Astronomy Software Planetarium Software

The Orion SkyQuest XT8 is a top notch telescope, but if you aren't interested in shelling out cash to explore the stars from your backyard, then the perfect solution would be to use astronomy software instead. Planetarium software will do the same thing as well, and will allow you to become more familiar with the geography of the night's sky.

Using such planetarium software allows you to identify constellations, map out nebula and pinpoint planets that often times be mistaken as a bright star. But there are a lot of choices out there and so many questions to be answered. Which one do you use? which one will work with my computer platform? are there any free astronomy software programs? which ones aren't that great and which planetarium program will deliver amazing results?

I will answer all of these questions here, so sit back, grab a snack and enjoy!

Stellarium is free open source software that runs on Linux, Windows and Mac computers. It's planetarium software that is also used in projectors around the world. Right on the website there is a user guide, which is helpful. However the guide is a very large 98 page PDF document that could take some time going over.

The guide will take you through the installation process, and help you configure your software. It also features a sky guide. The default version has over 600,000 stars while an extended catalog can grant the user access to more than 210 million stars. Yep, that'll certainly keep you busy.

The interface is pretty sophisticated. It's multi-lingual, features good zooming capabilities, fisheye projection (planetarium ready), telescope control and keyboard control.

It renders the sky in realtime GL technology, meaning that it's very accurate to what you see from on earth. The project began in 2001, and despite the fact that there is a bit of a learning curve to the program, it's actually quite user friendly.

Visit Stellarium

Although 3D Astronomer isn't free astronomy software, it definitely is supreme, and not very expensive at all for the enjoyment that you get. The controls are so easy that even a small child can benefit from exploring space using this program, and unlike many other planetarium packages, 3D Astronomer allows you to actually cruise through space and take close up looks of the planets in our solar system.

The makers took data from NASA as well as the European Space Agency to construct a very realistic 3D environment that is accurate even down to positioning. If you are connected to the internet then you can travel to any place in the galaxy and pull up more information on, providing a truly memorable educational experience.

You can explore over 100,000 cataloged stars and 3,800 asteroids. The only drawback is that it only runs on Windows, but other than that it is a breathtaking program, and by far the most sophisticated for what it allows you to do -- explore space without any restrictions!

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Celestia is a space simulator much like the other programs and it's free. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux as well. It's a flexible program that allows you to travel to anywhere in space and explore up to 100,000 stars. It features an interface that is based on the "point and go" model, where you simply click a destination or object that looks intriguing and are taken straight to it.

It also includes many add-on objects and plenty of catalogs for other stars, planets, moons and asteroids. The website features all of the documentation that you need to be able to use the astronomy software program, and even a forum where you can discuss possible bug issues, get news and meet great people.

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