Software

[DippyHippy]

Thought it might be good to have a place where we can talk about astronomy software... whether it's freeware, shareware or commercial or whether it's planetaria, Jovian moon predictors or Lunar mapping software, what do you use? Which do you recommend? Which would you steer clear of?

[Josh]

Software? Software??

The only thing I use is my little printed out map of what's in the sky this month. Software indeed. That's all a little too high tech for me. I have trouble enough finding the on switch on my computer let alone finding a planet or star on it. But ... I would like to know of any good software out there. easy to use etc...?

[Planetwatcher]

I use Starlocator II which came with my Meade telescope.
It's simple to use, and I like it, but it is not nearly as extensive as I would like.

However, it doesn't use directions or degrees to zenith which will discourage the novice who is not familar with azmuth, or Ra Dec.

If it allowed the use of regular directions, and zenith, had more objects, and more detail of them, it would be all that I could ask for, at least at this time.

[DippyHippy]

ROTFLMAO Josh

I use - and have done for some time - Starry Night Pro (http://www.starrynight.com/), although the latest incarnation (v4) was released around the end of last year and had some very serious bugs that (I believe) have only now been resolved. That said, I still think it's the best on the market because not only is it a very handy toy to have, it also looks damn good. It has a nifty built-in session planner but v4.0 was lacking any kind of Sky Calendar or almanac (other than the interactive graph feature) that I found rather bemusing. v4.5 has just been made available so I'm awaiting my copy now.

If you want a good, free Almanac program, I highly recommend Stig's Sky Calendar at http://www.skycalendar.com

I had Redshift but I found the controls frustrating... likewise, I'm not a fan of The Sky either.

If you literally want a photo-realistic interactive atlas of the night sky made of - well, real photos - you want the Desktop Universe (http://www.main-sequence.com/)

It's a tad pricey, but methinks you'll like it :)

[Polly V]

I too have Starry Night Pro, and being a novice I don't use all the features that it offers. I find it to be an excellent tool for my level of stargazing. Unfortuantely I do not have a laptop computer, which would add more versatility to say the least.

[DippyHippy]

It does, but laptops can only be upgraded up to a point whereas with a PC, if you know what you're doing, you can upgrade it all you like.

I say this because the new version of SNP required some top level hardware which most consumers didn't have - so it wouldn't work for many people. Specifically, they revamped the software to use OpenGL, which allowed for very realistic night sky views (as opposed to little coloured dots for stars) and it looked stunning. But it was useless if the damn thing didn't work because it used up quite a bit of memory on your graphics card.

True, you could revert the software back to the old "coloured dots" style, but then many of us felt we'd wasted our money because all we had done was bought a previous version of SNP with fewer features. (For some obscure reason, they hadn't included many of the nifty little features which many users had loved in previous versions)

For those users for whom SNP worked, the software was glorius. For those of us who found it kept crashing because our memory cards couldn't handle the Open GL (despite having all the attributes required by the software) it was very frustrating and it caused quite a stir on their discussion board.

To their credit, despite the apparent lack of testing, the developers were very open and forthcoming and were very receptive to people's comments, ideas and suggestions. I have to say their customer relations was second to none.

The software runs fine on my laptop for 90% of the time *if* I shut down other applications such as SETI@Home, but it still has a tendency to crash sometimes. When I bought the software, my laptop was only about 3 months old - the fact that I was being told my hardware was out of date was driving me nuts - and it was hardly a cheap laptop either. But because it was a laptop, I couldn't do anything to upgrade the video card and so I had to put up with the problems.

Now the developers have released SNP v4.5 as a free upgrade to every with SNP v4.0 and from what I've heard, many of the problems have been fixed. Mine's in the post, so hopefully it'll arrive in the next week or so :)

I'll let you know what happens!

[Dave Mitsky]

Cartes du Ciel - http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/ - is an excellent freeware planetarium and charting program.

The Virtual Moon Atlas - http://www.astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html - is also excellent and free.

I also use a number of other programs including TheSky and Sky Tools (see http://www.bisque.com/Products/TheSky/TheSky.asp and http://www.skyhound.com/skytools.html for further information).

MegaStar and the wonderful new Desktop Universe are both worth investigating.

Dave Mitsky

[imported_nova]

:rolleyes: HI' New Member here,
Just a observation on astronomical software, the best star and planetary software
and also freeware i have on my laptop i picked up on the internet it's
called Cartes du Ciel, its by a frenchmen and is realy great i also found another
great software (also Free) program by the same man called Virtual Moon Atlas it
is just the thing for finding your way around the lunar surface, Try it Folks.

malcolm marshall - deane :wub:

[Dium]

I've been using Power Age Sky Simulator (www.poweragesky.com) for a long time now. It's not free, but it's good. It's quite handy and has plenty of stars and deebsky objects. More than I can see, anyway. I think the newest version (which I don't have) even shows the largest moons of Jupiter and Saturn. It can also show you the locations of asteroids and comets (data can be downloaded from the site).

Yes, quite handy indeed. You might want to test out the trial version.

Oh, and I've tried Cartes du Ciel and The Virtual Moon Atlas, but both restart my computer everytime I try to use them. Anyone know a cure for that?

[Fraser]

Welcome to the forum Deane and Dium, thanks for your contributions.

[imported_astro]

:) HI, EVERYONE.
I bought "REDSHIFT" and I regreated ever since!!!
This is a NON-USER friendly software...
First of all they promise internet updates, I sent emails to them and they replied
that they do not offer updates, I explained that it was stated on the box that it came with, and they replied more or less too bad!!! :angry:
My recommendations is (if want to buy one) is Starry Night Pro, this is an excellent software in which I will buy in the near future.
I have some freeware that I use on my Palm, it's O.K. but I'm sure there are some good one out there.
Well take care
Harold

[Grizz]

ASTROPLANNER (http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/index.html) Is a fantastic logging/plannng software package. The best part is you can try it out for free. You get to use a few catalogs and all the features of the program. You can register it for $20.00 and get all the catalogs. But even if you don't the standard catalogs are all you may need. It will control your scope, you can log your observations, make an observing plan selecting the objects you want to see.

A fantastic program worth much more than $20.00 let alone a freebie. :)

I have no affiliation with Paul or Astroplanner I just think its a great program!

It will run on a MAC or Windows.

Grizz

[Josh]

Thanks Dippy! I'm going to go and check them all out now. Of course ... given that I'm a poor unloved student, the free-er the better! I'll give you a run down of what I find.

[DippyHippy]

Virtual Moon Atlas is superb, I highly recommend that - I compared that to a professionally produced, commercial software product and preferred the VMA - not because it was free, but rather because it was a lot easier for those who are new to observing the Moon and are looking out for interesting features.

astron, I didn't like Redshift either. I thought it was a very awkward program to use.

RE Starry Night Pro... I got the upgrade disc for v4.5 and I can see the improvement, graphically... it's a much more realistic looking night sky view (and it gives some very pretty sunrises and sunsets LOL)

*but*

...if, like me, you find that your earlier version of SNP is crashing because you only have an 8MB video memory card, you won't find that problem solved. Obviously the Open GL takes it's toll on the video memory and they either weren't able or weren't willing to compromise on that.

Also, I'm still amazed that their "upcoming events" only lists lunar and solar eclipses. As much as I don't like Redshift, their astronomical events calendar is faultless... it lists conjunctions, oppositions, eclipses, equinoxes, lunar phases and meteor showers - something SNP would do well to incorporate!

Having said all that, the number of included features still outweigh and outnumber the missing features and it's still the best on the market.

[zephyr46]

My favorite sites
Solstation (http://www.solstation.com/index.html)

J-track (http://science.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3d.html)

ESA orbits (http://orbits.esa.int/orbits/science/app/solar.htm)

Mapping the ISM (http://spacsun.rice.edu/~twg/lism.html#Intro)

If anyone has links to any of the other maps out of this book online :)
and of course

Atlas of the Universe (http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/)

:)

[Haglund]

SkyGlobe (http://www.sidewalkastronomy.com/skyglobe.html) was the first astronomical software I used and I recently found it again on the internet. It's a planetarium kind of software

Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/) is a nice but hardware demanding program that will let you fly about in a 3D solar system and observe the planets and the moons which all have textures from real photographs. More for just having fun for a while.

[DippyHippy]

Ah yes, SkyGlobe! The old favourite from the good ol' days of Windows 3.1 that's still available for free online. It's a cracking little program actually.

I like Celestia. I've created my own movie, flying around the planets, using Celestia and burnt it to DVD. It was a bit of a pain to do (in order to avoid flying right through the planets themselves) but well worth the effort.

Set it to some decent music like Vangelis or Jarre, put it onto a big widescreen TV and turn out the lights and you've got a pretty cool ride through the cosmos...

...or am I just sad?? LOL

[Woodstock]

[FONT=Arial]Hellow everybody,

Iám just a new member :huh: but the astronomical software that i use is:

http://www.hnsky.org/software.htm

First you have to download a basic program and then you can ad some extra data, even with real pictures when you close in on the choosen object.

just have a look ;)









have fun!!
Wood :rolleyes:

[Haglund]

Hnsky seems like a very good program, will look into it some more.

[Dan Luna]

I find Adobe Photoshop Elements very useful as a general image editing and printing application.

[Polly V]

I run Starry Night Pro on a G3 that has been recently been juiced up to a low end G4. SNP has never crashed my system to date. I also run seti@home, they don't seem to bother one another on my mac. ( i'm on my 1050th unit)

I do have a question for Astro, what software do you use on the palm? I have a palm VII, i haven't come up with a good enough excuse to buy the tungsten ;)

[DippyHippy]

HNSKY is a great little atlas program... it's not a planetarium though... an important distinction to make.

Polly, I have a Palm m505 and I tried both Planetarium (http://www.aho.ch/pilotplanets/ and http://www.in2space.com/ (http://www.in2space.com/) and Planetarium won hands down for me. I found it informative, very easy to use and with a very clear and easy to read star map. 2Sky just didn't do it for me...

I think, to be honest, a big selling point with me was the fact that Planetarium comes with everything you need for a single price, whereas with 2Sky you have to download and purchase the basic program and then buy add-ons that should come as standard - eg, NGC / IC catalogs and night-time screen feature.

The basic program is $25... plus the add-ons (for NGC/IC, starst to mag 9 and the night-time screen) is another $25 ... with Planetarium it's only $24 with everything included.

I rest my case, your honour :)

[lari]

Cartes du Ciel; http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html
A very nice freeware, i have used it for a long time together with a EXT from Meade.

[damienpaul]

does anyone know of any programs that offer simulations of the surfaces of other planets?

[DippyHippy]

Starrry Night Pro does... very nicely too...

[damienpaul]

Is it possible to download a freeware version of starrynight pro?

[DippyHippy]

Not the Pro version, but you can download a demo version of Starry Night Enthusiast from http://www.starrynight.com/digital_download.html

I might be wrong, but I think Enthusiast is basically the same product as Pro but with fewer features :)

[damienpaul]

and is it freeware?!!?!?!?

[DippyHippy]

Oh no no no LOL But it's still the best astronomical program on the market. For a freeware simulation of space, try Celestia... http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

Be aware, it's not an astromical program, it's a space simulator and you can't simulate views from the surface per se but you can fly close to the surface of a planet and you can capture some pretty stunning views byt programming it to fly-by the planets :)

[damienpaul]

cool, excellent, thank you!

[damienpaul]

if folks go to the astrogeology section of the USGS website

http://astrogeology.usgs.gov

there are plenty of program downloads as well some awesome pics...(including the image of Mars that I use as my desktop)

[Dan Luna]

Just looked at USGS and it's a very interesting site. Having got the Philip's Moon Map I'd love to have a look at the downloadable "Colour Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map", but a Gigabyte of PDF files printable as 3 sheets each 4 by 3 FEET is just too much!

I've got the Virtual Lunar Atlas recommended by Dave Mitsky and DippyHippy now and it's truly superb. You can zoom in and see loads of detail, a lot of information on the various features, the Moon will actually rotate so you can look down from different angles, it will even display a moving view as from an orbiting spacecraft. I'm just in the process of downloading the photo library add ons - you pick a feature and it shows a drop down list of all the photos you have of it, and it will show a number of these at once in windows. Pictures are available from Lunar Orbiter, Ranger, Surveyor, Luna, Apollo and they're just starting to add Clementine.

http://www.astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html

[damienpaul]

you may be able to order the sheets

[Bluewolf027]

I recently started useing Cartes Du Ciel and I think its great and Its FREE

[damienpaul]

is there a link to that program?

[Tiny]

See : http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/
I found it at google.com ^^ enjoy

[budcamp]

I found "Starry Night backyard" to be a good program. I lhave upgraded to the SNPro 4.5 version, but I still use Backyard more often that Pro.

Bud

[damienpaul]

is there any difference between the 2 versions of Starry Night?

[moosemanuk]

bluewolf I have to agree that Cartes du Ciel is the best astronomy program out there. It blows away the (chargeable!) competition by having no gimmicks at all, just quality information - presented the way you need it.

I've been using it for a couple of years, then got a copy of Starry Night Pro, then went back to it very quickly - it's simply that good!

Peace and Clear Skies
Moo$e

[moosemanuk]

dippy,

do you have an alternative link to the SkyCalendar program you posted about a few pages ago! I tried downloading from their site and the program would not download.

many thanks
Moo$e

[DippyHippy]

Moose, SkyCalendar is hard to get hold off... I wanted to review it for Astronomy magazine a couple of years back and their site was down for months so I had to put it to one side - a shame because it really deserves some publicity.

I tried the link for the 3.2MB download from http://www.skycalendar.com/download/index.html and it doesn't work, as you say... however, the 6.2MB download (for the international version) does. I guess it's up to you but I don't know anywhere else you can download it from. I did do a quick search but didn't come up with anything other than webpages with links to the Sky Calendar site.

[ganymede01]

theres a good screen to use when you got your laptop in the field,the head light looks handy too www.idealastronomy.com

[jamerz3294]

Posting because I want to keep an eye on this topic. I very much apperciate all the good info here, as I have been frustrated in using my Meade and they really don't seem to care). As a newbie, here I do wnat to thank everybody in these forums for making it such a fun place!

[DippyHippy]

I've heard some bad things about Meade over the past few years... basically, from what I know, they started out as a small company making quality telescopes for the enthusiast, but at some point they have (apparently) gotten a little big for their boots. Whether that's due to them being taken over or simply losing their way, I don't know...

[Tiny]

if u are looking for Astronomy software, try this site (a link from my Physic class teacher's website)
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/software.html

[DippyHippy]

That's a great resource, Tiny - I used to have that bookmarked when I wrote my website and shareware / freeware reviews :)

[EagleUK]

For online reviews of astronomy software, check out Astrotips (http://astrotips.com/index.php)

v/r,

EagleUK

[Tiny]

That was a nice site >< and I have found a something very interseting software :
here : 3D Mars Spirir Rover Simulator
http://www.brainblock.com/downloads/spiritroverpc.exe

Sorry about that off topic reply ><

[DippyHippy]

Eagle, that&#39;s a great site&#33; Never seen that one before and it&#39;s certainly jam packed with possible downloads :D

Tiny, that doesn&#39;t really help us... please stick to the topic... :)

[Tiny]

And this is the one I found while wandering on the Internet (Yahoo, Science Section) hope this useful ><
http://freeware.intrastar.net/astronomyone.htm