Planetarium Software and Stellarium
Planetarium software can be useful for performing a range of planning functions quickly, accurately and relatively simply. One such package is Stellarium, an open source (free!) planetarium program that can realistically simulate the night sky as seen from anywhere on Earth, any night of the year.
While there are many advantages to learning the night sky from printed charts and field guides, the functionality of planetarium software has grown to the point of ubiquity and deserves some discussion. One of the most obvious advantages to a planetarium program is the vast amount of data it can hold, when compared with printed atlases and field guides. Instead of looking up when M42 is highest from your latitude tonight, you can directly search for an object and get relevant data without calculating anything manually.
Planetarium software can also be great for learning your way around the sky, as you don’t need to make mental calculations of scale to get familiar with basic constellations and bright star positions.
There are some pitfalls, however. It’s possible that software make things almost too easy, to the point where it robs you of the chance to learn some of the finer points of navigating the sky. There’s really no substitute for the gratification felt after finding the Andromeda Galaxy on your own, not blindly trusting that the software is pointing you to the right area, but because you recognize the shape of Andromeda and know precisely where the galaxy lies in relation to it. That’s something that you keep with you forever, and no software update can compete.
When used properly and with an understanding the benefits and limitations of planetarium software, these programs can be a great addition to your toolkit. Check out Stellarium if you want to try a great planetarium that doesn’t cost anything.
We’re just skimming the surface of this topic, more to come soon and you can check out our upcoming program “Astronomer’s Toolkit: Scopes and Software” Wed. 1/27 @ 6:00 PM to see what makes a good beginner scope and discuss more software tools. Email Register@standleylakestargazing.com to sign up!
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