Free Software

[slice of heaven]

Whew. That could make for a long post Thiink.

We've spent a bit of time on it this week. Our family room come telescope rebuild shop had become a hospital ward, Alex -tonsils out ,Kita - broken leg, so I've been hanging out with them on their computer.

Basically it's user time that count's. And setting your preferences.
1) set your location and time.
2) set your preferences : taskbar-file-preferences. Theres a drop down pane . one selection is for Hud controls- what info you want displayed when you hover on an object. simplify or expand on what suits you. Me, I only have name and az/alt showing as more info is avail by right click- show info when you hover on the object. The other prefs are the same ,adjust to suit your needs.
3) Taskbar :Self explanitory View - you can adjust WHAT objects you want shown. Options - more prefs on HOW you want objects shown e.g. star brightness,different colour labels for different objects etc
4) zoom slider : magnifies the view . Though I've found it magnifies different objects at different rates it's handy to set at what you know you see in an ep if your looking for an object thats been evading you. (scroll wheel zooms also)
5)View options panel : hot keys -cont j- : Lots more goodies to play with
6)Hover : Left click to label : Left click and hold ; gives you the angular seperation between 2 objects (handy for starhopping for those with a Telrad) . Double left click ; shows info : Right click ; another popup for more localized options on the object selected .

7) Anyone know where the chainsaw is ? I can't change the view of the local horizon and the trees are in the road . I've selected other views but the grass and trees always show.

I think thats the major points .The main thing is to strip it down and only show exactly what you want to see. When you first load it ,it is exactly as Starkler said " Eye candy ", but stripped down it's a handy tool.

Slice

[MiG]

Beware of the effect of wide FOVs on the moon. I had it on a wide FOV and was rushing through time to see what last night's near occultation would look like. Due to the wide FOV, the moon was enlarged by the program which resulted in a full occulation of Jupiter which left me extremely surprised until I figured out what was going on.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Thanks slice .

I sorted my original problem in that I only installed a minimal quiktime package, which meant slider controls and checkboxs didnt appear.

My new problem is with the catalogues of DSO's .
Messier and 69 bright NGC objects only ? surely they cant be serious.

[iceman (Mike)]

I noticed that too Geoff.. I think that's because it's the "enthusiast" version. If you want the full catalogue I think you need to go to the Pro version.

Probably why it's free..

Looks like CDC might be useful afterall

[Starkler (Geoff)]

I guess its good for helping a raw newbie to find their way around the sky, but not much use for the serious amatuer.

Time to uninstall this eye candy and reinstal CDC on my new hard drive.

[slice of heaven]

Yes, gives you a taste but doesn't satisfy your hunger.

Slice

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

If you want to put out the bickies the pro version is not bad. Again a lot of eye candy, but you can do Celestia like trips on it as well.

[jmb]

Hi Everyone

I am a newbee and have taken the advice of the forum members and ordered a backcopy of the PC World mag with the software STARRY NIGHT...
it was due to arrive today, but has not turned up...as many of you have used the program, i was wondering if you had any tips to a 'newbee' to assist in taking full advantage of this program...

thanks

[Hitchhiker]

Hi jmb, I have a copy of Starry Night Backyard version which I got free from an Astronomy textbook.

If your version has it, have a look at the Starry Night Companion - this is a book in pdf form - I think it is available from the menus. It does quite a good job of explaining various astronomical stuff.

Also, have a look at the manual supplied with the program - it should be present as a pdf file. It's a bit dry but it has all the info you need to get the best out of the program.

Adam.

Wow! last time I downloaded a free version of that it stopped functioning a
few weeks later. Also it wouldn't let you view any days prior to or after the
trail period. Then I couldn't remove the damn thing, it would come with an
error "uninstall log not found" yet there was a txt file called uninstall.log
sitting right there. Emailing them proved fruitless so I had to hold my breath
and delete to folder it was installed in.

I now have The Sky which to tell you the truth I like better.

regards.CS