Starry Night User’s Guide FOR MACINTOSH AND WINDOWS
111 Jarvis Street - 2nd Floor Toronto, ON M5C 2H4 Canada www.starrynight.com ©2006 Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved. Starry Night and Imaginova are trademarks of Imaginova Corp. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Apple, Macintosh, Mac, and QuickTime are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. OpenGL® is a registered trademark owned by Silicon Graphics, Inc. Printed in Canada.
Table of Contents Getting Started Welcome ..................................................................... 7 Outline Of This User’s Guide ..................................... 8 Feature Dividers.......................................................... 9 Starry Night Companion ............................................. 9 Special Fonts ............................................................. 10 Installing Starry Night............................................... 10 Running Starry Night ......
Starry Night User’s Guide Appearance of the Sky Sky Contextual Menu................................................ 33 Options Pane ............................................................. 34 Light .......................................................................... 35 Ambient Sounds........................................................ 37 Changing the Horizon ............................................... 37 Displaying Celestial Objects.....................................
Databases 4 (Other)................................................... 83 Database Updates...................................................... 85 Find Pane Info........................................................... 87 Object Contextual Menu ........................................... 88 Info Pane ................................................................... 91 Pronunciation Guide ................................................. 97 LiveSky.com Object Database..................................
Starry Night User’s Guide Playing Back QuickTime Movies ........................... 153 Movie Compression Settings .................................. 153 Making QuickTime Virtual Reality Files ............... 154 Quicktime VR Movie Settings................................ 155 Copyright and Images ............................................. 155 Exporting Sky Data................................................. 156 Adding Your Own Data Adding Calendar Events .........................................
Chapter 1 Getting Started Welcome The invention of desktop astronomy software has been the most exciting new development in the astronomy hobby in years, perhaps since that night four centuries ago when Galileo pointed the newly invented telescope at the heavens for the first time! Starry Night is the premier astronomy software package on the market, putting more power and knowledge in your hands than even the world’s pre-eminent astronomers had just a few years ago.
Starry Night User’s Guide Outline Of This User’s Guide This User’s Guide provides instructions for using Starry Night Complete Space & Astronomy Pack (CSAP), Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus. It can also be used with Starry Night Astrophoto Suite which includes a copy of Starry Night Pro. Everyone using Starry Night should read chapters 1 and 2 of this User’s Guide for a basic understanding of how to use the program. Only chapters 1 and 2 are applicable to Starry Night CSAP.
Getting Started CCD mosaic, exclusive databases and the plug-in to MaxIm DL imaging software. Appendix A: “Frequently Asked Questions” answers the questions most commonly asked by users of Starry Night. Appendix B: “Keyboard Shortcuts” is a handy reference table listing the Windows and Mac keyboard shortcuts for the features in Starry Night.
Starry Night User’s Guide Special Fonts Two special fonts are used throughout this User’s Guide: 1) Command Font: This font is used to indicate a button, clickable area, keystroke, or menu choice. Examples: 1 Click the Online Info button. 2 Press the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys. 3 Choose File->Open from the menu. 2) File Font: This font indicates a folder or file, either on your hard drive or the Starry Night DVD. File and folder names are always enclosed in quotations. sequences.
Getting Started as dim as magnitude 18. The “Full Install” option in Starry Night Pro Plus will also install the AllSky Image in Direct Draw Surface (DDS) texture format. DDS textures load up to 20x faster making Starry Night run smoother when viewing the AllSky Image. The difference is substancial but the AllSky DDS texture will take an additional 8 GB on your hard disc (compared to the non-DDS AllSky Image at 1 GB).
Starry Night User’s Guide Following the QuickTime installation, the Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus installer launches an application to install telescope control. If you have a motorized telescope you wish to control with Starry Night, follow the onscreen instructions. See “Telescope Control” on page 116 for more information on telescope control. Telescope control is not available in Starry Night CSAP and Starry Night Enthusiast. Macintosh: To install Starry Night for the Macintosh, follow these steps.
Getting Started contains short movies about astronomy. You can play the DVD disc on your computer DVD-ROM drive or your home DVD player. Running Starry Night Once you have installed Starry Night, you can run the program as follows: Windows: Double-click the Starry Night icon on your desktop, or select it from your start menu. Macintosh: Double-click the Starry Night icon in the Applications folder, or click the icon on your dock.
Starry Night User’s Guide these files ensures that any new comets, asteroids, satellites, calendar events or tours are added to the program. If you do not want to download updated data files at this time, just press Cancel to skip this process. Starry Night CSAP users can update these data files at any time in the future by choosing LiveSky-> Update Data Files... from the menu.
Getting Started Tip: A list of astronomical observatories is included in the location list. To see this list, click on the Province column heading and scroll down to “Observatories”. 3 Click the Latitude/Longitude tab. Type in the name of your location and enter your latitude and longitude. You can enter these values in degrees, degrees & minutes, or degrees, minutes & seconds. Starry Night will convert your values to degrees and minutes.You must also enter the correct time zone.
Starry Night User’s Guide The current time is shown in the upper left corner of the screen. Note: The current date and time are calculated from your computer’s clock. If your computer’s clock is incorrect, Starry Night may show night when it is day outside, or vice versa. See “Time & Date” on page 193 if you do not know how to change your computer’s clock settings. Most of the controls in Starry Night will probably look unfamiliar to you.
Getting Started other owners of Starry Night. At press time, the Discussion List had more than 8000 members, so it is an excellent resource. Sign up for this list at http:// www.starrynight.com/support/ discussion_lists.html program, to ensure that you are running the most up-to-date version of Starry Night. Product Upgrades can contact our technical support staff at http:// www.starrynight.com/support/ for help with your problems.
Starry Night User’s Guide
Chapter 2 Basics It is impossible to cover all of the features of Starry Night in one short chapter. However, you will use certain features much more than others. This chapter will show you how to use the 12 most important features in Starry Night CSAP, Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus. Once you have read this chapter, you will be able to use Starry Night effectively as a guide to the night sky.
Starry Night User’s Guide Using The Controls All of the controls in Starry Night are in three areas of the screen: the toolbar, the side panes, and the menu. There is more than one way to access many of the features in Starry Night - for example, you may be able to access a feature through the main menu and through the side panes. Tip: If some of the controls described in this section appear to be missing from your version of Starry Night, you may not have installed QuickTime correctly.
Basics Each of the side panes controls an important function in Starry Night, and is explained in detail in a later section. Pane Menu: The menu runs across the top of the screen, above the toolbar. Clicking on an item in the menu expands the menu to reveal additional options.
Starry Night User’s Guide Taking A Guided Tour (SkyGuide) The SkyGuide pane is a link to dozens of interactive multimedia tours that explore the fascinating science and history of the solar system, the stars, the galaxies, the beginning of time, and the fate of the universe. SkyGuide works just like a web browser; click on the links to take a tour, see astronomy news headlines and find instructions on how to use the most common Starry Night features.
Basics Starry Night menu (Macintosh), choosing General from the dropbox in the upper left corner of the Preferences dialog box, and unchecking the “Show zenith and nadir while scrolling” box. Changing The Date And Time When you open Starry Night, you may see a bright blue sunny sky, a dark sky filled with stars, or a twilight realm with only a few bright stars showing. This is because Starry Night always opens showing the sky at the current date and time.
Starry Night User’s Guide the time at which the Moon is highest in the sky. Identifying Objects In The Sky If you point the cursor at any object shown onscreen, information about the object will automatically appear. This is Starry Night’s Heads-Up Display (HUD). Displayed are the object’s name, the constellation it is in, and its distance (if known) from Earth. This makes it easy to identify any of the points of light displayed onscreen. keyboard key).
Basics object. Several information fields are listed beside each object in the list of found objects. See “Find Pane Info” on page 87 to learn what these fields mean. Many more options exist in Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus for displaying the constellations. These options are outlined in “Constellations” on page 53. Note: The same objects might be available in more than one database. In these cases, Starry Night will group and list all the databases in which the object appears.
Starry Night User’s Guide If you choose Preferences from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh) and choose Responsiveness from the dropbox in the upper left corner of the Preferences dialog box, you will see a slider and checkbox named “Pan to found objects”. Adjusting the slider changes the speed at which Starry Night pans to found objects.
Basics For example, clicking on this symbol for Mars will expand the list to include the moons of Mars. Clicking again collapses the list and hides Mars’s moons. You can doubleclick on any object in this list to centre on the object in Starry Night’s main window. Finding Celestial Events If you want to know what is happening in the night sky tonight, open the Events side pane. Events such as lunar phases, eclipses and meteor showers are listed for the upcoming month.
Starry Night User’s Guide 100°. It is important to remember that when you zoom in on objects, you are not in fact changing your location. Think of zooming as looking through a more and more powerful telescope, while your feet remain firmly planted. Your exact field of view is always listed in the Zoom control of the toolbar. Tip (Pro and Pro Plus only): If you click on the arrow to the right of the Zoom display, a pull-down menu opens which allows you to choose from several preset fields of view.
Basics If you choose Preferences from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh) and choose Responsiveness from the dropbox in the upper left corner of the Preferences dialog box, you will see a slider named “Zoom Step”. This slider adjusts the rate at which Starry Night increases and decreases your magnification when you use the Zoom buttons. By setting this slider farther to the right, you will zoom in or out faster, because each zoom step will be larger.
Starry Night User’s Guide 6 arcminutes. Note that Jupiter will still not fill the screen. Printing Star Charts 6 Press the “+” zoom button to continue zooming in on Jupiter. Once you reach a field of view of about 35 arcseconds, Jupiter should fill the screen. Starry Night has a special set of print settings which make printing informative, legible charts a snap. You can then take these charts outside to help with your stargazing.
Basics on its name. When selected, the tool’s icon replaces the mouse pointer on your computer screen. Arrow Tool: Highlights objects in the sky. To select multiple objects, press the Shift key while making selections. Hand Tool: Changes the direction in which you are viewing. Use this tool to drag the sky to the left or right, up or down, until you reach the area you want to see. Tip: When using any other tool, you can temporarily switch to the Hand tool by holding down the keyboard’s space bar.
Starry Night User’s Guide
Chapter 3 Appearance of the Sky Unlike the real world, Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus allow you to modify the sky’s appearance to best suit your needs. You can display illustrations of the classical constellations, show only the artificial satellites circling overhead, or customize your view in dozens of other ways. You can even change the look and feel of the user interface with themes.
Starry Night User’s Guide on/off, turning light pollution on/off and, in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus, turning the horizon on/off). Options Pane Many of the options for modifying the appearance of the sky are in the Options pane. The Options pane is organized in a layered framework, based on the distance of various celestial objects from Earth. Controls for altering the appearance of the sky are slotted into the appropriate layer.
Appearance of the Sky Most of the object classes listed in the Options pane have special options associated with them. Clicking on the object name in the pane will open a dialog box with options for that object class. For example, clicking on the word “Comets” in the Options pane (“Solar System” layer) will open a dialog box with options for altering the appearance of comets. Light Many celestial objects are only visible during certain times of the year.
Starry Night User’s Guide stars which his or her counterpart in the country will see. Starry Night allows you to mimic the effects of light pollution, showing only the brighter stars and making the sky more closely resemble what you see from home. To turn light pollution on or off, check or uncheck the “Light Pollution” box in the “Local View” layer of the Options pane.
Appearance of the Sky Click on the word “Ambient Sounds” to open a dialog box with options for choosing from several naturally occurring sounds such as crickets, wind and water. Changing the Horizon Tip: You can also turn on light pollution by right-clicking (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on the background sky in the main window. This will open a contextual menu with two light pollution options: Local Light Pollution and Distant Light Pollution.
Starry Night User’s Guide you can turn them off by unchecking “Show Compass Points”. You can choose from one of four horizon types. Flat horizons have no variation in elevation or scenery. Custom horizons are illustrated horizons with images of trees, hills and clouds. See “Custom Horizons” on page 159 for information on modifying custom horizons. Photorealistic horizons use panoramic images. Animated Horizons show a live landscape view with moving elements such as grass.
Appearance of the Sky There are two reasons for this. First, several databases are very large. It would be impossible for Starry Night to show all of the millions of stars in its database onscreen at one time! Second, Starry Night strives to present a realistic representation of the sky, so it only shows those objects bright enough to be visible.
Starry Night User’s Guide Database Label Options: You have great control over how labels appear in Starry Night. You can change, the size, colour, font and number of labels for each database. See “Label Options” on page 52 for more information. Celestial Object Display Options As mentioned in “Displaying Celestial Objects” on page 38, clicking on a database name in the Options pane will open a dialog box with display options for that database.
Appearance of the Sky dimmest star that your telescope can make out, setting the “Dimmer” end of the slider to this magnitude gives you a good idea of what you can view through your instrument. Tip: The “Constrain” function only displays a subset of the objects that would be shown if this function was turned off. For example, assume you want to increase the number of stars onscreen so that all stars brighter than magnitude 7 are visible.
Starry Night User’s Guide In Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus, clicking the words “Limit by Distance” in the Options pane opens a dialog box that lets you set numeric values for limiting by distance or magnitude. The Proper Motion Options dialog box has a “vector scaling” option that allows you to change the length of all proper motion vectors, and a “vector colour” option that allows you to change the colour of these vectors.
Appearance of the Sky Additional Star Options: The main Star Options dialog box lets you control how many stars are displayed and how they are labeled. Example: Isolating the Hyades Cluster This example will show you how to use star display options in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus to separate stars in the Hyades cluster from other stars. 1 Turn off daylight and hide the horizon by checking the appropriate boxes in the Options pane (“Local View” layer).
Starry Night User’s Guide 6 Open the “Limit by Distance Options” dialog box for stars. Check “Limit stars by distance” and set the distance range from 140 to 170 light years, the distance of the Hyades cluster. This will cause almost all stars that do not belong to the cluster to disappear, leaving only stars in the Hyades cluster, all with proper motion vectors pointing in the same direction.
Appearance of the Sky Planet Display Options Starry Night gives you many options for the display of our Sun and its planets and moons. A variety of guides are also available to give you perspective. is available, Starry Night uses the timehonored tradition of deploying space artists to create the surfaces of distant worlds as seen from space, such as Pluto, Charon, and Saturn’s moon Phoebe. Several of the planet images in Starry Night were created or enhanced by astronomy enthusiasts.
Starry Night User’s Guide Show Atmosphere: You can turn off the atmospheres of objects that possess an atmosphere, such as the Sun, Venus, and Earth. This allows you to see the rocky surface of Venus, instead of seeing the almost featureless cloud cover. Turning the Sun’s atmosphere off shows the Sun as it would appear when viewed through a hydrogen-alpha filter.
Appearance of the Sky Location Markers and Surface Feature Outlines Starry Night allows you to search for and identify thousands of predefined locations and features on the surface of the Earth or any other rocky planet or moon where surface data is available. For example, you can zoom in on the Moon and flag all of the Apollo Moon landing sites, display the location of all the astronomical observatories on Earth, or draw an outline around the craters on Mars.
Starry Night User’s Guide dropdown menu and typing in the name of the location or feature in the adjacent text box. To display a complete list by location or feature type, select Type from the drop menu and then narrow down your choice on the adjacent dropbox menu. By default, List All Locations and List All Surface Feature Outlines is selected. To show a location marker or outline on the surface of an object, check the box to the left of the location or feature name.
Appearance of the Sky Space Mission Display Options Brightness: For these three classes of objects, a slider lets you adjust the apparent brightness of the objects. For comets, the slider actually adjusts the brightness of the comet tail. You also have the option to turn comet tails off entirely. Orbit Colour: This rectangle lets you choose a new colour for the orbit lines of these objects. See “Orbits” on page 110 for more information on object orbits.
Starry Night User’s Guide exposure observatory photograph (a much brighter image). You also have the option of selecting to display the outlines for these objects instead of their images. Milky Way Display Options In Starry Night you have great control over how this database is displayed onscreen. To open the “Tully Database Options” dialog box, click on the words “Tully 3D Database” in the Deep Space layer of the Options pane.
Appearance of the Sky you to see many galaxy images at the same time, producing some spectacular views. Selecting Filaments and Groups in the Tully Database Visibility range: Use this slider to display only those galaxies that lie within a certain range. If you move the slider all the way to the left, only those nearby galaxies that are bright enough will be displayed, moving the slider all the way to the right will display all the galaxies in the Tully Collection at the same time.
Starry Night User’s Guide Centre Sun: If you are centered on another galaxy, selecting Centre Sun will move your view so that you are looking towards the Sun (and hence our galaxy the Milky Way). If you are centered on the Sun, you can use the elevation buttons in the toolbar to go back to our solar system. Centre Group: Each galaxy belongs to a larger group of galaxies. This option will place that group at the centre of your screen. Label Options Every database in Starry Night has label options.
Appearance of the Sky Number of Labels: A slider allows you to change the number of objects that are labeled onscreen for each database. If the slider is near the left edge, only the brightest members of the database will be labeled. As you move the slider farther to the right, dimmer objects will be labeled as well. Some other label options appear only for certain databases.
Starry Night User’s Guide Illustrations: Checking this box displays classical illustrations for the constellations. Labels: Checking this box turns on or off constellation labels. Stick Figures: Turns on or off stick figures for the constellations. Constellation Options: Clicking on the words “Boundaries”, “Labels”, or “Stick Figures” will open the Constellation Options dialog box.
Appearance of the Sky You can draw stick figures using either the standard astronomical figures, or those popularized by H.A. Rey in his book The Stars, a New Way to See Them. These figures closely resemble the names of the constellations. For example, Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is depicted as a stylized bear. To get the figures to match the names, Rey had to take some liberties, so it may be difficult to match these figures to what you actually see in the sky.
Starry Night User’s Guide measures the compass direction of an object. An object which is due north in the sky has an azimuth of 0°, one that is due east has an azimuth of 90°, and one that is due south has an azimuth of 180°. The local meridian is the line passing directly overhead in the sky that runs from 0° azimuth (due north) to 180° azimuth (due south). Equatorial (aka Celestial): The equatorial co-ordinate system is the most common system for describing the position of objects in the sky.
Appearance of the Sky passing through the constellations of the zodiac over the course of a year. Because the planets all move in almost the same plane, with the exception of Pluto, they will all be found close to the ecliptic line. Ecliptic longitude has the vernal equinox as its zero point. The Guides display looks very different in Starry Night Enthusiast compared to Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus. First we’ll look at the” Guides Layer” in Enthusiast.
Starry Night User’s Guide be at its highest point in the sky when it is on the local meridian line. Show compass indicator while scrolling: This turns on or off the compass image in the upper right corner of the screen, which appears when you scroll around the sky to help you determine your viewing direction. positions in the sky at the two exact times when the plane of Earth’s equator is the same as the plane defined by Earth’s revolution around the Sun.
Appearance of the Sky plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun onto the celestial sphere. For the galactic system, available in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus, this is the galactic equator, a line passing through the centre of the band of the Milky Way. Grid: Displays a grid with the latitude and longitude gridlines for the co-ordinate system in question. As you change your field of view, the grid spacing will automatically change.
Starry Night User’s Guide turn on/off numerical labels for the markers and gridlines. Tip: Any objects that you select (by clicking on the object) will automatically have their position highlighted on the 3-D grid. Field of View Indicators If you own binoculars or a telescope, you may wonder how the views that you see onscreen match up with what you would see outdoors using your astronomical instrument.
Appearance of the Sky view (FOV) indicators. Field of view indicators are useful because they show the exact size of the patch of sky that you will be able to see through a given astronomical instrument. Therefore, the area shown inside the indicator by Starry Night should correspond very well to what you actually see outdoors when you are observing. You can also create special indicators that highlight specific objects or areas of the sky.
Starry Night User’s Guide • Relative to screen centre: Your indicator will be at a certain offset from the screen centre. The offset is determined by the values that you enter for “Delta H” and “Delta V”. “Delta H” is the horizontal offset and Delta V is the vertical offset (both in pixels). An indicator with an offset of (0,0) would be directly at the centre of the screen. • RA/Dec: This keeps your indicator centred on a specific right ascension and declination on the celestial sphere.
Appearance of the Sky “Mouse is idle for...” slider farther to the right. This slider controls how long the cursor must be pointing at an object before the HUD information is displayed. Unchecking the “Show info only when over an object” option causes the HUD information to appear even when you point the cursor at the black background sky. This can be useful in determining the co-ordinates of any position in the sky.
Starry Night User’s Guide an OpenGL graphics card but do not wish to run the OpenGL version of Starry Night, uncheck this box. Use sub-pixel accuracy when plotting labels: Sub-pixel accuracy gives labels a smooth feel as they move on the screen. However, depending on your video card, this can cause labels to flicker. Draw stars using polygon smoothing: Some video cards have trouble doing what's called polygon smoothing and this can cause "blocky stars".
Appearance of the Sky For distances, you can choose to view the distance between you and any celestial object in either light years or parsecs. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light years. Full Screen Mode Starry Night has two menu options that allow you to hide the screen controls. Selecting View->Hide All Controls will hide the side panes, the toolbar, and the button bar (Windows only). Selecting View->Fullscreen hides the main menu, the scrollbars, and the window frame.
Starry Night User’s Guide naming the preset in the Save dialog box. Your new preset will then be listed in the Options->Presets menu. Global Preferences. Certain aspects of Starry Night are treated differently than your appearance settings (which you save by choosing Options->Save Current Options as Default). These aspects are called global preferences. When you change a global preference, the change will be saved automatically (there is no need to choose Options-> Save Current Options as Default).
Chapter 4 Sky Data This chapter will show you how to use several different Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus features and functions that teach you more about the night sky and give you more information about astronomical events and the sky in general. In the next chapter, “Object Databases” on page 79, you will learn how to access information about specific objects. Note: Some of the features in this chapter require an Internet connection.
Starry Night User’s Guide SkyGuide Dozens of interactive multimedia tours await you in the SkyGuide pane. These indepth experiences reveal the fascinating science and history of the solar system, the stars, the galaxies, the beginning of time, and the fate of the universe. It also includes daily headline news on astronomy and step-by-step instructions on how to use the most common Starry Night features.
Sky Data Quick Find: Find a planet, star, constellation and other interesting objects. These lists of objects are usually organized by season, letting you know when they can be best observed. First Night Out: An introduction to the night sky and how to navigate your way around. Night Sky Tours: Guided tours of selected objects in the night sky. Take a seasonal tour of the night sky or explore the images taken by space observatories.
Starry Night User’s Guide Expand the “Calendar” layer at the top of the pane to view a clickable monthly calendar with Moon phase information. Expanding the “Browser” layer will list all the event calendars available. The “Info” layer describes the calendar events in detail. Viewing a calendar event: The Browser layer lists the calendars that come with Starry Night. Each calendar has a name. The “Event Finder” items calendar contains a list of celestial events visible from your home location.
Sky Data By default Starry Night lists all calendar events. You can also select to only display events for this week, this month, this year or even just past events. To customize the events shown in the Browser layer, select an option from the Show Events dropbox. Searching for an event: If you are interested in finding a specific event, such as a lunar eclipse or an occultation, click on the Show Events dropbox on the upper left of the “Browser” layer and select one of the find options in the menu.
Starry Night User’s Guide LiveSky Pane Although Starry Night has a wealth of built-in astronomical information, much more information exists on the Internet. LiveSky is a gateway to the rich resources of the Internet. You can use LiveSky to locate information on the Internet for any object, or to access live, up-to-the minute data and images for certain celestial phenomena. This section shows you how to use LiveSky to access live images for celestial phenomena. “LiveSky.
Sky Data lights) in Earth’s atmosphere, and satellite imagery of Earth. As more types of live planetary images become available online, links to these images will be added to LiveSky. 1 General Information: Status Info The Status side pane provides a handy summary of all of the general information about your sky view - for example, your viewing location, time, and viewing direction.
Starry Night User’s Guide 2 pull-down menu to the immediate right of the date/time display in the toolbar and choose Set Julian Day from the menu. Time: The local sidereal time of your current view, which ranges from 0 hours to 24 hours. Sidereal time measures the rotation of Earth with respect to the background stars, not the Sun. A sidereal day is about 4 minutes shorter than a solar day.
Sky Data ***Heliocentric X, Y, Z: Heliocentric co-ordinates reference your position in space with respect to the Sun. Heliocentric co-ordinates of (0, 0, 0) would place you at the center of the Sun. The X and Y co-ordinates mark your position along the ecliptic plane (the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun). The Z co-ordinate indicates your distance from the ecliptic plane. Earth travels along the ecliptic plane, so if you are on Earth’s surface, your heliocentric Z value will be close to 0.
Starry Night User’s Guide Tip: The H-R diagram is fully dynamic. If you scroll around the screen or change your field of view, the stars shown onscreen will change, and the H-R diagram will update to plot these new stars. H-R Diagram Options: Expand the H-R Options layer beneath the H-R diagram to access options that affect the appearance of the diagram. Gridlines: Draws gridlines from the vertical and horizontal axes. B-V: Uses a stars B-V colour as the field along the horizontal axis.
Sky Data Downloading Photographic Images Starry Night Pro shows over 2.5 million objects and Starry Night Pro Plus shows over 17 million celestial objects, but this is only a tiny fraction of the stars and objects that can be seen from Earth using telescopes. On the Internet, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) hosts a very large database, called the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS). This survey contains large, high-resolution pictures of the entire night sky.
Starry Night User’s Guide Tip: After you have loaded an image from the Digitized Sky Survey, you can paste it in Starry Night Pro, and it will remain there every time you run the program. For more information, refer to “Adding Images from the Digitized Sky Survey” on page 173. Online Telescope Imaging The Digitized Sky Survey allows you to download images of any section of the sky from an image database. These images are several years old.
Chapter 5 Object Databases This chapter will show you how to learn more about galaxies, meteor showers, planets, and all of the other marvelous denizens of the night sky. You will first learn about all of the different object databases included in Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus. Next, you will learn how to get more information about any of the objects in these databases. Note: Some of the features in this section require an Internet connection.
Starry Night User’s Guide Introduction to Databases Starry Night includes literally millions of celestial objects, from dozens of different databases. Accessing Databases: As you learned in chapter 3, “Appearance of the Sky”, you can use the Options side pane to turn databases on/off, turn their labels on/off, or modify the database display options. All of these functions can also be accessed from the main menu, by choosing View, Labels, or Options, respectively.
Object Databases Pluto, too dim to see. Once in a long while, they come close to Earth and the Sun, picking up speed and getting brighter. Starry Night includes about 150 comets, including some great comets of yesteryear such as Halley and Hale-Bopp. Comet data needs to be updated regularly, so that any bright new comets are added to Starry Night’s database. See “Database Updates” on page 85 for information on updating comet data.
Starry Night User’s Guide stars will only be visible if you chose the “Full Install” or the “Custom Install” options when you installed Starry Night. The entire USNO-A2 star database contains 500 million stars! This database is far too large to fit on a CD or DVD, so Starry Night allows you to download portions of this database from the Internet. See “Adding Objects 3 (Stars)” on page 169 for more information. Tip: Our Sun is an ordinary star.
Object Databases Hubble/Chandra/Spitzer Images: These databases contain about 100 images taken by space telescopes. A full description for each image is provided in the Night Sky Tours section of SkyGuide. See“SkyGuide” on page 68 to learn more about exploring SkyGuide. Quasars: More than 18 000 quasars, BL Lac objects, and active galaxies. All three classes of objects are the extremely luminous nuclei of very distant galaxies.
Starry Night User’s Guide Abell Cluster of Galaxies: The catalog was originally prepared at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The Abell clusters are rich, compact clusters of galaxies identified by Abell (1958). These clusters were identified on the red plates of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). The magnitude, if known, refers to the brightest member. There are 2712 clusters in this catalog. Arp Peculiar Galaxies: A catalog of 338 peculiar galaxies gathered by Dr. Halton C.
Object Databases Nexstar 5 and Nexstar 8 telescopes. Created by Alan Touchberry. (General Catalogue of Variable Stars) databases, compiled by Mike Fikes. The 40 bright alignment stars for Celestron's Nexstar 5 and Nexstar 8 telescopes. Created by Brandon Beretta. Variable Stars (GCVS): All 31 000 stars in the GCVS (General catalogue of Variable Stars). Based on data from Kopolev et. al (1988) and NASA/ADC (1997). Converted to Starry Night format by Marion Schmitz.
Starry Night User’s Guide as possible. After you have downloaded the new files, you will need to exit and restart Starry Night before it will read in the new data files. You can set up Starry Night to automatically update your comet, asteroid & satellite files. The various preferences are in the LiveSky->Preferences for Auto Updates menu. weeks. This is particulary important for satellites.
Object Databases For objects other than comets, asteroids & satellites, the data does not change as frequently. However, there will still be changes to existing databases, and occasionally, new databases. You can check to see if any new data is available by choosing LiveSky->Check For Program Updates from the menu. This connects you to the updates page on our website. If any new databases are available, they will be posted on this page, along with instructions for adding them to your copy of Starry Night.
Starry Night User’s Guide Semi-major axis: This is the distance between an object and its parent body, at the point when the object is farthest away from the parent body. For a circular orbit, the semi-major axis is equal to the orbital radius. Tip: Click-hold and drag a columns name towards the left or right to move the column into a new position. You can also add or remove a column by right-clicking on its name.
Object Databases First your viewing direction will change, then you will begin to lift off your current body and fly in the direction of the celestial body you have chosen. Your distance from the Sun will appear along the bottom of the screen as you fly to the new location. The Heads-Up Display (HUD) will identify any objects that you pass by during your journey. The “Go There” option is only available for objects with accurate 3-dimensional position information.
Starry Night User’s Guide rocky solar system bodies where surface data is available. This is handy if you want to mark all the lunar landing sites on the Moon or the rover sites on Mars for example.See “Location Markers” on page 93 for more information. Markers and Outlines...: Opens the Markers and Outlines dialog box. The Markers tab contains options that allow you to search for geological features on the surface of a planet or moon and mark their location with a flag.
Object Databases Add Log Entry/Log Entries: Creates a log entry for you to add observing notes about an object. See “Adding Log Entries” on page 162 for more information on log entries. Note: If you have already added a log entry for an object, the object’s contextual menu will list these entries. Graph Elongation of Moons: Only an option for planets with moons, this plots the elongation of the planet’s moon(s) using the graphing feature. See “Graph” on page 123 for more information.
Starry Night User’s Guide Name: The name of the selected object. Pronounce: Hear the correct pronunciation of the objects name. See “Pronunciation Guide” on page 97 for more information. Catalogue number: The object’s number in the appropriate astronomical catalogue (if applicable). Object Type: The object’s celestial type (star, galaxy, planet, etc.). Bayer: For stars only, this field gives the star’s Bayer catalogue letter, if any. The Bayer letter is from the Greek alphabet.
Object Databases Tip: You can also open the text description for any object by clicking the icon that appears to the right of an object’s name in the list of items found in the Find pane. Logs: Lists all log entries (if any) that you have created for this object. See “Adding Log Entries” on page 162 for more information on log entries. Export: Creates a text file with all the information generated in the Info pane.
Starry Night User’s Guide • Other Data The fields that appear in this category depend greatly on the database that the object is from. Different databases will have different information fields. Star Information Fields: For stars, the following fields are present: Contemporary astronomers have refined Hipparchus’ system, so that the system now includes larger numbers for dimmer stars, and negative numbers for very bright objects.
Object Databases distance we use is arbitrary, but has been chosen to be 10 parsecs). As with apparent magnitude, a lower absolute magnitude means a brighter body. Spectral Class: Spectral classes are groups of stars that have similar characteristic emission lines in their spectra. Temperature: This is the star’s surface temperature, given in degrees Kelvin (to get a star’s temperature in Celsius, just subtract 273 from its temperature in Kelvins). The Sun has a temperature of about 5700 K.
Starry Night User’s Guide Solar System Object Information Fields: For objects within our solar system, the following information fields are present: words, how much it deviates from a perfect sphere. A perfect sphere would have an oblateness of 0. The larger an object’s oblateness, the more “squished” it is. Mass: The object’s mass (if known). Max. Mag.
Object Databases Pronunciation Guide LiveSky.com Object Database Some astronomical names can be a little difficult to pronounce. For example, the constellation Boötes is pronounced “booOH-tees” not “Boots” or “Booties”. In some cases careful pronunciation may be necessary to avoid embarrassment as in the case of Uranus, which is pronounced “Yoor-a-nus”, not “Your-anus”.
Starry Night User’s Guide should go to our LiveSky database and open a page with several links to websites with more information about the Moon. Click on any of these links to read interesting facts and trivia about the Moon, and to see lots of pictures and figures. Some of the links in our LiveSky database will appear for all objects (these may be changed if better sources become available). These links are described below.
Chapter 6 Bending Space & Time This chapter will show you how to take full advantage of Starry Night’s planetarium capabilities. You will learn how to start, stop, speed up and slow down the flow of time, and change your location to view from anywhere on or off the surface of Earth - you’ll even fly a spaceship! Several examples will help you master the control of time & space in Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus.
Starry Night User’s Guide Time Flow By default, time in Starry Night advances at the same rate as real time. If you run Starry Night for one hour, the time onscreen will also advance by one hour. As the time in Starry Night changes, the screen continuously updates to reflect the changing sky. Note: This means that the rate of time flow is the same as real time, but the time itself may not be the same. For example, let’s say you open Starry Night at 8 p.m. You then change the time onscreen to 1 p.m.
Bending Space & Time lunar month), again due to the revolution of Earth around the Sun. Lunar month: This is the time interval between two full moons, as seen on Earth. It is about 29 1/2 days. Customizing Time Steps: You are not limited to the choice of time steps that appear in the time step pull-down menu. If you click on the numerical part of the current time step, it will light up and you can type in a numerical value. This will let you change the time step from 1 day to 7 days, for example.
Starry Night User’s Guide Specifying Frame Rate: By default, when the time mode is Forward or Backward, the screen is updated continuously. The number of updates performed per second will depend on the speed of your processor and graphics card. You can also specify the number of updates per second. To do this, choose Preferences from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh) and choose Responsiveness from the dropbox in the upper left corner of the Preferences dialog box.
Bending Space & Time Path Length: As Starry Night draws the local or celestial path for an object, and time runs forward, eventually Starry Night starts to erase the oldest parts of the path (if it did not do this, the entire screen would eventually be covered with path lines!). The “path length” slider lets you control how long time runs forward before Starry Night begins erasing the oldest part of the path.
Starry Night User’s Guide The toolbar displays your current viewing location. To change this location in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus, click on it to open a pull-down menu. Select the option Other... from the menu. In Starry Night Enthusiast choose Options->Viewing Location from the main menu. This opens the Viewing Location dialog box, which looks similar to the window where you entered your home location the first time that you used Starry Night.
Bending Space & Time Preferences from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh), selecting Responsiveness from the dropbox in this dialog box, and unchecking the option “Animate changes in location”. You can also change the speed of animated location changes by adjusting this slider. Finally, you can choose to animate only location changes where you move between planets. The next section describes how to change your viewing location to another planet.
Starry Night User’s Guide Changing Elevation All of the options described in the last section leave you on the surface of a planet. You may also want to place yourself at some distance above a planet’s surface. You can change your elevation above a planet’s surface in Starry Night with the elevation buttons in the toolbar, immediately to the left of your location information. This button decreases your elevation. This button increases your elevation.
Bending Space & Time See “Tool Selection Control” on page 30 for more information on choosing tools in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus. Tip: Hold down the SHIFT key on the keyboard to change to the Location Scroller tool. If you are using the Location Scroller tool and you click and drag the cursor, your latitude or longitude will change, instead of your viewing direction. Dragging up or down adjusts your latitude, while dragging left or right adjusts your longitude.
Starry Night User’s Guide five options. The first is the familiar “Surface Of” option. The other four options are described below. These options are quite specialized and you may not ever need to use them. The Centre Of: This puts you at the centre of the planet or moon in question. It is handy when you want to watch the motion of a celestial object while ignoring the rotation of the planet you are based on.
Bending Space & Time plane is given by X and Y coordinates. The Z coordinate takes the location out of the plane of the ecliptic. For spherical co-ordinates, “radius” is the distance from the Sun’s centre, “theta” is the position angle from the ecliptic plane, and “phi” is the position angle along the ecliptic plane. Heliocentric means that the Sun is the centre of the coordinate system, so the point (0,0,0) is at the centre of the Sun, using either Cartesian or spherical co-ordinates.
Starry Night User’s Guide Celestial Pole directly overhead and the South Celestial pole beneath your feet. If you set your orientation to ecliptic, Starry Night gives you a view as though you were standing on the ecliptic plane, on which all of the planets in our solar system revolve. If you choose a galactic orientation, your view of the sky is the one you would see if you were standing on the same plane as our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Bending Space & Time Orbit Markers: The ascending node of the orbit — the point at which the planet crosses up through the ecliptic plane — is marked with a solid wedge. The descending node of the orbit — the point at which the planet crosses down through the ecliptic plane — is marked with a hollow wedge. The point at which the orbit comes closest to the parent body — the pericentre — is marked with a bar.
Starry Night User’s Guide ward. You can see the planets moving around the Sun. 9 The innermost planets will be too close to the Sun to really see. Use the Decrease Elevation button to reduce your elevation to about 10 AU (so that the orbit of Saturn approximately fills the screen). You can see that the inner planets move much more rapidly. Change the time step to a discrete value of 3 days to slow down the motion of the planets.
Bending Space & Time then the object inside the viewport is the absolute closest object. The numbers along the top and left sides of the viewport indicate your direction relative to the sun. If you use the pitch and yaw keys so that these numbers are both equal to 0, then your spaceship will be travelling directly towards the sun. If the number along the left side is 0 but the number along the top is 180, then you are moving directly away from the sun.
Starry Night User’s Guide areas that are densely populated. Soon you’ll be moving through a crowded region of space, one of the galaxy clusters the universe seems to enjoy building. As you move even closer, each of these points will resolve into a separate galaxy. Example: Viewing the Tully Collection 1 Press the Home button. 2 Use the Increase Elevation button to blast off until you are about 100 000 light year from the Sun. The Milky Way galaxy will be in view at this distance.
Chapter 7 Observation Tools This chapter covers the many observational tools and features in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus that go beyond the planetarium aspects of the program. These features are designed to help you plan, view and log your astronomical observations. You will learn about the following features: 1 Event Finder. 2 Graph Tool. 3 Ephemeris Generator. 4 Observation Lists 5 Log Book. 6 Telescope Control. 7 Focuser Control. 8 Imaging Plug-in 9 Satellite Tracking.
Starry Night User’s Guide Event Finder The Event Finder is a powerful search engine that finds astronomical events visible tonight and far into the future. The finder dynamically generates a listing of moon phases, eclipses, Jupiter satellite events, meteor showers and planetary phenomenon such as conjunctions, elongations and oppositions to name but a few of the events that can be displayed. It even creates a handy monthly calendar of events. You open the Event Finder by clicking the Events side pane.
Observation Tools Events” on page 117 for more information on limiting your search with event filters. Viewing Events: If you right-click (Ctrlclick on the Mac) on any of the events in your list, a contextual menu appears. Choose View Event from the contextual menu to simulate the event in Starry Night. To place the event target in the centre of the screen without changing the current time choose Centre Event Target. To set the time in Starry Night to the time of the event choose Set to Event Time.
Starry Night User’s Guide Most of the event classes listed in the “Event Filters” layer of the Events pane have special options associated with them. Clicking on the event class name in the pane will open a dialog box with options for that event class. For example, clicking on the word “Lunar Phase Events” will open a dialog box with options for selecting the type of lunar phases to include in your search. Shadow transits are a favourite event among planetary observers.
Observation Tools Lunar and Solar Eclipse Events: A Total Lunar Eclipse is an eclipse of the Moon where Earth crosses between the Sun and Moon, blocking sunlight from reaching any of the Moon's surface. During a total eclipse, the Moon darkens slightly and takes on a reddish colour. the Sun. The sky does not darken noticeably during a partial eclipse. A Total Solar Eclipse is an eclipse of the Sun where the Moon completely covers the Sun.
Starry Night User’s Guide Planetary Events: A Solar Transit is the passage of one planet across the face of the Sun. These rare events require the use of a safe solar filter designed specifically for viewing the Sun. Sun. The outer planets cannot pass between Earth and the Sun and therefore cannot come to inferior conjunction. A Superior Conjunction is the position of a planet when it is on the far side of the Sun (and in conjunction with the Sun).
Observation Tools these planets come closest together in the sky. Altitude: This Adding Objects to the Graph: Right-click (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on any object and choose Start Graphing from its contextual menu to plot this object on the Graph. Changing Time On the Graph: The horizontal axis plots time, with the current time at the Graph’s centre.
Starry Night User’s Guide Tip: You can automatically graph the elongation of a planet’s moons, by choosing Graph Elongation Of Moons from the planet’s contextual menu. easier to find the best time to view an object. You can also choose to turn off the grid that marks the vertical divisions on the Graph. Angular Size: Plots Removing Objects: The list of objects being graphed are shown to the right of the Graph.
Observation Tools Ephemeris values are handy for knowing where an object will be in the sky at a particular time. If you are using manual or digital setting circles, for instance, you can dial in the generated positional data to locate an object quickly. For example, if you are tracking the path of a fast-moving asteroid as it makes its closest approach to Earth, your ephemeris table will let you know exactly where the asteroid will be during the time period you’ll be observing it.
Starry Night User’s Guide Observation Lists The Observation List is a tool that you can use to help create a list of astronomical objects that you wish to observe. You can make a list of targets for a particular night or create a list of targets that you want to observe over a period of time. For example, you can create a list of open clusters that are visible tonight in your 8inch telescope from your backyard between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Observation Tools Click the Add button in the “Observing Lists” layer to open a new window which lets you add objects to an observing list. By default, Starry Night gives your observing list a generic name but you can enter a custom “Observing List Name” in the text box at the top of the dialog window.
Starry Night User’s Guide menu. To remove all the objects shown, choose Remove All. You can repeat these steps as many times as you want to build up your list of objects. Browsing for interesting objects: Another way to build an observation list is to use Starry Night to help you find interesting objects. The fields named (“Database”, “Type”, “Constellation”, “Magnitude”) are filters that you can use to build a list of interesting objects. 1 All of the planets (set the “Type” filter to “Planets”).
Observation Tools Tip: Targets in your observing list that are below the horizon will be greyed out in the “List Viewer” layer. This contextual menu can be quite handy, especially if you have a laptop to take outside during your observing session. For example, as you work through observing each of the objects on your list, you could choose Centre from each object’s contextual menu to show you a sky view that will help you find the object, and then choose Add Log Entry to add your observing notes.
Starry Night User’s Guide the object on a different day or remove it from your list. Determining which objects have been observed: Select With Log Entries from the “Show” dropbox in the “List Viewer” layer to display targets that have already been observed. Select Without Log Entries to display a list of targets you have not yet observed or recorded.
Observation Tools ensure that your log entries are filed correctly. The Notes tab has space for you to enter your observation notes, and to record the duration of the observation and the sky conditions (seeing and transparency). The Equipment tab lets you record the observing equipment that you used, by selecting the appropriate items from your equipment list. See “Field of View Indicators” on page 60 for information on creating an equipment list.
Starry Night User’s Guide Viewing old log entries: To view previously created log entries for an object, right-click on the object (Ctrl-click on the Mac) and choose Log Entries. This will display a list of all previous entries for this object. Click on the entry that you wish to look at. slightly different on Macintosh and Windows: On Windows computers, Starry Night controls telescopes with the aid of the ASCOM telescope driver.
Observation Tools packaged into the main Starry Night installer. Setup layer. You will see a list of all supported telescopes. Telescope Controls: All of the telescope controls in Starry Night can be accessed by opening the Telescope side pane. Choose your telescope model from the list, press the Properties button, and select the serial port that your telescope is connected to. Note: If you have any Meade telescope with an Autostar controller that is not specifically listed (e.g.
Starry Night User’s Guide Connect/Disconnect: Once your telescope is aligned and plugged in to your computer, press the Connect button in the Setup layer of the Telescope pane. This begins communication between your telescope and Starry Night. To end communication, press the Disconnect button. Telescope Setup: Once you have pressed the Connect button and your telescope is connected to Starry Night, an onscreen marker will indicate where your telescope is pointing.
Observation Tools perform a star alignment again or recalibrating. This feature is more commonly used for telescopes at permanent locations or when attending a star party for several days. Set Park Position button allows you to configure where you want your telescope to park when the Park button is pressed. Tip: Holding down a direction key will continuously slew the telescope. The Stop button will stop any slew that is in progress.
Starry Night User’s Guide Focuser control Imaging Plug-in (Windows only) Control your robotic focuser through Starry Night. Allows for incremental and absolute positioning for applications where precise focusing is required. Not all focusers support all the features available in the “Focuser” layer of the Telescope pane. If a selected focuser model does not support a feature, that option will not be available. Capture images using the plug-in to MaxIm DL imaging software (sold separately).
Observation Tools Satellite Tracking Track the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle and hundreds of other satellites with your robotic telescope. Satellite tracking: Right-click (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on any satellite in the main window and choose Track from the satellite’s contextual menu. Your telescope will then slew to, centre on and track the satellite you selected. The satellite will only be tracked if your telescope is capable of slewing at the rate the satellite is traveling.
Starry Night User’s Guide the patch of sky that you will be able to see through a given astronomical instrument. Therefore, the area shown inside the indicator by Starry Night should correspond very well to what you actually see outdoors when you are observing. In this section, you will learn how to create an equipment list which has information on all of your astronomical instruments.
Observation Tools • CCD. A CCD is a camera that is attached to your telescope and used to take digital astronomical photographs. Adding items to the equipment list: To add your pieces of observing equipment to the equipment list, choose the appropriate equipment category (e.g. “telescopes”) from the pull-down menu in the upper left corner of the Equipment List dialog box, then press the From Database button on the lower right corner.
Starry Night User’s Guide Field of View Indicators 2 (Displaying Indicators) The FOV side pane allows you to display an outline onscreen that shows the shape and field of view (FOV) of any of your astronomical instruments. You can also create special indicators that highlight specific objects or areas of the sky. Indicator List: To see the list of FOV Indicators, open the FOV pane. You will see a list of indicators, divided into telescopes, finderscopes and binoculars.
Observation Tools change if you are using a Barlow lens or a focal reducer. indicators after you have created the image. To turn on/off a Barlow lens or focal reducer for given eyepiece or CCD camera, click the area to the right of the indicator’s name in the FOV pane. Any Barlow lenses or focal reducers that you added to your equipment list will appear in a pull-down menu. Select the appropriate option from the menu.
Starry Night User’s Guide • Alt/Az: This keeps your indicator centred on a specific altitude and azimuth, relative to your local horizon and direction. Tip: If you want to centre your indicator on a specific object or area of sky, rightclick (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on the object or area of sky and choose Add FOV Indicator from the contextual menu that pops up. Choose an RA/Dec position or Alt/Az position.
Observation Tools Tip: If you are interested in viewing a dim object, and it is not labeled on the printed chart you make, select it on the screen by pointing the cursor at the object and clicking on it. Its name should then appear on screen with an arrow pointing to the object. This is known as “selecting” an object. See “Labeling Select Objects” on page 39 for more information on selecting objects. If you print a new chart, the selected object will now be labeled. horizon to horizon.
Starry Night User’s Guide Three pane star charts: Prints a three-view starhopping chart customized to the field of view and orientation of your telescope, finder or binoculars. A three pane star chart effortlessly guides novices to challenging objects and allows experts to manage their time more efficiently. Print Legend: Prints the time and date, limiting magnitude, location plus a symbol key for object types such as double stars, galaxies and nebulae.
Observation Tools White Sky Mode You learned how to print star charts in “Printing Star Charts” on page 30. Starry Night also allows you to simulate printed starcharts on your screen, by choosing Options->White Sky from the menu. This displays a negative image of your Starry Night view, reversing the colours of objects and labels. Stars are represented by dark circles on a white background. Because of the control Night Vision must exert over your computer display, not all computers will support it.
Starry Night User’s Guide
Chapter 8 Working With Files In this chapter you will learn about the different types of files you can create with Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus. We’ll look at several types of files: Starry Night files: Dynamic files that you open with Starry Night to recreate a particular view or celestial event. Image files: Static colour images of a particular view in Starry Night. Movie files: Animation sequences showing an astronomical event such as an eclipse.
Starry Night User’s Guide What is a Starry Night File? A Starry Night file allows you to recreate all the conditions which you used in the program to see a particular celestial event. When you open a file again, it will restore you to the same time, viewing location and viewing direction as when you saved the file. It will also restore the time mode you were using when you saved the file.
Working With Files Save As: If you are already running a file that was previously saved, this saves the file under a different name and changes the active window to this file. Save a Copy As: This also saves the file under a different name, but doesn’t change the active window to this file. Revert: This command reverts the window to the last saved version of the active document. If you are not using a file which has previously been saved, this option is not available.
Starry Night User’s Guide menu by adding your own files or modifying the existing files. See “Customizing the Favourites Menu” on page 177 for instructions. Adding notes to Starry Night Files See “Adding notes to files” on page 177 for more information on adding descriptive notes to your Starry Night files. Creating Files - An Example This example teaches you how to use the File menu to save, open and modify files. You will create a file of the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse.
Working With Files Multiple Windows opened this file, don’t start time moving forward, but leave it at 12:32. 2 Open a new window by choosing File->New, then choose File->Save and name the file “Eclipse from Moon”. One of the most useful features of Starry Night is its ability to have multiple functional windows open at the same time. This opens up many exciting possibilities for the user.
Starry Night User’s Guide the dropbox to the right of the date and time in the toolbar. All three windows are now showing the sky at exactly the same time. 11 In the window “Eclipse From Moon”, you should see the Moon’s shadow projected on Earth’s surface. Use the zoom buttons in the toolbar to zoom in to a field of view of about 1°. Adjust your view so that Europe is near the centre of the screen. You should see a tiny black spot in the centre of the shadow.
Working With Files Exporting Images negative images - black stars on a white background. If you want to print a colour image, you can do this by using the File->Export as Image command to save your colour image. Then open this image with a program such as Internet Explorer and print the image using the File->Print (Print Star Chart” in CSAP )command in the Internet Explorer menu.
Starry Night User’s Guide The Pause button pauses the recording of the movie. This enables you to adjust your view “offscreen” between frames. The Stop button completes the recording process, and closes the QuickTime window. The Record button resumes the recording of a movie after it has been paused. Note (Pro and Pro Plus only): The minimum size for a Movie Box is 101 pixels by 81 pixels. Movie Controls: There are three Movie controls: the Pause button, the Stop button, and the Record button.
Working With Files Note: The Movie Box doesn’t record cursors, so you don’t have to worry about getting a “hand” in the shot. Playing Back QuickTime Movies You can use the QuickTime movie player to play back your movies. If you have QuickTime Pro, you can also use it to edit your movies. To play back a movie, double-click the file in the folder where you saved it. Starry Night does not need to be open when you play back the movie.
Starry Night User’s Guide Tip: After you have set your compression settings once, the Compression Settings window will not open automatically when you make subsequent movies. To change your movie preferences, you can select Preferences from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh) and press the QuickTime Movie Preferences button in the QuickTime section. Making QuickTime Virtual Reality Files You can make amazing interactive scenes using Starry Night.
Working With Files 4 Name the file (default name is the name of the object you selected) and then press the Save QuickTime VR Movie button to create the VR file for Saturn. 5 The QuickTime Movie Player window will then open. Hold down your mouse button and drag it around inside the window to view Saturn from every angle. Panorama/Object movie export size: Controls how large the QuickTime VR movie window will be and hence the size of your file.
Starry Night User’s Guide Quicktime movies: You have permission to use QuickTime movies you have made with the Starry Night software for noncommercial purposes. This does not apply to the multimedia video content that exists in SkyGuide or DVD’s. Some of the multimedia video content has been licensed from other sources and Imaginova does not have the right to sublicense such content. Include the following credit: Exporting Sky Data Starry Night images are used with permission from Imaginova Corp.
Working With Files 3 Star name (may be a proper name, Bayer letter, Flamsteed number, or just the HIP or TYC number again) 7 Percentage illumination 8 X co-ordinate in the heliocentric ecliptic co-ordinate system (astronomical units) 9 Y co-ordinate in the heliocentric ecliptic co-ordinate system (astronomical units) 10 Z co-ordinate in the heliocentric ecliptic co-ordinate system (astronomical units) 4 Right ascension, in degrees (J2000 co-ordinates) 5 Declination, in degrees (J2000 co-ordinat
Starry Night User’s Guide 4 Name 5 Right ascension (J2000 co-ordinates) 6 Declination (J2000 co-ordinates) 7 Apparent Magnitude 8 Diameter (arcminutes) 9 Minor Axis (arcminutes) 10 Position Angle (radians)
Chapter 9 Adding Your Own Data This chapter describes how you can expand the vast library of data that is built into Starry Night Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus, by adding your own data, or data from other sources, such as the Internet.
Starry Night User’s Guide Adding Calendar Events Calendar name and description. To add your calendar press the Ok button. Your calendar should now be listed in the calendar list. Astronomical calendars are a great way to keep track of celestial events you don’t want to miss. Starry Night provides you a number of default event calendars and allows you to add or import your own. For example, you can create an event calendar for your local club or view a calendar made by another member.
Adding Your Own Data Tip: A good source for calendars in the vCalendar format is http://icalshare.com.. Tip: You can also save a Starry Night file as an event to any calendar by selecting Save As Event from the File menu. Importing a calendar: You can import any calendar into Starry Night from a file or from a URL (internet link). The calendars you can import must be in the vCalendar format and end with a .ics file extension.
Starry Night User’s Guide After you have selected the calendar file, click the Ok button to save the calendar and add it to your list. Editing calendars and events: To edit a calendar or an event, double click on its name. This will open the Edit Calendar or Edit Event dialog boxes. Make your changes and click the Ok button.
Adding Your Own Data Orbital Elements: The Orbital Elements tab controls the attributes of your new object’s orbit. Tip: Not every option for adding new objects appears in an object’s contextual menu. For example, the Sun’s contextual menu has no option to add a new planet. However, the Orbit Editor lets you change the type of object being added, so just choose New Asteroid from the contextual menu, and then change the type of object being added by using the Orbit Editor.
Starry Night User’s Guide eccentricity of an object in a fixed orbit has a value between 0 and 1. The larger an object’s eccentricity, the more its distance from its parent body varies throughout its orbit. Pluto has the largest eccentricity of any planet in our solar system. Objects in relatively circular orbits have eccentricities near 0, while objects in extremely elliptical orbits (such as many comets), have eccentricities close to 1.
Adding Your Own Data pericentre. Recall that Kepler’s laws of motion then allow Starry Night to calculate the new object’s position in its orbit at any other time. • Elements Epoch: The date (expressed as a Julian day) for which this set of orbital elements will be most accurate. As you move farther away from this date, the accuracy of the object’s position will decline, although the change in position is often too small to be noticeable.
Starry Night User’s Guide Element Style (AMSAT): This is another style used to describe the orbit of Earth-orbiting artificial satellites. Again, describing this format is beyond the scope of this User’s Guide. Reference Plane: A set of orbital elements is not enough to describe an object’s orbit without a reference plane. You can select a reference plane using the dropbox in the Orbit Editor dialog box.
Adding Your Own Data that are about 600 pixels long by 300 pixels high. Whatever picture you do use, its width is wrapped around the planet, and the height of it will go from pole to pole. Because Starry Night maps the image on a sphere, your image will be distorted in the northern and southern latitudes. Keep the important parts of your image near the “equator”. For examples, look at the default images of the planets.
Starry Night User’s Guide the Orbit Editor. A dialog box will appear, warning you that changes have been made to this database. 1 Choose File->New Asteroid Orbiting Sun from the main menu to open the Orbit Editor dialog box. 2 Change the object type to “Planet” and name the new object “Planet X”.
Adding Your Own Data Package Contents, then open the “Resources” folder to view the “Sky Data” folder). You can open these files with a text editor and copy and paste orbital elements for new objects. This would be of use if you wanted a larger satellite database (for example) then the version in Starry Night’s “satellites.txt” file. Our Orbital Elements page: http:// www.starrynight.com/helpPro/ orbitalelements.shtml may have links to larger database files.
Starry Night User’s Guide not need to download the files again). If you wish to delete these downloaded star data to free up space on your hard drive, choose LiveSky->Preferences for Auto Updates from the main menu and press the Clear Star Cache button. complete, Starry Night will prompt you to name the new data file and save it to your hard drive. By default, the new data file will be saved in the same folder as your original text file.
Adding Your Own Data Basic Fields: For every object in your database, you can enter the following information fields: catalogue number, catalogue kind, magnitude, kind, right ascension, declination, and name. See the "NGC-IC.txt" file to learn the meanings of each of these fields. The magnitude and name fields are optional - if an object does not have a known value for one or both of these fields, just leave the field blank. The other fields are mandatory.
Starry Night User’s Guide Image Editor controls (described in the next section) to line up your image correctly. 2 3 4 5 Once your image is aligned, press the Details button in the upper left corner of the window. This opens a dialog box which lets you name your image and add other optional information, such as picture source, notes, object kind, magnitude, and distance. 6 The Image Editor window also has a Background Reduction box (the box only becomes visible after you have pasted in an image).
Adding Your Own Data Adding Images from the Digitized Sky Survey: You can use Starry Night’s web link to the Digitized Sky Survey to download and paste in images of galaxies, nebula, or any other object. See “Downloading Photographic Images” on page 77 for more about the Digitized Sky Survey. To add an image using the Digitized Sky Survey: 1 Right-click (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on the object of which you would like to download an image.
Starry Night User’s Guide Image Editor Controls: The celestial sphere is an imaginary globe that encloses Earth. We can imagine that all the stars, planets, and other celestial objects are painted onto the inner surface of this sphere. Adding an image to Starry Night means painting a new image onto the inner surface of this sphere.
Adding Your Own Data Modifying Images and Models It is possible to replace any of the built-in images and models in Starry Night with images or models of your own. The images you can replace fall into two categories: objects in our solar system, and deep space objects in the “Messier” and “Bright Objects” databases. The models you can replace fall only into the solar system category.
Starry Night User’s Guide Custom Horizons and drag them. This will change their size and /or position. 5 To make your viewing experience even more realistic, you can modify your surroundings in Starry Night to more closely resemble the area in which you live. To modify the scenery set: 1 Open the Options pane, expand the Local View layer and open the Local Horizon Options dialog box. 2 Check the box marked “Custom” and then close the dialog box.
Adding Your Own Data Note: Photorealistic horizons require an OpenGL capable graphics card. Customizing the Favourites Menu You were introduced to the Favourites menu in “The Favourites Menu” on page 147. Recall that this menu is a quick shortcut to a selection of pre-made Starry Night files. The options at the top of this menu allow you to customize this menu and add your own files.
Starry Night User’s Guide the file, you must resave the file from the Favourites->Save Favourite menu. A small info icon will then appear to the left of the file name in the Favourites pane. Click this icon to read your notes. If you wish to edit the note you added, select File->Edit Document Notes and resave the file to make the changes permanent. Custom Asterisms Different cultures see the stars in different ways, joining them together to form recognizable patterns.
Adding Your Own Data folder is inside the “User/Library/ Preferences/Imaginova Canada” folder. Settings Files: If you have customized your settings, using the menu option Options->Save Current Options as Default, these changes will be saved in the file “Default Settings.sno” in the “Prefs\” folder. If you have used the Options->Save Preset... command to create additional settings files, these files (including your print settings) will be saved in the “Sky Data\View Options” folder.
Starry Night User’s Guide saved in the “Sky Data\Horizon Panoramas” folder. Object Log Entries: Log entries are stored in the “Prefs\Logs” folder. Observing Lists: Lists created in the Lists pane are saved in the “Prefs\Sessions” folder. Observing lists can be used with other users by sharing the files in the “Sessions” folder.
Chapter 10 Starry Night Pro Plus This chapter describes exclusive features available only in Starry Night Pro Plus.
Starry Night User’s Guide AllSky CCD Mosaic Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have an interactive, full-color photographic star atlas fused with a powerful desktop planetarium? Starry Night now offers you the most realistic rendition of the night sky by presenting you with the AllSky CCD mosaic of the sky that can be viewed from any location on Earth. The full-color AllSky image is precisely aligned to the Starry Night computer generated stars and databases.
Starry Night Pro Plus Precision: At wide fields of view, Starry Night uses a grid system to line up the AllSky image with the computer generated stars. Moving the Precision slider towards “More Precise” provides a better match between the photographic stars in the AllSky image and the computer generated stars.This takes more processing power. If you find Starry Night slow while scrolling the sky, move the slider towards “Faster Scrolling”.
Starry Night User’s Guide How faint can I see? How far can I zoom in and out? The stellar limiting magnitude is approximately 14. Although we have seen fainter stars — almost 15th magnitude — we have chosen to be conservative in our claims. Since Starry Night is comprised of real images taken under varying conditions, the actual stellar limiting magnitude can vary somewhat.
Starry Night Pro Plus Tip: To make photo-based printouts for field use, simply invert the captured image, convert it to grey scale and send it to your printer. Nebula outline options: Open the Options pane and expand the “Deep Space layer”. Then expand the “Nebula” sub-layer for a list of all available nebula types. Does the AllSky image take into account precession and proper motion? The AllSky is a static image.
Starry Night User’s Guide MaxIm DL Plug-In (Windows only) to take a picture of the current camera field (where the telescope is pointing). For years, the software program MaxIm DL from Diffraction Limited has been the premiere package for astronomical CCD imaging and image processing. 6 Control is passed to MaxIm DL, which now takes a picture. Now you can target and capture an image in Starry Night with a plug-in to MaxIm DL.
Starry Night Pro Plus Key Benefits: 1 Complete observatory integration — control your CCD camera, filter wheel, autoguider, telescope, focuser, and dome. Includes auto-center, auto-focus, and link to planetarium program. 2 Supports your equipment — works with more equipment models than any other package. 3 Comprehensive image processing tools — dozens of filter and processing options, full image preview, filter by brightness level.
Starry Night User’s Guide
Appendix A Frequently Asked Questions This section answers the most common questions about Starry Night. The most up to date version of this FAQ is available online by choosing Help>Online Help from the Starry Night menu. The web version of the FAQ is especially useful for websites mentioned on this page. Their links may have changed since this PDF manual was made, in which case the new links will be in the online FAQ. If your question still isn’t answered, contact us at http://www.starrynight.
Starry Night User’s Guide Registration Number How do I register my copy of Starry Night? We encourage you to register by visiting our online registration page: http://www.starrynight.com/register. This allows us to notify you of any bug fixes, updates or new plugins for Starry Night. I want to move my copy of Starry Night to a new computer. How do I retrieve my registration number? Choose Registration from the Help menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh).
Frequently Asked Questions the updates page on our website, which lists the latest updates. If a newer version is available, click the appropriate link to download the updater file. Will future updates be free? Bug fixes and minor feature updates to Starry Night will be available as free Internet downloads to existing owners. Major feature updates will be available for an upgrade price. OpenGL horizons. Finally, stars will look more realistic and orbit and path lines will not look as jagged.
Starry Night User’s Guide The correct time is shown in the toolbar when I start Starry Night, but the sun rises and sets at the wrong time. How do I fix this? Most likely you have entered the wrong time zone for your home location. Choose Set Home Location from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh) to see what the time zone is set at, and change the time zone in this window if necessary. If you do not know your time zone, see the next question.
Frequently Asked Questions "Regional Settings" control panel and switch to the 24-hour clock. After restarting Starry Night it should be using the new time format. On the Macintosh you can reset the time format from the Date and Time System Preferences. After restarting Starry Night it should be using the new time format. Can I get Starry Night to show dates in the European format? Yes. On Windows, Starry Night looks to the Windows registry to determine the order in which to show dates.
Starry Night User’s Guide dialog box to visit a website with information on finding your latitude and longitude. See “How do I find my time zone?” on page 192 if you do not know your time zone. How do I go to Mars or another planet? Open the Find pane to see a list of planets. Double-click on the name of the planet you wish to visit, to centre on this planet. Then right-click (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on the planet and choose Go There from the planet’s contextual menu.
Frequently Asked Questions Can I print star charts showing the whole sky? Yes, in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus. Choose Preferences from the File menu (Windows) or the Starry Night menu (Macintosh), choose General from the dropbox in the upper left corner of the Preferences dialog box, and check the box marked “Allow Maximum Zoom Out”.
Starry Night User’s Guide stars have shifted in the sky, due to the precession of Earth, and the astronomical constellation boundaries no longer match the astrological constellation boundaries. Starry Night shows the astronomical constellation boundaries. With Starry Night, you can set the time back to about 600 BC (when the astrological boundaries were set), and you will find that the dates when the sun was in each constellation back then match the astrological dates.
Frequently Asked Questions Night are valid only for its most recent trip around the sun and can't be used to predict its appearance in the more distant past. Comets, Asteroids, Satellites to update these files. How do I add my own objects? Stars With Starry Night, you can add solar system objects such as asteroids, satellites and newly discovered comets using the Orbit Editor. See “Adding Objects 1 (Individual Solar System Objects)” on page 162 for more information.
Starry Night User’s Guide farther than this, they appear to cluster around the Sun. Can I add recently discovered planets around stars other than our Sun? An updated database of extrasolar planets will be available from time to time on our website. Choose LiveSky->Check For Program Updates to see if a new version of this database exists. This database only marks stars that have extrasolar planets - it does not allow you to actually see the orbits of these planets.
Appendix B Keyboard Shortcuts Use these keyboard shortcuts to quickly access features you use frequently. Keyboard Function Windows Macintosh Note: Shortcuts marked with an * asterisk are only available in Starry Night Pro and Pro Plus. File Menu (some commands are in the Starry Night menu on the Mac).
Starry Night User’s Guide Keyboard Function Direction Changes Face North Face East Face South Face West Face Zenith Zoom in and out Move left, right, up or down Time Controls Windows and Macintosh N E S W Z +/Arrow keys Minute forward Minute back Hour forward Hour back Day forward Day back Month forward Month back Year forward Year back T Shift-T H Shift-H D Shift-D M Shift-M Y Shift-Y Step forward one time unit Step back one time unit Increase time step Decrease time step Reset to now with realt
Index A Adaptive hand tool 31 Adding databases 170 images 171 objects 162 AllSky CCD Mosaic 182 frequently asked 183 options 182 Altitude 55 Ambient Sounds 37 Angular separation 29 Animating location changes 104 Apparent magnitude 94 Argument of pericentre 164 Ascending node 111, 164 ASCOM 130 Asterisms 53 creating 178 Asteroids 80 adding multiple 168 updating data 85 Azimuth 55 B Backing up data 178 Bayer letter 92 Binary stars, marking 42 Birth sign, finding 196 Bright NGC objects 82
Starry Night User’s Guide display options 49 Button Bar 21 C Calendar Gregorian, Julian 193 Celestial equator 56 Celestial paths 102 Celestron AAM alignment stars 84 Nexstar database 84 Comets 80 adding multiple 168 Halley’s 196 tail brightness 49 updating data 85 Compass points, turning off 38 Compression settings 153 Constellation tool 31 Constellations 53 asterisms 53 auto identify 53 boundaries 54 changing stick figure sets 55 creating custom sets 178 selecting 31 Contextual menu objects 88 sky 33
editing 137 opening 136 recording in log entries 129 types of equipment 136 Event Finder 116 filtering 117 printing 117 searching 116 viewing 117 Exporting sky data 156 Extrasolar planets information fields 95 marking stars with 42 F Favourites adding new files or folders 177 customizing menu 177 menu 147 modifying 177 Field of view changing 27 magnification tool 31 maximum 28 Field of view indicators associating with specific objects 62, 140 changing colour 60, 138 definition 60, 135 deleting 62, 140
Starry Night User’s Guide Hover 108 I Identifying objects 24 Image editor controls 174 Images adding 171 adding from DSS 173 adding to log entries 129 adjusting brightness 49 creating 151 importing 171 Importing images 171 Inclination 164 Info pane 91 Installing QuickTime 10 problems 189 Starry Night 10 options 10, 12 questions 190 telescope control 12 International Space Station 197 J Julian day determining 74 setting 74 K Keyboard Shortcuts 199 L Labels all bright objects 24 changing colour 52 ch
M Magnification tool see Field of view Magnifying objects 27 Magnitude 94 absolute 94 MaxIm DL Plug-in 186 Meade LX200 alignment stars 84 Mean anomaly 165 Mean distance 165 Meridian 167 Meridian, local 57 Messier objects 82 display options 49 Meteor showers 80, 84 Milky Way adjusting brightness 50 Moon age 96 cast shadows 45 enlarging 90 phases 96, 196 Moons graphing elongation of 121 other planets 81 Movies compressing 153 controls for making 152 making 151 playing back your own 153 Multiple windows op
Starry Night User’s Guide find 25 FOV 60, 138 info 91 lists 124 LiveSky 72 options 34 status 73 telescope 131 Panning to objects 25 Paths celestial 102 local 102 options 102 Pericentre distance 164 PGC catalogue 83 Planetary nebulae 85 Planets adding markers and feature outlines 47 angular size 96 disc illumination 96 display options 45 displaying atmosphere 46 displaying orbits 110 extrasolar 95 fly-bys 109 going to 105 hovering over 108 length of year 96 mass 96 maximum brightness 96 modifying images
Selection tool 31 Setting home location 14 Settings, saving 65 Shortcuts, keyboard 199 Sidereal day 96, 100 Sidereal month 100 Sidereal time 74 Sky Commander, alignment stars 85 SkyCalendar 69 adding an event 160 creating a calendar 160 deleting 162 editing 162 importing 161 Moon phase calendar 71 opening 69 searching 71 viewing 70 SkyGuide 68 astronomy news 68 opening 68 Solstices, displaying 59 Spaceship 112 controls 113 flying tips 113 Specular reflection 64 Star charts, printing 30 Starry Night cont
Starry Night User’s Guide customizing steps 101 delta T 74 discrete steps 100 modes 101 returning to present 23 sidereal 74 system, setting correctly 191 universal 74 using 24-hour clock 192 Time zone, finding 192 Toolbar 20 Tully 3-D database 82 display options 50 filaments and groups 51 Two-line elements 165 U Universal time, determining 74 Updates databases 85 program 17 User images adding 171 display options 49 User’s guide, outline 8 V Variable stars 85 marking 42 Vernal/Autumnal equinox, displa
