Too many choices

I'm sure this question has been asked before, however I am new to the hobby.
Sorry if it is a repeat!!

Looking for some guidance on what are the best programs available. I know
there are favourites, but I wanted to understand why. The sooner I set up,
the sooner I can worry more about finding things in the night sky, rather
than the Internet.

Any thoughts/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Chris.

says...

Looking for some guidance on what are the best programs
available. I know there are favourites, but I wanted to
understand why.

For LEOs, I use Quicksat by Mike McCants. For most purposes
I use 8x42 (Orion Ultraview) binoculars, handheld, and
Quicksat provides alt-az predictions, as well as RA-Dec when
needed. In the latter case I use the Bright Star Atlas 2000
(my third copy now) for RA-Dec observing, except on the very
best nights when I'm seeing many stars fainter than +6.5 mag.
Quicksat lets you set times, magnitude cut-off, and other
parameters.

For Iridium flares I use Iridflar by Rob Matson. His SkyMap
program (shareware by Rob Matson, not the commercial software
by someone else) also predicts Iridium flares. Randy John
has a small graphical output DOS program called SkySat that
does Iridium flares also (and in fact was the very first one
released that did that).

For highly eccentric orbits and geosynchs, I use Highfly by
Mike McCants. Mostly I get only predictions for low passes
or brighter flashing objects (such as ETS 6, which can be
+4.0 magnitude -- or brighter? -- at a range of 40,000 km).

There are a couple of other programs for more specialized
purposes. For identifying unids after the fact, there are
Findsat by Mike McCants and IDSat by Ted Molczan. Ted's
Geolong provides a listing of the current positions of
geostationary satellites by longitude. Ted's ObsReduce is
graphical and for after-the-fact processing of various
types of obs.

Quicksat, Iridflar, and Highfly are great if you don't need
graphical output. I've been using them for years and often
am able to see dozens of objects in a night using their
predictions. However, if you need graphical output, you will
need to hear from someone else. I've heard many very good
things about SkyMap, thought I have only looked at it a few
times.

Ed Cannon - - Austin, Texas, USA
(Remove "donotspam".)

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I'm sure this question has been asked before, however I am new to the
hobby. Sorry if it is a repeat!!

Looking for some guidance on what are the best programs available. I know
there are favourites, but I wanted to understand why. The sooner I set up,
the sooner I can worry more about finding things in the night sky, rather
than the Internet.

Any thoughts/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Chris.

As far as I'm concerned, two, which are both freeware, well one
cardware - the author would like a post card from you) are the best
I've ever used.

1: www.satscape.co.uk/

2: www.stoff.pl

The latter, I think has a slight edge as it possesses a 'radar' screen which
gives you an overhead view of the sky. This is the cardware one. If you send
him a postcard he will add your name to his website list of users.

Sidney

Thanks for the help.

--

Chris.


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"Sid Snot" wrote in message
...

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I'm sure this question has been asked before, however I am new to the
hobby. Sorry if it is a repeat!!

Looking for some guidance on what are the best programs available. I know
there are favourites, but I wanted to understand why. The sooner I set
up,
the sooner I can worry more about finding things in the night sky, rather
than the Internet.

Any thoughts/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Chris.

As far as I'm concerned, two, which are both freeware, well one
cardware - the author would like a post card from you) are the best
I've ever used.

1: www.satscape.co.uk/

2: www.stoff.pl

The latter, I think has a slight edge as it possesses a 'radar' screen
which
gives you an overhead view of the sky. This is the cardware one. If you
send
him a postcard he will add your name to his website list of users.

Sidney

imho
StarryNight

available at www.spce.com


Chris wrote:

I'm sure this question has been asked before, however I am new to the hobby.
Sorry if it is a repeat!!

Looking for some guidance on what are the best programs available. I know
there are favourites, but I wanted to understand why. The sooner I set up,
the sooner I can worry more about finding things in the night sky, rather
than the Internet.

Any thoughts/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Chris.

Agreed. I've had it on my computer for a few years and it's the next best
thing to being out there! StarryNight is a great program and easy enough so I
even I understood how to use it right away.