Starry Night Pro / Stellarium / A book

[mark3d]

I have always like Stellarium, but last night i noticed it was showing the sky upside down, which complicated star hopping. it would be helpful if what i see on the screen is what i see in the sky.

so i started thinking about Starry Night Pro, I notice the basic version is available for download for USD$25.

do you think this is worth purchasing?

does it complement a book like Atlas of the Southern Night Sky, or does one make the other redundant?

I'm happy to spend the money on either or both if they are worth it!

thanks!


.

[Kevnool]

Youve come across starrynights number 1 fan.

Of course i,m going to say its worth it every penny of it.

Worth its weight in gold.

As ive said in a previous thread you pay for quality.

Tell me of a town and of what object in the sky and i,ll post a screenshot here to show ya then make your own mind up.

Cheers Kev.

[Kevnool]

Oh sorry BTW mine is the $379.00 version.
Cheers Kev.

[Shaun]

If your's was upside down you had it in equitorial mode, there is an icon on the bottom bar that pops up to unselect this and have it in Alt/Az mode.

I have never used starry night but i am more than pleased with Stellarium, it does what i need with no complications or to much stuffing around.

[mark3d]

stellarium looks alright now i dunno what was happening!

Kev, a screenshot would be great, thanks. lets say i wanted to observe emission nebulae and spiral galaxies in Adelaide, tonight (wishful thinking with these clouds!). what would starry night be able to do to help me with that? :)

i am also interested in it helping me to learn the constellations, but i suspect a book, binoculars and practice will help most in that regard.

[Kevnool]

Here Mark one looking east as a teaser......cheers Kev.

[WadeH]

I think I must be Starry Nights Pro 6 no. 2 fan. :2thumbs: Sure its not cheap but hey, you get what you pay for!

I use allsorts of info to help me find my targets. Books, eg: "Atlas of the Southern Night Sky", magazines and computer software (and not just S/N). Each is worthwhile and none is made redundent by the other. You can never have too many references.

One thing I like of S/N is that you can start off with a whole sky view and gradually zoom in with the view as you star hop with your scope (no go to for me). Also many items such as comets, asteroids and satellite details are internet upgradable. Another useful tool is the ability to see into the future as it were and make your own charts. I've included my made up chart for the upcomming transit of Venus in 2012 as an example.

As you can gather S/N is both useful and great fun.

Wade :ship2:

[Octane]

Kev, I think I'm equal 1st with you as Starry Night Pro Plus fan. ;)

Mark: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=429440&postcount=21

Regards,
Humayun

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Mark

I use stellarium (v 0.10.2) just about all the time now but I do have lots of other programs that each have their own specialties that require use at times.

The problem with Stellarium is easliy fixed. Open your config.ini file (in the user area) and locate [gui] and set flag_show_flip_buttons to true. This will put the flip buttons on the lower toolbar. From here you can set the screen up/down normal/mirror to your hearts content. Then save what you like best.

Stellarium now has some plugins that can be installed in a modules directory. One of these can give the view through a telescope (10 different views). The parameters for the telescope types can be programmed into the enclosed module.ini file in which you can also arrange the main focal length, FOV, ocular focal length and up/down/left/right view to set the actual orientation of the window independant of the normal screen view. There are other plug ins that include earth satellites, compass marks and angle measure. When installed they all place a control button on the main toolbar.

If you haven't got the plug ins they are available from www.geocities.com/wendygblyde (http://www.geocities.com/wendygblyde)

Barry

[Tallstock]

Hi Barry,
I may be having another "senior's" moment (it does happen at my age) but I couldn't see the Telescope module on your site. Could you give me more directions please?
Peter

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Peter

There are six plugins there. The telescope FOV module is called ocular.zip
Here it is

Barry

[Kevnool]

accepted H as equal 1st fan.

Cheers Kev.

[mark3d]

thanks all.. i think i will stick with stellarium and consider SNP for the future!

.

[Kevnool]

No worries Mark any decision is a good decision.
Cheers Kev.

[Calibos]

I wouldn't need books at all if SNP+ had more info on the objects. As we all know a lot of DSO's look the same as the next one. The wonder and awe is often the context of the object, the information about it. While SNP+ is probably better than most or all in this regard already, I can't help but notice that most DSO's just have generic object type info in the info pane.

ie. Galaxy NGC **** just has a description of what a galaxy is in the info pane rather than a description of this particular galaxy, No info about best magnification to use or appropriate apeture size.

It seems like every object I have to do this myself, ie, see is it worth looking at with my scope and if it is start cycling the EP's till I have found the right mag. Of course one can filter displayed galazies by mag limit but that can be decieving.

I don't suppose there are any plug-ins for SNP that expands the information for each object or provides appeture and mag recommendations

[Wavytone]

Calibos, the optimum combination is not the same for all. It depends on the scope, the focal ratio, the seeing conditions (transparency and light pollution) and the observer.

And it depends on what eyepieces you have to choose from.

It varies a bit depending on the size of the galaxy but not as much as you seem to think, aside from the magellanic clouds and the Andromeda galaxy.

[Bassnut]

Well, ive had a bit of a play with SN V6 now, and im very impressed. If you click on an object and then the info tab, it has comprehensive info on the object and the best viewing situation for it, and magnitude in "other data".

To see what it will look like with your EPs, set up the FOV tab with your scope,EPs and cam details, and it shows a box on screen exactly what you will see.

I mainly use SN for imaging session planning, for that it is excellent.

[flearosie]

I have downloaded Stellarium 9.1 which is obviously quite old. Do most of you just download from the web? I'm only new to this and finding it quite complex finding my way around it with no prior knowledge of the program. The biggest prob I have with it is that it wont let me quit and go back to my other opened programs?I just cant seem to be able to leave it open and return to it with totally closing it down. I'm presuming I need to download the new version.Any help would be great.Ta folks

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Flearosie

Yes version 0.9.1 is a little old but it still does a couple of things that are not yet available in the the latest version (even 0.10.3).

The problem you are having is that the program opens in full screen mode. Pressing F1 should set it in a window and thus give access to the desktop.

To open in the windowed mode you will need to edit the config.ini file, found in \documents and settings\[your name]\stellarium

Find the entry for [video] and set "fullscreen = false"
Set the screen_h to about 90% of your screen height eg for 1024 x 768 make the height 710 or 720
Set the screen_w to your screen width

There are many options that can be set in the config.ini file download the 0.9.1 version of the User Guide for more details.

Barry