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Cancel those expensive visits to London's Planetarium - this program effectively replaces them. Don't be misled by the title, as any reference to Halley's Comet is a minute portion of this superb educational production. When Halley's Comet has gone this program and its comprehensive manual, will still be providing stalwart service in any science department.

Written with the Hisoft Pascal Compiler it contains an unbelievable amount of information that is used to produce Starrnaps and Planetary orbits for any date before today or in the future.

The first program, The Solar System, shows planetary orbits on a large or small scale and from any angle, then drops the observer onto the plane containing the Earth's orbit. Pressing key 'N' removes the axial tilt and 'D' shows what happens from March 21st to September 23rd. Any date desired can be selected and the orbit of Halley's Comet can also be studied with planets represented by letters. It is suggested that March in 6 B.c. is found when Earth, Jupiter and Saturn are in a straight line - called a triple conjunction - that is a possible explanation for the Star of Bethlehem.

The vast. Planetarium program shows the sky and view below the horizon for any dates in any direction chosen. Although only 246 of the brightest stars have been used, they're still difficult to see on a light screen - so Anima have provided a darkening key.

I could go on extolling the virtues - but suffice it to sayit's an astronomical experience.

T.W.