Astronomy software - whats your flavour?

[h0ughy]

Another of those what does everyone use posts. This one is directed at what is your favourite astronomy software program. For me I have a couple, but Starry Night Pro would be at the top. i also have Deepsky 2003!

[slice of heaven]

Anything thats free :)

[ving]

cdc is great cause of its price:P
nah it does eveything i want it to do and more. It has add-ons that are the same low price. I have a double stars catalogue added on to mine. its very easy to use.

[rmcpb]

Starry Night for me on the Mac and Pocket Stars on the Jornada.

[ballaratdragons]

I don't use any. Just a crummy old Astronomy book with a few basic star maps in the back.

[h0ughy]

Well I can see we will have to fix that since you have a new u'beaut PC!

[cventer]

Astronomy Programs may be too broad a term.

Planetarium type software: Sky V6 and Starry Night Pro 5

Image Processing and Capture: CCDSoft, Registar, DSLR Focus, Photoshop CS2, Neat Image, Images Plus, Gradient X, The Dark Side, Iris

Best Regards
Chris Venter

[ballaratdragons]

I can't take my pooter out in the paddock with me :shrug:

[ving]

go get yourself cdc ken. just google it. ITS FREE!!!! :D

[h0ughy]

In english it is a collection of astronomical catalogs for the freeware star charting software - Cartes du Ciel. :P

[mch62]

Have both The Sky Professional version 6 and Starry Nights Pro 5 but prefer The Sky Pro 6 mainly due to it not being as resource hungry as Starry Nights (does not require Open GL or bogs down slower CPU's) and due to some features not present in Starry Nights .
Both excellent programs though.
Also used Cartes du Ciel quite a while back , good enough for the price :D but lacks the features of the other 2.
You get what you pay for. :P

[ving]

just out of curiosity, what does starry night have that cdc doesnt? i havent used sn before... :confuse3:

:poke:

[mch62]

Best bet is to visit each web site and compare the features that are important to you.
Way to many to list.
Carte Du Ciel may be all you need .

For my self I required the better integration of Observatory CCd imaging and Scope Controll of The Sky but found CDC to be the best of the freeware programs .

http://www.bisque.com/Products/TheSky6/
http://www.starrynight.com/pro_plus.html
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html

[Thiink]

At the moment I'm using Starry Night v4.5 that I picked up free as per this thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=1284&highlight=starry+night).

Ken: you don't have to have a computer outside for Starry Night to be of use. :p

[Thiink]

I havent really used CDC that much, and I'm sure you are going to get a better answer out of someone else but; I found Starry Night a heck of a lot friendly to use than CDC, and its easier to look, and finding things seems easier. You should have grabbed the free copy when it was around. Its only 4.5, but I havent had any problems with it yet.

[janoskiss]

Xephem (http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/xephem/). It's what the pros use. ;) You could see Xephem running on the computers at the observatory in the "Masked telescope" story on Catalyst a couple of weeks ago. :thumbsup:

[gaa_ian]

I have Starry night pro but CDC is still my Favourite, as I find it easy to use.
Probably because Im used to it, I like to print star charts with it, showing the Telrad finder circles printed out on the map too.

[Starkler]

Cdc for me , along with RTGUI (http://www.rtgui.com) for seeing whats up and making an observing list . Both free :D

RTGUI gives you object search and sorting functionality missing in cdc, and can even drive meade scopes on tours.

There is a thread about it here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=443)

[mch62]

A summery of various programs

http://www.astrosurf.org/lombry/software.htm

[ballaratdragons]

Yep! I downloaded it into the old pooter but only used it a couple of times.

Got fed up going outside , looking, then coming back in, checking the map on CDC, then back outside etc.

What I really need to do is print Maps off and stick them in plastic pockets to take outside. :P

Or get a laptop to take outside with me (when I have a spare thousands dolars :scared2: )

[RAJAH235]

CDC, STD Aurora Monitor, Home Planet, Virtual Moon Atlas & Sky Map Pro v6, are all good programs. For a bit of fun, try Celestia.

Ken & all interested parties. This IMHO, is possibly the best Sky Atlas around. I'm not sure if it's still in print, ie; available, but you can check here, >
The Herald-Bobroff AstroAtlas
by David Harold and Peter Beroff
HB200 Publications, 1994
P.O. Box 254
Woden
A.C.T. 2606
Canberra, Australia
Laminated paper covers, 12x16 spiral bound
214 Charts and 250 pages, $89.95
ISBN: 0 646 20356 8
:D L.
If you cannot get it at home, you can try OS here, >
http://www.lymax.com/hbaa/
Price & postage might be a bit much, but it's worth a try. L.

[johnno]

Hi All,
I now only use the free version of Starry Night v4.5.I love the way it shows the night sky AS WE SEE IT,not some back to front upside down view that makes it hard for beginners to know what they are looking at.
Regards.John

[Mick]

Cdc, RTGUI and VMA tried others but come back to Cdc it's simple and easy to use. Some other progs I'm using at the moment are Mars Previewer (http://astrotips.com/Downloads+index-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-26-ttitle-Mars_Previewer.phtml) for obvious reasons and Orbitron (http://astrotips.com/Downloads+index-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-76-ttitle-Orbitron.phtml) to track and observe satellites.

[RAJAH235]

A Mars 'Perviewer', Mick? Whatcha lookin' at?? At least the link worked.. :P :D L.

[Mick]

Lol oops. :)

[acropolite]

I tried CDC, but found it a bit unfriendly, now using Starry Night. I must admit, I still like a good old paper chart. :astron:

[elusiver]

starry night pro.. it's awesome.. makes finding things alot more easy.. love it. it's probably the main reason i got the red screen thing for my lappy..

el :)