NavList:

Hewitt ... and everyone,

It just occured to me that one can plot COPs in Google Earth without any additional software. Here's how:

• Open Google Earth
• Click the "Show Ruler" icon on the toolbar at the top (conveniently, it looks like a little ruler)
• Select the "circle" tab in the ruler dialog box
• Select "Nautical Miles" in the "radius" drop down menu
• Move your cursor to the GP of the body (this, of course, will be the GHA converted to longitude and the declination as latitude)
• Click once to start drawing the circle
• Move the cursor in any direction until the radius in NM matches the zenith distance in minutes of the body
• Click again to finish drawing the circle

You can then click "Save" to add the COP to your "Places" menu and continue adding more COPs in the same manner. Upon clicking "Save", a dialog will pop up allowing you to name the COP and add whatever notes you like - such as the date/time of observation, GHA/Dec. of the body, etc. You can also adjust the width/color/opacity of the line in the save dialog or by right-clicking the saved COP and selecting "Properties". You might also want to add a "placemark" at the GP of the body. This can be done by clicking "Add" in the menu bar and selecting "Placemark", or by hitting Ctrl+Shift+P. (Hint: The placemark can be moved for "fine tuning" its position by clicking and dragging it while the "New Placemark" dialog box is open.)

Of course, Andrés' software automates a lot of this and makes it a little quicker. But if, for whatever reason, you can't use his program, this is another option.

Cheers,

Sean C.