Great program for identifying objects!

[Gem]

Hi there

Maybe I am telling you something you all know but...
http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/experienceIt/ExperienceIt.aspx?Page=DownloadWWT

This program is a planentarium/mosaic of the worldwide telescope. I find it great to view and also an aid in identifying any object. Sometimes a photo is easier than an atlas.

Enjoy!!!

[Octane]

Grant,

There's heaps of planetarium software available for us astro types nowadays. They range from the free up to the expensive. Some of them even control your telescope and can be used to plan and capture images, too.

A couple of freebies that you might like to check out are Cartes du Ciel, and another one is Stellarium (this one is very popular with quite a few users on this site).

Other good ones include SkyVoyager, TheSky6 (deprecated), and TheSkyX. My personal favourite is Starry Night Pro Plus 6. Here's a screenshot showing the detail that SNPP6 conveys: http://users.tpg.com.au/octane2/snpp6.html

Cheers.

H

[Robh]

Also check this great site ...
http://www.wikisky.org/

Regards, Rob

[Barrykgerdes]

The world wide telescope uses the DSS photos of the sky but does not run on all platforms. However it is still a great program. Because it uses the DSS downloaded from the internet on demand it sometimes takes a few minutes to paint the area of the sky you want.

Another that uses the DSS is the Virgo version of Stellarium. Runs just like stellarium 0.10.3 but has the added feature of the DSS. This feature will also be a part of the main stellarium program soon.

Barry

[narky]

I just saw Saturn for the first time tonight :D.
I found it first on Stellarium but my laptop screen is broken (have to use a monitor) so was a little worried I wouldn't be able to find it outside using my memory alone (i'm pretty hopeless at identifying things in the sky, especially considering I wasn't sure what direction I was facing exactly (turned out I was pretty spot on, thanks google maps).

Flatmate has an app on his iPhone : Star Map. I'm sure there are better options people could recommend, but for me it was perfect. You just point it at the sky and it tells you what you're looking at. Was looking for Spica (figured if I could find that then Saturn wouldn't be far away). Pointed out what we guessed was Spica and the app confirmed it. Quickly found out (almost instantly) that the other equally bright light a bit off to the side was Saturn.

Was amazed to see how bright Saturn is right now, so easy to find. So happy. Stellarium and that iPhone app highly recommended by this beginner.

[Octane]

Sam,

That's awesome. :)

Congratulations on your first successful sighting of Saturn. How were those rings, eh? :)

H

[narky]

I have been waiting years, but people always told me there was no point looking unless you have a monster telescope. So I was waiting and waiting, but never really had the spare cash to spend on something impressive, figured anything small would be a waste of cash. How wrong was I. I decided I needed to just get something and bought myself a Skywatcher 102 x 500 AZ3 from Andrew's.

I got it a few months ago. Have only seen Jupiter until now, that was pretty awesome (despite it being pretty small I could still see the bands and its moons). Saturn was always hiding at night and figured I'd wait for a good viewing. Then I checked out some telescope simulator and was really saddened when I found out just how small Saturn would look on my little scope and I pretty much forgot all about it.

I saw a post on a forum the other day about Saturn being in premo position for viewing and figured it was time to find out if I'd be happy or dissapointed. Bad skies, rain, cloud, then started working early shifts at work. So I've been hoping for a good sky for tonight all week. I came home today and the sky was just perfect. I thought i'd have to wait til 11pm to see it but was excited to stay up.

I looked at Stellarium and figured I might be able to catch it when its slightly up in the East (there's a street pointing East that gives me a small section of sky). Surrounded by trees here, so hard to see much sky without going for a big walk.

Popped it out in the street, but the light in the viewfinder was going off constantly, so it was impossible to find anything. Finally got it aligned with the finder. Pointed at Saturn, and

:eyepop: RINGS OMG I CAN SEE THE RINGS.

I left the telescope in the street and ran inside to grab my flatmates. They were really happy to come see it also, and my flatmate asked "is that a moon I can see" .. i looked again .. I think so, i think so :P . Back in to Stellarium .. woot, Titan ... so cool. Wanted to come share my experience with the forum (u guys were a great help advising me on finding my budget scope).

It's small. But so special. Best thing I've seen in my telescope. Off to find some doco on Saturn whilst I wait for another look. It should be in an unobstructed section of sky shortly. :D

[Octane]

Haha, I'm happy for you. Your excitement comes across through your words. :)

H

[Brian W]

It doesn't matter what type of scope you end up with tonight will be the oh wow you compare all oh wows too. congrats.
brian

[vespine]

if you have an andriod mobile check out google sky maps and if you have an iPhone check out "star walk", that's the one I have, it costs about $4 I think but it is absolutely awesome.