User`s guide

Frequently Asked Questions 197
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.
How do I add my own objects?
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.
I get an error message when I try to
update comet, asteroid, & satellite data
If our automatic update is not working for
you, you can manually download the latest
comet, asteroid, & satellite data files.
Links to these files are on our Orbital
Elements page: http://
www.starrynight.com/helpPro/
orbitalelements.shtml. This page has
instructions for downloading these files
and placing them in the correct folder on
your hard drive.
Where can I get orbital elements for
new objects I want to add using the
Orbit Editor?
See our Orbital Elements page at http://
www.starrynight.com/helpPro/
orbitalelements.shtml for this information.
Why doesn't the location of the
International Space Station match what
I see in the sky?
The orbital elements of artificial satellites
(including the ISS) are constantly being
adjusted slightly. You should update your
comet, asteroid & satellite files from our
website. Choose LiveSky->Update
Comets, Asteroids, Satellites to update
these files.
Stars
Where does the star data in Starry
Night come from?
The star data for the nearest two million or
so stars comes from the Hipparcos/Tycho-
2 catalogue, which is the result of a recent
mission by the European Space Agency.
Find out more about this catalogue at the
Hipparcos Project home page: http://
astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/
Hipparcos/hipparcos.html.
How do I search for stars in the various
star catalogues?
Open the Find pane. For stars in the
Hipparcos catalogue, type "HIPxxxxx",
where "xxxxx" is the star's Hipparcos
catalogue number. For stars in the Tycho-2
catalogue, type "TYCxxxx-xxxx-x",
where "xxxx-xxxx-x" is the star's Tycho
catalogue number.
When I blast off far away from Earth,
the stars all appear to group together in
a ball around the Sun. Is this the Miky
Way?
No, this is a limitation of our star
catalogue. Starry Night has distances to
about 100 000 stars from the Hipparcos
catalogue. Most of the stars in this
catalogue are within a few hundred light
years of the sun, so as you zoom out