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This is the coolest planetarium software ever. I had a copy Starry Night a million years ago when it was still a DOS program, I think, and I've always liked it. It lets you put in where you live, and it shows you what the sky looks like. It labels planets, stars, constellations, equinox points, satellites, and a zillion other things that you can turn off and on. You can have a sky filled with labels and grids and even light pollution, or a perfectly clear sky with only little colored dots.
It even will outline the constellations in the manner of H. A. Rey (yeah, the guy who wrote Curious George)! I cut my teeth on his constellation finder book, and still see a lot of the constellations the way he drew them. He's one of the people I credit with nourishing my interest in astronomy as a wee sprog.
It will also let you zoom in on different planets and even visit them. It tries to replicate what days and nights are like (with the planet's moons whizzing around), or you can even go to other stars and see what the sky looks like from different points in the galaxy! You travel and see the stars move past. If you've left the constellation lines on, they'll slowly start to warp until the constellations are unrecognizable. It looks like you can also move backward and forward in time, but I haven't played with that feature yet. Any star or other feature you mouse over gives you the option to center on it, magnify it, visit it, and get information like when it will rise, color, distance, and so on. Whee!
So, the website lets you download Starry Night for a trial run. I asked Eric to crack it for me, which he did, but when I get some money I may send it to them anyway because I like the program so much.
I wish I was home playing with it now!
It even will outline the constellations in the manner of H. A. Rey (yeah, the guy who wrote Curious George)! I cut my teeth on his constellation finder book, and still see a lot of the constellations the way he drew them. He's one of the people I credit with nourishing my interest in astronomy as a wee sprog.
It will also let you zoom in on different planets and even visit them. It tries to replicate what days and nights are like (with the planet's moons whizzing around), or you can even go to other stars and see what the sky looks like from different points in the galaxy! You travel and see the stars move past. If you've left the constellation lines on, they'll slowly start to warp until the constellations are unrecognizable. It looks like you can also move backward and forward in time, but I haven't played with that feature yet. Any star or other feature you mouse over gives you the option to center on it, magnify it, visit it, and get information like when it will rise, color, distance, and so on. Whee!
So, the website lets you download Starry Night for a trial run. I asked Eric to crack it for me, which he did, but when I get some money I may send it to them anyway because I like the program so much.
I wish I was home playing with it now!
