Free planetarium programs for observing the night sky. Has the 1. 10 object Messier catalog. A large star database can be downloaded from his homepage to add to it. Lots of nice features including star colors.
With ASCOM telescope control. Leaves out only the files that would make the download unbearable (large star database, pictures and movies).
Newly released version 6. Author continues to upgrade and expand it. Shows the sun, moon, planets and stars to 1. Also, some comets, asteroids and deep sky objects.
For advanced astronomers, this and Cartes du Ciel (below) are probably the best. There are many additional catalogs at the sky chart homepage for downloading and expanding it's functionality.
After you download all the catalogs, this program produces incredible star charts. Printing them is fantastic and can be used at the telescope.
Only real drawback, besides the high price of ink cartridges, is that computers don't label charts as well as people (at least we're still better at something). This is probably the best program for the serious amateur, particularly if you download all the add- ons available for it (preferably with a broadband modem). You can even download the Hubble guide star catalog to produce 1. I've downloaded the 6 gigabyte USNO star catalog (1. Not too bad with DSL modem. Calculation of the positions of Jupiter and Saturn satellites. Moon calendar and feature locator.
A solar system orrery. An observing list manager. Maintain a database of celestial objects images, with direct download from Internet. An artificial satellite visibility predictor. The visibility graph, to check the optimum time for observing an object. More star catalogs to expand program are available for download. With stellarium, you really see what you can see with your eyes, binoculars or a small telescope.
Very fast, you can change view direction in real- time even with 3. A 3. D realtime rendering view from space with the majors planets. Solar/lunar eclipses, solstices and equinoxes days can be computed, and a sun clock is also available. A large database, user editable in XML format, of one thousand of places on Earth, Moon and Mars.
For example, see the sky above the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Its hearth is a powerful numerical integrator, and the many additional functions make it a greatly flexible program, which at the same time is very simple to use and very powerful in its performances. It can just give aesthetic pleasure and help in identifying sky objects, or it can be used by an experienced researcher as a tool to investigate aspects of the solar system dynamics such impact probabilities and chaotic motion. This is a DOS program. Viewing options allow the user to control which sky objects to display, which font to use, and manipulation of various star parameters. Several downloads needed.
The singular advantage of the astrolabe display is that it shows the entire sky, both visible and invisible, on a single screen. The Electric Astrolabe can be set for any location and includes accurate positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets. An important objective of this software is to take into account the main catalogues available to professional and amateur astronomers in order to prepare observations on small fields as well as astrometry works. All the major planets and visible moons. Animate the passing of night and day or Follow a planet, star or messier object's path over a few minutes to a few centuries.
ASTRONOMY - FREE SOFTWARE. Assorted freeware astronomy downloads. This is a DOS program but is easy to use. Celestia is a real-time visual simulation of space. This category is for planetarium or sky observing software. Over fifty other free software categories. Hot-wiring the Transient Universe IV will explore opportunities and challenges of massively parallel time domain. Hot-wiring the Transient Universe III.
Realistic night and day colours. Free for non- commercial use.
The default catalog is the Bright Star Catalog with over 9. The Hipparcos catalog contains over 1. Tycho catalog over 1,0. Star. Cats is a visualization tool for these catalogs which also gives direct access to the catalog record data for any star by pointing and clicking. It can display the planets and their orbits, the sun and the moon. The nine planets including planet earth and their detailed physical & chemical information and image pictures is also displayed including solar power, solar energy and solar eclipse details. The graphical output is in high- resolution 3.
Click on the clock to change the time. You can type in the time, or click on a digit and use keyboard arrow keys or the on-screen arrows to adjust the value.
D full color format and the orbit view can be adjusted and the orbits tilted & rotated to any angle. Other catalogs to expand the program can be found at the home page. It also implements a library, telescope control, ephemerid facilities, prediction of visibility, overlaying facilities, annotations, and more auxiliary tools for the deep sky observer. Add- ons and updates available at author's homepage.
Update to RTGUI, Windows Real-Time Astronomy Program: Amateur astronomy equipment, techniques, info, etc.
Sky View Cafe - Astronomy. QUICK TIPS. Read the Help page. There's plenty of good information there, and a lot that Sky View Caf. You can type in the time, or click on a digit and use. The clock uses 2. PM, 2. 3 is 1. 1 PM.
Double- click for a dialog into. If you know only the name of a location, click on the Find.. Cookies must be enabled.