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.

Main Features:
- 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 delta T).
- 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.