Astro Software Which one???????

[Octane (Humayun)]

You're absolutely right, Kev.

See attached.

Native 1920x1200, found here.

Regards,
Humayun

Originally Posted by Kevnool

You got it in a nutshell H Starry night pro plus ultra is the way to go.
Either get a freebie of the net and say great or grab the starry night and say woooooo hoooooo

The heavens can really open up. somebody post a pic of there best program to rival this.....
Cheers Kev.

[StevenA (Steven)]

Still nothing on REDSHIFT. Any responses would be of value as I still keep an open mind.
Also no I am not using The Sky Version 6. I am still using the older version 4 series. It doesn't see to cause any conflicts with any other programs and doesn't crash. Well not yet knock on wood>>>>>>>

[mdgodf (Mark)]

I use skytools http://www.skyhound.com/skytoolsc.html for all my needs now. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it?

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by marki

Cheers mate I will give it a go. One question though, how well does it get on with MaximDL? I saw a lot of stuff about CCDsoft but not Maxim.

I wouldn't think TheSky6 would interface at all with Maxim. They're direct competitors. I might be wrong, I haven't tried Maxim. I use TheSky6 + CCDSoft5 (which of course have excellent integration, being made to work together). Like Bassnut I use them for automation.

Roger.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

mm, I just installed Starry nights V6 pro plus, it still crashes randomly. I dont know why yet, but it dont look good. Apart from that, its very smick.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

For me, Voyager v4.5 blows the rest away. Intuitive, powerful and been around for over 20 years. Brilliant. Only US$150 at the moment too.

http://www.carinasoft.com/products/voyager/index.html

They have Mac and Windows versions.

[toryglen-boy (Duncan)]

I have Redshift, Starry Night Pro, and Stellarium.

TBH, i find RS and SNP a bit too much, although i prefer SNP over RS, i still use Stellarium far more than any of them. I know it hasnt got as many features, but for quick usage, without indepth planning of a session ...

its invaluable.

[Terry B]

It is probably what you are comfortable with. I researched this years ago and finally decided on Skymap Pro. My version is 6 and I think they are up to 11 now. The reason:
All of the differnent brands seemed to work well. I chose Skymap as it wasn't a US program and I liked supporting the smaller vendors.
It is written by Chris Marriot in the UK and he was a regular contributor on usernet at the time. His support was good.
The program is very stable and has never crashed and makes lovely maps. Connectivity is also good. It's what I use with my EQDIR to point my scope.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Further to the trouble with the new SN V6 ive just installed, to be fair, I did an online update, started a new profile from scratch, and its been OK since, no crash. Its very smooth I must say, the all sky pics blends into close up images as you zoom in, and seems simpler to set up than the earier version I had. The equipment database is a vast improvement over the earlier version too, and makes cam FOV options a doddle to set up.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

What about Astroplanner? There's a free version and the license fee is very reasonable considering all the features. Very easy to use and does almost everything you need!