User`s guide

106 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.
As you change
elevation, the
location
information in
the toolbar will update to show how high
above the planet’s surface you are.
Test out the Elevation buttons by shifting
your gaze down so that you are looking at
the horizon, and then pressing the Increase
Elevation button repeatedly to rise off
Earth. You will see the horizon drop away
beneath you and the planet’s outline will
begin to appear as you get high enough
above the surface. Your changing
elevation will be shown in the toolbar. To
return to and “land” at your original
location, hold down the Decrease
Elevation button.
You can use the Elevation buttons while
located on any object (the Sun, planets,
moons, etc.), thereby achieving some
extraordinary views of the solar system.
Note: When you change elevation, you are
still attached to your original location on
the planet’s surface by a long, invisible
pole. Over time, as Earth (or whichever
planet you are over) rotates, you also
rotate in space. You can tell that you are
rotating due to the apparent motion of the
sky and stars.
See
“Position Hovering Over
” on page 108 to
learn how to hover over a planet, instead
of rotating with it.
Changing the Elevation Step: You can
change the rate at which Starry Night
increases and decreases your elevation
when you use the Elevation buttons.
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. The
“Elevation Step” slider controls the
sensitivity of the Elevation buttons. By
moving this slider farther to the right, you
can change your elevation at a faster rate,
because each elevation step will be larger.
Preset Elevations: In Starry Night Pro and
Pro Plus, if you click on your location in
the toolbar, the pull-down menu opens.
This menu has several automatic elevation
options (“distance from surface”), specific
to the planet or moon that you are located
on. Selecting any of these options places
you at the new elevation.
Location Scroller: The Location
Scroller offers another way of
changing your location. Your cursor icon
will automatically change to the Location
Scroller once you are elevated high over
an object.