
      *****************************************************
      **    KStars 0.9: A Desktop Planetarium for KDE    **
      *****************************************************

Copyright (c) 2001, by Jason Harris <jharris@30doradus.org>.

Co-authors:  Heiko Evermann <heiko@evermann.de>
             Thomas Kabelmann <tk78@gmx.de>
             Mark Hollomon <mhh@mindspring.com>
             Pablo de Vicente <pvicentea@wanadoo.es>
             Vincent Jagot <vincent.jagot@free.fr>
             Martin Piskernig <martin.piskernig@stuwo.at>

KStars is Free Software, released under the GNU Public License.
See COPYING for GPL license information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------


1.  Important URLs and files.
-----------------------------

The KStars homepage is: http://kstars.sourceforge.net/

You can obtain the latest version at:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=22914

There are instructions for obtaining the latest CVS build at:
http://kstars.sourceforge.net/cvs.html

Installation instructions are in the file INSTALL.  At this time,
installation is not quite standard, so please read the INSTALL file!
(especially if you use Suse Linux 7.2)

This is the file README.


2. KStars documentation
-----------------------

The KStars handbook can be found in your $(KDEDIR)/share/doc/HTML/en/kstars/
directory.  You can also easily access it from the Help menu, or by pressing
the [F1] key, or by visiting http://kstars.sourceforge.net/handbook/


3. Credits
----------
A. The KStars Team

 We are:
   Jason Harris <kstars@30doradus.org>
   Heiko Evermann <heiko@evermann.de>
   Thomas Kabelmann <tk78@gmx.de>
   Mark Hollomon <mhh@mindspring.com>
   Pablo de Vicente <pvicentea@wanadoo.es>
   Vincent Jagot <vincent.jagot@free.fr>

   Initial German Translation by Martin Piskernig


B. Data Sources:

 Most of the catalog data came from the Astronomical Data Center, run by
 NASA.  The website is:
 http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

 KStars links to the excellent image collections and HTML pages put together
 by the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, at:
 http://www.seds.org

 KStars links to the online Digitized Sky Survey images, which you can
 query manually at:
 http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form

 KStars links to images from the HST Heritage project, and from HST
 press releases:
 http://heritage.stsci.edu
 http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr.html

 KStars links to images from the Advanced Observer Program at
 Kitt Peak National Observatory.  If you are interested in astrophotography,
 you might consider checking out their program:
 http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/

 Images of the Moon are copyrighted by their photographer, Antonio Cidadao,
 and are used with his permission.  You can see more of his work at:
 http://www.astrosurf.com/cidadao/

 The inline images of M 17, M 31 and M 42 are from Jason Ware's collection,
 and are used with his permission.  You can see his entire collection 
 (and purchase large-format prints) at:
 http://www.galaxyphoto.com

C. Miscellany

 I used (primarily) two books as a guide in writing the algorithms used
 in KStars:
 "Practical Astronomy With Your Calculator" by Peter Duffett-Smith
 "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus

 HUGE thanks to KDE developers who made this project possible!
 Also, the KDevelop team: without your excellent IDE, I might not have
 bothered...

 Thanks to everyone at the KDevelop message boards and on irc.kde.org,
 for answering my frequent questions.

 Thanks also to everyone who has submitted bug reports or other feedback.


You're still reading this? :)
Well, that's about it!  I hope you enjoy KStars!

Jason Harris
kstars@30doradus.org

Send me ideas and feedback!
