Starry Night and Desktop Universe Merge

Ghaaaaack! I'm not sure how to feel, particularly now that I have to
shell out US$100 If I want to upgrade. DTU had so much potential.

http://www.cyanogen.com/products/dtu_main.htm

The Best of Both Worlds.

We are pleased to announce that Desktop Universe and Starry Night have
joined forces! The revolution in photorealistic planetarium software
continues with the introduction of Starry NightTM Pro Plus 5.

The Desktop Universe all-sky color mosaic, built from 20,000
individual CCD images, is the most realistic representation ever made
of the entire night sky.

Starry Night is the world's leading planetarium program, with an
elegant, easy-to-use interface and a powerful suite of features.

Now you can navigate the universe as never before. Gracefully roam
among the dust lanes of the Milky Way. Smoothly zoom in for a close
look at a colorful nebula. Starry Night Pro Plus uses the latest
OpenGL technology for an unprecedented user experience.

Best of all, Starry Night Pro Plus 5 is designed to integrate with
MaxIm DL/CCD imaging software. Instantly overlay CCD images on the
Starry Night planetarium display. Locate an object in Starry Night,
and snap an image automatically with just a click of the mouse!

- Craig

Craig Levine:
Ghaaaaack! I'm not sure how to feel, particularly now that I have to
shell out US$100 If I want to upgrade. DTU had so much potential...

This would be a $149 upgrade for me from SNP 4.5 -- but it's not the
money, it's a question of realism. Since the sky as I see it -- with my
unaided eye and through my 'scope -- doesn't look like it does in deep
photographs, I don't know that they are all that useful to me in a
planetarium program. Can the photographic mosaic be turned off? I like
my computer-based sky charts to be as simple and uncluttered as
possible, especially if I'm using them at the 'scope.

In fact, I still like to plan my observing with Sky Atlas 2000.0 and a
pad and pencil http://dict.die.net/pencil/ -- though I have both
Astroplanner and SkyTools!

I think I'll wait for the reviews...

Davoud

Craig Levine wrote:
Ghaaaaack! I'm not sure how to feel, particularly now that I have to
shell out US$100 If I want to upgrade. DTU had so much potential.


HI Craig:

I believe this is actually a good thing. Didn't look like DTU was going
much of anywhere, even with its recent price decrease(s). Didn't seem
to be, anyway. I looked at a buddy's copy, and was rather impressed,
but most folks seemed to think its only real claim to fame was the
photorealictic charts. I thought it was a pretty competent program
otherwise based on my short experience with it...but I guess I was one
of the few. ;-)

I think wrapping it into Starry Night might be good (if Starry Night
has exorcised the many bugs in its current rev). More features, more
promotion, and an appeal to educators and armchair types who've always
been a major part of the SN audience.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of:_Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

Davoud wrote:
it's not the
money, it's a question of realism. Since the sky as I see it -- with
my
unaided eye and through my 'scope -- doesn't look like it does in
deep
photographs, I don't know that they are all that useful to me in a
planetarium program. Can the photographic mosaic be turned off?

HI Davoud:

They could, if I remember correctly, but that was the problem. Like
you, a lot of folks did not want the photo-realism at the scope. Having
all of Starry Night's features, however, might make the program a lot
more appealing without the photo star fields on.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of:_Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

We are pleased to announce that Desktop Universe and Starry Night
have joined forces!


I have used both of these pieces of software. This appears to be a
good move for both parties.

I have strong opinions on Desktop Universe, so here goes. Nothing like
an all-sky survey integrated into a desktop planetarium had been done
before Peter Ceravolo and Doug George took it on. These guys made five
trips to Australia and many more to Arizona to take the images. It's
not as though they needed to prove themselves, as these are the guys
behind arguably the best Mak-Newt telescope and best CCD software ever
produced for amateurs. Desktop Universe was a product nearly without
faults.

Well, for my use, there was one fault. I couldn't figure out a
situation where I'd ever use Desktop Universe. If I want to make a
planetarium simulation, I fire up Voyager III. If I want a detailed
star chart, it's Megastar. And if I want to look at images, I either
use the Digitized Sky Survey or Google search for images. As well as
it was done, Desktop Universe cannot compete with any of these
individual methods for charting or pretty pictures.

Perhaps the merged software will benefit for Starry Night and Desktop
Universe.

Tom