater than 2415020.5 (midnight on January 1, 1900). Calendar and Julian dates can be mixed. The software doesn't currently handle date conversions between these two formats, so it does not check for consistency. However, if you enter an invalid date range (start date greater than end date), the light curve generator will display an error.
The quick look data can allegedly be limited based on the "Start Date" field, but as of this writing it appears that the AAVSO web site is not correctly processing the parameter. In any case, the quick look display only provides a maximum of 90 days worth of data, so this should not be much of an issue.
AAVSO is asking observers to discontinue use of the downloadable charts and instead use charts generated by the Variable Star Plotter (VSP). At this time, VarStarSearch continues to provide access to the downloadable charts, but VSP functionality has been added. To generate a VSP chart, click the "Get VSP Chart" button. Before doing so you can customize your chart by filling in any or all of the provided fields:
After a chart is displayed in the browser, you can save it to your hard drive by clicking the "Save VSP Chart" button. You will be prompted to provide a name and location for saving the chart.
You can build an observing list from the search results by selecting one or more stars, then clicking the "Observing List" button. Multiple selections can be made in the search results by using <control>+click or <shift>+click as described above for the Constellations and Types lists. The type of observing list to be built is controlled by your Preferences setting.
When you click the Observing List button, you will be prompted to provide a file name and location. You may provide a new file name or use the name of an existing file. If you provide a new file name, a new observing list file will be created. If you provide the name of an existing file, your selections will be appended to the end of that file.
VarStarSearch is provided as open-source software, meaning that the source code is freely available to anyone interested in viewing or modifying it. However, the author cannot be responsible for supporting modified versions of the program. No commercial use of this software is to be made without written consent from the author.
VarStarSearch is provided as freeware. The author will be happy to provide assistance in installing VarStarSearch and in answering questions about its use, but does not promise any specific level of support. Suggestions for enhancements and bug reports will be gratefully accepted, but the author makes no promise to provide upgrades or bug fixes.
VarStarSearch is provided "as is" and the author assumes no liability for damages resulting from its installation or use.
By using VarStarSearch, you agree to these terms and conditions.
The author can be reached at: lehket@netscape.net