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Local Sidereal Time - LST is a star map software for amateur astronomers and sky watchers. It is a pocket map to the sky above. It primarily has a local sidereal time calculator which allows the users to easily use printed sky maps. It also has real time sky views in 2D and 3D planetarium modes. The software displays 904 stars with magnitudes lower than 4.5, 85 constellations and the planets. The constellations and the planets can be tracked in Azimuth and Altitude values in text mode or in a 2D or 3D map of the sky. The software does not require any GPRS internet connection to work.
1. Time and Date should be set correctly on your mobile phone.
2. Time zone should be set correctly on your mobile phone.
3. Latitude and Longitude of the place of observation (city) should be set correctly in the software. Please refer to the internet to get the latitude and longitude of your city.
Using the software
The software options are provided with the menu button "more". The first thing to do after installing the software is to setup the location information. Select the "setup" option and enter the information. After entering the information, select the "save" option. Saving has to be done explicitly, and it is not done automatically. There are two options to track objects - Text mode and Graphical mode. The text mode can be selected by selecting the "text mode" option. In this mode, the user can select the celestial item to be tracked. This option lists the LST, J2000.0 date and the position in azimuth and altitude values. The graphical mode can be selected by choosing the "star charts" option. There are 3 graphical modes - Ortho, Fisheye and First person. Ortho and Fisheye are dome top views and first person is sort of a 3D planetarium view. In the graphical modes, the following keys are used to control the display-
Setting up the software
Select the setup option. Enter your latitude and longitude details. Apart from the latitude and longitude details, there is an options to switch on and switch off certain graphics features. Few phones work very sluggishly when all the features are switched on. The graphics options are-
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Planets - Switch on and off planet display and tracking. Can be left on all phones
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Stars - Switch on and off stars display.
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Cons Lines - Switch on and off constellation lines. This does take some processing power. Try switching off on slow phones for better response.
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Cons Names - Switch on and off constellation name display.
After setting up, press the save option. Without the saving, the changes wont get reflected. Saving automatically exits the software.
Registration
The software is shareware. It works for 10 days from the date of installation after which you will have to register the software. Choose the registration option in the menu. Then enter the name and key as displayed in the website/email from where you purchased the key. After entering the information, press the save option to accept the keys.
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