EDITORIAL INFORMATION

STAMP system (Set of Tables for Minor Planets) has been designed for rapid and accurate reproducing the Tables from the Ephemerides of Minor Planets (EMP) published yearly by the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia. Besides, STAMP system makes it possible to solve a number of usual problems connected with usage of the Tables. For example, the system allows movement along the Table, forward and backward, outputting the Table at printer or its recording in file; selecting from the table in conformity with some conditions, calculating some additional widely used functions of the orbital elements such as the perihelion and aphelion distances, the period of revolution, the mean daily motion, the mean opposition magnitude and so on; drawing the frequency distribution graphs and computations of some statistical characteristics of the distributions; drawing the projection of the orbit of a minor planet on the ecliptic plane; interpolation of data; comparison of observed positions with computed ones; identification of objects; etc. Thus STAMP is useful tool for professionals and amateurs dealing with minor planets.

(Extracted from the User's Guide).

OUR REVIEW

The program has been developed at the Intitute of Theoretical Astronomy of the Russian Academy of the Sciences, and its diffussion is aimed at supporting the financing of the scientific activities developed in it, whose budget has been drastically reduced ever since the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

The program is the computer version of the volume Ephemerides of Minor Planets for 1995, published in paper format by this institution itself and distributed by the firm White Nights Trading Co. Its contents, except for a very useful descriptive introduction (both in Russian and in English), are tables with the orbital elements of all known minor planets (5791 catalogued ones up to November 29th., 1993). With this program, reference is easily available, as it is very automated and based on menus. STAMP is yearly produced together with its printed version, though both are sold separately.

Available in one single, high density disk, it requires a computer with the operative system MS DOS 3.0 or better (anyone is useful from a PC XT/AT), 640 K of RAM memory, some 2.9 MB free on the hard disk and an EGA/VGA adaptor. To execute, just type stamp or stamp r (which will display the texts in Russian).

The obvious usefulness and the low cost of this kind of programs is a good asset to make it popular among aficionados as well as professionals, while at the same time our purchasing contributes to the economical financing of one of the most important institutions in the world.