best astro software

[dennisjames1]

Hello Everyone

What is the general opinion of good all round astronomy software, i guess that question gets asked here a lot.

I have been doing a little reading on it and i tend to be leaning towards Cartes De Ceil, can't beat the price and it seems to have lots of add ons available too and some years ago i had the sky, and that was all good.

Any ideas will be gratefully taken on board from you experienced ones

Cheers Dennis


:)

[mbaddah]

Hi Dennis

I use Cartes Du Ciel as well, but the best would be stellarium (www.stellarium.org/). It is an absolute beautiful 3d planeterium and best of all it's free! Check it out...

Regards,
Mo.

[madwayne]

I'm with Mo about Stellarium.

Great for a novice like me with it's drawing of the constellations (the artists impressions are also great) and some of the nebulae within them. I look at Stellarium and what is in my patch of sky, constellation wise, I then get my Atlas of the Southern Sky out. Go through the constellations in my atlas and note down what is about on a spiral note book. Take the atlas and note book out with my gear key the DSOs in the GoTo on my LX90 and that keeps me busy for hours (cross referencing what I see with the photos in the atlas). Or alternatively find the constellation in the night sky and search for the DSO.

I also use QC Focus with my webcam for imaging planets and the moon which I find very user friendly. Who knows I might even post an image on here one day :lol:. And best of all both programs are free.

Clear skies and enjoy this great hobby we share.

[niko]

has anyone got a weblink to QC Focus? I've done a google search without much success

cheers

niko

[Omaroo]

First hit - top of the page: http://www.astrosurf.com/astropc/qcam/programme.html

Cheers
Chris

[niko]

thanks Chris - I did see this but was put off by the french

je petit parle un francais!

[dannat]

I'll third for stellarium - I've used both starry night pro and starry night basic(have forgotten the right name) but keep coming back to stellarium for its simplicity - the fact its free is terrific - make sure you download the add on nebula textures - some are really good

[dennisjames1]

Thank-You
I agree the Stellarium programme is very nice, i have never heard of it before and i recon its better than Starry Night Pro, i know it doesn't have all the whistles , but runs very nice and the openGL rendering is superior to Starry night, those open source community folk are amazing.

Thanks Again

Cheers

Dennis

[Astro78]

Would highly recommend you try Voyager 4 (free until Dec'08). You can then upload free addition files for comets etc.

http://www.carinasoft.com/voyager4/