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This menu allows you to search the database for objects with certain parameters, much like
a search engine. "Edit Parameters" lets you set various parameters for the search, and "Start
Search" activates the search. A typical search might be performed as follows:
1. Select "Browse" from the Object menu. Press ENTER. "Browse: Start Search" displays.
2. Press one of the Scroll Keys and "Browse: Edit Parameters" displays. Press ENTER.
3. "Edit Parameters: Largest (mins)" displays. "Mins" stands for arc-minutes. Press ENTER.
4. "Largest (mins)" and a value displays. Using the Number keys, enter a size in arc-minutes.
Autostar will search for objects up to this size and no larger. Press ENTER.
5. "Edit Parameters: Largest (mins)" displays again. Press the Scroll Down key. "Edit
Parameters: Smallest (mins)" displays. Enter the value for the smallest size of an object
that Autostar will search for in the database. Continue with "Brightest," Faintest," and
"Minimum Elevation," using the procedure described in steps 3 and 4.
6. After "Minimum Elevation," "Object Type" displays. Press ENTER." "+Black Hole"
displays.If you do not wish wish to have "Black Holes" in your search, press ENTER and
the "+" changes to a "–." Press the Scroll Down to scroll to the next item. "+Diffuse Nebula"
displays. Continue to scroll through the list and press ENTER if you wish to change the
"+" to a "–" or vice-versa.
7. After you have scrolled to the last item on the "Object Type" list, press MODE twice and
the Scroll Down key once. "Browse: Start Search" displays. Press ENTER. "Start Search:
Next" displays. Press ENTER. Autostar searches the database and displays the first
object that matches the search parameters you have entered. Use the scroll keys to
display information about the object. Press MODE and "Start Search: Next" displays
again. Press ENTER and the next item matching the parameters displays. Repeat this
procedure to display all the objects.
8. Press MODE repeatedly to leave this menu.
DSX TIPS
Look into the Future
The Autostar Date menu option in the Setup menu is much more than just an entry
of today's date; with it you can look far into the future or learn about past events.
Autostar can calculate the date and times of future events and, except for eclipses,
past events as well (based on the current calendar system). E.g., a Sunrise on
March 6, 2043 A.D. or the Vernal Equinox in 1776 A.D. To use this feature, enter
the desired date in the Setup menu and select an option in the Event menu.
Autostar can calculate dates and times for Sunrises, Sunsets, Moonrises,
Moonsets, Moonphases, Solar and Lunar Eclipses (for the next 100 years), mete-
or showers, equinoxes and solstices, and the minimums of Algol.
One very practical use of the date menu is to check the Sunset option to determine
when you can begin your astronomical observing.