You can set the time, for example, to the Venus transit of June 3, 1769, as seen from the North Pole. Whether you want to see a Venus transit, eclipse, or conjunction, just enter the date and time, and Stellarium displays the event. The status bar at the bottom edge shows just the current observer location, field of view (FOV), frame rate, and current time and date.Ĭonfiguration is through keyboard shortcuts or menus that appear as soon as the cursor hits the left or bottom edge of the screen (Figure 1).įigure 2: Date and time can be set for any astronomical event you want to capture. Stellarium starts out in full screen mode to get a full view of the sky. In my test, an apartment building blocked part of my view of the sky. Note that getting a fitting environment can be anything but trivial. You can even change the settings to provide interesting views from the moon, Mars, or Saturn. Help with settings is provided in the manual. You can change the default to the location of your choice, for example, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, or your own garden. The same goes for the location, which is Paris by default. The software takes the time from your computer’s clock, although you can set it to whatever you want. One important element is missing in Stellarium: clouds, rain, and fog – precisely those meteorological phenomena that send many Central European amateur astronomers on distant travels, such as to Namibia or Tenerife, for a clearer view.Īfter starting up, Stellarium adopts a southern view of the sky at the current time of the preset location. At night, the sky is dark and the stars are resplendent during the day the sky is bright and the sun bursts on the landscape.
The software is aware of current events and exhibits the sky from the perspective of different parts of the globe. Photorealism means that Stellarium presents the sky as observers experience it on the ground. And, because Stellarium is available in the repositories for all the major distributions, installation is at the click of a button. Because the software presents the sky photorealistically, nothing stands in the way of making it available in a classroom or during a lecture. Moreover, Stellarium helps in observing the actual night sky. The Stellarium software, however, provides a really interesting and convenient alternative. A visit to a planetarium might be fascinating, but doesn’t occur very often.
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