Top astronomy programs ??

I have a question about a certain type of astronomy program , which will be asked shortly . But having said that I don't want to limit this thread to my question alone . I would be very interested to hear of your favorite astronomy programs . And for the old school fans out there who have a favorite manual planisphere that they would talk about , please feel free !

Now to my question ....

I am looking for an astronomy program that will allow me to pic a date time and place for any point in history and then be able to see the night sky as it would have appeared back then .

I have herd many good reviews of the program called Starry Night , but before I cough up 200 buck for such a program I thought I would see if anyone knows of a cheaper or better program for the PC ?

Just to mention a few good programs that I have found , and use on my iphone are iCSC . iCSC is a program that gives you a report as to how clear the skies will be in your location , there by telling you if any given night would be good for taking out the telescope .

As for a planisphere program I like GoSkyWatch , once again for the iphone . This program lets you locate constellations , planets , stars & deep sky objets . Once again , a very handy thing for when you drag out the old telescope .

As for my favorite old school planisphere I own and love my Firefly planisphere Deluxe . The Firefly Deluxe is very detailed and will even show the suns location in the sky based on the time / day you enter



[edit on 25-3-2010 by Max_TO]

I certainly wouldn't recommend handing over money for Starry Night. Whilst it is a good app, there's a free one that's a lot better.

www.stellarium.org...

It's got about the same features as Starry Night, better graphics, very customizable, and pretty quick.

reply to post by Jatho


Thanks for the info ! Your link doesn't seem to be working buy I found the program by using your keyword and google to track it down . I will definitely give the program a try !

A program that I really like is called Celestia.

www.shatters.net...

It's not really a constellation viewer, but it gives you a 3d representation of the solar system in real time or with whatever date you input. Very cool views, only 35ish meg download (last time I downloaded it), and it doesn't need to access the internet to download a bunch of information (great for dialup or carting it around on a laptop). May not be what you are looking for, but a good app to have none the less.

Side Note: I am not affiliated in any way with the Celestia program, I just really really like it.

Universe sandbox for just plain simple 3d fun. Its so cool.

reply to post by Sippy Cup


Thats one cool looking program ! The 29 bucks they ask for seems pretty fair , assuming it works as nice as the claims .

Thanks for posting that

Thats one cool looking program ! The 29 bucks they ask for seems pretty fair , assuming it works as nice as the claims .

I've been using Universe Sandbox 1 for 2 years now, and I'm pretty happy with it. It does exactly what it says it does, and then some.

Now about the $29. You can pay that, and get version 1, and a free update to version 2 when it comes out around May, or you can set your own price, and just get version 1. The choice is yours, but I'd recommend paying the $29 and getting the free upgrade. V2 is a lot more advanced than V1, but also has it's disadvantages, so it'd be best to have both.