Producer: Eclipse Software
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Author: Morris Gavin

Stargazer comes from the same stable as Starsphere, which we reviewed last month. This review should have been in last month as well, but was cut at the last minute because of room. This package has a database of 340 stars with 34 constellations. As with some of the programs we looked at last month a star map can be plotted but this time the user can only select a view from Europe or North America, giving you only a portion of the northern hemisphere. However it does have a couple of extra options that may make it more useful. Option one allows the user to plot star maps, every star on the map being of the same size and brilliance. The constellations cannot be joined up as with Starsphere but instead the name of each of them is shown at the bottom of the screen as they are plotted. This works well while you are watching the plot but once that's complete it's very difficult to spot individual constellations. There is an option for plotting single constellations, in isolation, where some attempt has been made to give scale in size but not brilliance. After the plot the major stars are marked and their names given. The Quiz option poses questions on Latin and English star and constellation names as well as asking questions on such mind-blowing matters as Culmination Months. A small niggle arises here - I became tired of the Quiz mode after five wrong guesses but found no other way to escape back to the main menu other than sit there and let the machine humiliate me for a further five questions.

The last option, Starfax, provides basic information on the prime star of each constellation, this includes a diagram to show the star's magnitude, brightness and position in relation to our Sun. Other facts to be gleaned include the surface temperature, distance in light years from Sol and the apparent colour.

The program is menu-driven, and again the system used is very neat. A great deal of attention has been paid to error trapping, so it should be hard to crash; I managed once but was unable to do so again. On the whole a tidy, well thought out package that has placed an emphasis on facts and figures rather than map plots. The learning and quiz mode should prove to be both fun and useful in an educational environment.

Just two of a series of tapes from Eclipse, who seem to have bent towards the planets and stars. The first of these tapes is World Globe. Written in machine code for the 48K Spectrum it draws the world globe in hi-res graphics as seen from outer space and gives you the ability to rotate it. It also holds a list of 240 locations such as cities, rivers and other important features such as oceans, monuments etc. After choosing one of these features the computer then draws the globe in one and a half seconds and a flashing cursor will pinpoint it. By choosing a co-ordinate (longitude and latitude) you can also pinpoint anywhere on the globe.

The second tape is Stargazer which looks the other way towards the heavens. A fairly comprehensive program which plots 34 constellations containing over 340 stars. It will also tell you what phase and position the moon will be in at any hour between the years 1950 and 2000. There is also a quiz and learning program to help you. The program holds a large database containing facts about the stars such as colour, size and distance from the Earth.

If you are a budding astronomer l think you will find this a very useful tape to have. Eclipse produce a range of tapes such as Meteor Shows, Planetarium, Halley's Comet, Messier List, and The Cosmos.

The two tapes I looked at will cost you £6.95 each and all tapes from Eclipse are written for the 48K Spectrum.