Instructions for this diary:
The quantity of data presented in here might be intimidating, but with a little effort they are easily understood. Many of the astronomical events may �under clear skies� be observed with the naked eye. Everyone who takes the time to look, finds something of interest.
The days of the week are not mentioned by name, but the layout will tell you that Saturdays and Sundays are always on the left, and Monday to Friday are on the right hand page. The 24 hour system is used throughout, e.g. 17h20 is 20 minutes past 5 p.m. An asterisk * denotes a birthday or a founding day, � - somebody died, ² denotes a fest lasting 2 day, ³ is one lasting 3 days or more.
The numbers below the Moon phase (+88.-13.+14) mean, that the Moon is 88% illuminated, almost full (100%, New Moon = 0%), and waxing = + � the Moon is at 13% of its distance range where 0% would be closest or biggest, (coming closer -). The Moon is 14° north (+) of the celestial equator. The difference between closest and farthest is 10% or 57 to 63 earth-radii. In March 1997 the Moon was at the minimum of its North-South movement (±18.1°), the next maximum is in September 2006 (±28.8°).
A line like 0234(090)1822(s67)2345(270) indicates that the named body rises at 2 hours 34 minutes at 90 degrees (0 = north, 90 = east) from true north and that it goes through middle of heaven (transits) at 18h22m, standing 67 degrees high, exactly south (s) and that it sets at 23h45m at 270 deg. (180 = south, 270 = west). All times and angles are calculated for the location mentioned in the back. Events happen earlier when you go east from there (later west). When locating rise or setting places, please compensate for the magnetic deviation of your compass needle (usually mentioned on local maps). Quite regularly the Moon�s disk wanders over a star, sometimes even a planet, and catching the moment of disappearance or reappearance can be an interesting sight. These star occultations by the Moon are best observed when the event is on the dark half of the Moon. You�ll find the time of the event marked next to the moon phase, a little dot on the circle gives the size and position of the star. If the numbers are in grey shaded type, the Moon is very low above the horizon. An asterisk tries to alert you to an event of the same night, which is technically the next day, and listed there.
The Orbitgraph (Trochiograph, in Planimation, ©Haley91) below each sunday shows a weekly top-view onto our solar system with planet positions. The proper astronomical signs of the zodiac are located around the outside, as viewed in the night sky. You can animate the movements of the planets by flicking the pages!
The Orbitgraph is actually a map of our solar system. By placing it into the right plane you can use it to point out the planets & constellations. Hold the diary horizontally in front of yourself and face south (S-hemi=north). Raise the side of the diary which is furthest from you, then �using earth as centre� turn the graph until the Sun�s position matches the direction of the Sun in the sky (or underneath the horizon). Now the connecting lines point to where you would find the planets. Or place an edge of a piece of paper through earth and think of the not covered half as the visible sky. As you turn this �artificial horizon� with earth as the centre, the celestial objects rise and set. In the northern hemisphere all moves anticlockwise. The orbits of Jupiter and Saturn have been scaled to fit, their positions corrected �that�s why they at times go backwards when you flick the pages.
The heavenly movements seen �from above� seem simple, but because we are on our rotating blue pearl, inclined 23½ degrees to the plane of our solar system, the movements appear astonishingly complex. This plane of our solar system, the ecliptic, is an important imaginary line in the sky, along which you�ll find Sun, Moon, all the planets and the signs of the zodiac. The movements of the ecliptic are fairly simple, it is like the Sun�s path through the sky: Except near the equator, where it is simply straight above, it is high during the day in summer, and low at night. In winter its low during the day and high at night. On it are a few marker-stars: Spica (Virgo), Antares (Scorpio), Aldebaran (Taurus), Pollux (Gemini) and Regulus (Leo). And of course you�ll find Saturn, Mars and the very bright Jupiter on the ecliptic, as well as Venus and Mercury near the Sun. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not easily visible. The Milky Way traverses the ecliptic in Scorpio/Sagittarius, and again in Taurus and Gemini. The centre of the Milky Way is near Scorpio, the thin end of the Milky Way is more towards Taurus.
The background of each page �consisting of a lot of stars and the connecting lines of many common starsigns� shows a view towards the horizon. Here you need to ignore the other elements of the page. The left page�s long edge is the western horizon and �above� are the constellations visible about an hour after sunset. The right hand page is a view towards the eastern horizon one hour before sunrise. The planets appear in grey, mostly on the ecliptic, the dashed line. They move when flicking the pages! In this way you can see the 360° movement of the starsigns during the course of the year and the planet�s paths in front of them (©Haley92). One could imagine two more dashed lines through the sky. The earth�s rotation equator and the Milky Way. Read up about it!
Acquiring your calendar: You should find this diary in well sorted bookshops and astronomy and science related places. Yet our extremely small edition allows for personal service, so you can mail-order your copy directly from the maker. You need to send a normal account-only cheque or VISA/MC details or banknote(s) and your postal address. Maybe also the name of the next biggest town. Cheques must be issued in the banks currency, value: near ten us$. If you order a few, grant yourself a considerable rebate. You may order different editions for multiple years, as you please. If you can, send email as well, and if you include the head-section of your local newspaper, we�d be delighted, we collect them. Special (private) editions are not a problem, they can even feature a line of text per day of your choice (friend�s birthdays!?), and your logo on the cover. We are also looking for translators and local liason � please write clearly to:
Norbert H A L E Y , Poste Restante, Auckland, New Zealand
click here http://y23.com/apd