I finally decided to sit down and really learn some Javascript programming. The end result is two apps that I put together and is available here.
The first app reads the user’s computer time and displays the local time, local date, GMT, time zone offset from GMT, Julian date, and local sidereal time with continuous updates every second. The only input required is the user’s longitude and this is only used for the local sidereal time calculation. Through the use of a cookie, once the user enters the longitude the first time, this value will be remembered the next time the app is invoked. Being a Javascript application, this is a “client side” program that runs only on the user’s local machine (as opposed to a “server side” program that runs on the server hosting the called website.)
The second application is useful for astro-imagers. This app, also written in Javascript, takes the user’s input of the pixel size of a CCD imaging device and the scope’s focal length to calculate the image scale for the given scope/camera combination. Additionally, it will then take this calculated image scale and, using the user’s input of the number of rows and columns of pixels of the same CCD imaging device, calculate the field of view in arcminutes and in degrees. Error checking is provided to make sure the user enters valid numbers for the calculations.
More Javascript apps are in the works and will be added as they become available.