A DIY Planisphere

You might be familiar with a planisphere similar to the one shown below. If it was bought in the UK, it will most likely refer to coordinates and time suited to the South of England. ie 50 degrees latitude and GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). What if you live in the North of England or Scotland, or you travel to more remote places?



 
Here is a possible solution. Antony (alias 'Paddy') Paddle has kindly donated the results of his hard labours in the form of two post script files and a user guide in the in the form of an Adobe Reader file.

These files can be downloaded by using the following links :
Helvellyn-planimap.ps
Helvellyn-planimask.ps
Helvellyn-booklet.pdf

At this stage, the .ps files do not contain any comments and refer to coordinates and time for Helvellyn, in the heart of Cumbria, United Kingdom. The 'Helvellyn-booklet' provides background information about planispheres and some instructiions for modifying the .ps files for other specific situations.

Given a post script printer the .ps files can simply be dumped to the printer.

Ghostview can be used to show .ps files on screen, to print the files, and to convert .ps files to .pdf files for reading via Adobe Acrobat Reader. Note that Ghostview requires that Ghostscript is also installed.

Users of the Linux operating system might already have versions of these programs installed.

Helvellyn.pdf provides versions of the contents of the .ps files, ready to be screened and printed via Adobe Reader

The 'Helvellyn-booklet' gives further guidance on converting .ps files for reading/printing.

Adventurous souls wishing to hack .ps files might also care to refer to "A First Guide To The Post Script Language".

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