VII.3. Exerting control over drawing

To see the manner in which position of planets and their coordinates vary with time click on icons with arrows Right or Left in menu bar. In default of specifications every click adds (correspondingly subtracts) 30 days to the current moment. Positions of planets in curves shift correspondingly. The current moment of time and object coordinates are therewith displayed.

If it is desirable to change value of step, click on the extreme left icon or on Tracks in menu bar and then select Step in drop-down menu. The Step change dialog box will appear that will give you opportunity to insert any positive value of step in the range from 0.01 to 10000 days.

Clicking on icons with symbols of sun or crescent leads to appearance of images of the Sun or the Moon in that point of the sky which correspond to their coordinates in current moment unless it lies within not displayed region; see below). Their images are also displayed under the frame together with their coordinates and the elongation of the Moon from the Sun (the Moon image varies with phase). Repeated clicking on icons erases the images. If the images of the Sun and Moon are shown in the picture, they also move together with other objects when clicking on icons with arrows Right and Left.

User has possibility to change settings to make a drawing on an enlarged scale. To do it select Tracks and then select Scale item in the drop-down menu. The Scale change dialog box permits to enter bounding values in right ascension and declination for that part of the sky that is displayed within frame. In so doing, the bounding values in right ascension can vary from 0 to 24 hours and that in declination from -90 to +90 degrees. In right ascension the from value can be smaller than the to value or greater than it. In the last case transition from 24 to 0 hour takes place inside the displayed part of the sky.

In case limits were changed the new tracks are drawn.

User also has possibility to change colors used for drawing, for painting sky, background, sun and moon light, and so on. In addition there is possibility to change font used for numbers and inscriptions. To do so, select Tracks and then Options... in drop down menu. In the Tracks: Colors and Fonts dialog box choose needed parameter and change it in accordance with available examples of color, fonts, sizes, etc. and press OK button.