ideal planetarium & charting software?

Hello...I know this subject has been posted many times before, and I've been
reading past threads but am still undecided. I'm in the market for a good
sky charting and planetarium program (prefer to combine both into one
application if I can.) Ideally, I'd like a program that offers all of the
following:

~ Visually realistic...a program that can produce a night sky and other
images on my screen that look much as they would out under the sky and
through a small telescope and binoculars. Detail of planets and moons
should likewise be realistic. (For taking armchair journeys through space
and time).
~ Can reproduce the sky from any location on Earth, other planets and
nearby (or even relatively distant) stars. Also would like the option to do
this both backwards and forwards in time by a few thousand years or so.
~ Can chart and track artificial satellites and space probes. (Charting of
satellites would be mostly used for amateur radio use...transmitting an
uplink and listening to downlink of satellites, so real time positioning
would be required.)
~ Can produce accurate charts for use with a telescope and binoculars.
Would like charts to show an area as small as half a degree (or even 15' if
possible). Charts should show all objects down to about 12th magnitude.
(Charts are to be used for star hopping with telescope and binoculars.)
~ Ability to mirror above charts to display sky as it would appear through
my telescope.
~ Ability to overlay field of view circles onto the sky to show what would
appear through the eyepiece.
~ Provides accurate data about stars and celestial objects (e.g., catalog
numbers, magnitude, spectral type, distance, coordinates, etc.)
~ Easy to use, intuitive interface.

Programs I'm considering a
~ Starry Nights Pro (I've been using the demo and like the display, but hate
the interface...too difficult to readily the information I want. Also does
not appear to chart satellites and probes. I've also read reports that some
of the star data is inaccurate.)
~ Redshift 5 (I've downloaded the multimedia demo...the interface appears
nice, but the sky is not as realistic as other apps.)
~ The Sky 6 Serious Astronomer Edition (Have looked at the screen
shots...visually appealing and appears to meet my charting requirements, but
does not appear to offer all of the planetarium features I'm looking for,
but hard to tell from their website if this is correct.)

I've have used Cartes du Ciel in the past and I liked it for star charting
(helped me to get my first look at Uranus and Neptune this past Spring!),
but of course it is a charting program and does not fulfill my needs for a
planetarium program.

If anyone owns any of the above programs, which do you feel meets all or the
majority of my requirements? Which would you purchase and why?
Thank you for the advice!
Craig

Try Guide8. See

http://www.projectpluto.com/
Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)

If anyone owns any of the above programs, which do you feel meets all or the
majority of my requirements? Which would you purchase and why?

Hi:

I've used them all. My _opinion_?

Starry Night Pro: Current version is buggy, and it does not work well _IMHO_ as
an observing tool. The charts are of relatively low quality, for sure, and the
screens are irritatingly cluttered when you're out with the scope at 3am. If
you just want a pretty representation of the night sky, it's great. I find it
very useful for working with my astornomy students, but not at the scope.

RedShift 5: The above applies to this one as well, but even moreso.

The Sky 6. If you _must_ have a realistic representation of the sky, this is
the one to get. Not only can the realism be turned off to make the program
easier to use at 3am, you can customize just about anything. Produces very good
charts too. Interfaces with the other Bisque programs like Tpoint and CCD soft
(depending on the Level). Downside? The most capable versions are pretty
pricey.

Believe me, not only does The Sky 6 offer _all_ those planetarium features
you're looking for, it has many, MANY you've probably never even thought of.

Why do you think Cartes du Ciel does not fulfill your needs for a planetarium
program? It will do _anything_ the rest of these programs will, more than some,
is more useful at the scope--by far--than Starry Night and RedShift, and lacks
only prettiness, something I find eminently disposable.




Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

"Craig" wrote in message
...
Hello...I know this subject has been posted many times before, and
I've been
reading past threads but am still undecided. I'm in the market for a
good
sky charting and planetarium program (prefer to combine both into one
application if I can.) Ideally, I'd like a program that offers all of
the
following:

~ Visually realistic...a program that can produce a night sky and
other
images on my screen that look much as they would out under the sky and
through a small telescope and binoculars. Detail of planets and moons
should likewise be realistic. (For taking armchair journeys through
space
and time).
~ Can reproduce the sky from any location on Earth, other planets and
nearby (or even relatively distant) stars.

Celestia does this
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

I've have used Cartes du Ciel in the past and I liked it for star
charting
(helped me to get my first look at Uranus and Neptune this past
Spring!),
but of course it is a charting program and does not fulfill my needs
for a
planetarium program.

Get both Celestia and Cartes de Ciel. The two applications are different
and you will want to set each one up differently.

(Rod Mollise) wrote in
:

Why do you think Cartes du Ciel does not fulfill your needs for a
planetarium program?

Surely a planetarium program such as Redshift allows exploration of
phenomena -- say the shape of the shadow drifting across the face of the
Earth during eclipse, as an educational tool, whereas a charting program
like CdC is more oriented towards the needs of the active observer. I have
a somewhat old CdC, so perhaps I'm wrong in thinking it cannot 'do' the
planetarium things.

--
Colin J Denman
N 51º 54' 38" W 00º 29' 45" Elev: 125m
email: -- use my first name
home: http://www.cjdenman.freeserve.co.uk

Though not particularly suited to charting. The planetarium software I have
been using for years is HNSky. This is freeware. It has some good databases
and a help file for many of the objects. When you click on the object you
can get a description about the object and its appearance. The desciptions
are particularly interesting to read at the eyepice. Nice to compare the
notes to what you are looking at.

I wouldnt consider myself a power observer though. So I am not sure how
suitable it is to those with larger scopes, but it does have quite a few
nice features. And, of course, it is free. Though, with my new N8GPS, I find
I don't need charting much anymore--again I am not an advanced observer
working at faint magnitudes.

Donnie

http://www.hnsky.org/software.htm




"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...

If anyone owns any of the above programs, which do you feel meets all or
the
majority of my requirements? Which would you purchase and why?

Hi:

I've used them all. My _opinion_?

Starry Night Pro: Current version is buggy, and it does not work well
_IMHO_ as
an observing tool. The charts are of relatively low quality, for sure, and
the
screens are irritatingly cluttered when you're out with the scope at 3am.
If
you just want a pretty representation of the night sky, it's great. I find
it
very useful for working with my astornomy students, but not at the scope.

RedShift 5: The above applies to this one as well, but even moreso.

The Sky 6. If you _must_ have a realistic representation of the sky, this
is
the one to get. Not only can the realism be turned off to make the program
easier to use at 3am, you can customize just about anything. Produces very
good
charts too. Interfaces with the other Bisque programs like Tpoint and CCD
soft
(depending on the Level). Downside? The most capable versions are pretty
pricey.

Believe me, not only does The Sky 6 offer _all_ those planetarium features
you're looking for, it has many, MANY you've probably never even thought
of.

Why do you think Cartes du Ciel does not fulfill your needs for a
planetarium
program? It will do _anything_ the rest of these programs will, more than
some,
is more useful at the scope--by far--than Starry Night and RedShift, and
lacks
only prettiness, something I find eminently disposable.




Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

I have
a somewhat old CdC, so perhaps I'm wrong in thinking it cannot 'do' the
planetarium things.

If its not version 2.7 or newer, you really ought to give it a try. I was
using a combination of Starry Night Deluxe and Sky Map Pro but CdC seems to
replace them both.

Also, if you have a Palm, consider Planetarium and PleiadAtlas, both turn a
plam into a hand held planetarium that fits in your shirt pocket and is quite
handy at the scope.

jon

I have
a somewhat old CdC, so perhaps I'm wrong in thinking it cannot 'do' the
planetarium things.


Hi:

Yep, you're wrong. ;-)

The latest CdC has realistic planets and all the nice things like Solar and
Lunar eclipse graphics that any of the rest do.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 16:53:45 -0400, Craig wrote:

I've have used Cartes du Ciel in the past and I liked it for star charting
(helped me to get my first look at Uranus and Neptune this past Spring!),
but of course it is a charting program and does not fulfill my needs for a
planetarium program.


The word on the streets is that Patrick Chevalley is working on a project
which will load the charting program "Cartes du Ciel" into an amateur
astronomer affordable (less than $5,000,000.00) derivation of the Zeiss
Mark IX Universarium projector (see
http://www.griffithobs.org/PlanZeiss.html).

As soon as the kinks are ironed out, i.e. a power cord thicker than a boa
constrictor which has just swallowed a small animal and the tendency of the
projector, when in motion, to knock out house walls, we shall be treated to
Cartes du Ciel the planetarium program for the gadget-minded amateur
astronomer.



--
Martin
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

Yep, you're wrong. ;-)

The latest CdC has realistic planets and all the nice things like Solar and
Lunar eclipse graphics that any of the rest do.

Very true. And least we forget, Patrick Chevellay has also provided us with
Virtual Moon Atlas which in a nice companion to CdC...

jon