Messiggy 0.5.0
A Messier Object Database

Developed by
    Scott Robert Ladd           scott.ladd@coyotegulch.com
    Coyote Gulch Productions    http://www.coyotegulch.com

Released under the GNU General Public License.

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome!

Messiggy is a database of celestial objects, as cataloged by the French
astronomer Charles Messier in the mid-18th century. Messeir was a comet
hunter, and the objects in his list -- galaxies, nebulae, and star
clusters -- were often mistaken for comets by astronomers of his time.

The Messier's list contains many of the most beautiful objects in the
heavens. From the glorius Andromeda galaxy to the wispy delights of
the Trifid Nebula, these celestial visions are often part of the
"Messier Marathon", a personal contest to view all 110 objects in a
single night.

You can learn more about Messier objects through a simple Google Search.
I recommend the following web sites for your edification:

    http://www.seds.org/messier/
    http://zebu.uoregon.edu/messier.html
    http://cometman.com/Messier.html

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THE STATE OF THE CODE

This program serves two purposes: It provides a graphical database of
interesting astronomical objects while also demonstrating my Itzam
embedded datastore engine.

You can learn more about Itzam here:

    http://www.coyotegulch.com/libitzam

This is a very early, pre-beta release of Messiggy. You can select an
object from the main panel, and the program will display an
informational window describing the object. Future versions will
include:

1)  Annotations
    Annotations attach observation notes and images (yours, or someone
    else's) to a Messier Object. The information will be stored in a
    secondary Itzam database.

2)  Star Charts
    Future versions of Messigy will plot several types of star charts.

3)  Marathon tracker
    A tool for organizing and recording a Messier Marathon.

4)  Internationalization
    The final releases of Messiggy will support interfaces in languages
    other than English. Given the talents of my lovely wife, the initial
    version will likely include a Spanish translation.

As always, I'm open to suggestions.

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PLATFORM NOTES

Since I do most of my core work on Unix systems, the initial version of
Messiggy is a GTK+ application tested under Linux. Once the prototype
is relatively complete, I'll port the program to native Microsoft
Windows and Macintosh OS/X interfaces.

A bit of philosphy:

I believe in deliberately portable code -- in other words, programs
written, from the beginning, with the intention of their working on a
variety of software and hardware platforms. The Itzam datastore is an
example of this philosophy: it is a purely C engine, completely
OS-agnostic, that runs on everything from cell phones to super
computers.

Portability stems from more than just source code, though. A program
written with an English interface, for example, is unlikely to be very
portable to someone who only speaks Spanish. Nor can a program written
for Windows be "portable" to a Macintosh user.

Program interfaces are, by nature, platform-specific -- and as such,
"portable" programs need to be written with native interfaces that
reflect user's expectations. I've tried cross-platform interface
toolkits, and found them wanting. Therefore, I write deliberately
portable and flexible engines wrapped in platform-specific graphical
interfaces.

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I gratefully acknowledge the Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space (SEDS), of the University of Arizona's Chapter of
the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, from whom I acquired the lovely
color map used in Messiggy's main display.