
                            POM - Phase of Moon
                            -------------------
                               version 1.6.t1


    This is an adaptation of the Unix POM program which determines the
    current (approximate) phase of the moon.

    POM may simply be executed with no command line switches, and the
    output will be the same as the Unix version, except: the percentage
    of illumination defaults to four decimal places, and the calculation
    is done based on local time rather than Universal Coordinated Time.

    However several options have been added to make the program more
    flexible and customizable.

    Command Line Switches
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        /?  - Quick help, displays all the options.

        /d  - outputs the date along with the moon's phase

        /l# - set the "length" of decimal places the percentage will
              display. Ex: "pom /l2" would show 2 decimal places.

        /n  - do Not print a cr/lf at the end out the output line

        /p  - display only the "percentage of full" value.

        /u# - +/- # hours to get UTC/GMT time. Simply this value is
              added or subtracted from the current local time before
              the phase of the moon is calculated.


    Date Calculations
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    In addition to these you may input a date (and time, if desired)
    manually to calculate the phase of the moon for. All you have to
    do is enter the year, month and day, in that order on the command
    line. The value for the year must be fully four digits. For example,
    to calculate for my sister's birthday this year I could enter:

        pom 1996 11 8

    Which is November 8, 1996. I could add other command line switches
    anywhere in the command line as well, for example if i wanted to
    output the date along with that and redirect it to a file:

        pom /d 1996 11 8 >moon

    The current time of day would be used. You may also specify the
    time of day for a date by appending the hour, minute and/or second,
    in that order, after the date. You may just specify the hour, or
    the hour and minute. Any value you leave off will revert to the
    value of the current system clock. For example, to output the
    phase of the moon for 9:00 pm on my sister's birthday would be:

        pom 1996 11 8 21 00

    Likewise if you want to calculate for the same day as the current
    day but the next year you could simply only include the year value;
    or if you wanted to calculate for the same day next month then just
    include the year and month.


    Credits
    ~~~~~~~
    This version of pom is adapted for OS/2 (and Virtual Pascal) by
    by as544@torfree.net. It is adapted from the unix pom by Kieth E.
    Brandt VIII; which was in turn adapted from the formula given in
    _Practical Astronomy with your Pocket Calculator_ by Duffet-Smith.

