"Virtual Planets Atlas" (c)

Welcome to the "Virtual Planets Atlas" Pro 2.0

Since 10 years, as amateur astronomers, we continue to improve the "Virtual Moon Atlas" (VMA) to create a more and more useful and powerful software for Moon observers usable "on the field" and "on desktop". Now downloaded more than 850 000 times, it has becomed a worldwide "classic" astronomical software and has "re-boosted" amateur lunar observation.

Patrick Chevalley has created a powerful tool that can manage virtual globes, textures, overlays and databases. On the other side, Christian Legrand has enhanced his daily lunar and planetary datas search, and his management of databases, maps and surface features to adapt them to the software.

So, in 2013, we have thought to apply our VMA knowledges to a new "Virtual Planets Atlas" (VPA) since more and more topographic and scientific datas are available for telluric planets and satellites of our Solar System, datas brought back by an increasing efficient probes fleet sent by different spec agencies (USA / Russia / Europe / India...).

You are now using the second version of this "Virtual Planets Atlas" which presents you Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and its 4 galilean satellites. Other planets satellites will be added in the future versions.

This first version of VPA is available in three versions

- "Basic 2.0 / Windows" : version usable on Windows platforms with mean powerful hardware configurations and presenting "Basic" texture and raw IAU databases.

- "Basic 2.0 / Linux" : version usable on Linux platforms with mean powerful hardware configurations and presenting "Basic" texture and raw IAU databases

- "Basic 2.0 / Mac OS" : version usable on Mac OS platforms with mean powerful hardware configurations and presenting "Basic" texture and raw IAU databases

You can also download "High resolution" textures packs for each operating system, but they need powerful hardware configurations. These acks also cantain the "scientific overlays" and extended databases

These first three versions are freely downloadable from our new VPA Web site.

http://www.ap-i.net/avp/en/download

- There are also the "Pro DVD" versions that you can order from VPA Web site if you don't have a quick Internet link or if you prefer a convenient package or if you want to support our action. This version is usable with powerful hardware configurations. The DVD contains one of the three Windows, Linux and Mac OS "Pro" installers depending

As for VMA, a manual is necessary to discover all the software possibilities because it is very powerful. We would like you to read the documentation while you try to use the indicated functions.

The present manual describes only AVP Pro 2.0 version functions.

Thank you very much for your confidence that permits us to improve continuously the VMA since 10 years and now this new VPA !

Have a good use. We hope tou will appreciate this software and that you'll recommand it around you.

Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley
December 2016

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THE VPA MAIN SCREEN

VPA on 16/9 screen with "Io / Galileo" overlay (left) and with phase (Right) 

"VPA" screen appears in a "Microsoft Windows style" window. The aspect is also the same on MacOS. As usual, you can minimize or maximize the window, or choose its size with the buttons in the title bar, on right.
You can open simultaneously two map windows, permitting maps comparisons as on the picture above..

Main window presents:
- Menus and buttons bar
- Map window that can be splitted in two windows
- Thumbnails "Information", "Ephemerisis", "Central meridian", "Tools", "Notes" and "Settings" and the associated windows.
- Status Bar.

THE VPA MENUS AND BUTTONS BAR

This bar  presents menus to access different functions and buttons to quick launch of some other useful functions.

Traditional in all Windows softwares, this menu is used here save screen pictures, to setup printing, to launch Patrick Chevalley's freeware "Sky Charts" if it's installed on your computer, and to quit the atlas.

"Save as" FUNCTION

This function permits you to save the "Map" window as a .jpg or a .bmp file

                    "Save ephemeris to file" FUNCTION  

This function permits you to save the ephemerisis you need in an "ephem.csv" file. It opens a new window for choosing limit dates, the period, and the saving directory. The "Compute" button  creates the file.

"Print setup" FUNCTION  

This function permits you, with the use of the regular window selection, to choose your printer and to setup it.

"Print" FUNCTION

This function allows you to print the documents you chose in the printed documents (Map, ephemeris and / or information page).

"Quit FUNCTION

You can leave the software using this option, closing all the open windows together.

THE "PLANETS" MENU

New in this version, this menu is used to select the planet or satellite that you want to visualize in the map window and use the associated textures, overlays and databases.

Please note that when you choose Jupiter visualization, in fact you choose jupiter and its 4 galileans satellites system visualization. You will be able to observe satellites asatellites shadows transits on the disk of Jupiter as show you the following screen captures :

THE "CONFIGURATION" MENU

This menu is used to adjust different parameters in VPA. It presents five thumbnails

"General" THUMBNAIL

Observatory coordinates

The software use coordinates of your observing site to display a real time planetary disk. To do this, you have to input the latitude and longitude of your observing site.

Input also the time shift from GMT.

"Date / Hour" frame

The "Date / Hour" frame is used to precise the hour and the time zone to use.

Filling the box "Use computer hour and time zone" so that VPA use the computer internal clock as a reference.

If you don't fill the box, you can specify your own time zone with the case displayed.

"Language" scrolling list

"Languages" scrolling list allows you to choose language used by the program and database. In this version, only French and English are available. Translation pages indicate if database translations are also available.

"Display" THUMBNAIL

Display boxes

When clicking the "Show the phase" box, a penumbra zone is painted on the planetary globe. Its limit follows the terminator for the date and hour set by the user (See "Ephemerisis thumbnail"). You can set the penumbra properties representation (See "Setup thumbnail").

Longitude system

Colors

Clicking on  the small colored squares allows you to choose colors  indicating point and formation name label displayed on map.

Labels and marks

Activating the corresponding boxes will make you display a point showing the chosen formation and / or its official name

You can choose to center or to place on the right of the formation when using or not the "Center label on formation" box.

The button "Labels font" can be used to setup font type, size and style. The active font name is displayed right to the button.

The slider "Label density" can be used to setup the number of names displayed. You will certainly have several tests to determine the best compromise. These button and slider are also used to setup map printing because the printed map is exact clone of the map displayed in the screen window.

"Textures" THUMBNAIL

The two alternative radio buttons "Phase without relief" et "No texture" servent à choisir l'activation ou non de la texture. Le choix "Pas de texture" permet d'afficher une couche scientifique directement sur un globe vierge.

Textures selection

This thumbnail presents a matrix for selecting textures according to the applied zoom level. This new function is a very useful way for choosing the textures display.
The program will detect automatically which textures are present (High Resolution or Very High Resolution) for each planet and will permet access to the maximum zoom level available with them.

You can choose to keep the same texture for all zoom range or select  a progressive change parallel to the zoom change.
You have just to select the wished radio button. There can only have one texture choosen for a given zoom level.
If you don't want to see any texture, fill the "No texture" radio button to use with an overlay alone without any texture below.
We think that it's better to use textures with increasing resolutions according to increasing zoom level.
There are presently maximum 3 resolution levels for the planets textures. The software loads automatically the levels indicated according to the zoom applied to the map.
Higher resolutions tectures will be available for Mars and Mercury will be available in the next version of VPA.

Mercury « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the Kuiper crater(62 km) area with maximum possible zooming. For this first version of VPA, only one texture is available :

- "Photographic Messenger" (JPL photographic mosaic realized from Messenger probe pictures with a uniform lighting,)

Venus « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the Cleopatra crater area with maximum possible zooming. For this first version of VPA, only one texture is available :

- "Photographic Magellan" (JPL photographic mosaic realized from Magellan probe pictures with a uniform lighting),

Mars « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the Olympus Mons caldeira area with maximum possible zooming. For this first version of VPA, only one texture is available :

- "Viking color" (JPL B&W photographic mosaic realized from 2 Viking Orbiter probe pictures with a uniform lighting,

Jupiter « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the neighbourhood of the Great Red Spot with maximum possible zooming. For this second version of VPA, only one texture is available :

Io « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the neighbourhood of the Loki volcano with maximum possible zooming. For this second version of VPA, only one texture is available :

Europa « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the neighbourhood of an anonymous chaos with maximum possible zooming. For this second version of VPA, only one texture is available :

Ganymede « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the neighbourhood of anonymous chaos with maximum possible zooming. For this second version of VPA, only one texture is available :

Callisto « Topographic textures » choice

The following screen captures show you the neighbourhood of an anonymous crater with maximum possible zooming. For this second version of VPA, only one texture is available :

       Available historical textures list

The box "Historical" gives access to a scrolling list of the historical textures used by VPA for each planet.

Important note: These textures realized from old maps without any coordinates system induce sometimes large shift between some formations and their labels. More, as they are some maps drawn before space exploration probes, when aplied on the whole planet globe, some parts are not drawn.

For Mercury :

"Arecibo" : Texture from a map established from Arecibo radiotelescope mapping with radar echoes and covering half of a planet.

"IAU 1972" : Texture from a map established by Audouin Dollfus (French astronomer) on 1972 showing only albedo marks with latin names.

"Mariner 10 topography"

For Venus :

No historical maps are included for Venus because of the thick cloud layer that hides the topography to terrestrial observers. Only probes with onboard radars can obtain reliefs datas that can be transformed in "images".

For Mars :

"Schiaparelli 1884" : B & W texture from a map established by Schiaparelli (Italian astronomer) on 1884. This map is the first presenting the famous "canalli" detected by this observer. You will have to turn down the globe using the setup thumbnail to turn up the original names on the map.

"Lowell 1895" : B & W texture from a map established on 1895 by Percival Lowell (US astronomer) presenting the famous "canalli" detected by P. Lowell at his private Flagstaff Observatory.

"Brenner 1904" : B & W texture from a map established on 1904 by Leo Brenner (Balkan astronomer) presenting the famous "canalli" he also detected.

"Mariner 6 topography"

"Mariner 7 topography"

"Mariner 9 topography"

"Hubble 2007"

This overlay has been obtained by Hubble Space Telescope on 2007. It's joined to see what is visible from the Earth, knowing that this view can varies a little from year to year. Colors and contrasts are rendered as "Natural". We recommand to use this overlay without any texture below.

New maps will be produced in next monthes. Please check our Web site to see announcements.

For Jupiter :

"Pioneer 10 1972" : B&W texture derived from the Pioneer 10 probe datas crossing Jupiter on 1972.

"Pioneer 11 1974" : B&W texture derived from the Pioneer 11 probe datas crossing Jupiter on 1974.

"Voyager 2 1981" : Color texture derived from the Voyager probe datas crossing Jupiter on 1981.

"Hubble Shoemaker - Levy 1994" : 3 color textures derived from Hubble Space Telescope datas on 1994 and showing comet Shoemaker levy impacts evolution.

"Damian Peach 20XX" :Several color texture en couleurs produced by advanced astrophotographer Damian Peach, showing the evolution of Jupiter belts and zones. Thank you very to him for allowing us to use them in VPA !

Pour les satellites galiléens :

"Dollfuss 1961" : B&W texture produced from drawings made by famous french astronomer Audouin Dollfus with the Pic du Midi telescopeduring an observing campaign on 1961.

"Voyager B&W" : B&W texture derived from probes Voyager datas crossing Jupiter on 1979 & 1981.

"Overlays" THUMBNAIL

VPA includes the ability to apply over the choosen texture or on a naked globe, an overlay which transparency can be setup so that the eventual texture continues to be seen through the overlay. These overlays are transposition of scientific datas coming mainly from the "Messenger", "Magellan", "Viking", "Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), "Mars Express" (ME), "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiters" (MRO), Voyager and Galileo missions, but they are also colors and geological full globe maps. This allows you to see, for each formation, its relation to most recent available scientific datas.

"Show overlay" Box

If you fill the "Show overlay" box, you display the overlay choosen with the scrolling list below over the choosen texture.

"Overlays" Scrolling list

If you activate the scrolling list, you can choose in the list the overlay that you need. Here are the list of the overlays presently involved in VPA. We will add on our site new overlays to download as soon as they will be available. You'll find in this first VPA version :
- Colors and albedo overlays
- Geological overlay
- Elements concentration overlays
- Thermal emissions overlays
- Neutrons emissions overlays

Overlays presentation for each planet

MARS

"MGS Altitude" overlay

This overlay shows the Mars surface altitude. It's extracted from MGS datas.

"MGS crustal magnetism" overlay

This overlay shows the magnetism involved in the crust of Mars. It's extracted from datas released by MGS team. It's in nanoTesla, showing the extreme weakness of the Mars magnetism field.

"MGS Dust" overlay

This overlay has been obtained from datas of MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). It shows The distribution of dust on the surface of Mars.
Orange, red, and white colors indicate areas that likely are dust covered while blue and magenta areas likely are dust-free.

ME Ferric oxyde" overlay

This overlay shows the abundance of ferric oxyde on the surface of Mars. This oxyde is mailnly responsible of the "red" color of the planet. It's extracted from datas released by Mars Express team. There is no value associated to the color scale

"ME Hydrated minerals sites" overlay

This overlay shows the sites where the Mars Express probe has detected hydrated minerals. There is no value associated since it's only geographic locations.

"ME Olivine abundance" overlay

This overlay shows the sites where the Mars Express probe has detected a mineral called "Olivine".
Olivine and pyroxene tell the story of volcanism, with differences in the chemical composition of the solidified lavas representing the evolution of the temperature and pressure inside the planet.

The colour scale indicates a transition in chemical composition of the olivine lavas from magnesium-rich (blue) to iron-rich (red).

"ME Pyroxene abundance" overlay

This overlay shows the sites where the Mars Express probe has detected a mineral called "Pyroxene".
Like olivine, pyroxene results from volcanic processes that trace the evolution of the planet’s interior, its chemical composition acting as a tracer of the evolution of the temperature and pressure inside the planet.

The colour scale represents the abundance of pyroxene, from low (blue) to high (red).

"Mars Express Albedo" overlay

This overlay has been obtained by the Mars Express probe. It shows numerous strips because the images have been taken with various lighting angles. We recommand to use this overlay without any texture below.

 There is no value associated since it's onlytopographic pictures.

"MGS Color" overlay

This overlay has been obtained by MGS probe. Colors and contrast are enhanced. It's joined to see what is visible from the Earth, knowing that this view can varies a little from year to year. We recommand to use this overlay without any texture below.

"MGS Night temperature intermediate" overlay

"MGS Vertical roughness" overlay

"MRO Geoid anomaly" overlay

"MRO Gravity anomaly" overlay

"MRO Geological revised" overlay

"MO Water abundance" overlay

"Clouds" overlay

"Magellan Altitude" overlay

"Magellan Venera colors " overlay

"Magellan Shaded Relief N&B " overlay

"Magellan Microwave emissivity" overlay

"Magellan Fresnel reflectivity" overlay

"Magellan Meter scale slope" overlay

"Magellan Geoid anomaly" overlay

"Magellan Free air gravity" overlay

"Magellan Bouger anomaly" overlay

MERCURE

"Messenger color" overlay

Couche "Messenger enhanced color"

"Messenger Altitude color" overlay

"Messenger Gravity" overlay

JUPITER

IO

"Geology" overlay

Couche "Volcanic events"

EUROPE

"Galileo colors" overlay

GANYMEDE

"Geology" overlay

"Galileo colors" overlay

"Transparency" cursor

This cursor allows you to choose the transparency degree of the overlay applied above the texture. It doesn't operate on the texture. When the cursor is on the right, the overlay very visible. On left, the underlaying texture is almost invisible. Choose what degree you would apply to be able to see all the details together. (Example shown without underlaying texture).

"Grid " frame

When you move the slider from left to right, you decrease from 1 to 30° the grid density. The radio button « Show grid » displays or not a white grid with meridians and parallels on the planetary globe surface.

5° Grid

"Eyepieces" thumbnail

This thumbnail is used to setup parameters of your own eyepieces so thet, you could display the real planet aspect when observed in your instrument with "Eyepiece" context menu function ("LUN" is for "LUNETTE" = "REFRACTOR" in french).

Eyepieces list

You can enter directly your eyepieces parameters in list fields if you know them, as shown by the exemple which can be erased. "Name of the eyepiece" is in the left column and the "apparent field" in arc minutes in the right column. You can enter up to 10 eyepieces. It's better to enter them in the increasing magnification way.

Eyepieces parameters computation

Eyepieces parameters can be computed with the help of our calculator. First enter the "Instrument focal length". Then enter the "Eyepiece focal length". Then enter the "Apparent eyepiece field of view" in the third field. This field is that indicated in eyepieces advertisements. For example, Plossl eyepieces apparent field is about 50° and Ultra Wide Angle eyepiece is 82° or more.

Push the "Compute" button. In the "Real eyepiece field " frame, the area diameter is displayed in arc minutes. In the "Eyepiece magnification" frame, the magnification of the choosen eyepiece is indicated. After that, you have just to copy these two values in the two colums of the lower table.

"CCD" thumbnail

This thumbnail allows you to enter parameters of your CCDs cameras or others pictures makers to view their real field on the planet field according to your instrument specifications.

                                                                Cameras list

You can enter directly your cameras specifications in the list fields if you know them :

Description in the left column "CCD Name" and field dimensions in pixels. An exemple is shown by default. You can enter 10 products at maximum. It's better to enter them with their incresing magnification.

                                                                Computing cameras parameters

If you don't know your cameras parameters, a small calculator can help you. Just enter the instrument focal length and capteur dimensions in pixels.

push the "compute" button. In the real field cases you will see the dimensions of the lunar area that will be imaged.

"Printing" THUMBNAIL

This thumbnail is used to setup map printing parameters.

"Setup" button

This button shows the standard Windows  printing setup window.

Printing format

This area is used to choose printing margins width and change the Description text width.

Printed documents

These boxes are used to select the documents that will be printed.

The printed map is that of the last window map. Topographic maps are black and white and geologic map are colored with color names in both types. Maybe you will have to change the Description text width to better see printed names.

"Ephemeris" text contains orbital, phase and libration information according to the last date and hour selected in the "Ephemeris" window.

"Description" text contains the information page of the last chosen formation on the map.

"Save map" frame

Displayed map can be printed on paper with white background around the lunar disk to speed up printing and save ink!

"Help" MENU

This menu brings up help tools to aid using the atlas.

"Help" choice

This choice displays the present manual in an independent window.

"VPA Web page" choice

This choice alows you, if you are connected to Internet, to display in an independent window the VPA Web site.

"About" choice

This choice shows the version of the program, and indicates how Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley divide their work in the creation and development of the AVP.

ZOOM CURSOR

Sliding this cursor from left to right increase zoom magnifying power of the map (See "Map window").

If cursor is on left, planet globe is entirely visible. Moving it to the right increases zoom power (zooms in).

Depending on the resolution textures chosen in the settings (See "Settings thumbnail"), zoom will not show new details and map display can become fuzzy.

Display of labels and marks is a function of zoom factor and of labels density (See "labels and marks").

"1:1" BUTTON

Clicking on this button returns the map to the whole planet globe display in the "Map window".

"Center" BUTTON

Clicking on this button will make the planet globe center displayed on the center of your screen when zoom is 1/1. It also centers the formation you have selected if zoom is on.

"North / South " BUTTON

If you click on this button, you immediatly invert the North - South in the "Map" window. It must be used with the "East - West" button below to change from naked eye view to Newtonian view.

"East / West " BUTTON

If you click on this button, you immediatly invert the East - West in the "Map" window. It must be used to change from naked eye view to refractor or catadioptric telescope view.

"Full globe / Rotation" button

When clicking on this button, you access to the most powerful function of VPA. If the button is Up, the map window shows you the side visible from the Earth with phase applied if you checked the boxes in the "Display" thumbnail of the "Configuration" menu.

But if you click down on this button, you go to "Full globe" mode and the map window displays a complete globe in three dimensions that you will be able to observe on all its faces.

"Grid" BUTTON

When clicking on this button, the grid choosen in the "Overlays" thumbnail of the "Configuration" menu is displayed on the luner globe. The space between parallels and meridians is that has been choosen in the thumbnail, from 1 to 30 °.

"Phase" BUTTON

If you click on this button, you display or remove the phase display on the planet globe of the "Map" window.

"Scale" BUTTON

When clicking on this button, a scale in angular dimension is displayed at the left botton of the map window.

Beware ! This scale indicates the "visual" angular size. It doesn't indicate the dimensions on the planet globe. For measuring distances on the globe, you must use the "distance measure" tool comprised in the "Tools" thumbnail.

      "Neighbor" BUTTON

If you click on this button, a new window appears containing the names of the closest other formations in the neighbourhood of the selected formation.. You can click on one of them to go to it directly. The list length depends of the density of named formations on the surface of the planet.

"Labels" BUTTON

This button allows you to access the color choice window for map labels. Its use helps a lot to adapt quickly the labels colours to the map hues context, specially with scientific overlays use

"Labels" CURSOR

This button allows you to access the color choice window for map labels. Its use helps a lot to adapt quickly the labels colours to the map hues context, specially with scientific overlays use.

"2nd Window" BUTTON

If you click on this button, the "Map" window separates in two windows with equal width. This new window has the same properties as the main window. You obtain the "map" window, the "configuration" menu, the thumbnails and the buttons bar. To make active one of the 2 windows and access to its setup, click in it. A thin green frame appears around the active window.

This new window opens with the same selected planet area as the first. So, you can easily compare the two windows and you can apply in this second window textures and overlays different from those of the first window.

Screen capture showing VPA one window with Mercury "Messenger color" texture and second window with "Messenger altitude" overlay.

Beware ! This new function needs a powerful computer to be exploited with all its possibilities (If possible, processor frequency above 2 GHz, 512 Mb RAM and a graphic card supporting OpenGL with 64 Mb video RAM)

"Full Screen" BUTTON

If you click on this button, the thumbnails on the right, the title bar and the status bar all disappear, leaving only the map window or the double map window only on the screen.

Fabulous for large monitors, LCD and plasma TV, and videoprojector !!!

It's also a very useful tool for lectures about the planets !

A click on the left button selects a formation.

Pressing the left button and moving the mouse moves the map. The mouse wheel drives the zoom.

You have still access to the right click menu for managing the views.

THE MAP WINDOW

"Map" window is on the left of general window. It shows planets maps according to the options selected (See "Map display "). This window can't be removed and is now independently sizable. Go with the pointer one the separation line with the right thumbnails. A new pointer appears. Stay with the mouse left button pushed and move it. The "Map" window width will be set.

Slide bars appear according to the applied zoom factor (See "Zoom cursor").

THE GLOBE MAP

It's regularly oriented in the same direction as the selected planet seen with naked eye or binoculars.

You can turn the map around its center to copy the eyepiece vision in a Newtonian. You can display the map as in a mirror to see it as in a refractor or a Schmidt-Cassegrain instrument (See "Tools" thumbnail).

Mars map with inversion "<->"

"Full globe" and "Phased globe" maps

It permits to view a complete planet globe. If the option " Display phase " (See "Configuration menu ") is checked, the lighting of the globe is as the real one, for the date and hour choosen in the " Ephemerisis" thumbnail.

Map move

As a zoom factor is applied to map, you will be able to move into it.

In the "instrument view" mode, you can also "grab" the map in left clicking on it and keeping left button clicked while moving the mouse.

In the "Full globe" mode, you can also "grab" the globe with a mouse left click and while keeping left button click, you can turn the globe in the East or West direction when moving the mouse.

Mouse right click (All versions)

A right click on the mouse and a context menu appear with several choices.

Information : Sends you to the information database window.

Notes : Sends you to the "Notes" Thumbnail on the right side of the screen.

Neighbor : Sends you to the "Neighbor" Thumbnail on the right side of the screen.

Center : Centers the map on the selected formation.

Zoom : Can setup directly the zoom factor to 1/1, 1/2 or 1/4.

Eyepieces : Display the eyepieces list that you created in the configuration thumbnail to choose one of them.

CCD field : Display the eyepieces list that you created in the configuration thumbnail to choose one of them.

Distance : Activate the mode "Distance measurement" (Voir "Distance measurement")

Full screen : allows you to display only the "Map" window on your monitor. Great with large LCD monitors or TV !
 

THE "INFORMATION" THUMBNAIL

SEARCH SCROLLING LIST

You can enter in this scrolling list some letters of the name of the formation you want to find.  It will accept "wildcards", so "*t" will include in the scrolling list all formations names including "t", for example.

"Find" BUTTON

Clicking on this button will display the formation selected in the "Search" list.

"Find next" BUTTON

Clicking on this button will display localization and data of the next formation in the "Search" scrolling list.

THE DATABASE WINDOW

 The Database window is organized to display  formation information extracted from the database. It has a slide bar on the right if not all the data can be displayed in the window.

Christian Legrand has presently realized 3 databases completed :

- Mercury IAU named formations (About 400 entries)
- Venus IAU named formations (About 2000 entries)
- Mars IAU named formations (About 1800 entries)
- Europa IAU named formations (112 entries)
- Ganymede IAU named formations (190 entries)
- Callisto IAU named formations (154 entries)

For each formation, available information is :

- the formation type.
- the PUN (Planetary Universal Number) an exclusive feature of VPA
- size datas
- official position
- descriptive name origin
- official 2012 IAU datas about this formation

These databases have been translated and adapted from IAU datas by a French man. Please forgive the rather poor English that has been used and language mistakes that you can find. You can report them to Christian Legrand. They will be corrected as soon as possible.

Warning : In such detailed work, the data will certainly contain some mistakes - mainly input mistakes. You can also report them to Christian Legrand so that he can correct the database.

The authors thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Informations of the VPA databases are copyrighted "(c) IAU / Christian Legrand" and can't be used outside of the software. For any other use, please contact the author.

Database detailed information presentation

BODY :

OFFICIAL NAME :

This field presents the formation main name in Latin used officially by the International Astronomical Union in capital letters.

PLANETARY UNIVERSAL NUMBER / P.U.N. © :

The PUN is an exclusive feature of VPA. It has been conceived by Christian Legrand to make easier the determination of each possible planetary formation, officially named or not.

Here are the PUN description :

The PUN is composed by the assembling of the following characters chain :

PP : 2 letters corresponding to the planet :
- ME for Mercury
- VE for Venus
- MA for Mars

DT : 2 letters corresponding to the “Descriptor term” of IAU. These 2 letters are officially used by IAU. You can also find this list in the Glossary.
Here is the official list of  IAU Descriptor Terms (Some of them are not used in the databases presently) :

YYYYN or YYYYS for the digital value of latitude in 1/100 ° deg. N and S indicate North or South and are used to separate latitude and longitude to clarify the characters chain. The last 2 digits on the right are those of the 1/100 ° deg and are always present, even if they are zeros. The first 2 left digits are absent if the latitude is 00 °.

ZZZZZ for the digital value of longitude in 1/100 ° deg counted toward East until 359,99°. The last 2 digits on the right are those of the 1/100 ° deg and are always present, even if they are zeros. The first 3 left digits are absent if the longitude is 000 °.

Here are two examples of  PUN (PPDTYYYYNZZZZZ) :

- AA274S11422 : Crater located at 02,74° South and 114,22° East

- RU8500N00 : Scarp which middle is situated about at 85,00° North et 0,00° East.

With all these features, the PUN is always the shorter possible and it's always easily "readable". And this structure garantees always a lone PUN for each formation.

>>>> With the P.U.N. , you can find each lunar formation and this allows you to share observations of this formation with others colleages without any error.

FORMATION TYPE :

This field contains formation type according with International Astronomical Union official list (See above) :

SIZE :

The four following fields contain data about formation dimensions. Indicated is data provided by International Astronomical Union

Length :

This first field indicates the formation length in miles. For craters, length is very often equal to width because it's the mean diameter.

Width :

This second field indicates the formation width in miles. For craters, length is very often equal to width because it's the mean diameter. When not available, this data is absent.

This two field are presented in the form :  Length in km x Width in km

NAME ORIGIN :

Detailed name :

This field presents the real name of the person whose name has been given to the formation. When it also exists, a nickname is indicated..

For other formations than craters, the official name is first translated in English,  and then you can find the real name of the person whose name has been given to the formation.

This field indicates also the activities of the person whose name has been given to the formation, according to IAU.

Here is the list of the main "works" you can find in the database:

- Agronomist
- Alchemist
- Admiral
- Anthropologist
- Archaeologist
- Archbishop
- Architect
- Artist
- Astronaut
- Astronomer
- Astrophysicist
- Author
- Aviator
- Banker
- Biologist
- Botanist
- Calif
- Cartographer
- Chemist
- Clockwork
- Consul
- Cosmographer
- Divinity
- Egyptologist
- Engineer
- Engraver
- Explorer
- Geodesist
- Geographer
- Geologist
- Geometer
- Geophysicist
- God
- Goddess
- Hero
- Historian
- Humanistic
- Hydrographer
- Inventor
- Jurist
- King
- Manufacturer
- Mathematician
- Meteorologist
- Mineralogist
- Missionary
- Mythological fame
- Naturalist
- Navigator
- Novelist
- Oceanographer
- Optician
- Paleontologist
- Pharmacist
- Philologist
- Philosopher
- Physicist
- Physiologist
- Poet
- Political man
- Priest
- Printer
- Professor
- Queen
- Scientist
- Sailor
- Saint
- Sismologist
- Sponsor
- Stateman
- Technician
- Theologian
- Writer
- Zoologist

The field indicates also the nationality attributed by IAU to the person whose name has been given to the formation. It can be the birth nationality. You can also find nationalities no longer in existence.

Here is the list of the main nationalities present in the database:

- American
- Arabian
- Australian
- Austrian
- Babylonian
- Belgian
- British
- Byzantine
- Brazilian
- Canadian
- Carthaginian
- Castillan
- Chinese
- Cretian
- Dalmatian
- Danish
- Dutch
- Egyptian
- English
- Finnish
- French
- Greek
- German
- Hungarian
- Indian
- Irish
- Italian
- Japanese
- Jewish
- Macedonian
- Mexican
- Norwegian
- Persian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Roman
- Russian
- Scottish
- Soviet
- South African
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Swiss
- Czech
- Venetian

Birth year :

This field indicates the birth year of the person whose name has been given to the formation given by IAU. If not found, it is indicated " ?? ". Please note that for imaginary persons, there is no birth year.

Death year :

This field indicates the year of death for the person whose name has been given to the formation given by IAU. If not found, it is indicated " ?? ". Please note that for imaginary persons, there is no year of death.

Name author :

This field indicates, when it's known or supposed, the organization or person name that has given the name to the formation. As the VPA databases are built with IAU informations, you will find the date of IAU approuval in this field. 

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION DATAS

IAU Feature Name :

It's official IAU name above without all the additives on letters (Accents, tilde, etc...) so that they can be managed internationally by computers.

IAU Diameter

Latitude of the center of the formation. Positive numbers indicates that the formation is localized in northern hemisphere and negative numbers indicate that the formation is localized in the southern hemisphere.

Longitude of the center of the formation. Positive numbers indicates longitudes towards East and negative numbers indicate longitudes towards West.

Latitude the most on North of the formation. Positive numbers indicates that the formation is localized in northern hemisphere and negative numbers indicate that the formation is localized in the southern hemisphere.

Latitude the most on South of the formation. Positive numbers indicates that the formation is localized in northern hemisphere and negative numbers indicate that the formation is localized in the southern hemisphere.

Longitude the most on the East of the formation. Positive numbers indicates longitudes towards East and negative numbers indicate longitudes towards West.

Longitude the most on the West of the formation. Positive numbers indicates longitudes towards East and negative numbers indicate longitudes towards West.

Coordinates system used for latitudes and longitudes. Usually, it's planetographic with east longitudes as positive and counted from 0 to -180° and from 0 to 180° from the meridian 0. It's ULCN 2005(Unified lunar coordinates network de 2005). Mean lunar sphere is considered withe a radius of 1737,4 km 

Continent or great geographic divisin associated to the name.

Ethnic or cultural or nationalty associated to the name.

Code in two letters of the IAU descriptor term (cf Lunar Universal Number above)

Specific IAU quadrant where is localized the formation center.

Approval level of the formation in 2011.

Date when the name has been approved by IAU. Complete dates begin at half september 2006 and are recorded as (YYYY-MM-DD).

Short explanation of the formation name.

THE "EPHEMERIS" THUMBNAIL

When you click on the "Ephemeris" thumbnail, the right frame window fills with planet position datas: This position can be set entering some parameters. You can also continuously manage time with the "tape recorder" buttons.

DATE AND TIME INPUT

Observation date and hour can be set with upper case, either clicking and entering them directly or using the arrows. The "Compute" button displays the map with the choosen date and hour.

The "Now" button can show directly the choosen planet aspect at the current time. Date and hour used are those of your operating system. Verify if it's on time. This setting is very useful when using the software "in the field".

The "Compute" button display the choosen planet as it looks like to the date and hour selected with the previous paragraph.

The "Oh" button shows you the choosen planet at 0 h on the date selected with the previous paragraph.

"VIDEO RECORDER" BUTTONS

"Video recorder" buttons are a powerful provision meant for real planet aspect changes. They are very useful when using Open gL 3D display with the "Phase"  option activated.

">>" and "<<" buttons can increase or decrease date with a one day rate. ">" and "<" buttons increase or decrease hour with a one hour rate.

These buttons allow you to observe the phase evolution during time. 

THE "EPHEMERIS" WINDOW

The right frame window contains the following information on planet position :

Choosen planet right ascension
Choosen planet declination
Distance :
Apparent diameter:
Phase angle
Illumination percentage
Solar inclination
Choosen planet rise hour
Choosen planet meridian transit hour
Choosen planet set hour
Choosen planet rise azimuth
Choosen planet transir altitude
Choosen planet set azimuth

The following informations are not displayed if you check the box "Geocentric coordinates" in the "General" thumbnail of the "Configuration" menu.

Choosen planet rise hour
Choosen planet meridian transit hour
Choosen planet set hour
Choosen planet rise azimuth
Choosen planet set azimuth

This thumbnail allows you to see the visible formations along the planet central meridian, choosen for the date and hour that have been precised in the "Ephemerisis" thumbnail. More, you can sort them using one criteria.

"SORT" Buttons :

The "Sort" buttons allow you to choose the sorting criteria :

- Name :

Activating this button will sort the formations in alphabetical order.

- Latitude :

Activating this button will sort the formations in decreasing latitude from North to South.

- Minimal length :

If you fill this field, or selecting a dimension in the scrolling list, you limit the list with formations larger than the indicated value.

THE "NOTES" THUMBNAIL

In this thumbnail, you can enter your personal notes on each formation. These notes are stored in a dedicated database.

The "Update" button must be pressed to record any change in the database.

THE "TOOLS" THUMBNAIL

"Tools" thumbnail in "Telescope" mode

"Normal mode / Measure the distance" BUTTON

This button changes cursor action mode on the map. It's a toggle button. Its caption changes to allow you to go back to the other mode.

"Normal mode"

When in normal mode, the cursor is like a round bull's eye and is used to select formations.

"Distance measure"

When in this second mode, the cursor changes its shape and is used for measuring distances between formations or for measuring dimensions of a selected formation. Here, you see an example about Caloris Basin diameter on Mercury (The red line is 468,7 km long.

Put the cursor on the beginning of the distance to measure. Click with the left button and hold it down. Move the mouse. A color line originating at the first point appears. You just have to go to the end of the distance you want to measure by moving the mouse. Once there, release the mouse button. The line stays visible.

Up in the "Tools" panel, a box indicates the length of the drawn line in km and in arc minutes. Spherical shape of the planet in included in the computing method. So, near the planet limb, two perpendiculars lines with the same apparent length will indicate different dimensions.

MAP ROTATION

You can turn the map with the "West" and "East" buttons to obtain the view seen in your telescope

You can do the same thinh with the "North" and "South" buttons.

"Mirror" IMAGE

If you check this case, the planet will be seen as if you put a mirror on its side. It's like what you see in refractors or Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes.

    "Dobson" IMAGE

If you check the "Local zenith on top" case, the planet will be oriented as if you were looking at it with an altazimutal instrument

THE "SETTINGS" THUMBNAIL

This thumbnail will allow you to choose the special settings for the display.

"PENUMBRA" CURSOR

This cursor sets the transparence of the "night" part of the planet globe when the box " when the "Show the phase" box in the "Display" thumbnail of the "Configuration" menu is activated. We think it's better to choose an intermediate setting to give an "Ashen Light" appearance to the rest of the globe. Cursor at left gives a night part completely black. But if you want to use VPA as an atlas, put the the cursor to right or uncheck the "Show the phase" box in the "Display" thumbnail of the "Configuration" menu

"DIFFUSE" CURSOR

This cursor sets the general quality of the map.

"SPECULAR" CURSOR

This cursor manages the transition zone between light and shadow width. At left, it's maximal but not too realist.

"SMOOTHNESS" CURSOR

This cursor manages the 3D sphere precision when textures is applied. At left, it's not a sphere but a rough polyedra with visible flat faces.
Moving the cursor at right increases the faces number, but this needs a more powerful computer.
An image number indicator (fps) shows you the performance of your configuration. Don't go under 4 fps to keep a sufficiently speedy display when handling the map.
But, going to a better spherical resolution also slightly increases the formations place precision on the map.

"OPTIONS VALID AT NEXT STARTUP" FRAME

As indicated , changing one of the following options will be taken account only at next computer startup.

"Force texture compression" :
Normally, this option must be checked to avoid display flickering. Removing it can nevertheless improve performances with some graphic cards types.

"Anti Alias" :
Try this option to remove scale effects on map window. Beware, only some graphic cards can handle this option.

THE STATUS BAR

"COORDINATES" DISPLAYS

Latitude and longitude of the pointer on the planet globe are displayed on the left side of the status bar. Don't mix them with your observing site coordinates

"DATE AND HOUR" DISPLAY

The date and time in the status bar corresponds to the time selected in the "Ephemeris" tab.  It should not be confused with the date and time of your system!!!

"FIELD" DISPLAY

It indicates the choosen planet. The field value corresponds to the visual apparent field of the map window selected.
The zoom factor value is indicated.
The level and the nature of the texture are given.
The coordinates system is listed.

END OF MANUAL OF THE VPA PRO 2.0

The authors thank in advance users to inform them ebout every mistake encountered in this manual in using the VPA Internet site forum.

Copyright Christian Legrand & Patrick Chevalley / 2016