I just bought/downloaded The Core application for Starry Night Digital Download 6 (around 100mb's) and I must say that for around $25US it's a bargain.
I had an old old version of Starry Night Backyard but it had only limited objects in its database. I've had/tried other programs like Stellaruim etc and while they are great/free programs they don't seem to show up to date things like comets/asteroids etc.
There are additional addons/data modules available for download for more $$ that are optional extras. From what I can tell you don't need them to enjoy and use the program properly.
I've only just started playing around with it but I'm very happy so far.
I've attached an actual picture of the screen display from my location @ approximately 11pm, 10/11/07 showing comet Holmes position in Perseus among other things.
No idea. If you want to compare the features of their other packages all the info is on their site for your perusal.
I don't need the features of the more expensive packages so the choice was easy. If you're in the market for inexpensive, easy to use planetarium software this is it.
I bought and downloaded the Download version a little while ago too. It's all good except for two major bugbears I have with it...
1) No night vision mode. Don't even offer it as a downloadable extra.
2) As soon as you move the cursor somewhere over a portion of the screen, obtrusive object data flashes up and hides everything. It's difficult to even park the cursor somewhere without displaying all sorts of stuff you don't want to see. For the life of me, i can't find how to disable it.
Other than that - it's pretty good. Doesn't compare to CarainaSoft Voyager though IMHO - but good for the price.
2) As soon as you move the cursor somewhere over a portion of the screen, obtrusive object data flashes up and hides everything. It's difficult to even park the cursor somewhere without displaying all sorts of stuff you don't want to see. For the life of me, i can't find how to disable it.
Chris,
One thing I've discovered about this software is that it is highly configurable as far as what you want displayed onscreen. To get rid of unwanted information/object data try this:
In the file menu select Preferences.
In the drop down box select Cursor Tracking (HUD)
In the scroll window is ticked what information is displayed when the mouse hovers over an object. For example, unticking "Description" gets rid of "quote all sorts of stuff you don't want to see. end quote"
Chris, you can also change the HUD display to appear in the upper left
corner in the of the main window from in the same Preferences dialogbox
Mark is talking about.
Night vision should be in the "Options" menu towards the bottom. However
some features might be turned off to encourage you to upgrade.
Yep - my favourite by far. A little exxy, but superbly configurable. It's the only planetarium program that I've seen which can duplicate the sky exactly as my eyes see it.
Yep - my favourite by far. A little exxy, but superbly configurable. It's the only planetarium program that I've seen which can duplicate the sky exactly as my eyes see it.
Does it allow you to configure sky glow? and or distant light domes?
Starry Night does, it works pretty darn well too. I have Casino's light dome
to my north. And you can configure SN to the magnitude of stars seen
locally. Plus you can put in a panoramic picture of your yard from the point
you observe from. This also works pretty well. One time I was outside and
observed m45 between two trees, went inside and sure enough there it was
between the same two trees in SN
Does it allow you to configure sky glow? and or distant light domes?
Starry Night does, it works pretty darn well too. I have Casino's light dome
to my north. And you can configure SN to the magnitude of stars seen
locally. Plus you can put in a panoramic picture of your yard from the point
you observe from. This also works pretty well. One time I was outside and
observed m45 between two trees, went inside and sure enough there it was
between the same two trees in SN
regards,CS
Check and check.
You can even re-configure the horizon by point, click and drag. Got a tree in the way? Put one there. Got a block of flats off to the west? Put one there....or just do the panoramic photo thing like SN if you want.
It sure does. You can set glow +magnitude depending on how far you have zoomed in - perfectly matching what you see.
You can do the same personal horizon settings with Voyager but need to photograph your settings in .tiff with photoshop (don't own), otherwise you draw an outline which looks crappy.
Would like to try the latest Starry night but would prefer new TV
Yup! that's my back yard looking south as you would see it if you were
standing there. I had to change the sky area to transperant, I must admit
that did take a while to do. It's a case of the more time you spend on it
the better it looks.
Another lil one of the many funky functions in SN I like, is right clicking on
named stars, constellations, planets...etc...etc... it will give you an audio
pronounciation. Selected from the popup menu that appears
Are you able to assist me to do this with Voyager Omaroo? Or do you just have to have a copy of photoshop?
Travis - you'll need Photoshop CS2 or CS3 to do the panorama stitching well. If you send me a series of jpg photos of your backyard I'll see what I could do. You need to use a good wide angle and mount your camera on a tripod. Start taking photos and overlap about 10% from frame to frame. If you can, mark (right at the top) where north is on the one facing north, and similarly for south.
Kinda looks a bit warp compared to SN, still it looks pretty cool. With a
name like Voyager does it have a built in flight simulator? SN allows you
to fly to any galaxy in it's database within 750 million lightyears from Earth
in 3D, kinda like star trek Enterprise. You can also ride Satelites in Earths
orbit, watch Earth transit the sun from Saturn as it did last year. You can
print 3 pane charts and indenpendantly set the FOV for the ep to be used,
finderscope and wide field of the constellation. Just select to object and
center it and print. I find that one of the most handy features of SN.
Starry Night Digital Download 6
