Astro software packages

[Muddy Diver]

I was wondering about a better package for the PC as mine is fairly limited so thought I would put it to all of you out there for some advice. I'm currently using the sky edition 1 and could upgrade this one or go for something completely different but wouldn't know where to start. Can anyone help me?

[JohnG]

Well, I have used The Sky, CdC and others but my preference is Star Atlas Pro, Advanced Edition, I think, a very nicely put together Australian product :thumbsup: . The other one I use is DeepSky Astronomy Software, a nice charting and Logging program.

There are a couple of nice free one available, CdC and Astrobyte Logging Program come to mind.

Cheers

JohnG

[janoskiss]

For Windows Cartes du Ciel seems to be one of the good free ones: http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/

Celestia (that Ken's MW pics came from) is nice and very pretty but more a toy than a serious observing aid at this stage.

[ballaratdragons]

It's called Stellarium, Steve. Yeah, it ain't for serious work, just good to get an overall realistic look at the sky and some basic objects.

Muddy, I agree with Steve, Cartes Du Ciel is good. Stellaris 1.20 is reasonable too. http://www.stellaris-software.com/

[janoskiss]

:doh: thanks Ken. Yes, of course. :doh: It's a good one to get started with, helps if you're really lost.

Celestia is a 3-D space simulation program. It's even more of a toy, but a lot of fun. You can visit planets, stars, fly out of the Milky way.

[CoombellKid]

I won Starry Night 5 Pro Plus @ the recently held Astrofest QLD. And I must
say it is quite awesome, haven't touched The Sky 5 or cdc since. It has
alot of features.

regards,CS

Rob

[Ric]

I use the "Star Atlas Pro" Advanced edition and cannot fault it.
It works very well with my scope and is a good price.
Also being an Australian product was a factor as well.

cheers

[Lee]

I use Starry Night Pro too..... great package, very customisable in terms of viewing options, a treat to use really. Downloads updates for new comets, asteroids, satellites etc as often as you want too.....

[ving]

i use CDC. you can get plenty of catalogues to boost it too, like WDS catalogue :)

all free!:)

[johnno]

Hi All,

I use the free version of Starry Night Enthusiest,obtained from,I think Pc magazine a couple of years ago.

"To Me" it does all I would ever want.

I use 15x70/20x80, Binoculars most of the time,and this program,shows the night sky from "MY Location",as I would see it Naked eye, or through Binoculars,NOT inverted,like a lot of other programs,I have tried.
Good enough for me.

Everything is still updated,including,Comets,Satellites ,etc.

Regards.
John

[Lee]

Starry Night Pro can show the view right way up, mirrored, upside down - any way you like, at any magnification - handy for altering the view to match the scope you are using....

[Lester]

I had the Sky version 1, but when we got Windows XP, it didn't work. So upgraded to the Sky version 6, and its taking me a long time to get use to it. Its got lots of extra stuff but its not a simple as version 1.

[glenc]

I have 6 programs.

Cartes du Ciel
Stellarium
SkyMapPro9
Guide8
DeskTopUniverse
MegaStar4

I use Guide8 the most, then SkyMapPro and DeskTopUniverse.

[[1ponders]]

CdC
Starry Night Pro
Stellarium
Autostar Suite
Sky 1
Sky6
Deepsky (planning software that will work in conjunction with CdC)

Starry night 1st choice, followed by CdC. Worst of the lot Autostar Suite. Totally user unfriendly.

I'd love a copy of Star Astlas Pro though. I've read and heard nothing but good reports of it.

[Omaroo]

Product Kind Price Demo Author/Publisher
Adastra Freestar (http://www.stella2000.com/adastra.htm) free yes Coeli Software Products (http://www.coeli.com/)
AlphaCentaure (http://astrosurf.com/alphacentaure/) freeware yes Francois Nguyen (alphacentaurii@hotmail.com)
AstroMB (http://www.astromb.com/) commercial $50 yes MBCAA (mbond@micronet.fr)
AstroViewer (http://www.astroviewer.com/) shareware $12 yes Dirk Matussek (http://www.matussek.com/)
Astronomica (http://www.astronomica.com/) shareware $25 yes (http://www.astronomica.com/amica160.zip) Piotr Czerski (pczerski@astronomica.com)
Atlas du Ciel (http://www.mgroleau.ca/%7Eatlas/index.html) shareware $50 yes Mario Groleau (http://www.uqtr.uquebec.ca/%7Egroleau/)
Coeli - Stella 2000 (http://www.stella2000.com/) shareware $49 yes Coeli Software Products (http://www.coeli.com/)
Coelix (http://www.ngc7000.com/fr/coelix/index.htm) commercial $28 no ngc7000.com (http://www.ngc7000.com/index.htm)
Cartes du Ciel (http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/index.php) free yes Patrick Chevalley (pchev@geocities.com)
Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/) free yes Chris Laurel (claurel@shatters.net)
Celestial Maps (http://ovidiu-v.tripod.com/maps80/maps80.html) free yes Ovidiu Vaduvescu (ovidiuv@yahoo.com)
CoolSky (http://www.astronomica.com/) shareware $25 yes Piotr Czerski (pczerski@astronomica.com)
CyberSky (http://www.cybersky.com/) shareware $28 yes Stephen Michael Schimpf (stephen@cybersky.com)
C2A (http://astrosurf.com/c2a/english/index.htm) freeware yes Philippe Deverchere (c2a@astrosurf.com)
Dance of the Planets (http://www.arcscience.com/dance.htm) commercial $95 - 145 no ARC Science Simulations (http://www.arcscience.com/)
Deepsky Astronomy Software (http://www.deepskysoftware.net/) shareware $25 - 43 yes Steven S. Tuma (stuma@inwave.com) Deep Sky shareware ? Part 1 (ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/astronomy/deep14-1.zip) 2 (ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/astronomy/deep14-2.zip) 3 (ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/astronomy/deep14-3.zip) Rich Burke
Deep Space (http://www.davidchandler.com/dspace.htm) commercial $79 yes David Chandler (%20David@DavidChandler.com)
Desktop Universe (http://www.main-sequence.com/software/index.htm) commercial $199 yes Main Sequence Software (http://www.main-sequence.com/contacts/index.htm)
Distant Suns (http://www.distantsuns.com/index.html) commercial $35 yes Mike Smithwick (mike@distantsuns.com)
Earth Centered Universe (http://www.nova-astro.com/) shareware $55 yes Nova Astronomics (sales@nova-astro.com)
EasySky (http://www.easysky.de/eng/) commercial $45 yes Matthias Busch (mab@easysky.de)
Electric Astrolabe (http://www.astrolabes.org/electric.htm) free yes James E. Morrison (janus.astrolabe@worldnet.att.net)
Epoch 2000sk (http://www.meade.com/catalog/epoch/epochsk.html) commercial $149 - 179 no Meade (http://www.meade.com/)
Expert Astronomer (http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/expert.htm) commercial $12 no MediaMart (http://www.netvideo.com/mediamart/cdrom/nature/sku/mm100713.html); Expert Software
GrayStel (http://members.aol.com/graystel/gsahp.htm) commercial £75 no GrayStel Software (http://members.aol.com/graystel/index.htm)
Guide (http://www.projectpluto.com/) commercial $89 no Project Pluto (http://www.projectpluto.com/)
HNSky (http://www.hnsky.org/software.htm) free yes Han_Kleijn
Home Planet (http://www.fourmilab.ch/homeplanet/homeplanet.html) free yes John Walker (http://www.fourmilab.ch/index.html)
HyperSky (http://www.willbell.com/software/hypersky/hypersky.htm) commercial $50 yes Willmann-Bell (http://www.willbell.com/)
Kagayaki (http://www.now21.com/kagayaki/) shareware $40-120 yes Seeds Box (star@now21.com)
MegaStar (http://www.willbell.com/software/megastar/index.htm) commercial $129 yes E.L.B. Software (megastar@flash.net)
MIRAPLA (http://www.sira.it/msb/eng.htm) free yes MSB (http://www.sira.it/msb/msb.htm)
MoonCalc (http://www.starlight.demon.co.uk/mooncalc) free yes Monzur Ahmed (monzur@bigfoot.com)
MyStars! (http://www.relativedata.com/mystars/) shareware $17 yes Relative Data Products (dpatte@relativedata.com)
NGCView (http://www.rainman-soft.com/) commercial $50 yes Rainman Software (rainman@rainman-soft.com)
Nuit (http://www.astro-ge.net/) free yes René Meader
OpenUniverse (http://openuniverse.sourceforge.net/) free yes Raœl Alonso (amil@las.es)
PC-Sky (http://www.skyhound.com/) commercial $39 no CapellaSoft (http://www.skyhound.com/)
Perseus (http://www.elitalia.it/perseus/) commercial $190 yes ELitalia (http://www.elitalia.it/)
Planetarium Gold (http://www.planetariumgold.com/) commercial $20 no JC Research (http://www.jcresearch.com/)
PlanetWatch (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/galen_raben/planetwatch.html) shareware $20 yes Galen Raben (galen_raben@compuserve.com)
PRiSM (http://www.astroccd.com/prism/) comercial $150 no Axilone Multimedia (http://www.astroccd.com/prism/us/dev_page.htm)
Power Age Sky Simulator (http://www.poweragesky.com/) shareware $35 yes George Dragandjikov (george@poweragesky.com)
Redshift (http://www.redshift.de/us/_main/index.htm) commercial $60 no Maris Multimedia (http://www.maris.com/)
RIA3D Live Solar System (http://www.ria3d.com/) commercial $30 yes interact3d.com (support@ria3d.com)
Sky3D (http://www.sky3d.com/) shareware $35 yes Corvus Software (corvus@getsoftware.com)
SkyChart III (http://www.southernstars.com/skychart/index.html) commercial $50 yes Southern Stars (http://www.southernstars.com/index.html)
Skyglobe (http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/school/html/reviews/skyglobe.htm) shareware ? ? KlassM Software (75020.1431@compuserve.com)
SkyMap (http://www.skymap.com/) commercial $55 - 89 yes Chris Marriott (chris@skymap.com)
SkyPlot (http://www.maa.mhn.de/Tools/skyplot.zip) shareware $10 yes Gerry Santoro (http://www.maa.mhn.de/Tools/skyplot.doc)
SkyTools (http://www.skyhound.com/) commercial $99 no CapellaSoft (http://www.skyhound.com/)
Solar Kingdom (http://www.silverfrost.com/) commercial $49 yes Silverfrost (admin@silverfrost.com)
SPICA (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Code/7659/welcomee.html) free yes Guillaume Richard (Guillaume.RICHARD@ifp.fr)
STAR AtlasPRO (http://www.skylab.com.au/) commercial $66 no Paul Mayo (info@skylab.com.au)
StarCalc (http://www.m31.spb.ru/StarCalc/main.htm) free yes Alexander E. Zavalishin (zalex@relex.ru)
StarChartGL (http://www.starchartgl.cjb.net/) free yes James Fitzjohn (james.fitzjohn@gmail.com)
Stargaze (http://www.stargaze.force9.co.uk/copernicus/stargaze.html) free yes Ray Middleton (ray@qi5.co.uk)
Starry (ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/astronomy/starry.zip) free yes Starry Night (http://www.starrynight.com/) commercial $34 - 149 yes (http://www.siennasoft.com/english/downloads.shtml) Sienna Software (http://www.siennasoft.com/english/contact.shtml)
StarScape (http://www.zephyrs.com/starscap.htm) commercial $70 no Zephyr Services (http://www.zephyrs.com/index.htm)
StarStrider (http://www.fmjsoft.com/) shareware $38 yes FMJ-Software (http://www.fmjsoft.com/contact.html)
Stella 2000 (http://www.sci.fi/%7Eelk/stella.htm) shareware $49 yes Swimming Elk Software (http://www.sci.fi/%7Eelk/swimming.htm)
Stellaris (http://www.stellaris-software.com/) shareware $20 yes Nick Heyworth (office@stellaris-software.com)
Stellarium (http://stellarium.free.fr/) free yes Fabien Chereau (chereau@free.fr)
TheSky (http://www.bisque.com/Products/TheSky/TheSky.asp) commercial $129 - 249 no Software Bisque (http://www.bisque.com/)
Touring The Universe Through Binoculars Atlas (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pharrington/tuba.htm) commercial $20 no Phil Harrington (http://welcome.to/amateurastronomy)
Virtual Sky (http://virtualskysoft.de/) shareware $28 yes Astronomiesoftware Dings (http://virtualskysoft.de/ekontakt.htm)
Where is M13? (http://www.thinkastronomy.com/M13/index.html) commercial $19 yes Think Astronomy (http://www.thinkastronomy.com/)
WinStars (http://www.winstars.net/english/index2.html) free yes Franck Richard (http://winstars.free.fr/english/contact.html)

[glenc]

Here is some info.

http://www.geyserlandobservatory.org/astronomy/freeware.html

[CoombellKid]

I would have to agree with that, it's is more useless than the stupid CD-rom
that came with my Saxon newt.


Regarding Starry Night Pro, the one thing that really annoys me is trying
to print decent star charts. Where the nubela and galaxies _dont_ come
out in red (of all colours) and although you can change the colour of the
font that labels objects you cant change the colours of the object out
lines. Anyone know how to get around this? I'd love to know.

regards,CS

Rob

[AstroJunk]

For lists and planning I really like Astroplanner http://www.ilangainc.com/ASTROPLANNER/ and a bargain at US$25

[Ric]

I'm glad someone else feels the same way about Autostarsuite, I thought it was just me.
I just use Star Atlas Pro for the scope and then either Envisage or MaximDL for imaging.

cheers

[h0ughy]

OK just a bit of archaeology with this thread – it has been quite some time and now I see CDC has moved to version 3.0.14. I am interested in this – what catalogues are available for this programme (or what is useful)? The price is right!!

[Prickly]

I'll give my vote to winstars 2. I havent tried all those described above but I must say the interface for winstars would have to be hard to beat. It actually goes down past 10th magnitude. It does just about everything you could need and is ASCOM compatible.

If there are better programs Id be interested to know.

Cheers
David

[Octane]

Starry Night Pro Plus 6 is the best application for astronomy that I've used.

I use it for all my astrophotography planning, too: input your camera type (or chip size, if it isn't in the list), what lens/telescope you're using (again, choose from a list, or input the details), as well as the mounting configuration (altitude/azimuth, equatorial) and you're set for the night.

Regards,
Humayun

[doergn]

I'm using CdC and Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/) for planning. For logging my ObservationManager (http://observation.sourceforge.net/en/).
All for free and runs on my linux and windows machines. ;)

Clear skies

Dirk

[Merlin66]

H0ughy,
The V3 will read many, many catalogues. I use it with the USNO down to 18 mag.
The "Skychart-discussion" Yahoo group has lots of info

[garin]

Houghy,
V3 uses the same catalogues and image files as V2. In fact you can install both versions and use the one set of catalogues. I find the V3 display much more pleasing to the eye. Telescope control works ok also.

[h0ughy]

yes i have SNP6 as well and star atlas pro 7 (pre pre release - ) and deepsky 2003 though i dont use it very much. CDC got me interested and stellarium is very nice eye candy and quick to run on my machine for show and tell. I like the price and what is available for CDC!!

thanks will look into that

nice to know - i have downloaded a swathe of catalogues but need to look at some more southern orientated ones