MICA Software for PCs and Macs

(Current Version: Version 2.2, October 2009)

About MICA

MICA, the Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac, is a software system that provides high-precision astronomical data in tabular form for a wide variety of celestial objects. MICA computes many of the astronomical quantities tabulated in the The Astronomical Almanac. However, MICA can compute this information for specific locations and specific times, thus eliminating the need for table look-ups and additional hand calculations.

Designed primarily for professional applications, MICA is intended for intermediate-to-advanced users. Basic knowledge of astronomical terminology and positional astronomy is assumed.

MICA provides essential data for use in:

Astronomy and astrophysics	Space science	Geodesy and surveying
Geophysics	Meteorology	Environmental science
Operations planning	Accident reconstruction and litigation	Illumination engineering
Architecture	Photography

MICA was first released in 1993 for MS-DOS and Apple Macintosh systems. MICA 2.0 was updated for Windows and modern Apple Macintosh systems and released in August 2005. MICA 2.0 provided all the data available in earlier versions of the software and included several new features. The current version of MICA is Version 2.2, which was released in October 2009.

Features

MICA can perform the following types of computations:

• Precise positions for the Sun, Moon, major planets and Pluto, selected asteroids, selected bright stars, and cataloged objects (e.g. stars, quasars, galaxies, etc.) using external catalogs provided with the program. Up to ten different position types are available (depending on which object was chosen).
• Various astronomical time and reference system quantities (e.g. Sidereal Time, Nutation and Obliquity, Equation of the Equinoxes, Equation of the Origins, Calendar/Julian Date conversions, and ΔT).
• Twilight, rise, set, and transit times for major solar system bodies, selected bright stars, selected asteroids and cataloged objects.
• Physical ephemerides useful for making observations of the Sun, Moon, and major planets. Both illumination and rotation parameters are available for all listed bodies, except for the Sun.
• Low-precision topocentric data describing the configuration of the Sun, Moon, major planets and Pluto, and selected asteroids at specified times and locations. MICA also includes a sky map option as an aid in locating the objects.
• Solar and Lunar Eclipses, as well as transits of Mercury and Venus, visibility information.
• Four different types of positions of Jupiter and the Galilean Satellites, and offsets of the satellites from Jupiter.
• Dates and circumstances of various astronomical phenomena (solstices and equinoxes, apsides of Earth and the Moon, Moon phases, conjunctions, oppositions, and greatest elongations of Mercury and Venus). A phenomena search feature is also available which generates a table similar to the 'Diary of Phenomena' tables contained in section A of The Astronomical Almanac.

New features and changes in MICA 2.2 include:

• Earth Rotation Angle (ERA) and the Equation of the Origins.
• Apside times (perigee/apogee of the Moon, perihelion/aphelion of Earth) as a stand alone computation or within the Phenomena Search function.
• Computations of future eclipses and transits now allow the user to set their own value of Delta T.
• Configurations of Major Solar System Bodies and Asteroids, Lunar eclipses, and all Phenomena calculations now include "Zone" as a time system option.
• The 2000B IAU Nutation model, described in McCarthy and Luzum (2003), and the 2006 Precession model, as discussed in Capitaine, N. et al. (2003) and Hilton et al. (2006), have now been implemented.

MICA PC sample screens (Windows XP):

• Sky map
• Solar eclipse
• Rise/set/transit times for the Sun

MICA Mac sample screens (Mac OS X):

• Sky map
• Phenomena search
• Apparent topocentric position of Mars

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Windows edition:

• PC-compatible 200 MHz Pentium or higher.
• Windows^® 98, Millennium Edition, NT^® 4.0 (with Service Pack 4 or later), 2000, XP, or Vista operating system.
• Internet Explorer version 4.0 (5.0 recommended).
• 64 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended).
• 135 MB of hard disk space (848 KB on the C: drive).
• CD-ROM drive for installation.
• VGA or higher-resolution monitor (with screen area set to at least 640 x 480 pixels and 256 colors).

Minimum system requirements for Mac OS edition:

• Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher. (Note that MICA no longer operates under Classic (OS 9) Environment.)
• 250 MB of hard disk space

"Delta T" File Updates

For highest accuracy, the supplied file of "Delta T," the difference between Terrestrial Time (TT) and Universal Time (UT1), should be updated periodically. Information about the most recent Delta T file is posted below:

• Delta T file updates.

Software Updates

Version 2.2 is the current version of MICA. It was released in October 2009 and is valid for years 1800 through 2050. This version includes a number of bug fixes and a few new features. See the ReadMe file for further information.

Full versions of the software and updates are available from Willmann-Bell. Please see the ordering information below.

Frequently Asked Questions and Software Bugs

• Frequently Asked Questions.
• MICA Software Bugs.

Ordering Information

MICA is published for the U.S. Naval Observatory by Willmann-Bell, Inc. Both PC and Macintosh editions of the software are distributed on a single CD-ROM, with a hardcover user's guide. Please direct all orders and general requests for product information to:

Willmann-Bell, Inc.
P.O. Box 35025
Richmond, VA 23235

(800) 825-7827 (orders only)
(804) 320-7016 (orders and information)
(804) 272-5920 (Fax)

http://www.willbell.com